Considering the powerdyne for the lt1 is about 2600 bucks new, and if you find it used, much less...im considering it as part of doing some FI in my 93 firehawk.

with the 4.5# kit, what are people seeing in terms of an increase? 50-60 rwhp approx? dyno numbers or track numbers with a before/after comparison? what about the 6# pulley?

Now i know powerdyne isnt as good compared to a vortech, or an ATI, or even a good head/cam combo. And the other chargers can make more power/etc/etc. But I dont want to make more power and up the boost like crazy and rebuild my engine/entire car if i dont have to. Plus they are signifigantly more expensive. I'd go with a large heads/cam, but i have very strict emissions and I doubt I would get 400-425 rwhp(my goal) with a combo. Nitrous, ehh, id rather have the power all the time. I already have a 224/230 cam in my car, with AS&M headers/cutout/cai. I'm getting dynoed in June, and I'd assume im in the low 300's rwhp. Will have the heads done eventually, so I figure I need another 50 or so HP to hit the 400+ rwhp mark.

Just thinking out loud.

 

I just dynoed at 362hp at the wheels(after tune) with the mods in my sig. Just to give you an idea. I am showing 3-4 psi on the gauge. I hit 410hp with a 75 shot NOS dry on an empty, cold bottle. My air intake temp was 220. Powerdynes create alot of heat which will reduce power output. I basically use the N2O as an intercooler which seems to work good. Hope this gives you a little insight.
Let me know if you go with that setup you were talking about. I would like to see if you have better results. Hope you can hit the 400 mark with out N2O.

 

so you have head/cam/blower, and your hitting only 362 down to the ground and trapping 118 with a 75 shot? That seems pretty low..with an auto, id say its good for a head/cam car.. but not with a blower. Is that cam lift with 1.6 rockers? thats a pretty low lift, with alot of duration. Did someone recomend that as a blower cam? What rpm were you making your peak power at?

I will let you know if i am going to go with this setup. my buddy's shop is a distributor for powerdyne, so they can get me a good deal im sure..plus some discounts on labor etc. I am going to talk to him tomorrow about it.

 

he is also using bbk headers and has a big still, i bet a swap to longtubes would give him another 15 at the wheels.

 

yea noticed that as well. especially because its supercharged, i think long tubes would make a pretty big difference.

 

I've got a question...

On a stock Iron head LT1, how much octane would you need to support a 6# powerdyne?

I know that 93-ish is considered borderline, but what would be safe? 95? 98? 100? Plus, detonation issues aside, at what boost level would the stock cast pistons begin to be marginal? 6lbs? 8lbs? 10?


I understand that any answer would be guessing, I'm just looking for the EDUCATED guesses.

 

With a good tube 6psi is about the limit if you want the motor to last, from what i've seen when guys starting running over that their motors don't last to long.

 

Yea thats what ive been hearing as well. right around 6# with no intercooler, and 8# with an intercooler on stock engine/compression.

I'd feel fairly confident with my engine at around 4.5 and even 6 because my engine is running very healthy and has great oil pressure, and also because i dont hammer my engine every time i get a chance to.

Im just curious to see what hp average increase people are making at 4.5# and 6# with a powerdyne so I know if i can reach my 400-425 rwhp goal. With the mild head/cam setup + a 4.5# blower, I am assuming I could hit right around 400rwhp if everything is going right. Anyone think otherwize?

 

Way, way back when I had stock motor/cam/heads I was
dyno'ing ~352rwhp w/4.5 Powerdyne. Went with the 6#
pulley and was around 389 rwhp.....for about two(2)months
until I blew seven pistons.

Rebuilt the motor and had some head work and bigger cam
and dyno'ed ~450rwhp w/6# powerdyne. Sprayed it
with 150 shot and made 591rwhp and 715rwtq. It
probably would have made more but I had street
radials on the car and we couldn't keep them from
spinning on the dyno. With this tune the car was
running 6.4x's@108mph 1/8.

With stock pistons, I wouldn't go with more then the 4.5# pulley.

I loved my Powerdyne and NEVER had any problem with it. I sold
it because I was greedy and wanted more boost but now I wish
I had kept it.

Emil Dusek:93Z,383,Vortech,NOS

 

holy ****, 7 pistons!! What type of tuning did you have??

What bolt-ons did you have when your car made 352 rwhp with the 4.5#? Do you know what you made before the powerdyne was put on? If you had full bolt-ons, most likely you were around ~290 rwhp or so.

So im thinking the 4.5# pulley with a conservative tune should yield a ~50 hp gain. I dont think people have been having problems with the belt slipping with that pulley..so it should also be the most reliable setting.

This is sounding better the more i think about it.

 

As far as tuning, all I had was the Hypertech chip for stock
LT1's. I did have SLP 1.75" headers, Borla exhaust and
Crane 1.6 RR's. I hadn't dyno'd before the Powerdyne
install but 290rwhp would probably be about right with the minor
boltons.

About a week after the 6# pulley swap I went to the track
and this is what it ran:

60'----1.730
330'---5.061
1/8----7.836@88.88mph
1000'--10.221
1/4----12.286@112.61mph

I drove with the 4.5# pulley for a year and never had any problem but
as soon as I installed the 6# pulley I started getting blow-by and
after two months the car would barely run. I pulled the motor
and upon dis-assembly I had seven pistons with cracked ring-lands.

I bought the car new 6-1993 and it had 68K miles in 6-1999 when I
pulled the motor.

Emil:93Z,383

 

hmm..probably would have lasted a little bit longer with a richer tune! But I am encouraged to see that you lasted a year with pretty much no tuning with a 4.5# pulley.

What does this powerdyne sound like? does it have a loud whine? or is it pretty quiet? I am hoping quiet, my g/f will kill me if she finds out i got a supercharger!

 

You're correct on the lean tune because I was still
using the stock 22# injectors and hadn't installed the auxiliary
in-line pump that comes with the 6# pulley upgrade. After
the rebuild, I swapped to 24# SVO injectors, installed
the auxiliary pump and increased my base fuel pressure
to 45psi.

Powerdyne SC's are practically totally silent. Some of my
friends said they could barely hear the blower, but I
never could.

Emil:93Z,383

 

Ok, thanks for all the info! I'd personally like to have a loud supercharger..but quiet will be perfect for my situation.

 

Mine was also very quiet... I could only hear a tiny wine when I would let off the gas at about 2000rpms. No one ever knows that I have a supercharger.Also mine went for a year on stock tune and injectors. I did have the FMU and a 255lph pump in the tank. I had it dynoed and it was ok on the air/fuel. I only had it dyno-tuned to try to squeeze more power out of it with out getting a larger pulley. I ran the 11.6 on the stock tune/injectors. Never a problem for over 12,000 miles.( its my daily driver)
Ya, my #'s are low. I was very dissapointed. The cam was in the car when I got it. Not sure why the previous owner put it in. Stock rockers too. And I agree, I'm sure long tubes would help quite a bit. I just don't want to sink any more $ into it... going to sell it soon.