Review: 2010 Mustang Roush Stage 3

If you want to be the boss on the street and you like Ford Mustangs then you're going to fall in love with the brute force of Jack Roush's latest creation, the limited production (only 103) 2010 Roush stage 3 Mustang. The Roush stage 3 sets itself apart from the other Roush products and has become so refined that it's beginning to take on a new form with body styling similar to the Porsche 911 with rear window louvers, a raised cowl hood, an aggressive front fascia, and 20 inch wheels wrapped in sticky Cooper RS3 compound tires; this is no regular Mustang by even a blind man's judgment. From the outside just scanning over the new body of the Roush stage 3 there are certainly cues to be dead giveaways that this isn't your grandma's mustang; a new upper billet grill which deletes the previous fog lights and gives the Roush stage 3 a better chance of getting airflow to its heat exchanger and radiator, it seems that this Roush is all about performance. Looking through the massive 20 inch five spoke chrome wheels you'll notice that the Roush stage 3 is meant for stopping with massive 14 inch slotted rotors (for extra cooling) and electric red four piston calipers.

So, if the brakes are that gigantic, what do we have under the hood that's so important? Well, how about 540 horsepower and 510ftlbs of torque, satisfied? The Roush stage 3 achieves this astronomical amount of horsepower and torque from many numerous engine upgrades to the factory 3 valve 4.6 modular Ford engine. The engine in the 2010 Roush stage 3 is the same long block that first debuted in the 2009 limited edition Roush P51-B. The engine set for the 2010 Roush stage 3 includes a built bottom end stuffed with racing goodies such as a forged steel crankshaft, forged steel h-beam connecting rods, and lower compression (9.8 to 8.6) aluminum forged pistons. So, with all this bottom end fortification what's going on for the rest of the engine? For starters most of the engines power is derived from the forced air induction via Roush's next generation R2300 twin screw supercharger. Air is sucked into the massive twin screw blower, first through a custom Roush cold air induction system; which in turn feeds the massive twin 60mm electronic throttle bodies before being compressed by the superchargers rotors. After air is compressed by the twin screw it is forced through Roush's upgraded intake manifold. So now that we have the airflow system figured out what does the Roush stage 3 do for fuel? The Roush stage 3 utilizes a high flow fuel pump and upgraded fuel filter to supply gasoline to the custom top feed fuel rails which utilize massive 52lb/hr fuel injectors. Controlling this fuel system and other engine electronics is a custom calibrated Roush stage 3 ECM (engine computer) which controls and monitors all of the engine's activity. Other upgrades were made to the engines reliability by means of an upgraded water to air intercooler and a larger capacity radiator.

Getting this much power to the ground is no easy task, the Roush stage 3 uses a heavy duty ceramic clutch kit in conjunction with a light weight aluminum flywheel which also makes the engine better for quicker revving. A manual transmission is used to put power to the rear end where a new anti-wheel hop kit has been installed during the assembly process, keeping the Roush stage 3 planted firmly on the ground. During aggressive driving Roush front struts and rear shocks along with custom race rated springs are utilized; Roush spec front and rear stabilizer (sway) bars are also used to further improve handling. So, what do you get for $60,000 and a long waiting list of potential buyers for the Roush stage 3? 540 horsepower, a quarter mile time of 11.8 at 121mph, and a 3 year 36,000 mile warranty; what else could you ask for?

source:
http://www.roushperformance.com/performance_vehicles/ford/mustang/2010/stage_3.shtml
http://www.egmcartech.com/2009/09/18/roush-unveils-540-hp-2010-stage-3-and-540rh-mustangs/