Supercharger, of Head and Cams????

[kyles03sonicgt]

Supercharger, or Head and Cams???? Please post Feedback

Hi guys, I'm new here, but anyways. About a month ago I bought a 2003 Sonic Blue GT. It has 28k on the clock and its a 5 spd manual. This winter/spring I plan on spending some money on the motor. It already has a catted x-pipe, flowmaster cat-backs, underdrive pullies, a fender wall cold air intake, and a mass air flow meter. I am in a delema though. I want to supercharge the car, but at the same point I would like to put Patriot heads in it with VT stage 2 cams. What would be the best idea? Would the supercharger be harmful to my motor? This car is my baby, and I treat her right, I dont rag on her. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks -Kyle

 

[ADRENLN]

well how much power you lay down after the blower will determine if your motor will be ok. people seem to agree that 350rwhp is about the point you want to be with stock internals. psi will determine what hp you are going to make. however with a vortech regular 8 psi kit, you will prob. be around that rwhp with your other mods. so i think you will be fine, but get the car on the dyno right after install for a good dyno tune. this is the most important part of saving your engine. you might make a bit more power but as long as you are under 400 you should be ok.

getting near 400 is taking a chance.

heads and cams are fun and fine for a stock engine but you will get nowhere near the power from the charger.

i personally would build the engine before the blower, but thats just me.

 

[02LaserRed2V]

Supercharge it.

There are more than plenty of ppl making upwards of 400+hp without any problems whatsoever. PSI alone doesn't determine the hp, the timing also plays a big role. more times than not, the reason for blown motors is because of bad tunes.

 

[reddrgn01gt]

Supercharge it.

the reason for blown motors is because of bad tunes.

+1

Unless you are a big n/a fan or don't have all of the money at once then there is no reason not to supercharge it.

 

[BooWFO]

If you got the coin Supercharge it.

 

[Built98GT]

If you do heads i wouldnt go with patriot.Everyone on here has heard bad things about them and everyone seems to be against them.In your case thought i would go ahead and supercharge it.And if you do treat it right like you said you do you shouldnt have any problems.

 

['03GTinFLA]

I've been doing the bolt-on mod thing for over 2 years now. I wish I would have saved for 2 years and bought a supercharger.
I say get blown. Then get forged internals with heads and blower cams and turn up the psi.

 

[03ghoststang]

supercharge it and start saving for forgd internal's so when you decide to up the boost you can have the internals swapped

 

[GoBabyVroommm]

Don't run more then 9psi if u want it to last. The blower is the easier way. Which ever way you look at it they'll both blow your motor at the end of the day. Personally i would do heads,cam,intake and spray. I have a wet system on my car with a few bolt ons. Basicly i maxed my motor out for 1,200 dollars. When it hits the shot off a 70 roll GOD DAMN it moves and screams. Yup i messed up 3rd and 4th like that blah.

 

[white99gt]

Personally id drive it like it is.

Build a motor thenbuy the charger and install it all at once..May take some time but you only have to do it once..Took me 2 years..No regrets here.

 

[98blackmagic]

Sell it and get a LS1...................


I was kidding,............... no really

 

[kyles03sonicgt]

Does it really matter if the car is a daily driver? I am planning on buying a beat for work and school and such sometime in the future, but not for a while. Will this make a difference if the car engine will blow sooner or not? And after the charger, if I wanted to change the interals, what all would I have to change, please name everything. Thanks guys.

 

[blackfang]

I would build the motor around the blower. A nice forged kit will go a long ways and be a safer bet on the motor lasting if you decide to get psi greedy. You will not regret it. Save some money up, build the motor and install the blower.

I would stay away from forged stroker kits as well in the engine build. Look around, check out some of the other people on what they have done, compare, ask them questions, etc. A motor choice shouldn't be done quickly.

 

[hognutz]

my .02 is don't spend money on heads if you plan to boost the stock shortblock spend that money on a forged shorblock and run the stock heads.

the KB 1.7L kit can make

 

[kyles03sonicgt]

If I were to replace the stock shortblock after I installed the blower, would I be completely safe to run more boost, and get more power out of the motor? Or would I need to do more than that? And how much would a new shortblock cost?? Thanks guys, I am beginning to like this forum more than my old ones, you guys are ver helpful

 

[Dragstr05]

Don't run more then 9psi if u want it to last. The blower is the easier way. Which ever way you look at it they'll both blow your motor at the end of the day. Personally i would do heads,cam,intake and spray. I have a wet system on my car with a few bolt ons. Basicly i maxed my motor out for 1,200 dollars. When it hits the shot off a 70 roll GOD DAMN it moves and screams. Yup i messed up 3rd and 4th like that blah.

As much as I want a blown stang, I really like this idea too. Since hanging around this forum, for some reason I have taken a real liking towards an N/A setup. Given, this would be the harder way to make the same amount of power as a blown car, in a way it just SEEMS like it would be a little more fun. Cammed 4.6's just sound badass!

But, dollar for dollar, you just cant beat a supercharger. You could easily get the car to put out the max on the stock shortblock. Kits run from 3,500 to around 4,500, main difference being the more expensive ones are intercooled/charge cooled.

 

[Dragstr05]

If I were to replace the stock shortblock after I installed the blower, would I be completely safe to run more boost, and get more power out of the motor? Or would I need to do more than that? And how much would a new shortblock cost?? Thanks guys, I am beginning to like this forum more than my old ones, you guys are ver helpful

Shortblocks usually start around 3,500 and just get more expensive from there. DSS comes to mind, and they have a variety of options when it comes to the 4.6. There are a few companies out there though.

 

[gtvertsoon]

I'd say get a Livernois balanced billet stroker kit for the time being. If you have money left, get the heads and cams. (I've heard that patriot fixed whatever problems they had with their heads and now work great. Get some responses or claims from patriot owners before you totally rule them out.) Then save for a blower and you can run all the boost you want without hurting the motor, and you can still have nice power before the supercharger.

 

[hognutz]

If I were to replace the stock shortblock after I installed the blower, would I be completely safe to run more boost, and get more power out of the motor? Or would I need to do more than that? And how much would a new shortblock cost?? Thanks guys, I am beginning to like this forum more than my old ones, you guys are ver helpful

Look at vt they have a $2500 shortblock good to 500hp that is all forged. this would be perfect for the kb 1.7 and stock heads and cams. $7500 total for 500rwhp.

Now for $3500 you can buy a shortblock good for 700hp and buy all the mods in the world run 20lbs of boost. that setup is going to run 10k+ though with heads and cams.

IMO 500rwhp is alot for a street driven car. you will have plenty of traction problems to work out there.

N/A setup is nice if you run drag suspention, low gears, and put the car on a diet but it is hard to make one fast N/A with a suspention more handling oriented and on the fatter side wieght wise. So in my case boost appeals to me more and there is more hp per $$$$ spent there.

You will get alot of advice on this board but one thing to remeber if you do boost your tranny and rear end are not going to be bulletproof so I would error on the lower hp cheaper side in case something were to die. I would also avoid the stroker kits and higher dollar stuff as the $$ per hp is not there for most peope.