Well, here's the deal. In Dec. I blew my N20 H/C motor, so I was going to build a 408 N20 motor. Then I started reading up on all these blower setups and decided I'm gonna go the blower route. Now I'm starting to lean back toward a 530-550rwhp na motor and 750+rwhp on the bottle. The reason I like the N20 route is because 550rwhp would be so much easier to use on a daily basis(less the N20) than 700+rwhp on a blower setup. I think a lot of my frustration is because I've been spending literally hrs upon hrs. doing research to figure out what I want. The blower route is so much more $$$!! I can do it, its just is it worth all the extra money?? I guess that's where the title of my post comes from. I need some inspiration from you guys! I'm discouraged to go the blower route because I see a never ending money trail. the na route could be done so much cheaper! And 550rwhp is a lot anyway for a daily driver. I've already ordered some 76cc afr heads for a blower build up, but I can always change that. Any advice would be great. Sorry for the long post. It's late and I couldn't get my thoughts all together very easily. Hopefully this makes a little sense. thanks--andy

 

Corvette supercharger bracket systems are usually pretty good to setup.......

go with an A&A kit, put an F1 blower on it.....with 12psi on a 408, it would make around 650rwhp on pump gas......

Blower setups take a lot of tuning, and the right fuel system.......

 

Well if you don't want a never ending money pit, F/I may not be for you. I had always wanted a S/C motor since I got my first LS1 back in 02, but I could never get that much cash together at once, after wasting tons and tons of money on other worthless **** I finally descided I would put a single turbo on my LS1

that was all fine, untll I found 2 nice looking T70 turbos for a great price, and thats how project single turbo ls1 turned into twin turbo monster ls1, after doing some research I saw Harlan's pictures of his buildup and instantly saw that as the solution, fabrication started, and many thousands of dollars later my car is about half way done with what seems like no end in site.

Thats not very inspiring, sure its cool to walk out in the garage and look at the mighty twin turbo ls1, but the cost of forced induction can be huge, even if you don't intend for it to be.

 

that's what I'm afraid of

 

you think 650 rwhp w/an F1 408 is all I could muster? i ask that question honestly, I thought I'd get more out of that setup than that! If that's the case, I'll go 408na and throw a measily 100shot at it to achieve 650rwhp. Heck, my h/c stock bottom w/N20 wasnt far from 600 at the wheels

 

Budget $10-$20k and you'll be ok.

 

That's a broad range wouldn't ya think? But yea, I've got about $15k bugdeted to get it done. It's just a matter of if I want to spend that much on it!

 

Not really, I think I'm into my setup about $12-$14k and I'll be "done" @ around $16-$18k

 

When the packaged superchargers hit the market a few years ago, they really weren't "ready for prime time". They have evolved significantly due in large part to many of the guys on this forum (thanks guys). They are much better now, but are still evolving and will likely need some tweaking. It can be a money pit, but if you do your homework and buy good parts to start with, you can have a car that performs well and is reliable. Driving on the street with lots of power just takes some time to get used to. You can make more than 650rwhp with a F1 (I plan to make that and more with my D1SC), but you should go with low compression and, as BIGBOSS said, tuning is key. Also, some guys will tell you that heads don't make much difference in FI. This is not true. Flow is just as important in a FI application as it is in N/A with special emphasis on exhaust flow. You should talk to some real head gurus and get their recommendations for a head/cam/exhaust setup for your engine. You should already have an idea where you want to make peak power based on what your plans for the car are. If it is going to be primarily a drag car, upper rpm flow is important. If you also want to auto-x, road race, or you just want some real grunt for tooling around town or the countryside without revving the motor, focus more on mid-range power with a peak around 5500-5800. Regardless, you want a heads/cam/exhaust package that are matched to your application. There are a lot of guys that are maxxing out their D1SCs but still not making anywhere near the D1SCs rated 925 supercharged horsepower (flywheel), which translates to around 750 rwhp. There are a lot of variables, but it is obvious something is holding them back. My bet is it is on the exhaust side. Port size, flow characteristics, valve size, collector back pressure, cam overlap, etc. must all be taken into consideration to get the most out of a blower. A D1SC will flow 1200 cfm while only running the compressor at 85%, and will flow 1400 at 100%. Some guys are even overdriving theirs. While you can get away this for a while, you are on borrowed time. No performance component should be driven to or beyond its design limitations. The general trend seems to be, if you aren't making the power you thought you would with the D1SC, slap on an F1. You will probably get a little more power, but the real issue has still not been solved.

I apologize, I have a tough time keeping my posts short, but you wanted some inspiration and I just wanted to enlighten you as to what is involved in going FI and doing it correctly. Unfortunately, I have only scratched the surface.

It all boils down to: do your homework, talk to experts in their field, formulate a plan and set of specs, go back to the experts for their opinions, revise plan/specs as necessary, shop for the right parts at the right price, have the proper machine work done (balancing/blueprinting, torque plate honing, etc.), have it all put together by a competent performance shop (if you don't feel you have the skills necessary), get a quality tune by someone with a reputation for getting it right, and make sure the rest of the car is modified as necessary to handle all the power you plan to make. If you do all this, (you will be broke just kidding; or not ) you will have a quality machine than runs like a scalded cat and is reliable (with occasional tweaking). Will you be satisfied? Yes, at least for a while, but FI is addictive and from the getgo requires some fairly deep pockets. Can you make more power for less money with N2O, probably, but as you can testify to, it won't live as long, you have to constantly be filling the bottle, and you can only use it for WOT applications. With FI, once you are done, you are done until you decided to go bigger and you will have gobs of power just a toe twitch away any time you want it.

Again, I apologize for the length, and I wish you good luck in your quest for power on demand. Oh, there is one more thing to always remember (check the quote at the bottom of my sig).

Tom