Roush can now add an entire engine’s worth of extra power to your new F-150

Sometimes, it’s really best to just come straight out with it. So, in that spirit, this is a supercharger kit from Roush, made for the 400bhp, 5.0-litre V8s in F-150s. And it adds another 305bhp. 

That, even for mathematically challenged individuals such as ourselves, is pretty easy to work out: more than three quarters of the power the engine made in the first place. It is the equivalent of just adding another (pretty potent) engine on top, come to think about it. But then that actually makes a decent amount of sense, given the supercharger displaces an engine-rivalling 2.65 litres. 

It’s a roots-type supercharger, which is basically a big bellows pump (technically ‘positive displacement’, but you see what we’re driving at), and looks pretty much how you’d expect a supercharger to look. And, if the other Roush-supercharged V8s we’ve heard are any indication, it sounds pretty much how you’d expect a supercharged V8 to sound. That is to say, utterly amazing.

As old as the essential idea might be (it was already old tech by the time of the Bentley Blower), there’s a bit of cleverness to Roush’s new effort. The TVS R2650 supercharger is one of Eaton’s newest, and uses four rotors, as opposed to the two you were likely picturing. Each rotor has a 170-degree helix, which is more than usual and improves the top-end boost that’s generally lacking with positive-displacement designs. The R2650 shoves air through a custom high-efficiency intercooler, keeping the charge cool, while specially developed spark plugs, bespoke billet aluminium damper and beefed up bearings and gears ensure that a hammer down moment doesn’t mean getting the spanners out afterwards. 

It’s so solid, in fact, that the kit comes with a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty if it’s installed by a Ford dealer or approved tech. Roush even says its supercharged V8 will run on “91 octane”, but they’re American and measure it more harshly than we do. Our equivalent would be about 95 octane, or the base level you can get in the UK. If you’re from one of the many countries that has 91 RON petrol, that’s more like 87, if measured in Americanese. The more you know, et cetera. 

Now, if you’re familiar with the new F-150 Raptor, you might be thinking something along the lines of ‘Hang on... doesn’t it already have a supercharger?’. And we can answer that one pretty easily – yes. Yes it does. It’s a 5.2-litre, supercharged animal with 700bhp and 640lb ft, and is essentially a retuned version of the Mustang GT500’s tower of power. Rather fittingly, Ford calls it the Predator. 

Conversely, the 5.0-litre Coyote V8 is naturally aspirated (remember that?), and has to make do with just 400bhp and 410lb ft. How utterly paltry, et cetera. The Coyote is available from the entry-level ‘XL’ model up to the penultimate ‘Tremor’ spec, with the Predator reserved for the Raptor. As a side note, they’re not exactly couching anything in soft language, are they?

Ultimately, the point is rather moot; Roush’s $8,650 kit (with free shipping!) makes the Coyote a proper predator on its own merits, if not a bona fide ‘Predator’ – pretty much matching the Ford Performance engine’s figures for pennies on the dollar. The Roush-supercharged Coyote is five horsepower ahead, but five lb ft behind the Predator engine, which feels like a disparity even the most sensitive of derriere dynos will struggle to register. 

So an F-150 XL is $33,695, or about £27,800. Add on Roush’s $8,650 kit – and call it half again for labour – and you have a brand-new, 700bhp, street-sleeper work truck for the price of your average hot hatch in the UK. Well, that doesn’t hurt at all. 

Sometimes, it’s really best to come straight out with it: can we be American already, or what?