I am thinking about putting a supercharger and/or a turbo charger on my 1999 firebird. it is an automatic 3.8 V6.

I was contimplating just dropping a V8 into it, but that gets F'in expensive quick.

I got about 4K to work with atm, can anyone out there throw around some of the better or "Best in your opinion" name brands that are out there so I don't get stuck with crap.

 

I had a Powerdyne in mine. Not the best blower. But at the time the only kit that was made for the 3.8

 

ftforce.com sells superchargers for 3.8...don't know how good they are though

 

FTForce is the same as the Powerdyne/RKSport (originally made by Vector Performance, now out of business). Vector used the Powerdyne blower unit in their kit, but PD themselves had no involvement other than selling their generic blower to Vector. FTForce seems to have bought up the remaining Vector units. RK used to sell them as a middleman, don't know if they still do or if they are out of stock.
It comes with a 6 psi pulley, and should get your horsepower up around the 280-300 mark. But it runs off the flat side of your serpentine belt, so there are slippage problems, and you have to tighten the belt frequently. Most people run high thirteens/low fourteens with this blower. There is a 9 psi pulley available, but from what I've heard it slips so badly that you won't get even as good results as with the six. No intercoooler is available with this kit. One woman (Shirlene DuJack) has the Powerdyne and recently put in a mild nitrous setup, more as an intercooler than a power adder. Ran a best of something like a 13.99 on the blower alone, is now in low 12's with the n2o.
ATI is working on a (hopefully) much better blower kit with an intercooler setup, supposedly good for something like 400 horsepower. I think they are still looking for one more beta tester. Check with the guys at CamaroV6.com.
No one else makes a blower, and no one makes a turbo. A good performance shop can probably make you a custom setup for about four grand.

 

Oli,Thats what I'm doin.Waiting for a better unit(ATI) and intercooled.I wanted the PD at first.Some asking around(like your doin) heard alot of complaints.
I studied about(a little) SuperChargers, and from what I learned,Lame to pay all that money for a non intercooled SC.as the car heats up on a non intercooled the gains plumit.
Pretty sure ATI is working at this,I think of it as a good thing(so late).They wont just release crap(PD) in a hurry,with there name on it.
And theyre intercooled unit is(like rikster said) going to have alot more hp added(then PD),coarse the intercooler can take the credit.
I hope to get my motors internal parts upgraded,heavy duty & balanced, before install and ATI completes.
Rikster that is pretty cool that broad using the nitrous to intercool,thankx for lettin us know

 

Thanks for the input guys,


looks like I'll be wating with you.

what about a turbo charger...... maybe I'll look into that instead


Doh, hehe nm

I guess there isn't any turbo's out there.

guess it's back to the drawing board

 

A good idea for a turbo would be to go to a junk yard and pull the turbo out of dodge ram diesel truck. These turbos are beefy. I work at a dodge dealership (Detailing cars) and look at them on a regular basis. If you can find a way to set up your headers in the right fashion as to fit a turbo then this would be a hell of turbo to put in your car.

 

well if I was a true car person I could probly do somthing like that.

I found out the hard way that I need to leave the car stuff to the pros when I tried to install my own alarm... with a friends help.


we got it to work but it looked like ****, and I am too proud of my car to have anything done half ***. (ended up having it redone)

guess I'll just have to buy that pool table and wate on the turbocharger

 

And if you put a SC or Turbo on it wouldnt you have to beef up the rear end a little bit, and do something with the fuel delivery system to put up with that new power??

 

For $4 Grand you CAN find a V8 to swap out with...there is a lot that is involved in it, but it most definately can be done for that price. I don't know what your resources are, but you can find at least an LT1 and possibly even an LS1 and all the stuff you need to do it for that price. But, your biggest problem there would be if you aren't a wrench-head, it would probably cost you mucho cash to pay someone to do it.

If you must stick with the V6, I would take Rob94's advice, and get the turbo off of a Cummins Diesel. You would have about as good a chance doing this for under $4k as an engine swap, having someone to do it all for you, but turbo's are a major kick in the behind when it comes to performance...

Then there is the Supercharger option...Personally, I wouldn't put the money it costs to putting a supercharger on a V6, especially these cars. Reason being - superchargers are a nice upgrade, but the superchargers made for these cars (any of them) aren't gonna deliver unbelievable gobs of power...I am not saying they don't add a lot pf power, they do, and you would without question be able to tell it was on there...but if you were to spend $2000 putting a roots style supercharger on an old 350, you would add at least 50% more HP, and 50%+ ft/lb's TQ. Not gonna happen here.

I would just hate to think that I could do a swap with a little more money that I could do a turbo job with, and yes, you could do a S/C for less than both of these, but what kind of power are you wanting?

 

MIne added around an extra 100 rwhp. Almost as much as my 99 when it was stock.

 

Wow, that is a good power gain!...more than I expected actually. I (this is just me personally, not saying my opinion is any better than anyone else's here) would still rather wait and do a V8 swap, because when you go to uprgrading it, then there will be more power than you could ever catch in a V6.

 

Why do you think I don't have the Blown V6 anymore.
And now have a LS1?

"There is no replacement for displacement"

You guys can check out my old Blown V6 in my Web Site.

 

ok guys now you got the wheels in my head turnin,

BUT
I have always heard if you replace a V6 with a V8 that it dosen't run as good as if you just went out and bought a stock V8....... is this a myth or are you gonna have to start with a V8 to really have a fast car

 

Like I tell everyone who asked me if I would ever do it again.

If you can afford a V8 do that. If not, a Blownv6 is the next best thing.