Does A Turbo Swap Count As Bolt-On?
By Paulo Acoba
Supposedly a turbo swap counts as a bolt-on. That’s according to Ecoinduction on their bit of 2.3 Liter Ecoboost news in collaboration with FFTEC Motorsports based out of Hayward, CA.
Everyone and their mother already knows that the hot ticket in the aftermarket performance market right now is Ford’s all new four-cylinder Ecoboost engine, specifically the one stuffed in the 2015 Ford Mustang.
Right out of the box, that little four-cylinder is pumping out a generous 310 HP and 320 lbs-ft of torque. Those are impressive numbers regardless of how many cylinders you have.
And now, FFTEC is offering a complete “bolt-on” package (notice the quotes) that will throw on another 100 HP. Here’s the catch. You’ll have to swap a turbo on while you’re at it.
The complete list of parts is as follows,
- FFTEC Turbo System — Utilizing a small frame BorgWarner EFR turbo
- FFTEC EcoCore intercooler
- FFTEC Chargepipe system
- FFTEC Intake System
- FFTEC Downpipe
- FFTEC Exhaust System
- Custom Accessport calibration by FFTEC’s Calibration staff
Any car guy knows that the standard version of bolt-on’s comprises just three letters. I/H/E. That stands for Intake, Headers and Exhaust. Theoretically on a simple four-cylinder, that means maybe a days work to take off the factory intake, exhaust and headers and swapping on some new go-fast parts.
Over the weekend, a typical complete bolt-on swap of this nature nets you a couple of HP. If you have a flash tuner or go to a proper dyno for tuning time, you’ll net even more power.
But a whole new turbo? That’s pushing it in my opinion.
Hats off to FFTEC for releasing some ponies from the factory calibrated tuning map and taking the 2015 Ford Mustang all the way up to 400 HP and 410 lbs-ft of torque. But if someone is going to advertise it as truly bolt-on, you’ll have to leave that turbo alone.
Here’s a good example of what a bolt-on Ecoboost is. According to the owner’s description, this video highlights “A few sound clips of the Speedhunters 2015 Ford Mustang EcoBoost project car. Mods are as follows – Ford Racing Touring Catback Exhaust, FFTec intercooler, FFTec intake, Cobb Accessport w/ custom FFTec tune.” All bolt-on.