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I thought I would start a thread with my experience in installing a torqstorm supercharger kit from Bling motorsports and some of the fabrications or tricks that I did to get things rolling.
First I started off with removing the abs with SJM abs line lock delete kit.
http://www.sjmmanufacturing.com/cam_brk_ls1.html
The installation went pretty well and the lines will need to be double flared for the brass fittings that come in the kit. I mounted my proportioning valve on the shock tower, which has just enough clearance when the supercharger is mounted on. Proportioning valve by the torqstorm.
When relocating the power steering pump you can bend the factory line up by the power steering pump, in my case I just ordered a powersteering line kit from CBR performance products that help me to relocate the pump without the hassle of bending the line.
At this time I am currently waiting on a pulley to be made and sent to me, since there was some miscommunication on the order.
I am also having issues at the moment with hood clearance on a wsq hood, which means I will have to look into having a shop do some fiberglasss work to have it clear the bracket the supercharer sits in. I still need to button the radiator hose to the fan shroud to clear the pulleys Pulleys are currently touching the upper radiator hose.
Pipe routing for an intercooler will be fun Wsq hood
I ordered the intercooler from huronspeed.com
https://huronspeed.com/product/front-mount-intercooler-brackets-fmic/
i did some fabricating on my front bumper to allow air to the intercooler I used a dremel to cut out the license plate cover. Than I bought an abs honeycomb grill off Amazon and used JB weld to tack it to the plate and bumper.
Well that is all I have to share for now, I hope to continue sharing my progress in hopes of helping others who are looking at torqstorm superchargers as an option for their fbody.
Update 07/10/21 Piping is all setup to go with a custom air lid to work with stock air box. Kept the battery and coolant overflow in stock location. I went off the original battery wire to extend to this powerful lithium battery. I had no desire to add a kill switch to the back of the car if I were to relocate the battery to the hatch. Front bumper is mounted, without any fitment issues, Hood should be ready around August.
All I have left to do is button up the upper radiator hose and route the A/C line, so it doesn't touch the supercharger pulley. Tune is set for August 26th.
UPDATE: 08/05/2021
I have now tucked the A/C line between the two fans on the shroud. I noticed on my 99 trans am that the a/c line was already tucked from factory between the two fans, where my 98 had fins that had to be trimmed to fit the line between the two fans on the shroud.
I removed all 4 plastic tabs on the fan shroud and used three radiator zip ties to get the shroud further away from the supercharger pulleys, you will also need to slot the 4 air box holes. This will allow you to move the shroud further away from the pulleys as well.
I have also gotten the hood back, and in the process of getting things aligned correctly.
Hood still has some small adjustments to be done.
The hole needed to get the supercharger to fit under the wsq hood.
Update 4/21/22:
Dyno results are in on 91octane 1st run was with the cold air intake and 2nd was without the cold air intake.
I plan on running e85 and upgrading the pulley to a 3.1 during next winter down time", for now I'm going to enjoy the car this season.
Last edited by Corruptedbird; 04-28-2022 at 11:15 PM.
Just curious if you had an update to the hood clearance problem?
No updates at this time this (06/28/21) I will be meeting a body shop that specializes in fiberglass work this Wednesday to rework the driver side of the hood.
Nice progress. What made you decide on the Torqstorm system?
There was a few reasons, First being the price. As of right now I'm about 5,000$ into the kit (new power steering lines, lithium battery, new coolant resevoir, pipe fabrication, intercooler, the supercharger kit itself.) Second, was to try something that not many others have done yet compared to going with a procharger. Third, the Torqstorm will put me at my desired power level ~600rwhp. N/A I was at 406rwhp.
Seems like a lot of extra work when compared to a Procharger system?
I didn't think you needed to remove ABS and do all the extra work with a low mount Procharger kit but I could be wrong.
Seems like a lot of extra work when compared to a Procharger system?
I didn't think you needed to remove ABS and do all the extra work with a low mount Procharger kit but I could be wrong.
Procharger would still have some work to do with it, but it's definitely a more complete kit than what's currently offered with the torqstorm. Theres also the price difference between the two as of right now I'm $5,000 into the torqstorm Kit as a whole. I believe the procharger kit for an fbody is currently at 6,700 plus any additional work that you might have to do to get that kit to work. Though if your looking for more than 10psi/1250cfm, than Procharger is the way to go.
There was a few reasons, First being the price. As of right now I'm about 5,000$ into the kit (new power steering lines, lithium battery, new coolant resevoir, pipe fabrication, intercooler, the supercharger kit itself.) Second, was to try something that not many others have done yet compared to going with a procharger. Third, the Torqstorm will put me at my desired power level ~600rwhp. N/A I was at 406rwhp.
Nice progress so far. Have any more photos of the car?
Some results would be interesting. We have a wide variety of different procharger install results, a few various PD blower results, and more turbo results than you can count. I can count Torquestorm installs on 1 finger, and zero results posted. Excite us.
I ran a torque storm on a 5.3, customer 218/228 cam motion blower cam, lightly ported stock 862s and a NNBS intake with 90mm WARR TB and a FMIC. Fuel injector duty cycle with 60lb Deka's (at 43.5psi) showed I was pushing 600-650crank HP at about 10psi. I ran the smallest pulley 3" but mine was the first generation kit with the single sized crank pulley. I had to crank the belt as I was fighting belt slip issues with the small 3" pulley. The blower worked great and for the street was alot of fun. I typically started to be in boost by 1700rpms. Behind a 2400 stall (3k flash) 10" billet converter in a 2004R and a ford 8.8 rear. (3rd gen not 4th gen) I used a GTO kit from torqstorm but at truck spacing.
Bump, OP any progress on the hood clearance issue? I think that's the main concern I'd have as that seems to be the only showstopper for me if I tried this, (although I already put a deposit on a Huron kit.)
I probably would have gone this route if they offered an FBody kit, cheap supercharger unit with lifetime guarantee was very appealing.
Also love that you're keeping your A/C, as that is what I would do should I go this route on the next ride. I would really appreciate if you keep documenting your experience here for me to possibly copy. :-)
Bump, OP any progress on the hood clearance issue? I think that's the main concern I'd have as that seems to be the only showstopper for me if I tried this, (although I already put a deposit on a Huron kit.)
I probably would have gone this route if they offered an FBody kit, cheap supercharger unit with lifetime guarantee was very appealing.
Also love that you're keeping your A/C, as that is what I would do should I go this route on the next ride. I would really appreciate if you keep documenting your experience here for me to possibly copy. :-)
If you have a ws6 hood, the supercharger will fit without modification, however the wsq hood has different bracing. This bracing just happens to be in the supercharger brackets path. I have added additional photos of the hood on my first post.
Another thing to note is that 99+ firebirds seam to have the a/c line already tucked between the two fans on the shroud where my 98 had fins between the fan that wouldn't allow the a/c line to be tucked in there unless it was trimmed out.
Props for trying something different. Just an FYI a low mount procharger fits in an Fbody with new fans, that's it. Stock power steering, hood, radiator, AC, etc. Used kits pop up all the time for a couple grand.
05-15-2021, 05:54 PM
Torqstorm Supercharger (Fbody) 
