Kenne Bell or Centrifugal?

Yeah, really... You can make 450 with a premium H/C/I (AFRs or TWs) and a centri with less than 10psi on a conservative tune easy. That's not pushing anything hard except stock internals and the block, but considering the conservative as hell tune, RPM (keep it under 6k), and boost level, everything should hold together no problem. This is such a simple, cheap and easy combo that if I had everything to do over again, or if I built another fox it's how I'd go. God, you could find a nice Vortech or Procharger setup with intercooler in the classifieds for around $1k, and the H/C/I for another 1,500 or so. Add pipes, rockers, MAF, TB, injectors, Fuel pump, a tune, and other minor parts and you'd have a rockin' reliable setup for about $5k that will blow the doors off of just about any production car on the road. With that kind of power though, you're going to need to address the drivetrain. In short order you're going to need tires, a trans w/ clutch, probably a shifter, and axles at least - another $2500 or so. Things sure do add up fast, don't they? Wait, you haven't addressed the suspension or chassis, yet. I hope you have most of this stuff.... just wanted to make sure you were thinking about all of the incidentals that go along with a car that has this much power.

Chris



Couldn't have wrote it better myself. Wish I thought of the stuff written in bold sooner. :D
 
TORQUE OR HP?

I run a torque tune on the 4.6 and it is a huge improvement over stock tune. Dont need to wait until 3500 before something happens as its an instant GO.
How often do you sit at a set of lights next to a BMW or whatever, just chilling and you set off as usual only to find the guy next to you gunning it?
I hear the KB chucks out plenty low end thats why its what I want. I think it suits my driving style.
I call torque.
 
Not trying to derail the thread here, but I am curious. What is your main purpose for the car? Are we talking about a drag car that is 9 second capable or just a fun street car that runs 12's??

NOT a drag car! Don't get me wrong, I love 'em. I just want a powerful road car. One I can drive to work on Friday, or on weekends, but would do well in say, an entry level (or higher) Silver State Classic class.

I've done drag cars, all carbed. This is the newest fox I've owned and I want to keep the air conditioning, turn corners, and haul it down the highway. With boost.
 
NOT a drag car! Don't get me wrong, I love 'em. I just want a powerful road car. One I can drive to work on Friday, or on weekends, but would do well in say, an entry level (or higher) Silver State Classic class.

I would not recommend a KB for high speed events like the Silver State Classic. Your Intake Air Temps will be around 250° after about 10 seconds at WOT and you'll just be pushing heat for the next several minutes.

Case in point, I ran an HPDE at Sebring International Raceway last weekend. My little hooptie was running pretty well, I must say... but I wanted to see how a real car moves around that track. I asked my instructor if I could ride in his car for a session and of course he obliged.

My car, an '06 GT with a bone stock powertrain right down to the factory air filter and mufflers, ran 128mph on the back straight. My instructor's car, a GT500 with full Grigg's GR40TT suspension and slicks, ran 165 down the back straight. But after about 2 or 3 hot laps (low 2 minute range), the Shelby became heat soaked, was audibly displeased, and we were down in the high 140s on the back straight. That's a MAJOR difference.

He and I discussed the possibility of circulating ice water from a trunk mounted reservoir into the heat exchanger, and blah blah blah ... but the bottom line is that it's a lot easier to keep the IATs down to a reasonable level with a centrifugal than it is with a PD blower, especially on a fox.
 
My instructor's car, a GT500 with full Grigg's GR40TT suspension and slicks, ran 165 down the back straight. But after about 2 or 3 hot laps (low 2 minute range), the Shelby became heat soaked, was audibly displeased, and we were down in the high 140s on the back straight. That's a MAJOR difference.

That is a MAJOR difference.

... but the bottom line is that it's a lot easier to keep the IATs down to a reasonable level with a centrifugal than it is with a PD blower, especially on a fox.

This is pretty much the conclusion I've drawn for my application. Thanks, Sharad!
 
Thanks, Sharad!

No problem man. I enjoy a good technical discussion. Speaking of races like the Silver State Classic... there was an article not too long ago about an S197 with an F1R ProCharged 427" (just like mine) that was built for top speed runs like that. I wonder what ever became of that car. It was white with red stripes, IIRC.


Also, about the KB vs. Centrifugal debate... I just had a deja vu of my old arguments with Ken Bjonnes. Back when he was running Modular Depot, he used to tell me the PD blowers ruled, and he kept saying "horsepower sells cars, torque wins races" ... blah blah blah. He was tuning Terminator Cobras with PD blowers making 6-700hp (12 second cars :D) and I was running low 10s with a ProCharger.

Ironically, he's at Diablo now and his latest BIG NEWS is that they tuned a stock Coyote with a ProCharger and it's running 10.20s. Maybe Ken is a little more open minded about the centrifugals now? :shrug:
 
Here we go!:rolleyes:

FWIW, I'd be going turbo, but quite frankly I don't want to wrestle with the piping. I REFUSE to pay someone else to do my install!

That's just it, everyone knows turbo's will make the most power.
The real question is can you afford a proper turbo setup, and do you have the block to support the power.
The cheap turbo kits are complete garbage, i've witnessed this first hand, the good ones, well, they cost 5 grand and up.

Hence for 550rwhp and under, the vortech S trim is the best for power and the most cost effective.
The SCi kit is $1900 NIB, it's impossible to compete with that pricing.
Not to mention the average back yard mechanic can start installing it on a saturday morning and drive the car to work on monday.
 
Had about the same money in my turbo kit as my S trim setup, just saying....also went back to a blower after trying out the turbo, also...just saying...

Btw, turbo install isnt much more work then blower install.
 
Had about the same money in my turbo kit as my S trim setup, just saying....also went back to a blower after trying out the turbo, also...just saying...

Btw, turbo install isnt much more work then blower install.



Are you trying to convince me, or yourself? Because I know better.:)
 
something to think about,, most guys running a kenne bell put them on and they are done.
No problems trying to look for more boost no messing with impeller kits or what ever.
Put it on and just go. Check the oil in the silly thing every 3,000 mi and just play.
I only run a boost of 6-8 lb on the street and that's with the lowest boosting pulley I could get.
And that's all I need on the street.
 
Something else to think about. Adding displacement to a stock 302 via stroker assembly will increase over all cylinder volume and considerably lower projected boost levels. This means the blower can be spun faster in order to make up the difference, without significantly superheating the air charge. This works especially well for the Kenne Bell compressors, as they tend to reach peak adiabatic efficiency levels at higher blower speeds.

For those really worried about heat, remember…..water/methanol injection does wonders for any application.....so controlling heat on the street doesn't have to be an issue.

Do a search for 92rohcp's A2A KB build. His car made 431rwhp/524lbs ft/tq with the stock 302cid before splitting the block. He's now running a 363ci stroker. The power must be emence!?!?!?!

A couple of his drive by video’s

YouTube - ‪Kenne Bell 363 A2A Mustang drive by‬‏
YouTube - ‪Kenne Bell Mustang 363 A2A‬‏
 
Something else to think about. Adding displacement to a stock 302 via stroker assembly will increase over all cylinder volume and considerably lower projected boost levels. This means the blower can be spun faster in order to make up the difference, without significantly superheating the air charge. This works especially well for the Kenne Bell compressors, as they tend to reach peak adiabatic efficiency levels at higher blower speeds.

For those really worried about heat, remember…..water/methanol injection does wonders for any application.....so controlling heat on the street doesn't have to be an issue.

Do a search for 92rohcp's A2A KB build. His car made 431rwhp/524lbs ft/tq with the stock 302cid before splitting the block. He's now running a 363ci stroker. The power must be emence!?!?!?!

A couple of his drive by video’s

YouTube - ‪Kenne Bell 363 A2A Mustang drive by‬‏
YouTube - ‪Kenne Bell Mustang 363 A2A‬‏

Let's be realistic, you can only spin a supercharger so fast, that's why companies make different models, unfortunately the 2.1 is the max for a pushrod engine for KB. I've seen 347 engines NA with race blocks at around 480rwhp, i doubt the kb is going to go too much further than that on a 363. Making the entire supercharger setup worthless. Naturally aspirated power for aspirated money isn't on my top ten list of things to do. A dart block 363 should really be good for almost 500rwhp by itself.

On the other hand, had his supercharger been a Ysi or D1, pretty much the sky is the limit, 650rwhp is no sweat for those superchargers.
 
DeadThread.webp
 
When i'm tired of a topic or have no interest in debating or contributing anymore, i simply click "unsubscribe".

Not sure why people spend the time or energy multiple times in the same thread to let us know with corny animations or linked pictures that they aren't interested anymore.
By definition, not responding lets us know.