Today it seems like Ford’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) was playing the long game when it created the 1984-’86 Mustang SVO: a balanced package designed for driving enthusiasts, powered by a 2.3-liter turbocharged, intercooled, fuel-injected four-cylinder engine. Car and Driver called it “…an important vehicle, a harbinger of things to come…” but the SVO didn’t really resonate with Mustang buyers, who overwhelmingly flocked to the less expensive 5.0-liter V-8, and this forward-looking, pony with a boosted four went on hiatus for about 30 years.

In 2015, Ford unveiled a new Mustang on the S550 platform with independent rear suspension and an available 2.3-liter EcoBoost turbo four.

The 2.3 was rated at 310 horsepower and 320 pound-feet of torque and was outfitted with advancements that have become commonplace today: direct injection, variable camshaft timing and a low-inertia twin-scroll turbocharger.

The cylinder block was high-pressure die cast with “ladder-frame” ribs for additional strengthening. A forged steel crankshaft was paired with forged steel connecting rods and lightweight aluminum pistons with floating pins and Teflon-coated skirts. The engine’s bore was 3.45 inches and the stroke 3.7 inches with a 9.5:1 compression ratio. Balance shafts gear-driven off the crankshaft were employed to help reduce vibration. The aluminum cylinder head incorporated an integrated exhaust manifold, four valves per cylinder, direct injection, and twin camshafts with independent variable timing. The turbocharger was a twin-scroll design, meaning that its intake was divided into separate chambers, each fed by exhaust from two cylinders. Exhaust from cylinders one and four flowed through one scroll while exhaust from cylinders two and three flowed through another. This prevented interference among the exhaust pulses driving the turbine when the engine was running through its 1-3-4-2 firing order. The turbo also incorporated low inertia internals to reduce lag and spool up more quickly.

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