Cauhauna

I have an 08 LS3 z51 vert. Bone stock except for Corsa Sport exhaust.

I think my best bet is a supercharger. What will my best bang for the buck be, in the opinion of corvette forum?


I'd like to keep the sound profile the same or not much louder than my corsa sport currently.

Car has 40k miles. 6 speed MT

schpenxel

I, personally, went with an ECS supercharger kit

The heartbeat kit is quite nice though. If I had an LS3 I would have considered it for sure.

DOUG @ ECS

Base ECS kit, meth injection and headers = 700 RWHP.

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Cauhauna

Doug - Can the stock internals and drivetrain actually handle 700 hp?

Is the ECS kit self contained?

schpenxel

Yes on self contained.

Probably going to need a clutch, at least in my opinion.

I'll let Doug answer on stock internals.

DOUG @ ECS

We literally have 100's of C6's on the road over 700 rwhp. The auto's usually trap high 9's in the good east coast air. The failure rate is less then 1% miraculously.

We do not swap clutches at the time of install and those who do not track it regularly/high RPM launches on a good tire, usually get long life out of the stock clutches.

EvanZR1

Key phrase highlighted in bold. Mine with 600RWHP (A&A) is holding fine on the stock clutch, but my buddy that did the same blower, but also has cam & headers (for about 650RWHP at the time) needed a clutch almost immediately. Difference is he went to the drag strip a few times, and drives around on NT05Rs on the street. Personally, I wouldn't do the ECS kit without doing a clutch, as 700RWHP is going to be right on the edge of toasting the stock one. Having said that, for $10K, you should probably be pretty close to an ECS kit and clutch. Alternately, A&A without clutch for right at 600RWHP, or Heartbeat for 550RWHP. Any of them will be fun. If I had it to do over again, I might do the Heartbeat for the extra low end TQ. Not like I really need it though as I can't get traction as it is...

Seadawg

And if with 40k miles on it, I would replace the clutch setup first, get it broken in/debugged, then go with this ECS setup by a trusted installer in your area.

But, that is also what I'm planning to do, and it has taken me over 3 years trying to get there.....

I made it to Long tube headers and a tune, and still enjoying the power at that level for now.

CMY SIX

let A&A corvette have it in Oxnard Ca. you won't be dissappointed!

0aFe POWER

If you need headers, our Tri-Y headers would help that blower breathe out

OUT2WIN

Im wanting to switch mine for a heartbeat. I want more low end power!

thegame

what this guy said

Mike's LS3

550-600 rwhp on a stock motor without meth. For the Z51, the kit comes with a DeWitts radiator to accommodate oil coolers and additional cooling capacity.

For best engine reliability, keep RWHP under 600 rwhp and around 10-11 lbs. of max boost with a good tune.

My oem clutch with 60k miles started slipping on a load bearing dyno at 6k rpm. Didn't feel it slip on the street. However, a Mantic dual disc clutch resolved that issue.

If the HB has a slight wobble, it's a good time to replace it with an ATI HB (pinned) during the S/C install.

With the base 285 rear tires and Z51 gears, traction will be an issue in 1st and 2nd gears and worst with a PD (roots) type blower. Wider and stickier tires will help, along with throttle modulation.

Just passing along some of my experiences.

Enjoy and play safe.

Cauhauna

a local shop with well known corvette experience quoted me around $9000 out the door to install an ECS kit and a dewitt's radiator and brushless fan (it gets really hot here in phx) as well as a dyno tune. they seemed extremely knowledgeable and responsive.


What are the thoughts of CF?

EvanZR1

I paid under $10K for my A&A with Dewitt's installed. And yes,, you definitely want the Dewitt's.

Dano523

Your digging a very expensive rabbit hole by supercharging.

Yes, you can get over 600hp for under $10K, but with the added power, now comes upgrading the drive line to hold all that power without breaking something instead.

So in the end, count on dropping around $15K as a starting point if you are planning on super charging the vet.

thegame

That's not true. Maybe if you are launching the crap out of the car on really sticky tires then yes you have a point. Most of these are street cars are perfectly fine with the bolt on blower and tune.

HOXXOH

The first question that few people ask is: What do you intend to do with the car?

If a big HP dyno sheet to lay on the dash at car shows is the quest, then photoshop is a better alternative. Drag racing, closed road tracks, autocross, open road racing, top speed runs, cross country road trips, and car show garage queens all have their place and individual requirements. There is no one-size-fits-all.

You can't get a good result if you don't identify the goal first.

schpenxel

Price doesn't seem out of line for a competent shop.

If I were a shop I'd charge in the 6500 range for an installed ECS kit I think. Dewitts radiator + fan is like $1100-1200.. so you're at $7500 or so there. Throw in $500 for tuning and you're at lets say $8K

I would suggest two things. First is change the balancer while they're pinning the crank. Trick flow makes one for around $200, so you don't have to spend $500 on an ATI or whatever it is they cost. The stock balancers are not very strong. The second thing I would consider is a decent catch can. The open breather setup that ECS includes is not ideal and I had problems with fumes in the cabin that made my head spin (literally made me dizzy). Others have PM'd me that they had the same problem.. Some people don't have any issues with it.. no idea why. mightymouse makes the best catch can around, so that would be my suggestion there. All together the catch can, fittings, lines and balancer should be around $500-600 in parts. Balancer install could be tricky labor wise depending on how they pin the crank currently. If they pull the steering rack to pin the crank, then swapping the balancer won't add much labor at all. If they don't, then pulling it could add an hour or two of labor.

The catch can I would say is a 1-2 hour install

At the very least I would do the balancer. The catch can be added later without overlapping a lot of labor with the supercharger install. Doing the balancer after the SC is a royal pain (ask me how I know!)

Zero_6

I was thinking doing bolt-ons with head and cams. Now a super charger sounds better and I may do that instead.