Supercharged your LS Engine? Any regrets

Hi Guys,

I know there has been countless threads on supercharging, turbocharging and supercharging vs turbocharging etc but I'm genuinely interested in people's first hand experience with supercharging their LS engine ( & please leave the LSA out of this discussion). I would like to hear from these people and find out if they were actually happy with the outcome. Do you have any regrets or do you wish you could turn back time and go down another path (stroker/twin turbo etc)? Also if you're happy what boost are you running & what is the main use of your car?

I'm hoping to get some sort of FI in the new year however I don't really want to spend $12K+ on a top mounted supercharger and get underwhelmed with the result. Thanks guys

Only reason you could possibly be underwhelmed would be not putting enough boost in to it. When I first put the blower on, I left the standard 6psi pulley on thinking it would be plenty. I was disappointed in the results for the cash outlay and purchased the smaller 9-10psi pulley almost immediately. Was fitted within about a week and the difference was unbelievable.

9-10psi from a top mount and you won't look back. I'll be going that way on any V8 I buy now, rather than stuffing around with cams, heads etc.

Only thing I would change would be putting an LS3 in. Costs are similar, results are similar but allows more scope down the track. I can still stroke my motor if I ever want a bit more but this has kept me happy for a long time.

Thanks heaps for your reply white lie. With supercharging I got the vibe that 6psi was rather "ordinary" but I didn't realise 9-10psi would make such a difference. On the Maggie 1900, what's the max boost it can run at...ie with a pulley change?

And at 9-10psi does it really pin you back in the seat hard? Do you ever feel like you need more? Or it is perfect for the street?

You could get 15-18 out of them by doing the front and rear pulleys, depending on what sizing you go. They tend to top out around the 700rwhp mark but your motor will pack it in before the blower.

I think it's perfect for the street. Try and find a workshop or someone on here that has what you're looking at and go for a spin. I don't think you'll be let down at all.

In comparison, mine made 450rwhp with the 6psi pulley thru a big stall. Put the smaller one on and gained around 30hp, with a few more tweaks it's now over 500 on the same 9psi of boost.

Good thread mechatron:goodjob:

I will be interested in what people have to say on this.


A very good mate of mine recently fitted a 2900 Whipple to his stock engine LS1 Caprice,

the first pulley he got with the kit was making 17psi @ around 3,000rpm which obviously was way to much to even safely tune

so he changed the pulleys to give it around 11psi and it is making great usable power & still giving reasonable fuel economy.;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by white lie

You could get 15-18 out of them by doing the front and rear pulleys, depending on what sizing you go. They tend to top out around the 700rwhp mark but your motor will pack it in before the blower.

I think it's perfect for the street. Try and find a workshop or someone on here that has what you're looking at and go for a spin. I don't think you'll be let down at all.

In comparison, mine made 450rwhp with the 6psi pulley thru a big stall. Put the smaller one on and gained around 30hp, with a few more tweaks it's now over 500 on the same 9psi of boost.

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Thanks mate :-D. This is great information. And yes, before making my decision I really need to go for spin.

What sort of torque increase did you achieve going from 450rwhp @6psi to the smaller pulley? Do you happen to have any dyno printouts?

In regards to fuel economy, if i'm not running around on boost all the time, it's about on par with before I fitted the blower. Slightly higher, which i'm guessing is more due to the bigger injectors not having as much fine control with light loads but fuel usage certainly didn't go thru the roof.... Give it a hard time and it's a different story ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by whitels1ss

Good thread mechatron:goodjob:

I will be interested in what people have to say on this.


A very good mate of mine recently fitted a 2900 Whipple to his stock engine LS1 Caprice,

the first pulley he got with the kit was making 17psi @ around 3,000rpm which obviously was way to much to even safely tune

so he changed the pulleys to give it around 11psi and it is making great usable power & still giving reasonable fuel economy.;)

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Thanks whitels1ss, great info too. That's the other thing I was curious about...putting a bigger blower on (ie MP2300 instead of the MP1900) on an LS1. That way (in theory) the charger can't be overdriven or overheat too much.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mechatron

What sort of torque increase did you achieve going from 450rwhp @6psi to the smaller pulley? Do you happen to have any dyno printouts?

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Thought you'd never ask lol ;)

I can reel off the list of mods but the main things haven't changed between these graphs other than the boost level - ie cam, converter, gearing etc all the same.
All the graphs I have don't convert Tractive Effort to a Torque figure but you can still see the increases.

6PSI - Base run was taken when the car pulled in to the workshop, prior to fitting the blower. Would usually run between 350-380rwhp.
Tractive effort up from ~1250lb to ~1750lb and A LOT earlier in the rev range (this is what will pin you in the seat)

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...g/DSC00140.jpg

9PSI - This graph has the 450 run to compare back to back.
Tractive effort has gone from ~1750lb to about 1900lb. It also peaks earlier again than the 6PSI run.
Ambient temp was also 10 degrees hotter on this day compared to the original run which would have held things back somewhat.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...g/IMAG0028.jpg

A few more tweaks and we're currently at... Biggest thing was cooling down the intake charge 518rwhp.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps1f0bd680.jpg

The bottom line on those are AFR's not TE, we were having a couple of niggling misfires from a dodgy lead which was sorted and the lines went smooth so don't panic ;)
Out of interest, when the big converter is allowed to do it's thing, the TE is up around the 2400lb mark.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mechatron

Thanks whitels1ss, great info too. That's the other thing I was curious about...putting a bigger blower on (ie MP2300 instead of the MP1900) on an LS1. That way (in theory) the charger can't be overdriven or overheat too much.

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My mate actually has had second thoughts about picking the 2900 now, he is very happy with the results but

he said if he was doing it again he would save money & just go for a 1900

because he recons the 2900 is overkill & he could have got the same results out of a 1900

& the 1900 is lighter in weight, easier to spin & would have cost him heaps less money to buy & fit.

A lot of people think bigger is better and all ask why I didn't put a 2300 on.
As said, the 1900 is lighter internally so you get a more responsive unit compared to the bigger 2300. I was never aiming for 800-1000rwhp so the 1900 is more than adequate.

Whipples are great but they do command a premium in price over the 'equivalent' Maggie or Harrop.
The Whipple kit was nearly double what I paid for my Maggie at the time and I just couldn't justify it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by white lie

Thought you'd never ask lol ;)

I can reel off the list of mods but the main things haven't changed between these graphs other than the boost level - ie cam, converter, gearing etc all the same.
All the graphs I have don't convert Tractive Effort to a Torque figure but you can still see the increases.

6PSI - Base run was taken when the car pulled in to the workshop, prior to fitting the blower. Would usually run between 350-380rwhp.
Tractive effort up from ~1250lb to ~1750lb and A LOT earlier in the rev range (this is what will pin you in the seat)

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...g/DSC00140.jpg

9PSI - This graph has the 450 run to compare back to back.
Tractive effort has gone from ~1750lb to about 1900lb. It also peaks earlier again than the 6PSI run.
Ambient temp was also 10 degrees hotter on this day compared to the original run which would have held things back somewhat.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...g/IMAG0028.jpg

A few more tweaks and we're currently at... Biggest thing was cooling down the intake charge 518rwhp.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps1f0bd680.jpg

The bottom line on those are AFR's not TE, we were having a couple of niggling misfires from a dodgy lead which was sorted and the lines went smooth so don't panic ;)
Out of interest, when the big converter is allowed to do it's thing, the TE is up around the 2400lb mark.

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Thank you so much for doing this. So are you saying that tractive effort has effectively doubled now (1250lb to 2400lb)...going from NA to FI?

Would you mind posting some pics of your engine bay?

And silly question, did you have to put any sort of fuel system/components inside your boot? I'm hoping not as FHRX are currently doing a custom setup with amps in the floor

Quote:

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Originally Posted by whitels1ss

My mate actually has had second thoughts about picking the 2900 now, he is very happy with the results but

he said if he was doing it again he would save money & just go for a 1900

because he recons the 2900 is overkill & he could have got the same results out of a 1900

& the 1900 is lighter in weight, easier to spin & would have cost him heaps less money to buy & fit.

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Thanks mate, those Whipples are pretty damn expensive. In the case of going from the Maggie 1900 to the Maggie 2300 I think there's less than $1000 difference, so if you "were" going to get a lot more benefits it would be a no brainer considering the total outlay. As I can see it, the MP2300 can cope with more boost & run cooler but on the downside the unit itself has a lot more inertia to contend with...,meaning it won't be as responsive and there may be more lag before you hit full boost.

Going by white lie's post it seems that the 1900 is the perfect size for a 5.7L

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mechatron

And silly question, did you have to put any sort of fuel system/components inside your boot?

I'm hoping not as FHRX are currently doing a custom setup with amps in the floor

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Who wants to listen to the wireless when you can listen to a blown engine? :lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by whitels1ss

Who wants to listen to the wireless when you can listen to a blown engine? :lol:

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I want to listen to both...lol...meaning my sound system needs to be even louder to compete with the blower