Hey guys, I'm trying to get moving on my 96 Impala SS build this month and I'm hoping I could pick up the power plant that will be going in it in a few weeks. Having trouble deciding between an LT4 and a whipple topped B15 LSX (you can see my thread in internal gen V to see what part of that decision i'm struggling with). To get a more accurate picture of cost I was trying to price out EXACTLY what I would need to top the B15 with a 4.0 whipple but I ran into some confusion.

The B15 has a corvette balancer spacing and I was planning on running a GM Corvette FEAD with AC.

What kits are you guys running on your LS3's? What else would I need if I went with a whipple 4.0 "tuner kit" with the 10 rib crank pulley option that bolts to an ATI balancer, would this even work with factory Vette accessory brackets?

I'm a little confused here. I figured it would be as easy as purchasing a whipple "tuner" kit then purchasing injectors and a T/B , but unless you buy a kit for a specific car, the tuner kits I have seen listed are very vague in what parts they include, what they fit and how they install. TSP told me that most guys go to a wegner front drive. I was really hoping to avoid the added $2.500+ cost of an aftermarket accessory drive when I could pick up all new GM accessories and brackets for 800 (or less if used) but I don't know if it's going to be possible to run the blower with the factory accessories if I wish to drive the blower with a 10 rib belt for higher boost #'s.

 

have you looked into using the LSA independent drive set up

 

Definitely have, as it's only $100 more for complete LSA FEAD from GM versus the F body and I believe they still use the F body spacing so it would work with the B15's balancer. The tech from TSP told me he wasn't aware of any larger whipple kits for LSA though. I'd assume the whole offset air inlet may be a problem? Plus the LSA is 8 rib which may be enough, but I'd love to do a 10 if possible in case I wish to exceed 15PSI at some point.

I'm pretty confused here about how the front drive works on the whipple setups though. I have a lot of experience with pro chargers on Gen1/2, small block mopar etc... but this would be my first whipple. Why isn't there just an independent drive setup that bolts to the front of a factory FEAD allowing the crank pulley to piggy back off the balancer? I figured it would be that simple; keep factory corvette accessory drive intact and just run the blower forward of them.

 

If you properly utilize a 4.0 Whipple, the drive arrangement is the least of your worries. You are talking about a package that will make the kind of power that leads the people who know to keep that info to themselves. If you are only looking at barely going over 15 psi, then you are looking at the wrong hardware. I don't know if you understand just how massive a 4.0 PD blower really is.

 

 

I know this pain. I went through it 8 months ago on my 2004 GTO.

Engine: 421cid based on a GM perf iron LSX block. Brodix BR7 heads. Whipple 2.9L, yada, yada...

Scenario, I have an LS7 head config with blower and I want it to handshake with an F body. "Good luck" was a common response.

I own a gun company with a well fitted cnc machine shop. I also own Solid Works and CAM software. Thats where it started for me. I went through about a dozen revisions in software modeling and about a month and a half ago I made my parts. Screwed up the tensioner bracket location which required a revision. Go that sorted and now were looking good.

for me, I demanded a stand alone blower drive on a 10 rib. Slip and abuse to accessories were not an option. So thats what I did.

Only maybe 75 miles or so on the car right now but it works. I've not had a single belt issue.

Cost?? For me this was manageable as I did it myself. To pay an engineer and machine shop to make this, it would not be cheap. Prolly north of $60k by the time it was done, in the car, and vetted.

Being stubborn is both powerful and expensive.

Good luck.

A little tech that might help: OEM V rib belt geometry. This isn't easy to find data. Its vital when making your own pulleys. .1402" is the pitch between ribs. 40* included angle are the flanks. Fillet radius is pretty wide open for the root and crests of ribs. I went generous to ensure I wouldn't end up with 10 little "pizza cutters".

If it helps there is a .710" offset difference between an F body and 2010 Camaro. (What my Whipple was built for)

good luck.

Attachment 716996

 

 

Stick a Freon/water chiller on it. You'll have all the efficiency you ever need or want. My IAT's are low ## digit. 79*F at idle in a hot garage and low/mid 60's while cruising. These things are crazy good at keeping air cold.

 

 

Thanks for all the replies. Chad, that is some amazing work! I wish I had that kind of talent. That is really incredible!


I received some new information that seems like good news if It's true, but I'm still a little concerned that I have been hearing so much conflicting info from vendors and whipple themselves.

I called whipple the other day and had a pretty in depth convo with one of their techs who was extremely helpful. What he told me was apparently bolting the 3.3 or 4.0 isn't as hard as I thought.

He stated that their 3.3 or 4.0 LS "tuner kit", when purchased with the optional 10 rib drive and an ATI balancer, will bolt up and run the blower drive IN FRONT of a complete corvette FEAD. He stated the whipple kit with the 10 rib upgrade will include everything required drive wise to do this (tensioner, tensioner bracket, idler) except for the ATI balancer which has to be purchased separately. I asked him why I was told I needed a Wegner front drive and he said I didn't, but it was a matter of preference being that the Wegner front drive doesn't use the low mount AC that the vette FEAD uses that wouldn't fit in most cars. I planned on notching my chassis for the AC anyway, and was told me the supplier of my engine mounts that the low mount AC should fit easily if I do so.

What he also told me was that the 3.3 only comes in rear inlet and the 4.0 has an optional wrap around inlet.

So the parts breakdown looks something like this:

Whipple 4.0 LSX with 10 rib upgrade- $6500 from TSP
ATI balancer- $500
Whipple HX pump- $250
Heat Exchanger- $500 (maybe more depending on brand/size)
HX Plumbing- $300 or so (???)


Basically around 8K complete for the 4.0 whipple with the dedicated 10 rib drive if you can get away with using a Y body accessory drive. that sounds much more reasonable and puts it in the price range of a similar power potential procharger kit.

This opens up the option again for me, if it is as easy as what the Whipple tech is telling me.

I also spoke to the owner of Boost District who was incredibly helpful. I priced out an LSA blower setup using an LSA accessory drive so I can utilize the 8 rib dedicated blower drive and the complete setup would run me about $4500 with their upgraded heat exchanger.
This car is practically my daily driver (only on nice days) and I love taking it on long, out of state road trips so I'm wondering if the LSA blower may be a more dependable choice. On the other hand, guys are maxing out LSA setups at around 650-700whp and I really hoped to have potential beyond that. The whipple making 700whp should have far less potential for heat soak, and will have potential to make more power if I desire. The LSA blower with a shot of nitrous would probably put me where I want to be, but i'm wondering if any of the factory reliability benefits of an LSA blower will go out the window when you start trying to squeeze another 300hp out of it.

For half the price of the whipple, the LSA blower seems like an awesome deal and would save me money that I can put towards my other project....but at the same time I have a fear of going to track days and getting wiped by my friend's modded hellcats and ZL1's then wishing I had more blower, especially knowing the B15 LSX can handle it.

 

 

JimmyG, thanks! Any way I can save money will be worth it to me as pricing out the whipple, it is still coming out to a bit more than I wanted to spend. If I can close that gap up a little, it would be great.

Chad, I'm interested in the chiller as well, how it works and if it replaces the HX. I was always worried too that it would diminish the performance of the AC. Does the AC blow as cold in hot summer driving?

 

https://killerchiller.com/p/faq

hmm, answered some of my questions from this website. If this really works well without the HX then it may be worth it. they claim no drop in AC temps when not using a HX and the universal kit doesn't cost much more than a good HX would.