Procharger on stock LT-1 bottom end?
 

Hi everyone, I just finished a 2 year restoration/modding project on my 94 Formula and have been considering adding a used procharger setup to get me up to about 420-450 RWHP...can the stock pistons take 6 lbs of intercooled boost safely if I get a MSD boost retard and run 42lb injectors with upgraded fuel pump and new tune from PCMforless? The setup I am looking at is the single air to air intercoooler version. I want to get a bigger pulley because this p600b procharger runs at 8lbs...I want to play it safe at 6lbs. Just to give you some background on the car, the engine was just freshened up with new rings, bearings, high volume oil pump 2K miles ago. It is mostly stock with just 52mm TB, ported intake manifold, 1.6RR, beehive valve springs, lunati voodoo #60121 cam, mid-tube headers, hollowed cat, magnaflow cat back. The car will be used 99% for street duty; so I want lots of torque:devil: Anyone have any experience with low boost on a stock LT1? I know ported heads or aftermarket heads would be the next logical step for a cam only motor like this...but that supercharged torque sounds very tempting...:nod:

put the money into a better pistons... not to many have been successful boosting the stock bottom end, including me! It will live for awhile and a spot on tune is critical to longevity!! I had had a p1sc kit on a 20k mi lt1 back in 03'... It lasted 4k mi before #8 ringland let go... It was stock tune with that shitty fmu maxed, so it was running pig rich. It made 420whp @ 8psi... Didnt know any better back then, since I was one of the first procharged lt1 cars around. Knowbody knew shit and prochargers customer support was pretty much non existent then. boosting a lt1 successfully takes lots of time, patience, and MONEY!! Good luck

Yeah, take my word for it, my motor was toasted within 1000 miles of boosting it at 6 lbs.

You should look at big combustion chamber heads and a very good dyno tune if you want to go that route. Even that isn't the greatest idea with the stock bottom end... but it's safer than stock compression and an ok tune.

First of all, you won't have a lot of torque down low. At 6psi max, you're talking about 6 psi @ 6000-6500 RPM. Lower in the RPM range, you won't see much gain. Superchargers (unless you're high in boost) are better for power up high. If you want that low-end torque, go for a small turbo.

Not sure on the specs of the cam, but it may not be ideal for a blower, and definitely won't be ideal for a turbo. Change the cam.

And get that bottom end beefed up. Forged pistons at a minimum, pistons and rods recommended, and pistons, rods, and crank suggested.
It's not worth boosting that low and taking the risk on a stock bottom end.
For the power and torque you're looking for, it would almost be worth it to do a bit more work on the top end and keep it N/A.

Or a roots blower.

switch to e85 and roll out. running pig rich is what killed that ring land, as posted above.

I know the rods and pistons are pretty much a given to upgrade but I hear the stock LT1 crank is really strong for nitrous or boost. Any truth in that?

Yeah, the stock crank is good for around 500HP, but I am personally changing over to a forged crank regardless.

I hear what you all are saying...it would be cheaper and easier to just stick N/A for now and just get ported heads or aftermarket ones for my next step up in performance. It would suck to put the supercharger on just to see my motor pop in 2K mikes:mad: Especially after it was just rebuilt. By the time I would build a forged bottom end, get the supercharger, injectors, fuel pump, MSD, tune, gauges, ect. I would be looking at spending $10K plus. . and weeks or months of downtime....which is very expensive when you look at horsepower per dollar gains. How much torque can be gained from ported factory heads anyway? Do you even notice the difference in ported/aftermarket vs. stock heads in the lower RPM ranges (less than 4K RPM)? I suppose I could deal with just 390-400 RWHP. Thanks for the advice! Keep it coming!

i'm running 7-8psi on my daily driver right now. custom remote mount set-up on a 145k internally stock motor. call me crazy :lol: been running it like that for almost a year and a half. still runnin' strong. only thing that has broke on me are multiple opti's, gears, and tranny.

definitely need a good fuel system and tune to keep from blowing shit up

You should read "my story." Last year, I installed a turbo system on my Z, and ran 5-6 lbs. of boost for roughly 900 miles. I ended up going to the Shootout, ran like absolute garbage, couldn't build boost, and finally blew the car in October shortly after the Shootout.

See though, I expected mine to fail. I knew the day would come where I would be sitting in my garage, ripping everything apart to start a new. And that's where I am at right now. F/I is not affordable, so if that is a factor for you, do not do it. It will cost you.

Requires good tune and keep fresh premium in it. Mine has lived a long time on 9lbs.

jennifer i didnt know you blew the motor. been there and done that twice. talk about a headache. im reving my stock bottom end to 6800 with my le2 setup.

Holy hell, I wondered if that car was still alive. Awesome to hear it's still going. I have you bookmarked on my browser.

Yes, ported stock heads/intake, TB, and a cam can make a big difference and can get you 390-400 RWHP and then some. The possibility is definitely there.

I know it's a 383, but my ported stock heads and a medium-sized cam put out 440tq.

As stated good tune/fuel system. GM high tech just featured an LT1 built by brutespeed running 8psi on the stock bottom end for years running 10 second passes

Several posts above:

:D Not sure if you noticed that or not? :smokin:

injectors,fuel pump,and good tune...you should be okay..i was running 8lbs on my stock lt1 with no problems,2 year DD....But desided i wanted to crank up boost so pistons got changes along with cam...etc...You have the right parts to run that type of boost..