Forced Induction How About A Vortech V3-si Trim On A 94 Cobra?

Tell that to all the guys who popped their head gaskets because of the heat made by KB's. Perhaps KB's do run a little cooler than centri's at boost, but you have to remember that the KB is boosting much more often since it reaches full boost much sooner. Therefore more heat and a huge chunk of HOT METAL sitting on top of your motor ever soaking up more heat.

Since a Vortech builds boost up higher in the RPM band it's not exposed to the heat as much. So when you do decide to get on it the housing is much cooler, not to mention it's mounted off to the side instead of RIGHT ON TOP of a super hot motor. At full boost I could imagine the Vortech making more heat due to it's design but that's about it.

Oh, and whoever wrote that list of so called "myths" is full of bologna! I could pick apart almost all of those and I'm sure there are more than enough members of this site that can chime in who have probably experienced a few of those first hand.

Superchargers don't need maintainance and rebuilding? Get real. It's a mechanical device and WILL require service at some point in it's life. That magazine obviously had their supercharger kit advertisers' interests in mind when they made that list, plain and simple.

Ahh hell, let's pick them apart shall we?

December
1. Supercharged engines use more fuel. ***BS, you are creating parasitic drag on the engine which is causing the engine to work harder, which also caused it to burn a little more fuel
2. Supercharged engines must use high octane fuel. ***They don't have to use higher octane, but if you want to realize the power potential of that expensive investment it's highly recommended. A tune could easily be written to use 87 octane though at the expense of A BUNCH OF POWER!

3. Superchargers need an ignition system upgrade. ***You make 15+ lbs of boost you're gonna start blowing your spark out. I have the dyno graph to prove that at 15 psi my own plugs gapped to .28 were being blown out.
4. Superchargers must run retarded ignition timing ***LOL! Seriously? Do you really want to be running 20* total timing with 200+ degree inlet temps under boost? Didn't think so!!, your head gaskets and pistons wouldn't appreciate it.

January
5. Superchargers make the engines run hotter. *** This is probably really a myth. My engine doesn't make any more heat under boost.
6. Superchargers cause engine knock. *** Well, yes and no. If you boost the crap out of your engine all the time and it's not built for it (ie: stock) I'm sure it'll being knocking before it comes apart! But no, this is for the most part a myth.
7. Superchargers are noisy. *** WTF are these guys smoking? I really want to know so I can get me some of that !! My V1 was loud enough to wake the dead and this V2 that supposed to be quieter, is almost just as loud! But I LOVE IT!! (the people at fast food drive throughs don't like it though)

8. Bolt-Ons can make more HP for less money. *** True I suppose. Dollar for Dollar I'm sure a SC will beat out NA combos to a point. There is a point though were a motor has to be built to realize more HP.

Febuary
9. You must run forged pistons and rods with a supercharger. *** this was actually true back in the old days. Now cars can be tuned to PULL TIMING (myth addressed above) and keep your hypercraptic pistons blissfully turning your crank for years to come.

10. Superchargers need maintainance and rebuilding. *** Of course they do. All mechanical devices need this at some point. Myth confirmed!
11. Raising compression makes the same HP as supercharging. *** This isn't a myth, it's pure ignorance if you think this is true.
12. Both turbos and superchargers have instant no lag boost. *** Actually with the advent of ball bearing turbos they can be sized to make almost instant boost right there with roots and twin screw blowers! So myth confirmed.
13. Superchargers blow out head gaskets. *** YES THEY WILL if your tune isn't right on or if you run low octane fuel (myth addressed above). Point blank, ping under boost and watch your head gaskets pop like popcorn. Oh you have studs and an expensive set of O ringed gaskets? Great, now your motor will spit a rod out of the side of the block, that is unless you kept the fuse in the motor, the hypercraptic pistons!

March
14.Superchargers are less efficient than turbochargers. *** Turbos are more efficient. They are practically free HP. You do have a small amount of parasitic drag on the motor, but nothing compared to a blower of any kind.
15. Supercharging adds excessive weight. *** Define excessive!!
16. Superchargers "heat soak". *** KB's heat soak badly because they are sitting at the top of a fire making machine. And with a hood blanket insulating all that heat, they get even hotter!
17. Higher compression ratios cost less than supercharging. *** They do. I could have bought a brand new set of 58cc heads and new forged pistons for the price I paid for my USED blower. Of course if you're comparing it to say a powerdyne then this may be considered a myth. Too many variables to call it one way or the other.

Anyway, this was fun. I confirmed almost all of these myths. You can't trust what a freakin' magazine tells you. Their only concern is selling more products for their advertisers. I've actually had dyno shops tell me they deliberately altered the numbers of a given product to show more HP/TQ in order to make the magazine happy and sell products.

Noobz347 said:

Wow... defensive much?

The magazine article wrote the list of myths. You should read the articles before jumping to conclusions.

At any rate (attempting to resume discussion here)....

Granted, I'm not sure comparing a 2.2L Kenne Bell and a V1 S-Trim is an apples to apples comparison, but those are the two superchargers that I own. At 10 psi, my Vortech was showing discharge temps of a little over 170*. The KB on the other hand, gets to a hair over 160* @ 13/14 psi. Both are at or near an ambient air temp of 70*.



It's interesting that you mention that because one of the points that I see mentioned over and over again is about how the engine soaks the supercharger and not the other way around. It's actually mentioned in the article that you're so upset about.

Click to expand...

I do tend to get a little defensive when I'm called out for "misinformation". I've ready countless threads, especially when I was searching for which supercharger to get, where people with KB's were popping their head gaskets.