Development mules are hardly a new thing in the automotive world, but few look as shocking and conspicuous as this “mutant” S550 Ford Mustang does. It turns out that this mule was packing Ford’s largest current production engine underhood, and required that odd looking bulge to clear the intake. Before you get excited about that, we have some disappointing news. Well, sort of.
Yep, that mutant Mustang terrorizing Detroit was packing Ford’s 7.3-liter V-8 engine under that monstrosity of a hood, along with a six-speed manual transmission. That would be one hell of a send off for the S550 Mustang—as the S650 will be debuting next month—but, unfortunately, that won’t be the case. Turns out this GT350 mule is part of the Ford Performance team and has been used to test many performance prototype parts for some time. Evan Smith—a columnist for the NHRA’s National Dragster and owner of YouTube Channel, “REVan Evan”—was able to track down Ford Performance’s Mark Wilson and Dave Born to get more on this unusual Mustang. “We never intended for this to be any type of the internet sensation it became,” said Wilson after his introduction. Though, this would be hard to keep under wraps with a hood like that.
Under the “Bulge” version, the GT350 was sporting a bone stock 7.3-liter “Godzilla” engine and control pack for the manual transmission. These are intended to be aftermarket “crate” parts, suitable to be used in nearly any application the engine and transmission will fit in, according to Wilson. The reason Ford Performance chose to utilize this GT350 mule is simply because it was “laying around.”
As we get a look at the engine in the video, we see that it’s not the block that causes the drastic modification to the hood. Turns out the Super Duty truck version of the intake manifold with its throttle body design (modified to use the GT350’s 92mm throttle body) and placement are the root cause. Fortunately, as Dave Born tells and shows Smith, Ford already has a new intake manifold in the works to avoid the ridiculous hood clearancing this setup requires.The new manifold also features slightly shorter runners than the truck version of the manifold to bump the RPM higher but not so much as to lose the massive torque the truck manifold makes. It’s the perfect manifold for street cars and hot rods that want to use the 7.3 liter on the road and minor performance driving, but for race applications, the aftermarket has better options, according to Wilson.
Otherwise, Godzilla looks right at home between the strut towers of the GT350 and sounds amazing under power. Which is also why it’s a real shame to not see this package installed in the final few S550s that will be built before the S650 goes into production. The new manual engine pack for the 7.3-liter V-8 will be on sale in Q4 of 2022, but the automatic version is already out from Ford Performance, if you can’t wait and don’t want to shift your own gears. There hasn’t been any information on when the Ford Performance 7.3-liter manifold will be coming out, but street rodders everywhere will be much happier once it does.
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