Vortech hints

nwapache

New Member
Jun 27, 2006
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Seattle,WA
Just thought i'd pass on a few things that I would have liked to know before I installed my SuperCharger.
If you've never done it before, you will not be done in 8hrs

Regardless of the tuner, you NEED to have it Dyno'ed
In order to get it dyno'ed you need an O2 'bung' installed by an exhaust shop.
My advice is:

1st schedule a dyno appt. and get the bung installed

2nd get your kit laid out,

3rd start the install on a friday evening and open with the basics...fuel pump,plugs,injectors,tb&plenum (use compressed air to clean off top of motor,tons of dirt collects in the holes above injectors and spark plugs)

4th start bright and early on saturday to work on plumbing oil drain line and assembling SC bracket, mount it, and plumb it. Read the instructions CAREFULLY...everything is important.

5th If you are getting tired and frustrated walk away and come back, if you aren't paying attention something will go wrong.

6th mounting the SC and bracket WILL BLOCK the tensioner so when you route the belt you can either have a 2nd person use a stick or dowel and push on it from underneath, or if going solo use a pair of locking pliers(the longer the better) and lock down on one of the tensioner ribs and push down while slipping the belt over the last pulley. (I chose the alternator because I did it alone) DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN THE BRASS FITTINGS

7th If you opt for a boost pipe (and you should) the order from the filter goes: filter, maf bracket, maf, orange coupling, boost pipe, black reducing elbow, when placed, the boost pipe goes through the fender and points STRAIGHT DOWN, the end of the filter should basically rest on the fender.

8th If you want to mount the IAT directly in your discharge tube, you can take the rubber grommet from the stock inlet elbow that Vortech gives you and take a 1/2" drill bit to the discharge tube. Then file the edges of the hole and slap the grommet in and punch in the IAT and add a little RTV around the edges. It'll fit nice and tight with no boost leak(fyi, the rubber coupling between the discharge tube and TB needs some soap around the edges of the tb and a lot of massaging to fit)

9th Double and triple check the belt path to make sure its all lined up.

10th, the radiator hose,a/c lines,and a/c silencer WILL be in your way and there isn't much you can do about it! be careful.(you will have to bend these...slowly)

11th when everything is said and done...take it slow, do it carefully, and re-check everything!

12th The road test....cruising down the street I was surprised that my car wasn't quicker. when I hit an open stretch of road and punched it I didn't feel boost till 3500+ RPMS...tragically my car started making a mechanical GRRrrrrr noise....this is called detonation, if it happens to you, take your foot off the gas IMMEDIATELY...turn around drive home and wait for your previously scheduled dyno appt on Monday!!!!!!! you may drive your car in the interim but DO NOT MASH THE PEDAL.

13th last but not least, keep a spare belt, socket with correct sizes, locking pliers and a diagram of the belt path in your car. If you lose a belt on the road it makes for a great emergency kit.

Anyone who is installing their Vortech SC is welcome to PM me, I would be happy to provide any advice.
Thanks :flag:
Oh yeah, and big props to AmBo and BennyDaBall for helping me out!!!
 
nwapache said:
oh yeah, the rubber tube they include is not large enough to fit over an aftermarket plenum, and you will need to get a reducer or something similar from Home Depot in the plumbing dept.

Sure it is! Stretch it over the throttle body PRIOR to installing the discharge pipe. Hell, you could even put it on before installing the throttle body!

Very good writeup! Might wanna add some blank lines to make it easier to read though :) I vote sticky if you can accumulate a handful more tips! :flag:
 
BennyDaBall said:
Sure it is! Stretch it over the throttle body PRIOR to installing the discharge pipe. Hell, you could even put it on before installing the throttle body!

Very good writeup! Might wanna add some blank lines to make it easier to read though :) I vote sticky if you can accumulate a handful more tips! :flag:
I agree. clean it up and someone sticky this and delete this reply after that.:D
 
Very good wright up :nice: . good to know what you getting into and what you might need.

Sticky, sticky, sticky

Oh yeah, post a vid up at the end so we can hear it :D
 
Not so much for install, but road side... keep an 80" belt and all tools needed for a belt change on hand.. I learned the hard way. Changing the belt without the proper tools caused me to break my oil return line without knowing and thus burn up ANOTHER short block... I am going 4V Swap this time.. F'it!!
 
He coulda if he thought of it, but he probably forgot to mention it.

Very good tips! A tip that I HIGHLY suggest is:

1. Make sure you get a 3/8-18 NPT tap and a 3/8" Punch! This will make tapping the pan CAKE!

2. If you opt for a boost pipe (and you should) the order from the filter goes: filter, maf bracket, maf, orange coupling, boost pipe, black reducing elbow.

3. If you want to mount the IAT directly in your discharge tube, you can take the rubber gromet from the stock inlet elbow that Vortech gives you and take a 1/2" drill bit to the discharge tube. Then file the edges of the hole and slap the grommet in and punch in the IAT. It'll fit nice and tight with no boost leak.

If I can think of anymore I'll let ya'll know! Congrats on the install nwapache! I have yet to put her in boost at all. I've gotten on her 3/4 throttle to 4,000 rpms once but didn't see any boost on the guage. Quite odd if you ask me! But sometimes if I give her a slight punch in 3rd at 3,500 the boost guage will hit 1. Wiiiierd. I can't wait to see it hit 10 (hopefully!) tomo on the dyno!
 
nwapache said:
Regardless of the tuner, you NEED to have it Dyno'ed
In order to get it dyno'ed you need an O2 'bung' installed by an exhaust shop.

My advice would be consider getting your own wideband instead of a dyno tune. If you buy the supercharger as a kit, most companies will burn you a new tune for free if you have problems, and you can provide them with some datalogs. Plus having a wideband in the car all the time will alert you to potentially bad problem later on if for example your fuel pump goes out, or you have a bad injector.