Which S/C?
 

Hey guys....later on down the road (months) i was thinking about putting on a supercharger and was wondering if you guys have had experience with different brands ie. Vortech, Paxton,Eaton, etc. I was wondering what the best most reliable supercharger out there is. This will be my first supercharger by the way. Thanks.

Adam

or should i run a turbo? Gimme opinions please!

This topuc can cause some very heated debatess...But i personally prefer the Whipple the only person putting out kits for the 5.0 as far as i know is http://www.kennebell.net/ IMHO the stanbdard kit (1.2l blower) is to small though go ahead and get the whole blowzilla package (2.2l blower and special inlet) if you want to race in a specific class you will need to see if they allow it though because most of the sactionioning bodies consider it an unfair advantage for some of the classes.

Turbo if you can afford it, but Vortech, Paxton, and ATI all have good reputations. It's easier to tune a blower car, but a turbo will make more power with equal boost on a given motor than blower will. If short runs (1/8th mile or less, stoplight to stoplight) is what your into, the kenne bell is a good choice. If your into anything longer, the turbo or 3 blower companies I mentioned will be better suited for you.

I'm not trying to flame or anything but I fail to see your logic in saying the KB is only good for short runs? What is the limiting factor(s)? It is almost identical to the Eatons that Ford uses, only the KB is even more effecient and capable of more boost. Anyway, like I said not trying to flame just don't unserstand what makes the Bell a "short" blower and the others not. :cool: I know a few guys racing them all the time at quarter mile strips with no complaints, now I will give you the fact that they aren't the baddest race blowers made but they do AWESOME on the street and pretty darn decent at the track. ;)

The KB maybe more efficient that the Eatons Ford uses, but they are still not very efficient in the upper rpms when compared with a centrifugal style blower. The advantage to the roots style in shorts runs in exactly what they are synonymous for, instant boost and incredible amounts of torque. I know people as well that run them in the 1/4 with no complaints. They are very reliable. I know of two different cars that switched from a roots to cent, the reason, they maxed out the roots. They are very limiting in the amount of growth and both of the guys wanted to go faster. One of the cars lost a couple mph and a tenth in et in the 1/8, the other lost almost 2 tenths, but, the first car mentioned picked up 8 mph in the 1/4 and 6 tenths in et while the other picked up 5 mph and almost 5 tenths in et.

I would like to dispell some myths that seem to be floating around about the whipple first it is a good blower all around the ones KB sells yes are intended for street use but they make all the way up to a 9.8 liter blower if you go straight to the manufacturer the if whipple weren't any good for the full 1/4 mile the wouldn't be outlawed as an unfair advantage. Now back to the KB kits the 2.2 "blowzilla" package make a helluva street/strip combo and is capable of 18 psi which is way more then any pump gas will allow you to run. and 18 psi is 18 psi reghardless of how you get it the only reason a turbo will show more power is due to less parasitic loss. To compare street blowers to street blowers the V-1A vs the KB 1.5 liter both make around the same peak numbers within 10 HP of each other the problem is while the peaks are teh same the low end is way different since the boost is there all the way up to peak instead of creating boost as rpm rise. So as far as 91gtturbos friends hitting the ceiling of the whipple from KB i can see that only if they are making more then around 700HP on the 2.2 liter or 500HP on the 1.5 but the 9.8 Liter was originaly made for Top Fuel where they are making 5000+ before it was outlawed there.

No all that being said the the centrigual blowers are cheaper to make the power, turbos can be done cheaper too if ytou want to do your own fab work. All the forced induction systems are gonna make good power I prefer the Whipple all in all they all have there drawbacks and picking which one is right for you is going to ultimately have to be dicided by you and which drawbacks you are willing to live with.

Nobody said they weren't any good any the 1/4, just not as good. And just imagine if they were allowed to run a turbo.

18 psi is not always 18 psi, efficiency has alot to do with it.

We are taking about street cars here, not top fuel. And both cars ran the 1500, which happens to be rated at 450 fwhp. And that's not too hard to hit with a good heads,cam, and blower combination on a 5.0.

Turbos kits are becoming more plentiful and cheaper every day, search around, you'll see. I agree with you there, cent, roots, or turbo, all can and will make good power.

I prefer the Vortech . The S trim is a great intro blower that will allow you to go from 8lbs to 14+ and still make great power. Might have to add race gas when you get up there in the higher boost levels, but thats with any blower.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Adam

Adam, just as a final note (from me anyway) I personally think any of the major brands are going to be fine, except for the Powerdynes they all get my vote. They will all give plenty of power increase and great realiability. Turbos also are awesome and I really want to try a twin turbo kit one of these days. My best advice to you is to make sure whatever you get take the time to match it to your needs and desires and make sure you leave yourself room to grow. It seems that everybody that goes with forced induction finds it is always too easy to crank up the boost and we all know that when it comes to horsepower, more is always better!! So, keep that in mind and try to get something that will leave you a little room to grow with. Also keep in mind that the more you do to your engine to improve air flow the more you get out of your forced induction but you also have to add more fuel!!! Good luck with what ever you decide and have fun but be safe! :cool: