I have a seven pound Vortech kit on my 1995 Camaro. Only minor bolt ons past that. How much boost can I run if I add the aftercooler without blowing things up.

 

If your engine is stock internally, dont go any higher than 7 psi. People have run 8 and run for years, and people have run for months and break ring lands. It all goes back to intercooling, tuning (timing retard and AF ratio), and driving style.

 

not sure what kind of car this is on but if its done right and tuned perfect you could run 10 w/o a problem.

 

If you are not sure what kind of car its on, How can you recommend 10 psi. People have killed lt1's running 8+ psi. Engine longevity comes back to mileage, driving style, and tuning. You MAY get away with 10 psi on PERFECT tuning for a little while, but the ring lands on lt1's arent made to handle boost. I would never run more than 8 (intercooled) psi on stock internals. The only reason I am runnning 7 psi is because I am in Colorado where elevation is 5800 feet above sea level. You can cheat a little bit with altitude.

 

didnt realize it was on an LT1 my mistake,ive seen many a LS1 run that w/ no problem,thats why i said what i said.living way up there must suck as far as motors!

 

Stock LT1's really have too high of a compression ratio to run more than 7-8 pounds. The mixture will tend to detonate. As the spark is retarded to fight this you have to worry about too much retard causing the mixture to still be burning when the exhaust valve opens. Soon hot spots occur and pre-ignition.
This pressure is what breaks the ring lands. The hot spots can be so hot as to melt the top of a piston.
Bottom line is if you want to run high boost, more than 7-8 pounds, and be reliable on the street for reasonable periods of time, you need to build a motor with a much lower static compression ratio, and a very manageable and robust fuel/ignition system.
If you want to run a stock motor keep to the engineered kits by Vortech or ATI. If you want to go beyond that, get some professional advice from people who actually have built successful systems.
ATI used to send out a nice brochure explaining the boost limits of engines versus compression ratios. If they still do try to get hold of it as it has a lot of useful info to the beginner considering boosting their car.
I personally went with the Vortech kit because I need the CARB E.O. number to get through my state's emission test which is just like California's.
Good luck.
Jim

 

i understand everything youre saying and knew that,i just didnt see him say it was for an LT1,so i thoughts LS1.thats all

 

Yes, the LS1 has a slightly lower c/r,10.1:1. F-body LT1's from 93-95 have a 10.5 static c/r while the 96-97's had a 10.4.
The 10.1 allows a few more pounds of boost before temps get critical. Intercooling/aftercooling allows more boost by lowering the intake charge temps but with the stock motor I don't think I'd risk more than 10 with the later LT1 or 12 with the LS1 intercooled/aftercooled. I know some people run more but it is really on the edge at that point.
Jim

 

Alot depends on how you intend to use the car, if it's your daily driver I wouldn't add any more boost until you lower the compression and add some good forged component's, maybe ann extra 1 or 2 PSI wouldn't hurt if it were intercooled. if you only drive the car occasionally and mostly for racing then you can afford to push the limits a little more.

 

im in the process of building a 9:1 forged 383 ls1 so i know how that goes with getting the right CR,dealing with cc,dish,etc