Kenne Bell vs Centrifical

uumm go to power adder section for more replies. The kenne bell will give you good power gains just as any supercharger would, however the money saved on an intake is used on the blower as KB's are more then any other setup usually. On a stock engine no boost is considered safe but 8-9 psi is what i would stay at the optimize engine life. The kenne BEll blowzilla and flowzilla are very good blowers and i would recommend calling Kenne Bell to get further details.

For starters the kenne bell is a twin screw design supercharger that uses two unequl sized rotors to create boost with less heat than a typical eaton roots blower. A vortec unit is a centrifugal unit that acts like a turbo that is turned by the crank and not the exhaust energy. A vortec will typically have a larger peek HP number than a twin screw but will have less area under the power curve. the reason being that twin screw superchargers make a flatter less peaky power band. so depending on what you use your car for one or the other might be better. For drag racing take the vortec because you only drive at the high end or the RPM range, for the street where power everywhere is important take the kenne bell as it makes more power down low. Either way you will make a ton more power.
What boost is safe to run depends a lot on the tune. Generally I would not want to make more than 8-10# of boost on a daily driven stock bottom end [i run the stock 8# on my vortec]. However, even 6 can be deadly with a bad tune. Heck, a bad tune with 0 boost can blow an engine. Get the car dyno tuned to a safe [under 12:1 AF ratio] tune and make sure you are not running a lot of timing. Then enjoy your new power.

I would try doing a search here, and over at the corral in the superchargers section. This topic has been covered again and again.

Anyways, the kenne bell is a totally different animal then a vortech. The kenne bell achieves full boost by 2k rpms, making MASSIVE amounts of downlow torque. Where as the vortech will make all its power in the midrange to top end. Either supercharger is capable of making your car insanely fast. The kennebell has its limits at the 9-10psi range, since there is no intercooler and you will need to cool the intake charge. Where as you can run 11-13 pounds via a vortech without cooling the intake charge.

Either one is great, you just need to know what you want from your car. Typically you can find the vortech s trims for cheaper then the kennebell. Plus vortechs great tech support is another plus.

I ran 12# of boost with no cooling when I had my KB 1500. I run 13# now with the 2200 and use water injection, just for the safety factor. Boost is a relative number - you can attain 12# easy with a restricted exhaust and make little HP. You can also make 6-8# on a an engine with incredible airflow and make tons of power. Think in terms of airflow, because that's what makes the power. Boost is a measure of compressed charge waiting to get into the cylinders.

If you get a KB, I'd recommend getting a base kit at 6# - get to know it - get your car runing good with it, then start raising boost and playing with it. You will need a good tune to get the most out of it. You can run an FMU with no tune, but why spend the money on the SC if you don't want to take full advantage of it.

Vortechs are excellent blowers - with a good tune, it'll make more peak power than a KB.

i have to disagree on some of the stuff stated above... I would say get a vortech for street applications and a kenne bell for more of a racing application... I say this due to traction issues. With all that low end torque you will probably have a hard time on the street with a KB... As where the vortech (relativily) slowly builds boost making it much more friendly on the street.

Vortech will get you a good mph, but a kenne bell will get you a just as good or better ET with lower mph... This is why nitrous guys have really good et's with a lower mph compared to blower/turbo. Its all about the torque... This is also true about the big block guys (torque monsters).

Of coarse this is all relative to how extreme you go... If your only looking for 300-350 you should have no problem on the street with either blower... 400+ i think you will regret having so much low end torque... Torque is nice as long as you can use it effectively

moneypit94 said:

i have to disagree on some of the stuff stated above... I would say get a vortech for street applications and a kenne bell for more of a racing application... I say this due to traction issues. With all that low end torque you will probably have a hard time on the street with a KB... As where the vortech (relativily) slowly builds boost making it much more friendly on the street.

Vortech will get you a good mph, but a kenne bell will get you a just as good or better ET with lower mph... This is why nitrous guys have really good et's with a lower mph compared to blower/turbo. Its all about the torque... This is also true about the big block guys (torque monsters).

Of coarse this is all relative to how extreme you go... If your only looking for 300-350 you should have no problem on the street with either blower... 400+ i think you will regret having so much low end torque... Torque is nice as long as you can use it effectively

Click to expand...

I am a little confused over this post. It makes sense, and yet,.. it doesnt.

With any supercharged, or turbocharged engine for that matter.. power is more relative to throttle position than RPM. You can have your car in nutrual with a vorteck.. and hold the engine at 5k RPM (without using a rev limiter) and the engine will see verry little boost. why? because the throttle-body isnt open far enough to allow the airflow.
So, take your part throttle response. say,.. 1/4 tottal. at a lower RPM. For this example, we'll say between 2300 and 3000 RPM. on a 302, the KB will actually help throttle response (it wont be over powering) because you are only allowing 1/4 of the tottal available air flow.

Driving WOT at all times makes little sense on the street.

Now, that we are talking power. take a supercharged car.. I dont car what brand or make of blower you put on it. give it a 100% perfect tune.
Same with a turbo car.

Say, these engines are designed with the same exact amount additional horsepower per poweradder. blower=125 turbo=125 nitrous=125.

Wich do you think will have the better torqe curve at the track? well, torque is a mesurement of force applied, and energy required. A supercharged takes both energy and force from the engine (pully driven) to generate boost. A turbo, is more effectiant than a blower, but.. it still requires force (exuast pulses) and energy (heat) to run through the hotside of the turbine, wich is connected via a shaft to the compressor side of the turbine.

Now, lets think nitrous. unless you use a progressive system. wich I seriously doubt would be activated at all times (streetable part throttle response) it is pretty much an instant ON.

Meaning peak torque and peake horsepower added per given RPM is lineir. (over the engines natuarally asperated form. again in a 100% tuned engine.)

So lets take a 302, designed to make Peak HP at.. ohh.. lets say 5700 RPM (good track car) and that engine makes peak torque at ohh.. 4200 RPM or so.

Now, take a vortech without an intercooler (example only) and without a revlimiter.. hold the engine at say.. 5300 to 5500 RPM. Dump the cluth, punch the gas.. and sure, your at peak boost pretty quick. BUT, at best its gonna be somewhere around 70% effeciant.

Do the same thing with a turbo, dump the clutch.. turbo should come up pretty quick.. at WORST it should be about 70-75% effeciant.
Most turbo KITS now adays come with an intercooler. So, lets pipe that up to about,.. ohh. I'll be conservative. 85% effeciant.

Now, keep in mind. A centrifugal unit will lose some boost during shifts,.. a turbo may loose some.. but not as much.

Now, a Nitrous system operating on a WOT switch, along with an arming switch. well, we arent talking boost anymore. we are talking power at the snap of a finger.
A nitrous kit is pretty damn effeciant at making power. Torque curves are unreal, and horsepower in pretty damn good too.

Every power adder has its drawback.
Blower, Nitrous, Turbo.. they all having timing and fuel requirements. but they differ between setups.

The key to making power is to be effeciant. Using brute force isnt allwayse the answer.

For the weekend cruizer, I would say the KB is the way to go. (also verry good for autocross). for the weekend worrior, its kind of a tossup between the turbo, and the nitrous. if youve got the cash, I would go turbo. But, nitrous can hurt the wallet in the long run. (especially if you have a led foot)

And well, as for the Pro's. Im not one, so I dont have the answer to their advantages. but, I do see a LOT of them using turbo's lately.

Cost for a nitrous car that makes 2000 HP in 7 secs or less??.. VS a nitrous car that does the same.

I'll let you crunch the numbers.


Sorry so long.

My .02

My friend/guy who workin 20 years since '83 on Mustangs, tell me Kenne bell is better blower because boost is right there , not like other blowers on higher rpms

Seth5.0 said:

My friend/guy who workin 20 years since '83 on Mustangs, tell me Kenne bell is better blower because boost is right there , not like other blowers on higher rpms

Click to expand...

yea thats what I heard. If I could get a SC now thats what I would get.

I was reading on their website and it says it comes in around 2k rpms and stays even. ...... it was something like that

moneypit94 said:

i have to disagree on some of the stuff stated above... I would say get a vortech for street applications and a kenne bell for more of a racing application...

Vortech will get you a good mph, but a kenne bell will get you a just as good or better ET with lower mph...

Click to expand...

This goes against common knowledge and facts. Go on over to the Corral and look at people's sigs - the Vortechs, by far are overall the quicker blowers at the track as compared to KBs. Mine is an exception. There is only one KB on a 5.0 over there, in the 10's - and he's on slicks - I run DRs. There are maybe 3-4 KB 5.0s in the 11's. There are TONS of Vortechs in the 9's 10's and 11's. Granted there are more Vortech 5.0s than KBs, but it's much easier to go quicker with a Vortech - and remember, I'm a KB owner, so I'm biased, but I'm also a realist. Heck the quickest KB in a 5.0 in the world has only gone 9.9 - and that was with a custom setup with a very expensive intercooler.

The lack of traction thing is way overstated with a KB - I think I'm fairly qualified to comment on this, because I run an 11.1/123 KB car that weighs 3700# on the street and traction isn't an issue for me. I DO run DRs on the street, and do have some suspension mods - nothing radical though. Launching it at the track consists of flooring it at idle at the last yellow - we get 1.5 60' times doing that.

Again everything is relative. Most people on this forum would happy with a 11 sec car, heck the marjority would be happy with a 13 or even a 12 car, and rarerly we have a 10 sec car so i think 9 sec's and below we really don't need to worry about much.

I will admit I have no experience with KB.. I do have some expereince with a Vortech. And i know that i have some low rpm traction issues on the street now and would ASSUME that it would be twice as bad with a KB...

Like stated above there is a hell of a lot more vortechs out there then KB's...
And just by looking at your ET and MPH you support my point that you have a lot more initial torque then say a Vortech person... 11.1 @ a realitivy low mph... You usually won't say that low of mph with a time like that with a vortech.

Again i will go with my first statement... 350hp and below i would say either one... Actually 400 below and you still may not have to bad of a problem. When you start dumping more then 400 to the ground thats when i personally wouldn't want a KB without at least suspension work and DR's.

On the otherhand i could be sadly mistaken, Im just going of assumption... This is just an opinion or theory that i have... Can't always be right, but it makes for a good conversation.

I am partial to turbo's, but i grew up on the ricer thing, well, until i drove my first stang.... which i bought..... about a year ago...

KB's are nice but I love my Edelbrock intake too much. For those who have not invested into an intake then I would suggest the KB route (300-500 Dollar Savings put towards the blower). Either way they both make excellent power.