to supercharge or not..that is the question...

i seems like if you want to get more than 300 rwhp, then supercharge is a good option....

all the car manufacturers are supercharging now to get more HP rather than doing it N/A...i guess its a viable/reliable way?

 

you only live once

 

yea...
i personally like the idea of N/A better...but man, its a lot of effort and the $ is pretty close to just supercharging it and getting more HP.

supercharger seems bolt it on....done deal....

 

Or you could get a turbo

 

i say whipple or magnacharge it and you are good to go, oh and off topic here but Enfynet, where did you get the pic of the Horrorfest girl, i want to buy the posters, i went to all three nights and flew to san antonio to see the 10th movie, i have the shirt and the Horrorfest tag they but over the entrance to the theater room

 

times 100

 

im reading good things about Paxton.

 

Gotta Go Whipple

 

Is it just me or has SC thread popped up like crazy the last month?

 

No surprise...

I think an SC as at the TOP of many of our Xmas lists !

 

Right on........ that and the fact that seemingly more people have installed them with less engine KABOOMS helps out too......

Personally I can't decide whether to supercharge or not; I really want to but I'm afraid of having problems and I can't and won't drop another HUGE load of cash on a rebuild. So the more people that have them and don't have problems the more it makes me begin to think that I'll be ok. Then common sense gets the better of me and I think, uh, maybe not with my right foot.....

 

I feel ya, Tom, but I think that as long as we stick to conservative tunes and have a reputable shop do the work, we should be ok.

I'm thinking ~400rwhp - at least until I can build up the motor!

Anyhow, let's get real, that's plenty of power to handle MOST challengers out there.

 

If you can afford it, go for it. I'm always leery of pumping mega dollars into a car as I know and soon as the next, and more powerful, Stang comes out I'll want it and lose my a$$ in the trade. Then I think, well if I wanted a turbo or SC, then why not just purchase a Saleen, Roush, Foose, etc., and have the warranty. Sure they cost way more, but by the time you're done moding so that your car immulates a Saleen, Roush... then you should have just purchased Saleen, Roush... I've only had my car since August and have already put about $2,500 in it. I know, way less than others. I think that if I was in the market today, I would have probably purchased a Roush S3 ...or not- I am getting older and hopefully wised up, so maybe I'll keep it more than a few years and the SC would definitely be the way to go.

 

I just added the FRPP supercharger and I now have 475.5 and 458.6 torque.
I already had the FRPP suspension kit
More power better handling and much less money than the GT 500.

I intend to keep this car for a long time so IMHO go FRPP/Whipple

 

Hi YaoNYC,

If you want to drive your car on the kind of race track with curves the characteristic throttle response and finesse of a N/A motor may be a better option if you like this feature of driving your car. It does cost slightly more money per horsepower going N/A but you will have a finer responding motor with much more predictable throttle response. You can bolt-on 100RWHP in your own garage with a little help from your friends. If you can do the installation yourself you are into an N/A motor with 350-360RWHP for a conservatively rated 400+bhp at the crank for about $4,300 with a custom dyno tune give or take a few bucks. If you don't have a garage to work in with standard automotive mechanic's tools and the friends to help you, adding that 100RWHP N/A is going to be more expensive. My advice is to make new friends with a garage and tools who have done this kind of work already and offer to bring cold beer.

If you want a bit more power say 370-390+RWHP or so, don't mind the slightly different, slower feeling throttle response of a belt driven blower and still want to retain most of the long term reliability of a factory motor the options are pretty simple and even moderately priced. Go buy a good off-the-shelf blower (the smaller KB's or standard Saleen work great in this regard), and get a good custom dyno tune. Whatever you do, don't start chasing the blower upgrade curve or your engine's long term reliability will take a dump as your supercharger costs will start to skyrocket along with your dollar per horsepower and a very high likelihood of blowing up your engine's bottom end. A nice Saleen supercharger setup without upgrades but including a custom dyno tune on your vehicle should run in the $5,600 range assuming you have the friends and garage to do the installation.

The standard Saleen supercharger install is a fairly simple, clean installation. If you go the N/A route there is a bit more effort involved but only because you have to pull the valve springs which are by all accounts a PITA. I suppose the same could be said of the Saleen though with having to install the under bumper heat exchanger rad necessitating the removal of the font bumper cover etc. Either way the installation time is about the same so if you have to pay for labor it's pretty much a wash.

HTH

 

NDHESQ, those are some hefty numbers, congrats!! Are you planning to upgrade the stock internals?

For anyone who's looking, what parts do you need to upgrade besides the crank, rods, and pistons? Also, is the 8-bolt 03-04 forged cobra crank a direct bolt in?
-Darth

 

Aren't there special tools that are "required" to get those springs changed?

I would like to stay NA myself, but only for the fact that there is usually a little more margin for error. I'll tell you though, I have built quite a few engines in my time, but pulling a brand new 3 valve motor apart for that extra 30 hp or so sounds scary! Pulling the bumper wouldn't bother me though.

Is the '05-'07 different than other positive displacement supercharged cars? Throttle response was amazingly smooth and perfectly predictable with the KB (boost based on throttle position) I had in my last Mustang ('95) with no worry of keeping within a certain RPM range for power as it and torque was always there. Is it the throttle by wire that causes an issue here? I could see this being more of a problem with a turbo as the power comes on pretty quickly once they spool, or maybe even centrifical where power comes on more as the RPM rises.

I have had many 5.0s and this is my first 4.6, so I like seeing these threads. In the 90's it was said that if you had a 4.6 the only way to go was supercharged. It is nice to see this engine evolve to where we have more options.

 

There is an old saying ...'There is no substitute for cubic inches'. And that is what a supercharger equals. Gives that 4.6L V8 a 7L attitude, w/o the lag of a Turbo or belt driven centrifugal.

 

Thanks for this PonyDNA.

Great information. It seems like Supercharger is straight forward easy...

i will be sure to research exactly my needs before i go for it.

 

at 475.5 isn't that taking a chance on blowing the bottom end? I have the Vortech ,but I've had it at a safe tune 455.6 rwhp which still might be a little high, I plan on doing a forged bottom end in the near future.
Any way your FRPP sounds like a great addition to your car.