Mustang S650 Track Testing the Ford Performance Tune.
Ford has a Factory performance tune for the S650 EcoBoost. We have fully tested it on the dyno, at the drag strip and at the race track.
First of all, Ford's dyno results are legit. Ford shows 350 flywheel horsepower for it, and on our car with a performance intake and exhaust it made about 325 horsepower at the wheels. This is Ford's official chart.
We fully evaluated and dissected this tune, not only on the car, but we made a detailed reading of the files. It has a huge amount of protection in it, mostly relating to post intercooler air temperatures. This is likely because Ford know they sent these cars out without enough intercooling from the factory.
We ran it at the dragstrip with the stock intercooler and could not get it into the 12s. It's best times were in the very low 13's, just slightly faster than stock. It went pretty fast about ½ way down the track, but it was hot out and it pulled power out as soon as it saw the temps coming up. Keep in mind we have run a 12.6 in this car in nearly the same configuration but with our power booster and our big intercooler. It's not apples to apples, the point is that these two tunes on the dyno in good conditions are with about 15whp of each other, but the quarter mile times are very different which is mostly attributable to the difference in the intercooling.
In summary, The Ford performance calibration is fast, but with the stock intercooler it's only fast in a street situation, like a short drag race from a stoplight, or in passing cars on the road. If it's in a situation where the intercooler can't keep up, power falls off a lot.
Just to verify this, we installed our big intercooler and as we expected the problem was solved. We ran it all day on a hot June summer day at Hallett raceway with the Ford Performance tune and the car performed flawlessly.
We are working on an improved tune which will be quite a bit less money and with a little more power while keeping high levels of protection, so keep an eye out for that. Of course if warranty is a big concern, the Ford Performance Calibration is a great way to go.
Ultimately, the Ford Performance Calibration delivers exactly what it was designed to do: provide a noticeable increase in performance while maintaining factory-level drivability and reliability. When paired with adequate intercooling, it becomes an even more capable package that performs consistently under demanding conditions. Whether your priority is preserving your factory warranty or extracting the most performance possible from your EcoBoost, understanding the strengths and limitations of each option will help you choose the setup that best fits your goals. As always, we'll continue testing, developing, and sharing our real-world results so you can make an informed decision with confidence.