Those familiar with automotive YouTuber Cleetus McFarland’s recent exploits will know that the Ford Mustang Fox Body racer has a new twin-turbo, 7.3-liter Ford Godzilla engine, and it recently got fired up for the first time.
Without wasting any time, the team head to day one of Sick Week 2023 at Orlando’s Speedworld with the ‘McFlurry’ Fox Body Mustang and their other car, ‘Mullet’ - a Chevy El Camino.
There are fast passes on the quarter mile from both cars and a surprise time from the Mustang which surpasses all the crew’s expectations on how fast it could go – plus there’s a few challenges and surprises along the way.
The Cleetus McFarland 7.3-Liter Godzilla Ford Mustang Defies All Expectations
In the video we learn that the team will have to make a couple of adjustments and compensate for the small injectors in the Mustang, plus find a way to reduce the amount of boost to keep the car running at safe levels of power.
The Ford ‘Godzilla’ 7.3-liter V8 is mostly stock, so by running a more conservative level of boost from the turbos might help to increase the longevity of the engine and avoid damage; it’s already running between 1000-1100 hp which Cleetus says is too much.
With the ‘Mullet’ El Camino making a fast quarter mile of 6:74 at 214 mph, ‘McFlurry’ has its first all-out pass on the drag strip; it makes a good burnout and finally surprises everyone with an 8:25 time at 156 mph.
Is The Ford 7.3-Liter Godzilla V8 A Good Engine?
Cleetus and the rest of the team get thrilled with the result and there’s promise that the car could be even faster, but the team swap out the drag wheels for street tires to take the car to purchase real McFlurrys from McDonald’s.
From the in car footage we can see the awesome Lenco transmission with all the separate gear levers, along with the spartan interior and roll cage.
Ford's Godzilla V8 is a good engine with a high power and torque output and the ability to handle large amounts of power which is good for people like Cleetus and his Mustang; it's also a reliable and strong engine and is a good choice for Ford's own Super Duty trucks.
Late in the video, Cleetus tells us that Red Bull are in town with their pro skater team and are throwing an intimate event for a group of Red Bull-colored Crown Victoria cars to race on a small track.
There are different colors for the various flavors of the energy drink and luckily Cleetus and the gang will get a chance to have fun in this friendly race - there's seemingly never a dull moment in the life of McFarland. He makes his living from creating content like this for YouTube; according to some sources, Cleetus' salary could be anywhere from $250,000 to $1 million per year.