When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
After talking with Procharger and a shop, I don’t like how low they hang. I may look at the Maggie if it can support big cubes.
The Maggie would certainly work on a 408, especially the 2650 version, not sure what cowl mods would be required though because I think the 2650 is a bit bigger than the 2300 which would also work. @Mr. Black is running an LSA (1900) blower on his 408" LS C5 Corvette six speed car with killer results, its right where you want to be.
A 408 with a Maggie would be a ton of fun, BBC torque everywhere lol.
I have a 2001 WS6 ls1 SBE H/C/I with an 8-Rib D1SC Procharger making 655/585. I have AC and all the other creature comforts that the car came with. The car did have to be upgraded from the single fan to a dual fan setup on the factory radiator and 187* T-Stat so, yes, the single leaves a little to be desired.
For IAT they are fine. My car uses the 4" thick base Huron Speed FMIC with some "Custom" charge pipes that are welded together and ceramic coated. The car has done plenty of road trips and existed in this configuration for a few years even before my ownership.
I guess I am saying that Procharger is a great option for an F-Body and for predictability I would stay with my Procharger
I have a 2001 WS6 ls1 SBE H/C/I with an 8-Rib D1SC Procharger making 655/585. I have AC and all the other creature comforts that the car came with. The car did have to be upgraded from the single fan to a dual fan setup on the factory radiator and 187* T-Stat so, yes, the single leaves a little to be desired.
For IAT they are fine. My car uses the 4" thick base Huron Speed FMIC with some "Custom" charge pipes that are welded together and ceramic coated. The car has done plenty of road trips and existed in this configuration for a few years even before my ownership.
I guess I am saying that Procharger is a great option for an F-Body and for predictability I would stay with my Procharger
I’m not sure I get that rational. You’d stay with a procharger because that’s what you started with and it worked? If you can have a power adder that works better for less, why wouldn’t you change? Could have all the same creature comforts you describe with a turbo. It would be quicker per pound of boost and turbos are much more reliable.
I can tell you firsthand wear/tear was much higher with my Procharger. I had mine 4 years from new. Used as my daily driver. Year 2 it started whining really bad and needed a rebuild. Which is pretty typical if you do a quick search. I’m sure folks will chime in and say they have never needed a rebuild or that they last 100k. But a simple search tells you its common to need rebuilds quite often.
On the other hand, there are MACK trucks out there with a million mile+ Borg Warner turbos on them. Turbo Lemans cars going full tilt for 24 hours. I’ve never seen a Procharged Lemans car. Or a procharger on any endurance racing style car.
I will say some of the China Blowers have me curious. Seen some as low as $650 for the head units. If you could get Procharger kits for a $1000-2000… similar to the turbo kit costs. Then I’d seriously look at them. Until that happens, I’d steer clear of 7k+ procharger kits. Juice isn’t worth the squeeze… as they say.
I’ll be carving the mountains here in the Pacific Northwest. I need reliability above all else.
I think everybody is still forgetting about this last part especially, reliability above all else and carving mountains in an f-body means no boost at all. Everybody arguing about which type of boost he should go with when he shouldn't be going that route at all given his criteria.
I think everybody is still forgetting about this last part especially, reliability above all else and carving mountains in an f-body means no boost at all. Everybody arguing about which type of boost he should go with when he shouldn't be going that route at all given his criteria.
I think everybody is still forgetting about this last part especially, reliability above all else and carving mountains in an f-body means no boost at all. Everybody arguing about which type of boost he should go with when he shouldn't be going that route at all given his criteria.
Of course a turbo can be reliable through mountains. Every semi-truck and “Race” mountain track is pretty much populated with all turbo charged vehicles just for that reason. They can perform at altitude. Just can’t half *** the cooling system/ducting. Last thing I want is an NA car that’s huffing at altitude. May not be blasting 3 bar up the mountain like the pike peak racers, but I’d say turbochargers *can* be very reliable.
If centrifugal chargers were super reliable by nature. I think we’d see them on OEM applications as well. Has to be a reason we don’t.
What kind of reliability and longevity do you think you get from a typical 7500RPM 750hp 416? Not to mention what that would cost! Lol. Something else to consider is at say 6000ft, that NA setup would be down 135hp or so.
I’d rewind a bit back to the OP’s goal of 600hp… not 750. Take a bone stock 5.3-6.0 with a cam and 600hp is attainable with a very mild valvetrain, reliable lowish rpm, and lowish boost and a stock long block. Doesn’t get more reliable that that IMO.
Believe Happel just did over 550WHP on 5psi with a cam only 6.0 on pump gas through a 4l80E. That alone would be well over 600 crank HP. Comparing the cost and reliability of some thing like a stock engine on 5lbs to high rpm big cube 750hp NA build is night/day IMO.
Honestly 600HP is pretty ridiculous for a canyon carver. Ideally, I’d want state of the art traction control and a really nice suspension and tires to even attempt 600hp up a mountain. Like super car chassis type stuff.
A typical suspension 600hp F-body would be a nightmare to road race up mountains IMO. I’d look at something super lightweight and more modern for that. F-bodies are too heavy. Its hell on brakes, tires, suspension. You could take a say super mild gutted 350z with a set of tires up that mountain WAY quicker than a 600hp F-body.
Of course a turbo can be reliable through mountains. Every semi-truck and “Race” mountain track is pretty much populated with all turbo charged vehicles just for that reason. They can perform at altitude. Just can’t half *** the cooling system/ducting. Last thing I want is an NA car that’s huffing at altitude. May not be blasting 3 bar up the mountain like the pike peak racers, but I’d say turbochargers *can* be very reliable.
I didn't realize we were talking about a semi-truck or "race" mountain tracks. I thought we were talking about an f-body having fun carving corners and wanting reliability above all else, and you can't honestly tell me you think a turbo setup is going to be more reliable than just keeping it naturally aspirated. The number of things that can and will go wrong skyrocket when you throw boost at it regardless of how well done it is.
I didn't realize we were talking about a semi-truck or "race" mountain tracks. I thought we were talking about an f-body having fun carving corners and wanting reliability above all else, and you can't honestly tell me you think a turbo setup is going to be more reliable than just keeping it naturally aspirated. The number of things that can and will go wrong skyrocket when you throw boost at it regardless of how well done it is.
Was just having a conversation to pass the time, but 600 HP sports cars carving mountain roads sounds like race car talk to me.
We were talking about power adders. From semi-trucks to race cars, they all use turbos reliably was the point. Was trying show there’s a broad range and they can be very reliable.
Reliability would completely depend on the NA car VS the boosted car. My point was you aren’t making 600HP NA without using relatively expensive parts and machining. You’d need to start with a decent big bore motor for one. Then you’d need to machine the block, buy the rotating assy, heads, headers, intake, assembly.. etc. It would cost a TON more. And unless you are paying top dollar for that engine machining and assy, often machine shops do more harm than good and don’t put the motors together as well as the factory did.
So yes, I firmly believe using a bone stock healthy LS long block with a simple turbo kit running 5-6lbs is much more cost effective and reliable way to reach 600hp. Bone stock OEM turbo cars go for hundreds of thousands of miles. I wouldn’t call a simple LS turbo setup a reliability nightmare. Sure, if you push in hard like we all do drag racing (or whatever) things are going to fail all the time. No argument there. But I believe those problems are drastically reduced if you run super low boost.
You're not going to get big elevation here, just limitless curvy roads since the whole area is situated at the base of the Cascade Mountain range.
That 422" N/A build would be my choice, it was just under $9K.
I think the OP would spend pretty close to that on a Procharger setup, plus all the ancillary stuff like dual fuel pumps, lines, head studs, etc.
Heck, he could just build the LS1 too for now.
Get some small chamber heads to boost compression, rowdy N/A cam, BTR Intake maybe?
He could absolutely do a turbo but based on my experience with my last car, if it was N/A around 600hp, it would have been way more fun in the twisties imho.
The turbo spooling up while coming out of a corner just made it too unpredictable for me, I nice linear N/A power curve would have been better.
Kenny Slides was always one of my favorite Youtube guys and his TA used a 416" LS3, OP might want to check it out.
@Mr. Black is running an LSA (1900) blower on his 408" LS C5 Corvette six speed car with killer results, its right where you want to be.
A 408 with a Maggie would be a ton of fun, BBC torque everywhere lol.
On the street I IMO don't know if there is anything more fun to drive. It's almost more like diesel torque.
On the topic of cooling, I'm still on the stock radiator and stock fans. Have been for years. Even with the AC on it has yet to be a problem.
I suppose on a 95 degree day if you flogged the car repetitively at low speeds it might get hot or even overheat but I just don't drive this car in those conditions.
Also Ball, I'm still resisting the urge to contact Kong to see if their 2650 LSA case blower would work with the Olson Corvette snout? If it would it would probably double the PSI.
On the street I IMO don't know if there is anything more fun to drive. It's almost more like diesel torque.
On the topic of cooling, I'm still on the stock radiator and stock fans. Have been for years. Even with the AC on it has yet to be a problem.
I suppose on a 95 degree day if you flogged the car repetitively at low speeds it might get hot or even overheat but I just don't drive this car in those conditions.
Also Ball, I'm still resisting the urge to contact Kong to see if their 2650 LSA case blower would work with the Olson Corvette snout? If it would it would probably double the PSI.
I dunno man, I'd leave it alone.
The car works, its fun, you're not into expensive Stage 3 transmissions or expensive clutches or any of that stuff.
I'm willing to bet its already hard enough to put the power down its making, what's more going to do?
I dunno man, I'd leave it alone.
The car works, its fun, you're not into expensive Stage 3 transmissions or expensive clutches or any of that stuff.
I'm willing to bet its already hard enough to put the power down its making, what's more going to do?
I've been there my friend, had cars that were really fun and ruined them by taking them too far.
I had a 70 BBC Camaro with a loose converter that was fun as hell but when I put nitrous on it the converter didn't work so I put a much tighter converter in to handle the power but when driving around on the street without the bottle on, the car was a total pig.
Totally ruined it.
6 Common C5 Corvette Failures and What's Involved In Repairing Them
Slideshow: From wobbling harmonic balancers to failed EBCMs, these are the issues that define long-term C5 ownership and what repairs typically involve.
Retro Modern Bandit Pontiac Trans AM Comes With Burt Reynolds' Autograph
Slideshow: A modern Camaro transformed into a retro icon, this limited-run "Bandit" build blends nostalgia with brute force in a way few revivals manage.
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Slideshow: Cadillac didn't just crash the high-performance luxury vehicle party, it showed up loud, supercharged, and occasionally a little unhinged...
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Slideshow: A one-off sports car that looks like a vintage Italian exotic-but hides a C6 Corvette underneath-just sold for the price of a new mid-engine Corvette.
