Supercharger Performance and Engine Performance Parts

Posts Tagged ‘Vortech’

Recently it was announced that the new 2011 Mustang GT would return to the 5.0 (302cid) V8 formula for power delivery. I don’t get what the big deal is going from the current 4.6 liter to a slightly larger 5.0 liter. I don’t even get what the massive nostalgia is towards the old 5.0 that came in the fox body.

Going back to the late 1980s, the old mustang 5.0 liter engine used all of it’s massive 4.9 liters of displacement to deliver a whopping 165horsepower. The heavy cast iron block, coupled with cast iron heads meant that the power train on the car was not only quite heavy but also not very power friendly as cast iron heads severely limit the amount of boost and timing you can put into a motor before the cylinder head starts to become a limitation on cylinder cooling and extracting enough heat transfer out of the combustion chamber to maintain safe power operation.

Sure the 5.0 was later updated to make 205 hp with different heads, a newer cam, and newly experimented fuel injection rather than the old 2 barrel carburetor but still… what is the big deal?

Even more interesting is looking at some of the new OEM offerings such as the Charger SRT-8 coming in with a massive 6.1 liters of displac

ement to work with….

Have I lost you yet, mustang fans? Are you hating on me ?

Before you lash out against me and send me that nasty email … hear me out.

I am actually excited about THIS version of the 5.0 because it is not just attractive in that nostalgic yet unjustifiable way as the OLD underpowered 5.0 … I am excited about the new 5.0 because although it is 1.1 liters less than the SRT-8 , it delivers a sold 412hp out of the factory compared to the SRT-8’s 425 hp. I’m excited because this version does not come with cast iron heads which means it will be boost friendly. I am excited because I know for sure that there is ALREADY one in vortech’s R&D being supercharged and that this engine with a basic 15psi supercharger kit will put down around 820 hp which is insane considering it could be a bolt on affair. I have no doubt in my mind that it will not be long before we see the first 2011 mustang GT break into the

10s…

Last but most importantly, I am excited because, in a post 9-11, post Iraq/Iran/Afghan war, post the Economic recession, post BP oil spill, post almost bankruptcy by the big 3 auto companies that a company like ford, in opposition to the current auto thinking of smaller displacement + supercharger … despite all of that

Ford is STILL Delivering a larger displacement motor to stay true both to the mustang branding, to the solid V8 recipe, to try and acquire some nostalgia sales from the 5.0 mark to re-charge their sales figures, and to give all of us a more flexible platform to build up on in the aftermarket tuning c

ommunity … all the while , still passing emissions, noise, and mileage regulations required to put out such a beast.

I am also excited because I knew, the second I heard about the come back of the 5.0, that Ford had fore sure dipped into their bag of tricks and used technology to justify the move to the larger engine and I was right:

The modern 5.0-liter four-valve Twin Independent Variable camshaft Timing (Ti-VCT) V-8 engine in the new Mustang GT will deliver 412 horsepower and 390 ft.-lb. of torque. At the same time, fuel economy is projected to be better than the previous model and unsurpassed in the segment.

In a world where I think 5 to 10 years down the line we will be trying to figure out how to get more acceleration out of electric cars, I think that a move like this is a nice tribute to an older simpler time…. a time where it was not only OK but also MAGNIFICENT for a 5.0 liter to put down barely 200hp… Yes this is still a small block Ford, and Ford has bigger blocks that they could have offered here… but still this is a Big move from a small block.

Check this out… 5.0 with technology, vs raw 6.1

There really is no replacement for technology….

Technorati Tags: 5.0, mustang, Vortech

Staying with this theme of ’superchargers can have great top end’; I’ve geared this post for supercharger tuning for top end pull.

Let’s say for example you owned a 4G69 2.4 liter Lancer Ralliart. The Ralliart is a 2.4 Liter stroker motor with a massive 100mm stroke. In stock trim the car produces 168hp @ 6000 rpms and a respectable 167 ft-lbs of torque @ 4100 rpms.

The engine is a proven package which is related to the 4G63 legendary motor and the combination of this performance head with the healthy 10.5:1 Compression ratio makes the engine very responsive to modifications.

RPW (Racing Performance Works – Australia) has taken it upon themselves to boost the naturally aspirated performance of the 4G69 with a street and race header and a 3 stages of performance camshafts. The race header is what we’re interested in here due to it’s four into one design which is great for a singular increase in volumetric efficiency (and thus a nice power boost) closer to redline. The header also comes generously sized with 1.75″ primaries and a 2.5″ collector outlet, which will be needed when power output is greatly increased due to the supercharger application.

On RPW’s dyno the combination of their race-design 4-1 header, with their stage 2 camshaft, tuned cam gears, a press-bent 2.5″ exhaust system, a phenolic resin intake manifold spacer, and a computer flash increased the wheel horsepower delivered by the car from 151hp at 5750 rpm to 170hp @ 6000 rpms while holding over 165 wheel horsepower all the way to 6500 rpms.

This bolt on affair is a good starter for our top-end screamer as we have gained around 20hp and extended peak power by 750 rpms on the top end through the use of these modifications. With the most conservative estimates the engine will no be producing 188 hp @ 6000 rpms.

Enter the boost:

The ripp mods SDS EFI supercharger kit for the Lancer is built around a vortech V-5 G-trim supercharger head unit which delivers a peak boost and peak efficiency in the higher RPM ranges. The kit in stage 2 trim delivers over 8 psi to the 4G69 which in conjunction with our previous modifications can deliver over 290 crank horsepower at 6000 to 6500 rpms.

This combination of parts is all geared towards top end power (the four into one header, the stage 2 camshafts, and the centrifugal supercharger) and so the result is an engine that gains only 34 horsepower at 2500 rpms but gains over 120 horsepower at 6500 rpms (on what was originally a 168 horsepower motor).

For more information please visit:

Ripp mods
RPW

Technorati Tags: 4G69, Lancer, Mitsubishi, Ripp, RPW, supercharger tuning, Vortech

Here’s an interesting supercharger setup from MM&FF magazine, with a great 305 performance build up:

The 180hp 305 engine has been upgraded by:

Supercharged 347 ci mustang

• An Eagle / DSS / K1 stroker buildup brining engine displacement up to 347 cubic inches (5.7 liters).
• Holley Systemax high performance aluminum cylinder heads
• Holley systemax single plane intake manifold
• Kennedy’s Dynotune custom supercharger camshafts
• vortech J-Trim supercharger geared for a peak of 20psi of boost pressure
• A cog-tooth supercharger drive system to prevent belt slip and maintain peak boost at high rpms
• A custom methanol injection system to cool the intake charge

The final result of this setup is a boost from 180 crank hp up to 660 rear wheel hp and a track-proven 9.70 @ 140 mph quarter mile time.

Find the complete article and more pictures here:

James Noto’s supercharged 93 mustang

Technorati Tags: holley, mustang, pulley upgrade, stroker, Vortech, water injection

Ripp modification’s has released a new jeep supercharger kit for the 3.8 liter V6 Jeep JK. The supercharger kit is a simple yet effective kit comprising of:

Ripp Modification's jeep supercharger...

• A vortech V-3 fully enclosed and self oiled supercharger head unit. 
• A manderel bent induction pipe on the supercharger hot side.
• Two additional RC fuel injectors for additional injection.
• A tuned Ripp ‘black box’ injector and timing controller.
• A switchable tune for switching between a low octane and high octane tune.
• All the clamps, couplers and hardware required for the install.

For further power increases rip offers:

• A manderel bent cat-back exhaust system
• An off-road snorkel Airbox for the supercharger coldside
• And a water and methanol injection ‘boost cooler’ kit

The kit in stage 1 form has dynoed over 240 whp which is a 115 hp increase over the stock power figures….

Here’s a startup and rev video clip of the kit:

For more information on this kit:

Ripp Modifications

Technorati Tags: Jeep, Jeep Supercharger, RC, Ripp Mods, supercharger performance, Vortech

Vortec performance has always been a leader in product innovation in supercharger performance applications. I believe Vortech was the first American Centrifugal supercharger manufacturere to dive into the import performance arena and realise the trend of the age of performance enthusiasts shfting to a younger generation and shifting to a smaller displacement market such as Toyotas and Hondas.

The beauty of the smaller displacement, high rpm, market is that it is in dire need of supercharger performance to leverage the shortcomings of the small displacement motors, furthermore, because of the high rpm nature of these motors and the typically short gearing required for their optimium performance in stock trim, the centrifugal application creates a perfectly matched solution gives more and more power as rpms’s rise because of the non-linear nature of the centrifugal supercharger’s boost curve. This more is more phenomenon (more rpm gives more boost gives more power gives more top end) is great both maintaining traction on short geared cars, and is perfect on cars with a wide rpm range where you can tap into more of the available boost at higher rpms while still keeping your lower rev range fairly sane and fuel effecient with lower boost figures.

With that opportunity Vortech provided a hard hitting application with their Vortech V-5 F and G-Trim compressors for the honda B16, B18, B20 motors and onwards into this century with the applikation for the S2000 K20 and K22 motors. 

Here’s an example of a B20 2.0 liter coupled with a vortech supercharger showing the ramping up power and torque curves which is a stellar example of what centrifugal superchargers can do on small displacement high rpm motors:

Killer Bee Racing Vortec Supercharged and Aftercooled Engine shot

Killer Bee Racing Dyno ... 479hp

A snap shot of Vortech Performance supercharger head units:

For more information please visit:

Vortec Performance

Hondata engine management systems

Technorati Tags: Snapshot, Vortec Performance, Vortech

I realize that I’ve spent a lot of time in the past two weeks talking about roots style positive displacement superchargers. Those are not the only types of superchargers out there. Centrifugal superchargers have a top end biased power curve that works perfectly for applications where there are traction limitations, in drag racing where most of the race is spent in the higher rpm range, or on big motors that already have plenty of torque.

Here are two examples of vortech centrifugally supercharged beasts:

1997 Pontiac Trans Am street car: Capable of 700hp 6.4 liter Big Block Vortech S-trim supercharger 1.75″ headers into 3” collector and 3” true dual exhaust	Supercharged 97 Trans Am.
1973 Purpose Built Drag Camaro Dynoed over 1400hp 8.4 liter Big Block!! Vortech YS1 supercharger 2.25″ headers into an open collector	1973 drag camaro

Find the complete articles here:

1997 Pontiac Trans Am – Blown Away

1973 Chevy Camaro – The Beauty Of Plan B

Technorati Tags: big block, header, v8, Vortech

The ferocity of running circles around the competition can be further enhanced in the Cayman S through the use of engine performance parts and supercharger performance:

Cayman n. [From the language of Guiana: cf. Sp. caiman.]

The South America alligator.

The Porsche is Cayman S is a great package of performance, handling, and comfort. Being a Cayman in nature, the car sometimes requires an increase in its element of surprise and in its ability to grasp its prey with an un-escapable grasp followed by the infamous alligator ‘death roll’.

Naturally Aspirated Option:

If you’re an interested in a good increase of your Cayman’s performance, without the added complexity and cost of a supercharger system, then the following engine performance parts are available and proven for your car:

Intake components:

The Evolution Motor Sports V-Flow intake installs “in the factory location and utilize the OEM “ram air” fresh air ducts for lower air intake temperatures and added power. Additionally, [the] systems also incorporate a custom cotton air filter and a 6” injection molded Venturi” to improve airflow.

Dyno proven for 6 to 8 hp

Road Sport Supply (RSS) deliver two complimentary and proven products for the Cayman Intake system: The first is a

RSS IPD intake plenum

 high-flow intake plenum to improve airflow into the engine, this part alone is proven for a power gain of 23 hp @ 6300 RPMs. Additionally RSS has just released a complimentary 82mm ported throttle-body initially taken off a 997GT3. The addition of the throttle body has in some dyno tests shown an improvement of 11hp @ 6200 RPMs!

Dyno proven 23 to 34 hp

Exhaust components:

On the exhaust side of things, FabSpeed offers a complete exhaust solution for your Cayman including:

High flow performance headers featuring:

o   Equal length runners

o   A highflow merge collector

o   A 200 cell spun cell high flow catalytic converter.

o   Shifts peak power from 6200 RPMs up to 7000 RPMs producing higher peak power as well as a wider power band

A cat-back exhaust system featuring:

• Manderel bent tubing for smoother air flow
• Fabspeed Exhaust
• 10 lbs weight reduction over the factory system
• Eliminates the secondary catalytic converters reducing back pressure
• Fully compatible with the stock computer system
• Balance tube between the mufflers to equalize flow between both cylinder banks
• Dyno proven for 9 hp

Camshafts

                Schrick de & Doctor Schrick have been producing performance camshafts for European and especially German power cars since 1969. Schrick makes available for the Porsche 3.6 liter engine two sports cams:

                282 degrees of duration with 12mm of lift (Suitable for an 8000 RPM power peak)

                292 degrees of duration with 11.5mm of lift (Suitable for an 8600 RPM power peak)

Shifting peak power from 7000 RPMs to 8000 RPMs has a potential power increase of 14% or over 28 HP for your Cayman

Tuning & Support

Iridium spark plugs:

NGK offers the BKR6EIX-11 spark plugs for your Cayman, Iridium plugs give better and more consistent performance to your car and also improve idle stability and fuel efficiency.

GIAC Chip-tuning are the GO TO Chip tuner for euro car performance tuning and have tuning options for your car no matter what level of performance and what engine modifications you have performed on it. Their tune for a stock engine with only an added high flow air filter is dyno proven for 13 hp gain @ 6400 RPMs.

The combination of the above mentioned modifications will easily propel your Cayman over the 310 hp mark and extend your power band out over 7000 RPMs.

Supercharger Performance

If this kind of performance is still not satisfactory, then we need to change the plan a bit:

VF Engineering has been supercharging the Porsche 3.6 liter since it was introduced in the Carrera C2 and C4. Their supercharger kit will boost your engine to 6 PSI and provide a 40% increase in power over all other modifications. The kit is comprehensive and includes:

VF-Engineering Supercharger Kits

• Vortech V2 SQ supercharger.
• Vortec Chargecooler.
• Bosch high flow water circulation system.
• Porsche OEM water radiator kit.
• GIAC chip tuned with larger Bosch injectors.
• Top speed governor removed.
• Bosch pressure relief bypass system.
• High temp molded polymer pipework
• K&N induction filter.
• 1 year unlimited mileage warranty on supercharger kit parts.
• Made in California, USA

The kit includes its own intake kit to feed air to the supercharger, as well as its own performance tune from GIAC, so the Evolution Motorsports V-Power intake is no longer needed and neither is the GIAC chip tune recommended earlier. Also, it is advisable when adding more than 50hp to a vehicle to switch to a 1 step colder spark plug such as the NGK BKR7AIX-11 or Denso IK24. So bear this in mind when deciding your ultimate power goals for your Cayman as it is wasteful to spend money on parts only later to replace them when you supercharge the car.

With the following modifications:

RSS Plenum & 83mm Throttle body, the Fabspeed Header and Catback Exhaust, and the GIAC tuned and K&N Fed VF Engineering supercharger kit you can expect to reach over the 420hp with your Cayman S. Serious bite from a serious car!

Technorati Tags: Cayman S, engine performance parts, EVOMS, FabSpeed, GIAC, Road Sport Supply (RSS), Schrick, Tuners, VF Engineering, Vortec, Vortech

Are you interested in supercharging your land rover range rover ?

Range Rover Classic 3.5l to 3.9l V8:

Powerdyne performance and vortech superchargers offer a supercharger kit for your engine. The kits provide three options for power increase depending on the boost pressure:

Stage 1 kit:   7 psi & 212 HP

Stage 2 Kit:   9 psi & 228 HP

Stage 3 Kit: 14 psi & 283 HP

Stages two and three come with a water injection kit for increased cooling.

Further power increases can be attained with additional engine performance parts such as genie high flow exhaust headers and a Borla performance cat-back exhaust system.

Powerdyne supercharged 3.5L Range Rover

Powerdyne Supercharged 3.9 L dynograph

Borla 3.9L Cat-Back Exhaust

Find your parts here:

Range rover 3.5 – 3.9 supercharger kits

Range rover 3.5 – 3.9 Headers

Borla Catback system for 3.5 – 3.9 liter V8

Range Rover 4.4 liter V8:

Arden performance, a German tuning company specializing in luxury performance vehicles have developed a complete performance package for your Range Rover V8.

The package includes:

1-      An engine rebuild kit including:

a.       Stroker crank bringing up the displacement to 4.8 litres

b.      Lower compression 9:1 pistons

2- Complete supercharger package

3- intercooler

4- ECU reprogramming

The kit produces an astounding 500 hp @ 6250rpms and 516 ft.lbs of torque @ 4250 rpms. This is capable of accelerating the vehicle from 0-60mph in a short time of 6.5 seconds.

Performance can further be improved using Arden designed ‘off road only’ performance headers and high flow cats. Furthermore, a high flow exhaust system is available jointly through Arden / Meisterschaft

Arden Supercharged 4.8L

Range Rover Arden/Meistercraft Exhaust

Find your parts here:

Arden Performance

Meisterschaft exhausts

Interested in building your own kit?

Here’s an interesting application performed on a 3.5liter engine (similar to the Range Rover 3.5) found in its sister car the TVR.

The kit built here includes:

                eaton M62 superchager

                Custom pulley plate with extra idler and tensioner pulley

                Custom supercharger outlet plate

                Custom supercharger mounting bracket

                Modified intake manifold (rotated 180* for added clearance for the superchager)

                Relocated pre-supercharger throttle body

                Recirculation and bypass valve connected pre-throttle body and post supercharger

                Custom mounted front mount intercooler

                Vortech SFMU (super fuel management unit)

                Relocated Air flow meter and air filter pod

                A zex nitrous oxide wet kit for additional power delivery

When all is said and done, the completed kit delivers 250 hp without the nitrous oxide injection.

Eaton M62 custom install 3.5L TVR

Pulley setup showing idler and tensioner pulley

Find the full discussion topic here:

Custom supercharged TVR 3.5 liter engine

Technorati Tags: Ardin, Borla, engine performance parts, Genie, Meistercraft, Powerdyne, Vortech, water injection

Power Truck

Centrifugal superchargers are turbo like in design, centrifugally forcing air to compress by the use of single

2008 Silverado sees 535 wheel hp with only two modifications.

 compressor impeller rotating at around 120,000 rpms. Unlike turbochargers which are driven by a turbine impeller in the exhaust stream (connected to the compressor impeller via a solid shaft that allows them to spin together), the centrifugal supercharger is driven using the engine’s accessory belt, and internally either has a pulley & belt system or a lubricated gear drive system with around a 20:1 gear ratio.

So for every revolution of the engine, using this gearing system, we get 20 revolutions of our superchager. As the engine rpms rise from 3000rpms to 6000 rpms for example, the supercharger rpms rise from 60,000 rpms to 120,000 rpms, and so typical of this type of supercharger performance, effeciency, airflow, and boost pressure rise exponentially (Rather than linearly like a blower) with rpms giving a very peaky power band with nice high rpm power.

Below is a chart I made for my own car displaying the expected power band comparison between my stock eaton MP45 supercharger @ 11psi, vs. a vortech G-Trim supercharger geared to peak out at 18psi.

The stock chart (blue line) is based on a typical dyno-graph for a C230 Kompressor, the modified line (red) is based on a Vortech G-trim compressor map. You can clearly see the relatively flat power delivery of the Eaton supercharger that delivers 11psi from idle to redline. You can also clearly see the gradual boost build of the Vortech supercharger where it delivers 11psi at 4800 rpms (where the 2 lines cross) and keeps building boost pressure up to a peak of 18psi at 6300 rpms, giving a potential power loss below 4800 rpms compared to my current setup, but a net power gain of over 130hp at redline.

Although this kind of supercharger may not make much sense on a small displacement engine (that needs low rpm power boosts typical of a positive displacement roots style twin screw supercharger), this kind of supercharger makes for a great match for larger displacement V6 and V8 engines that already have enough torque (and traction problems) at low rpms, but desire more horsepower and greater acceleration at higher rpms.

A great example of such installation is a 2008 Silverado truck sporting:

“The already healthy stock V-8 5.3L engine was given a boost-a rather big Procharger blower boost to be specific. To better handle the additional pony power and torque made by the supercharger, an Auburn ECTED electronic limited slip differential with General 4.10 gears was a necessary modification because we’ve seen this Silverado move with the quickness! For a throaty rumble, a Gibson three-inch exhaust system also came together to round out this Chevy’s performance. The HOT Motorsports crew managed to put 525 hp down to the tires, which will certainly surprise more than a few jokers looking to go toe to toe with this speedy single cab.”

Considering the fact that the factory 5.3L V8 makes 315hp @ 5200 rpms and 338 ft.lbs of torque @ 4400 rpms; then an increase of about 288 crank hp for an off the shelf supercharger kit (probably running about 13psi of boost) and an off the shelf bolt on exhaust system is quite impressive. Not bad for a weekend’s worth of install time. What’s even more interesting is that there is probably still more power left on the table, as by my calculations a 3.58” (or 3.5”) exhaust would’ve been a closer match for the truck’s requirements for a single exhaust system at those power levels.

The truck also has a great assortment of suspension, exterior, and interior modifications, be sure to check it out the complete article.

Find the full articles here:

2008 Chevy Silverado – Procharger Supercharger – Truckin’ Magazine

Technorati Tags: eaton, Procharger, silverado, Supercharger, Vortech