Kenne Bell for Road Courses?

[tgentry]

Now that I have an all forged short block I'm looking very hard at my supercharging options for both street and road course.

Does anyone have experience with the Kenne Bell supercharger on a road course? There's a lot to like about the twin-screw superchargers, but with no aftercooler I'm concerned about intake temps.

Another option may be coming in the form of the new FRPP kit that's rumored to be an adaptation of the '03 Cobra setup. Does anyone know how much boost the '03's run?

I like the low end torque, and compact packaging of those options, although I haven't entirely ruled out an aftercooled Vortech.

[98banana]

Originally posted by tgentry
Now that I have an all forged short block I'm looking very hard at my supercharging options for both street and road course.

Does anyone have experience with the Kenne Bell supercharger on a road course? There's a lot to like about the twin-screw superchargers, but with no aftercooler I'm concerned about intake temps.

Another option may be coming in the form of the new FRPP kit that's rumored to be an adaptation of the '03 Cobra setup. Does anyone know how much boost the '03's run?

I like the low end torque, and compact packaging of those options, although I haven't entirely ruled out an aftercooled Vortech.

Hey Tom, Tom here... :D

I've had the same thoughts in the past thinking that a Kenne Bell may be easier on the motor and it does have that power down low which would be nice on the road course.

I've heard two negatives on the Kenne Bell though: 1) not many tuners with much experience like with the Vortech and B) bad customer service from Kenne Bell.

Anybody else with any other ideas, chime in...

[johnbasf]

What Mr. Lewis said.

[tgentry]

I hadn't heard anything bad about Kenne Bell, so I guess that's something to look out for. As for the tuners, that's an issue, as well as the lack of general experience out there. Then again, I like to be a little different, and I only need one good tuner :cool:

I think the low end punch coupled with a lot of "area under the curve" would be a blast on road courses and the street, but an aftercooler would sure be nice.

[sn8kbit]

i went over this a couple of years ago and my old GT. i wanted more grunt down low, talked to a couple of vendors about adding a KB (belle, not brown) blower on the ole 347. Heat was the biggest concern, but, supposedly they are supposed to be developing an intercooler. i opted for the larger cam/naturally aspirated route. shook all the screws out of the top when idling...hehehe

[svt_coupe]

Tom - I don't know much about the Kenne Bell applications, so take this with a grain of salt...

...but I haven't seen superchargers motors hold up as well as NA motors. I'd be concerned about heat first and foremost (since you have the forged internals). I think of adding forced induction kinda like I think of massive cams - they work awesome but affect the durability.

However, Dan Schlickenmeyer is racing a blown EFI pushrod motor in American Iron Extreme and loves it. Lester is also running a blown pushrod motor and it's held up too... Lester sheared a water pump at Lowes (wouldn't think that's SC related). Dan had problems with his car "cutting off" at the last AI race - that could be heat induced but I'm not too sure as I'm not sure what temps he was running. I don't think he figured out the culprit but chalked it up to electrical glitches. Heat can cause funny things to happen though...

Anyhow... most road racing/track junkies I know don't go the SC route... FWIW (for what it's worth)

B

[Stanger58]

Tom, Tom, Tom...

Superchargers + road courses = trouble! I don't care HOW big of intercooler you run :)

Just say NO Tom... just say "No!"

Besides, by the time your forged engine is ready for it's next "freshing", the 5.0L 4V is available from FRPP should be available...

See you at Road America with Northwoods!

:thumbsup:

[sn8kbit]

woo hoo jeff, you said the magic words...."RA with Northwoods" can't friggin wait!

(welcome to the boards by the way...)

[redsnake99]

I love my Vortech on the road course. It's aftercooled which is more of a safety (for the engine) issue than a power issue. I do get 70 more horses from the Vortech setup with the cooler, and I don't worry about overheating.

My setup allows me to run with the fast ones, yet be reasonable out on the street for my everyday driving.

Yes my car's fixed and ready for Lowes' NASA HPDE in a couple weeks! (Ended up replacing the processor into which the Autologic chip plugs in).



:bounce: :bounce:

[Big Daddy]

Originally posted by redsnake99
I love my Vortech on the road course. It's aftercooled which is more of a safety (for the engine) issue than a power issue. I do get 70 more horses from the Vortech setup with the cooler, and I don't worry about overheating.

My setup allows me to run with the fast ones, yet be reasonable out on the street for my everyday driving.

Yes my car's fixed and ready for Lowes' NASA HPDE in a couple weeks! (Ended up replacing the processor into which the Autologic chip plugs in).



:bounce: :bounce:

Well Dave they are still hunting my gremlin...right now they are trying to get Pro-M to recalibrate my MAF meter. I hope that does the trick! :doubt: :doubt: :thumbsup:

[tgentry]

Oh sure, Jeff, easy for the guy with the 5.8 to say no to superchargers!

I think the NEXT engine might be a 5.4, but after what I went through with this one I'm really hoping that will be a while.

I talked to a KB dealer and tuner who said water/alcohol injection was the ticket for road courses. Then again, maybe I don't need to go any faster than I already am!

See you at RA Northwoods!

[svt_coupe]

What kind of power are you looking to get Tom? What do you have done to the car now?

I've currently got 300 rwhp with nothing more than an off-road X, a Canton RR pan + windage tray, and a K&N. I also have open exhaust which I'm sure helps...

But, I've seen other people with signifigant power through the standard bolt-on's. I noticed in you post to the SCMC list that you are considering cams?? Talk to Steve Ragan about them (Steve, chime in). I say for the price of the SC, go with new heads, intake, headers, computer, etc. Go with the FRPP stuff.

I'm about to try a new ignition system and dyno it for MM&FF hopefully. I'll let you know how it goes. They are preaching 10rwhp and 10rwtq. But I'm skeptical of ignition systems giving power gains on stock motors.

[tgentry]

My current mods besides the .020 over forged pistons and rods are simple bolt-ons. FRPP headers, Off-road X-pipe, K&N, cold air, ported MAF. I haven't dynoed but I ran a traction limited 13.4 @ 108 at the strip, so it's no slouch as NA 4.6's go. I'm not sure where to go from there to get any significant gains.

I'm really just looking for what to do next to the engine, since I think I have my suspension pretty well planned out.

On the street, I think the low end punch of a KB blower would be big fun. On the track it would be too if I can keep the heat issues in check. I like doing things just a little different, the KB appeals to that side of me too.

[sn8kbit]

well, recently i found that ferrea offers 3 different sized int/ex valves for the 4V heads, these'll also work on the FR500 heads.
tom, when you got the forged pistons, did you get the flattop versions? i'm curious about the benefit of increasing compression along with more flow in the head. also, i've got one shop telling me that with a mild CNC job, the 4V heads can outflow yates heads (?? i'd like to see that personally). in all honesty, personal opinion is go the NA route, open up the air flow that's already there, then work on the driveline and you'll be able to find a happy medium. much easier to tune than adding a blower....

[sn8kbit]

shugg, no chip? with all that exhaust flow, i'm sure you'd benefit from some timing and fuel tuning, much more that what an ignition could offer. i'm sure as the car sits, you could probably see close to those gains, but with the proper tune, i doubt you'd see anywhere near that much, mabey a couple, tops. i've got similar mods, minus the pan and stuff, and i'm running way rich with 301 at the wheels. i gotta get that tuned out.

steve
who's looking at a high compression DSS .20 over block with FR500 heads, modmax or SHM cams, and longtubes.......sigh...

[svt_coupe]

You think a chip would help that much? Hmm... interesting. I think the reason why I'm pulling 300 rwhp with little mods is the exhaust. If I can get more power via a chip now, I'm game. IM me later...

[Tyler]

Tom, the 03 Cobra SC is set for 8-9 psi of boost. The performance of the 03's is just great. Good luck. Tyler:)