Want to supercharge...Please help.
 

I need some help with this issue. I have a 94 Firebird Firehawk. The car (from the factory) was modified by SLP. I want to supercharge it, what would be the best supercharger to use? Is there enough clearence under the hood to do this? (Here is a picture of a 93...It's set up the same: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eb...gephotohosting). Thanks for any help!

how many miles on yours?

www.vortechsupercharger.com


Not for a high mile engine.

LT1's are not fond of turbos or superchargers in stock form. They do however appreciate nitrous :D

Well, if you want to rebuild after a couple of thousand miles go for it! I got 2000 miles out of mine. Now I have blown rings. But, it will be rebuilt and go faster! :D

Well, you can only put about 6 pounds to a stock short block anyway, and vortec, ATI, and powerdyne all have SC kits that will clear your stock hood and provide this limited amount of boost.

Personally, the BIGGEST mistake I've made with this car so far was going with the supercharger instead of a heads/cam package back when the shortblock was stock.

For my 5 year wedding anniversary, my present was an ATI P1SC supercharger w/ a 2 core intercooler, 3.73 rear gears, and 30 pound SVO fuel injectors.

The car was stock at the time other then exhaust, which consisted of SLP headers, no cats, and a borla cat back. So, we put the blower on it, and I only made it 2 months before busting the ringlands on two pistons while seeing only 5 pounds of boost. My stock motor had only 29,000 miles on it at the time.

The people in the forced induction section told me that this would happen. They said that it's not a matter of IF you ruin your motor, it's a matter of WHEN. They strongly suggested I get a heads/cam package and make 400hp that way instead. They said to not supercharge the car unless I had the money for a rebuild........ But I didn't listen.

How long a supercharged stock LT1 will last is really luck of the draw. You can do everything right, dyno tune it by the best tuner in the country, and still, it's luck of the draw. With pistons made of glass and that kind of compression, it's still a ticking time bomb. All it takes is one bad tank of gas and detonation will ruin your day. Some people make it a few years, one guy on this board has 30,000 miles on his, and then there are a lot of others that NEVER make it that long. Luck of the draw.

Personally, I'd go heads and cam.
Same numbers, safer, and a hellova lot more reliable. The fuel system and tuning issues alone with a supercharger is enough to make you crazy. You also really need to be able to monitor what your car is doing. You can't just put it on and forget about it.

Blowers are also temperamental. If it's hot outside, your car runs like crap. If it's humid, your car runs like crap. If it's not good gas, your car runs like crap. Picky, picky, picky.

And finally, 5 pounds of boost on a stock LT1 is really not that impressive. It wakes it up in the higher RPM range, but the seat of the pants feel was a bit disappointing. For the kind of money the blower and all the associated components cost.... I expected to piss a little the first time I hit the gas. Nope!

Well im happy so far with my blower set-up i hope it doesnt ruin my motor that quick,I did have it tuned by one of the best tunners on the East Coast..so i hope that helped..

As far as not getting a kick in the A**,i dont know what you mean i cant even take off and at a 20 mph role it break's the tires loose..and i made close to 400 RWHP and its not even done yet and thats on a stock cam i do have a stage 2 head though..;) and i cant wait to get my custom intercooler for more performance..wish you luck:)

No doubt, you will see massive increase. My #'s below are with a stock internal motor. The car runs.....umm ran like a raped ape seeing 6-7lbs of boost. You know the old saying "pay now or pay later". If you don't want any serious downtime, I'd beef up the pistons etc. now.

Thanks Alot for all the info! The car only has 7,000 miles. I think I'll go with different heads and a new cam instead. Thanks Again!

What if a person beefed up the engine alongside the supercharger install.......with say - some forged piston's.

What would it take to make a S/C'd LT1 a fairly reliable vehicle?
Y'know what I mean.....;)

Yes, it'll help. Make sure you lower the compression some.

I went to a performance shop in Calgary and asked about superchargers regarding LT1s. They specialize in that type of work, infact they had 2 LS1 trans ams there getting a shiatload of mods that were trucked there right after they were purchased from a dealer.

The owner of the shop told me and I quote, that anyone saying the LT1 cannot handle a supercharger in stock form is talking out of their @ss. Their shop had an easy 30+ installs to their credit (this was about 2 years ago so probably much more now), and he specifically said its the fellas that think they can swap on smaller pulleys and push too much boost are the ones who break their cars.

If you keep it reasonable you can safely s/c your LT1. Take it for what its worth, you'll get mixed reactions from people on this board, but this was a question I wanted an answer to and decided to go to a performance shop for my answer.

EDIT: Not to knock the knowledge on this board because theres gobs of useful knowledge here. But this topic is a touchy one, the more you research on it the better. :)

Sure running a blower on an LT1 will be fine for a while;
I don't think anyone argues that.

Go to the forced induction section, do a poll...
ask how many of those folks have prematurely trashed their motors after installing a SC and what amount of boost they were running when it happened.

Can't imagine they'd all be talking out their ass.

No one says it can not be done or will not work....
But I don't think anyone will dispute that forced induction has a higher failure rate then almost any other "bolt on".

Bottom line, there are much easier, cheaper, safer, and more reliable ways of getting 400hp out of a stock short block.

...of course, if I was trying to sell you a supercharger, I'd never mention that part either. ;)

Wanna buy a supercharger? It's reliable horsepower for cheap. LMAO :D

3.8k for my setup on the web sight 5k miles so far. Forged pistons at the least, with a nice fuel system. Dont put a blower on your car unless you wanna spend the money. Guy with shop in canada will tell you anything to get your money. We here have nothing to gain by bull$iting you.