Supercharger or 2x turbo for LS. Would a local shop be able to do it?

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b34nz

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I am very impatient and want the super charger ASAP.

I hear that supercharging the LS is very hard. What if I took it to a performance shop in my local area, you think they would be able to pull this off? I would even accept twin turbo if I couldnt get the super charger.

Thanks.
 
b34nz said:
I am very impatient and want the super charger ASAP.

I hear that supercharging the LS is very hard. What if I took it to a performance shop in my local area, you think they would be able to pull this off? I would even accept twin turbo if I couldnt get the super charger.

Thanks.
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Any good shop worth their salt can do it, but the problem is that there aren't as many good shops as some would imagine. A lot of racing or performance shops bill themselves at that while only being parts retailers and nothing else.

The best bet would be to turbocharge the LS anyways. The reason being not neccessarily in the ease of one versus the other (they both have their equally difficult challenges) but rather that per pound of boost the turbo makes more power being that is isn't powered by the engine crank. That is not soo critical in other cars that can run 9+ psi on the stock bottom end of their engines. Being that our cars have 10.55:1 & 10.75:1 compression we don't have much room to boost before hitting the absolute wall of safety. Only about 6- psi is what I would be somewhat comfortable throwing at these engines due to their really high stock compression.

I know some may not agree with this, but in these cars the best bet is to really just go with a properly tuned setup of wet nitrous. Nitrous loves high compression engines and your only limit is the stock fuel system (if left without upgrades) and your internals actual power limit; versus the limit at which detonation will occur with the F/I stuff. Hope I didn't bombard you with too much info. :D
 
:q:q:q:q I was going to purchase a used (came off of an LS) complete custom fit N.O.S. kit with a purge kit, bottle heater, switches, and a/f gauge for $500 even. I backed out because I was having problems with my second vehicle and didnt want to depend on the LS for my daily driver will trying to run it with spray on the weekends.

The whole kit ended up selling at $375 on ebay. Someone got one hellofa deal because that is about $550 for the kit, $150 bottle heater, $200 purge kit, and who knows about the a/f gauge and the labor to custom fit all the lines and what not. I think I shoulda went with that and just ran a 50 shot or something.
 
I would never get NOS. It's kind of like wearing a fake gold necklace IMO.
I want real, all time power. Something I can use everyday in normal driving conditions.
 
b34nz said:
I would never get NOS. It's kind of like wearing a fake gold necklace IMO.
I want real, all time power. Something I can use everyday in normal driving conditions.
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Some people like it just for that reason; that it can be turned off. Bottom line is that nitrous is safer to use on these cars than F/I is. That is unless you plan to run race gas all the time to prevent the chance of detonation. :D
 
Where Are You Located In Florida? There Is A Good Shop In Jax. Stage Six Is The Name. Everyone I Know That Has Had Major Turbo Or Supercharger Work Has Some Point Gone To Them. This Is Usually Where You Find The Fastest Rice Burners And High End Cars.
 
decibels5 said:
Where Are You Located In Florida? There Is A Good Shop In Jax. Stage Six Is The Name. Everyone I Know That Has Had Major Turbo Or Supercharger Work Has Some Point Gone To Them. This Is Usually Where You Find The Fastest Rice Burners And High End Cars.
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I'm in south west Florida.

I actually just went down to a performance shop around the corner and they said they can turbo or SC the LS for me. They said even if I didnt go that route, if they Hooked up the computer to my car, they could probably get me close to 15%+ more power just by removing all the factory restrictions. These guys work on lots of porsche, supra, mustangs, etc, They have a really good rep around town.
 
b34nz said:
I'm in south west Florida.

I actually just went down to a performance shop around the corner and they said they can turbo or SC the LS for me. They said even if I didnt go that route, if they Hooked up the computer to my car, they could probably get me close to 15%+ more power just by removing all the factory restrictions. These guys work on lots of porsche, supra, mustangs, etc, They have a really good rep around town.
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I dont mean to be the bearer of bad news but they aren't going to get 15% more horsepower out of your car by just modifying your PCM settings. On a 252 hp engine that would be a gain of almost 40 horsepower with just a tune. Expect roughly 20 additional horsepower with a more aggressive tune.
 
rocket5979 said:
I dont mean to be the bearer of bad news but they aren't going to get 15% more horsepower out of your car by just modifying your PCM settings. On a 252 hp engine that would be a gain of almost 40 horsepower with just a tune. Expect roughly 20 additional horsepower with a more aggressive tune.
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Maybe the guy ment 15-20 HP
He was in a hurry, just talked real fast and he took my info, they were closing the shop up when I walked in.
 
A turbo is much more difficult to plumb than a s/c. You not only have to run the intake side, but the exhaust too. I really don't know if you could find the room on one of these cars for that without having to locate the turbo(s) in the exhaust at the back of the car. (although I'm hearing some pretty good results out of that system) But Rocket is correct...you get more hp to the wheels per pound of boost due to no parasitic drag with the turbo. Cool idea...I would love to see you take that on!!
 
2001LS8Sport said:
A turbo is much more difficult to plumb than a s/c. You not only have to run the intake side, but the exhaust too. I really don't know if you could find the room on one of these cars for that without having to locate the turbo(s) in the exhaust at the back of the car. (although I'm hearing some pretty good results out of that system) But Rocket is correct...you get more hp to the wheels per pound of boost due to no parasitic drag with the turbo. Cool idea...I would love to see you take that on!!
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Yes and no. A turbo is more difficult to plumb but a supercharger is more difficult to find a place to mount and then line the head unit pulley up with the front drive accessory pullies(recessed under cam gear ledge in heads). The only real feasible way to supercharge an LS is to go with a roots or other top of the intake manifold supercharger. I had a centrifugal supercharger from an old project left over and was planning to try to fab that in the LS once I bought it. Once I got the LS and took a closer look and made a few measurements I found that it was all but impossible to fab a centri in there without losing some other accessories in the process. I am all for really custom supercharger work and all, but I didn't feel like messing with that can of worms when there were two better options.

For these cars if you have to do F/I then turbo is by far the way to go for more than a few reasons. As long as the turbo is correctly sized and mapped to the engine it is going on then even in a remote mounted location they will function pretty well. You will have to put up with a tiny bit more lag time, but nothing major as long as the turbo is picked carefully.
 
If they choose a SC or turbo, what am I looking at for a ballpark price? Any ideas? $5,000? More? Less?
 
b34nz said:
If they choose a SC or turbo, what am I looking at for a ballpark price? Any ideas? $5,000? More? Less?
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For everything said and done, with a tune your talking more like $7,000-$8,000 or so at least for a custom turbo kit with all the workings included.
 
rocket5979 said:
For everything said and done, with a tune your talking more like $7,000-$8,000 or so at least for a custom turbo kit with all the workings included.
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YIKES.
I better start saving up lol

After all the stuff I just bought for my LS, I only have 1500 or so left in the bank. Oh well, I REALLY want a SC or turbo, so I will just have to save my ass off.

I cant wait
 
I thought of going the route of the turbo going back by the exhaust, did a little research and watched a show on it being done and if you go to the right place and get the right kit you won't have any lag like some might think. Only thing stopping me is I would rather spend my money on something useful like a house or something than take the life of my LS and make it possibly half by adding more power. I am sure the engine can take a great deal, but I would rather just settle for basic add-ons.

Good luck though if you do have something done and of course be sure to let us know how it is.
 
Beamer said:
and get the right kit you won't have any lag like some might think.
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While lag can be minimized, it can never truly be fully overcame. That is why it is a lot harder feathering the throttle on a turbo race car because of the lag and then the free spool on the other end. When sized right lag will be minimal enough so as not to be an issue. :cool:
 
rocket5979 said:
While lag can be minimized, it can never truly be fully overcame. That is why it is a lot harder feathering the throttle on a turbo race car because of the lag and then the free spool on the other end. When sized right lag will be minimal enough so as not to be an issue. :cool:
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That is also one big reason many racers running turbos equip their cars with a small shot of juice. It doesn't take much NOS to spool up that turbo in a hurry. They only hit it long enough to get the turbos spooled up. Then it's hold on to your ass!!!
 
2001LS8Sport said:
That is also one big reason many racers running turbos equip their cars with a small shot of juice. It doesn't take much NOS to spool up that turbo in a hurry. They only hit it long enough to get the turbos spooled up. Then it's hold on to your ass!!!
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I am not referring to lag just on the accelleration end. I am talking about all around lag. Tossing the juice on a laggy system will get the car off the line quick enough without the turbo making full boost and also get it spooled pretty good by that time too. What I am talking about is that but ALSO the lag time you got when trying to feather the throttle when the tires lose traction. After all, I don't think ya wanna hit the juice when your trying to regain traction. :D :D :D
 
guy's, just FYI, I'm not looking to make my car a "race car" or a drag car. I just want it to be fast incase I need it. 75% of the time I will be driving normal. But when kids pull up next to me in those stupid ass honda's and whatnot, reving the engine, I'd like to be able to make them feel like total :q:q:q:q:q:q:qs. Ya know what I'm saying?
 
beaups said:
then n02 would be perfect
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I feel like nos is cheating. I want true HP ya know.
If I cant get turbo or SC then I will just do everything else I can besides that and I will have to deal with it.

I have magnaflow exhaust and the full intake kit on the way. I will get that installed and the computer reprogramed. I hope that would give me atleast 25 more HP.

After that, I'm not sure whatelse I could do? Any ideas? Headers or something?
 
I have exhaust (custom 40 series flowmasters), intake, modded cold air tube from lower grill, and the XCal2 and when running at max tune I'd be surprised if I made more than 280HP. That is a 30+ overall HP gain from my stock 252 on the gen1 LS. If you don't SC or some other form of forced induction it doesn't get too much faster. That is just my opinion, I'm not an expert by any means though...

My next mod is 3.58 gears. If I was going to go any further I'd get nos. A 50-75 wet shot with all necessary safety accessories used with care and common sense would be fine...

From what I understand things like headers, throttle boddies, intake manifolds, and other things similar are too difficult and costly. First off you don't have much room and second you would need all the parts custom machined (to my knowledge)...

Also, if you only need/want the power 25% of the time nos makes WAY more sense than a SC or turbo....
 
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