Sunday evening revelations

"ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability" (italianjobr53)
02/02/2020 at 18:11 • Filed to: C5Z

The weather was awesome here (65F and sunny) so we went for a drive around the nearby back- roads. For the first time I felt like the Vette needs more mid range power. *Looks up long tube headers*

This is a slippery slope....

DISCUSSION (32)

gettingoldercarguy > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
02/02/2020 at 18:16

https://www.aacorvette.com/

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > gettingoldercarguy
02/02/2020 at 18:22

I would die so very quickly with that thing on my car....

Also, centrifugal chargers improve the top end more than the mid range was my understanding.

gettingoldercarguy > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
02/02/2020 at 18:27

You’ll still get a mid range boost, but a huge top end rush. Plus they are a bit easier on the cooling system compared to a pd blower.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
02/02/2020 at 18:31

IIRC they make almost no extra power below 4k. Supposedly the Speed Engineering headers do the trick unless you just want to ball out and spend $1000+.

Discerning > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
02/02/2020 at 18:33

Have you considered an E85 tune? That’s something I never did but I really wanted to.

I had an 03 Z06 and it didn’t take too long to get used to the power. Before I did bolt ons and a baby cam, I was driving with my now wife and I floored it in second from the meat of the power band, shifted into third, and let off.

I asked her if the car felt slow, because I was wondering if it was down on power. She didn’t answer me - so I repeated the question. She didn’ t answer at first because thought I was joking with her and she said it felt the same to her.

Bolt ons will help, but I’m curious what you’ re doing when you’re feeling like it could use more power. I always felt it had just enough power for my skills in first through third, but that 3-4 shift was a big let down. Always contemplated changing out the transmission, but then again there were a lot of things I contemplated with that car.

Discerning > gettingoldercarguy
02/02/2020 at 18:36

I’ m more fond of ECS. But that’s just because I prefer the Novi over the Vortech stuff.

But either one would be awesome.

Discerning > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
02/02/2020 at 18:48

A centrifugal supercharger technically starts making boost at any rpm with the engine under load. But it’s not a lot at low rpms. The boost increases exponentially and it peaks at the rev limit. It doesnt taper off at any point. The boost curve is essentially concave up in appearance. You can feel some difference under load by about 3k rpms or so.

As a result, some do feel like it doesn’t do a lot for midrange. But there are ways around that. You can fit a waste gate and pulley the supercharger to spin faster sooner - programming the wastegate to open at your desired psi. Though this should be done carefully to avoid spinning the blower to hard.

There’s also restrictor that do something similar. Pulley the blower to work harder again but limit the airflow so the boost tapers and becomes linear.

There’s also prochargers programmable blower that has cvt gearbox essentially in the blower to change the ratio and get peak boost sooner.

The wastegate method intrigues me. I’ve seen some mustangs do it and they were happy with the results. But they were cars for the strip and I don’t think they ever tracked them on a road course.

Heres a little article about the wastegate method: http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/engines-drivetrain/sucp-1211-supercharger-wastegate/

sony1492 > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
02/02/2020 at 18:49

Kinja'd!!!

AestheticsInMotion > Discerning
02/02/2020 at 18:50

I learned a lot from that post. Thanks!

gettingoldercarguy > Discerning
02/02/2020 at 18:52

Both are owned by Vortech and essentially the same blower anymore. Vortech’s founder worked at Paxton, then purchased Paxton.

https://vortechsuperchargers.com/pages/about-us

Discerning > AestheticsInMotion
02/02/2020 at 18:59

No problem. Here’s a graph that does a decent job of illustrating the boost graph of a centrifugal supercharger

Kinja'd!!!

It’s concave up and will climb until the engine peaks. The head unit has a step-up ratio built into it that causes it to turn at an exponential rate in relationship to the speed of the crankshaft. For example, procharger uses a 4:1 ratio iirc. It’s a one speed transmission essentially. Or like a differential. Gear to gear:

Kinja'd!!!

The variable procharger replaces the static setup for an electronically controlled cvt of sorts. It’s sort of bulky and heavy but I imagine it has reduced heat compared to a wastewater SC or a turbo.

Discerning > gettingoldercarguy
02/02/2020 at 19:02

I had no idea that vortech purchased Paxton. Interesting. Thanks.

I prefer both over Procharger for whatever reason.

Poor_Sh > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
02/02/2020 at 19:17

Did a backroad drive in the miata today at 43F lol Great time. Doesn’t need more power though for my fun.

Kinja'd!!!

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > sony1492
02/02/2020 at 19:19

Bruh....

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Discerning
02/02/2020 at 19:19

This thread is a treasure! Thanks for all the info!

gettingoldercarguy > Discerning
02/02/2020 at 19:19

Right there with you on procharger. I really like results I’ve seen from rotrex. The fact that hks, ruf and konigsegggggggggggg use them speaks highly of their wares.

Discerning > gettingoldercarguy
02/02/2020 at 19:25

Rotrex is very cool. They may be my favorite. I like how compact they are. Though I’ve seen very few in person outside of the import scene.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Discerning
02/02/2020 at 19:28

It was 3rd gear around 3500 rpm where it felt a bit weak, the motor really wakes up above 4500 i think.

So here the plan:

First off, the Vette is my autocross car so it never hits 4th gear in competition. My local course is a slalom-fest , so 2nd and occasionally 3rd gear is where its at. So the stock 3.42 and T56 work well.

Coming to the plans for the car, it’ll get new ball joints, delrin control arm bushings, Alden American coilovers ( big thread if you want to read ), 315 section Rival S or A052 square on stock R18x10.5 rims and sway bars (which , I’ll decide once everything else is done) . After that, Texas Speed long tubes with X-pipe. Sometime late in the year (possibly around Christmas) big cam ( havent decided which), injectors and an E85 tune.

My reckoning is that all this should be enough to satiate me for the next 2 3 years at least :)

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Poor_Sh
02/02/2020 at 19:30

Ooh I get ya completely, the Mini is the same, low power lotta fun!

I appreciate slower cars more after I bought the Vette, just something about not going into a tree at 100 mph lol

Poor_Sh > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
02/02/2020 at 19:35

Same considering my daily is a 14 Cayman S

Discerning > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
02/02/2020 at 19:35

S ounds like a good plan. I don’t know much about Aldan, but they look interesting.

This is making me miss my C5Z

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Discerning
02/02/2020 at 19:53

Yeah, Alden is a new brand...

Buy a Z while they are still cheapish!