Tuner Takes Whipple-Supercharged Ford 7.3L V8 to 1,450 HP on Stock Block and Crank
Ford was right to name its new engine after Godzilla.
Ford's new 7.3-liter gasoline V8 lived up to its "Godzilla" name right out of the gate. Former Ford Racing bigwig Brian Wolfe pushed one built strictly to produce 780 horsepower without any forced induction, and as soon as he got supercharger manufacturer Whipple involved, the numbers soared skyward, with one recent dyno run reaching 1,450 horsepower. Best of all, the Godzilla achieved these numbers using its stock block and crankshaft.
This apex predator was assembled by Willis Performance Enterprises, which escalated the V8's compression ratio to 12.5:1 using forged pistons and connecting rods. Its heads are of the factory casting, but have been enhanced to WPE's "stage three" spec with proprietary rockers, and upgraded rollers, rockers, lifters, and what must be a whopper of a camshaft. Stock ignition coils get discharged by an OBR ECU, which in December was loaded with a tune that took the Whippled V8 up to 1,315 horsepower and 980 pound-feet of torque—though dyno issues apparently halted any further progress.
Wolfe and crew returned to the shop Tuesday, with a smaller supercharger drive pulley and a bellmouth—basically a big velocity stock—in tow. After installing them, the supercharged Godzilla gained two pounds of boost, allowing it to lay down 1,450 horsepower and 1,030 pound-feet of torque; more than double the power of a Hellcat, and almost 65 percent more torque.
It should be noted, though, that these numbers were achieved by juicing the Godzilla up on VP Racing's C16 race gas, which at over $20 a gallon isn't something the average person can fuel their daily with. E85 is a much cheaper, probably more legal fuel to run your road car on, and given time, people will surely get power similar to this out of the Godzilla using corn distillate. It may just take a bowling ball-sized turbo or two, and maybe some laughing gas.
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