Stumbled across a '08 Bullitt... w/ a D-2 Vortech Supercharger. Less than 20K miles, came from Miss, to Ga, to up north via auction.
Salesman says clean CarFax, car was a handful for previous owner. What else do I need to know about the Bullitt and particularly the addition of Vortechs? My limited Googles so far says it may look like a win. Price is cheap for a supercharged low mileage car... and a Bullit at that... makes me kinda leery.
Hate to bother y'all but it's shower n sleep time. Feel free to talk it up... catcha later.
I'm hesitant to buy any modded car, but especially a boosted one and most especially a boosted one that wasn't boosted from the factory. Just too many opportunities for it to go boom.
If it's going to be boosted anyway and used for racing and such, cool - then as long as the workmanship seems fine I'm cool. But a relatively new car that I plan on getting me to work? Nope.
Bullitts of late are great cars to start out with, slightly better intake, shocks, nice sounding exhaust - but they aren't super-pricey collector pieces either.
the vortech systems are pretty stable and pretty safe out of the box - assuming they didn't monkey with it very much. Be aware that anything over about 450 hp and the stock internals start getting iffy. good tuning can keep it safe to around 500hp at the crank on pump gas, but they'd better REALLY know their stuff.
if you can confirm who tuned it and installed it, it might be worth taking a chance on if the money's right. But if you can't confirm, you may have to be willing to buy a motor.
Alternatively, use all this as a bargaining chip to get the price down, then pay to have it checked out by a nearby Vortech authorized speed shop. They can always retune it, but if there's damage already done, well.....
Will
Dork
5/7/12 5:12 p.m.
I know the 01 Bullitt got a better intake than the GT of the same year, but I don't think the same is true for the 08. The Bullitt was mostly an appearance package, but I believe it had different rear gears than the GT. In general, the 4.6 responds very well to boost. If the car has been well tuned and maintained, it should be a winner.
This Bullitt is at a used car dealership about two hours away, if I have a chance on Saturday I may take a look. This pretty much eliminates me having a local qualified mechanic look it over at his own shop. When I saw the supercharger in the pics my jaw 'bout hit the berkeleying floor... and I had to call... ya know.
There are Ryan Hart Performance stickers in the engine bay but the salesman could not confirm if they did the install or tune as the car came from auction. I 'spose i could track down the owner who had it installed to clarify... and find out any secrets this car might have, that'll take time.
I had only planned on a Mustang GT Premium but this Bullitt changes everything... and it's close enough to the Premium money. Vortech site lists this Bullitt kit at $6300, figure install and tune, well it oughta be a deal.
Stock 315 hp/ 325 ft lbs
Vortech 494 hp/ 432 ft. lbs 11 lbs boost @ redline
I'll play it by ear for now
These are bolt on kits and they are pretty hard to screw up. If it runs at all, it's probably done right. You can easily tell at a glanc whether it was hacked up to get in there. if not, then it's probably been put together correctly.
A Bullitt with the Vortech? Loads of fun, indeed, and especially if you can get it near the price of my GT Premium (which I've had for almost a year and has been flawless).
Check out the TSBs from FORD on the 2008 Mustangs in general, make sure that all of the problems have been resolved on your Bullitt or use them as leverage to negotiate a better price.
http://www.automd.com/tsb/ford_m/mustang_mm/2008_y/
http://www.stangmafia.com/forum/f122/2007-2009-mustang-tsb-list-1628/
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/
LOADS of problems have cropped up over the years. Build quality, rear axle bearings/drone, loud buzzing from behind the interior panels and dash, paint blistering/corrosion on aluminum surfaces, ignition lock failure, and on, and on, and on.
A real lack of quality control and follow through on ALL 2008 Mustangs. Definitely worth a check before buying.
Luck !
TC
