So forgive me for a Newb question, I am new to the LS world.. I am coming from the Jeep scene so trying to learn as much as possible. I'll list my mods below to my car, now keep in mind its an 02 ws6 with 9k miles so it's a really nice car... My car is sitting at 483whp and I would like to get it up to the 600whp area if that is still ''safe''.. I was thinking a Procharger but the more I read the more I am liking the idea of a turbo. Also I would like to retain my AC... Please give me your thoughts.


2002 Ws6 9k miles

-Trick Flow ported heads
- Comp Camshaft
-Harland Sharp rolloer rockers
-Fast 90mm manifold ported
-Nick williams 90mm throttle body
-Slp air intake
-Slp under drive pulley
-Rk T56 Built
Kooks True dual full exhaust
-Motor and Tranny urethene mounts
-Moser 12 bolt rear
-All rear suspension is bmr
-Walbro 400 fuel pump
-F.I.C. Injecters 43lb ( I know these would need to be changed)

So what do you guys think?

 

 

That IS a nice car. Good combination as well. Let us know what kind of driving you do and if you take it to the track often. Also, your general threshold for pain when mechanical stuff breaks. I'm assuming it's not your daily driver.

 

Thank you so much!

It's really just a street car, It'll probably never see the track ( as sad as it is ).

Threshold... I understand things break, but I would like to have the thought I could get in and drive it where ever I want without it breaking down.

No It is deff not a daily driver, my daily commute is 50 miles round trip so it usually gets driven on sundays.

 

I would put a procharger on that nice of a car.

 

Sounds like a good candidate for a t4 single turbo. Do you have a source of E85? That could make it a little easier and safer at that output.

 

Would you mind explaining why that would be a better route?
Thanks!

 

Cuz turbo's get very busy and possibly ugly looking with all of the piping and od ball manifolds. A procharger will bolt right up and be neat as can be. And you don't have to hack **** to install it.

 

This was going to be my point. Expanding on that, turbo kits come in two flavors. You have kits that allow the retention of A/C systems and kits that do not. Retaining the A/C system usually requires changing out the K-member to a tubular design which isn't cheap. The turbo typically gets mounted in front of the engine block and often forces you to get a different radiator and modify your radiator support so that the radiator can sit vertically instead of at an angle. For the intercooler, you will need to ditch or hack up the front bumper. This often leads people to remove the grill or cut holes in the front bumper to allow airflow across the intercooler directly. While this is a function over form type of thing, it's ugly. Really, really ugly in my opinion. The Camaro seems to be able to do this a bit better than the Firebird / Trans Am, but I've never liked seeing the intercooler from the front of the car.

Often, you may need to relocate the alternator as well. One of my personal pet peeves about turbo kits is the fact that many people here don't connect the exhaust system and instead dump the exhaust out of a hole they cut in the front bumper. Between that and the A/C hardware removal I find the finished product of most turbo builds on these cars distasteful at best. Finally, by the time everything has been addressed adequately, you are at the same basic price point as a supercharger kit would have been. The installation is much more difficult and the results aren't as good aesthetically speaking in most cases.

From a performance standpoint, I think it's possible to make more power on turbo setups but you can make a lot from a supercharged engine. More to the point, you can make a lot of power from a supercharged setup and not hack the **** out of your car, compromising safety in a crash event and making it look hideous. You can retain your air conditioning and a more OEM appearance. Of course, intercooled supercharged setups may box you into a similar position when it comes to the intercooler, but you won't have to ditch your A/C or hack up the radiator support.

I think a clean return to stock is actually possible when uninstalling a supercharged setup and next to impossible when dealing with turbocharger kits. That said, you can accomplish a turbo installation cheaper if you buy el-cheapo ebay pipe kits and turbos. I would personally wait until someone puts up a Vortec or ProCharger system in the classifieds section and pay less than half price. The only problem there is that you normally have to hunt down one or two parts from the kit that weren't removed when the system was taken off the car it was installed in the last time.

A final note, a smaller turbo kit may allow you to avoid standing the radiator up and you can run the exhaust out the back of the car, but I believe you will lose some ground clearance doing that. Intercooler installations always end up looking like hack jobs, but that applies to both setups. Though you do not need an intercooler with a supercharger even though it's a good idea to go with an intercooler.

 

Beautiful car! What's the compression? If it's high you might be best off just spraying it unless you plan on lowering the compression