Can someone direct me to some vendors who sell forced air induction for '96 LT4?

 

Talk to Tom Wong, (TJWong on the forum) at Wongs Performance, I think he is closest to you for the tuning/installation etc, and not sure if he is a dealer for Vortec or ATI, but if not, Greg Carrol at www.blowerworks.net, or Chris, (brand-X) from the forum.. both are very knowledgeable on blowers and depending on what head unit you want to use will determine which person you talk to. I think Greg is mainly Vortec and Chris (Brand-X) is mainly ATI Procharger. I don't think you could go wrong with either of these guys. You will be VERY limited to how much boost you can run on the stock LT4 engine as it has a 10.8 to 1 static compression ratio which means its tight in the chamber and the elevated temps this creates and the limited amount of space available for the charge air to fill gets crunched pretty tight. the hyper pistons are not very forgiving under detonation and a few short spurts of it under boost may have you pulling the engine before long. my recommendation would be to either beef up the shortblock with at LEAST some forged pistons of a lower compression ratio (I am having good luck with the speed pro forgings which are heavy but strong) and/or get some bigger chamber heads to help drop the compression ratio and be able to better take advantage of having a blower on the car. be advised it is a wonderful modification but often times people do not think their budget through well enough and are suprised at how quickly the costs add up.

for example.. the fuel system will definately need to be upgraded, for under 500rwhp which is what I would expect a well laid out setup should make will need at least 42lb/hr injectors, and a replacement 255 l/hr High Pressure fuel pump like the walbro GSS340M which both of these will run you a total of around $550-600 dependign on where you shop. to simplify things I would ask for a complete package which handles all the fueling requirements the forced induction will need. I am not a fan of the FMU (Fuel Management Units) and would prefer to have a tune made on a dyno to get your new setup dialed in and safely usable specific to your car. this will help insure a long life of good driving for the engine and blower setup, but comes at a price of around $500 dollars. so ythere is $1100 bucks you probably didn't expect to spend on top of the blower kit, plus the engine work.. figure about $2500-3000 if you're having someone else do the work of pulling and installing the engine and this is with just a new set of pistons installed, machine work done and rebalanced. if your doing the work yourself.. and being it is an LT4, I would look at purchasing a new shortblock to keep your engine together and factory stock. this way if you decide to sell the car you can return it to factory specs and still have the new shortblock and blower kit which can usually be sold as a pair better then alone or int he car. just some things to think about.. there is ALOT of planning when doing something like this and whether you decide to take the advice given or not is completely up to you.. but from the experience here in this forced induction forum you will find if you skimp in the begining, you'll spend more money overall and have more headaches before you arrive where you originally wanted to be. and find the advice is for your benefit and to help save you time and money!

Chris

 

Chris thanks for the info. Definitely food for thought. I sort of forgot about the high compression ratio.

What are the simplist bolt on mods to gain a few horses and increase low end?

 

really.. for a noticeable difference you are not going to get much without at the very least slipping in a bigger camshaft which will require some fairly major mechanical effort and tools. it can be done pretty simply on ramps in a garage as most of us do them this way, but it is more entailed and is still not cheap. in all honesty, the simplest way to increase power without alot of work is a nitrous kit. the engine stays pretty much the same, I would still upgrade the fuel pump at the very least 190 bucks from racetronix, but a hundred shot would add a nice kick in the pants without having to go through the major installs of other forms of power making.

the dissadvantages.. bottle refills add up.. and it is not an "ALWAYS ON" mod.. nitrous tanks run out fairly quickly and you will be hitting refill shops more often then you'd think.. it is also risky on hyper pistons.

the blower really is the best alternative to not changing your engine for a few more ponies, but again.. its not cheap.. give the people mentioned above a shout and let them fill you in on what ya need to do it safely and be able to enjoy your car still!

Chris

 

Not necassarily looking for cheap but ease of install. Thinking about headers. I've done headers on other chevy's and they don't always fit that well and a sixty's chevy engine is much more accessible than my LT4 appears to be.

Are there any programing options?

 

Greg at Blowerworks

 

the only headrs worth putting on are long tube headers and then you will need to either get a set of aftermarket cats and have an exhaust shop fit the cats and exhaust system together or if your in a non smog checked state (not sure about Oregon) you could eliminate the cats altogether for some extra power.. bolting on an aftermarket exhaust system to the headers would need to be done as well to get any benefits from the headers.. here again you are talking about 1000 for a cat back, 550 for a set of coated hooker headers and about 350 for a set of cats for a grand total of 1900 bucks.

now if you go blower.. these mods will lend themselves very nicely as you will NEED to be able to get rid of exhaust gases more efficiently. if there are no mods done to the car, and you think you may want to go forced insuction down the road.. start with the exhaust system and headers and cats.. this will net you about 20rwhp and 20 ft/bs if not a little more.. it will give a nice tone to the car and be done with its slinky stock sound. I personally like the BB Triflow 3" system for power.. nice construction, offered with an X pipe option and good looking mufflers. great sound and performance for a reasonable price.

after the exhaust is done and you begin to want a little more power.. then you can begin by getting a fuel pump upgrade.. this install is not too difficult and can be done with common tools. maybe install it and reassemble.. go in stages for the easiest way.. as you do this you will be getting more experience working on the car. headers aren't too bad but they won't fit to anything when your finished so a muffler shop or exhaust specialty shop will need to finish the install for you which will cost some money.

once thats done, get the injectors and the supercharger system from one of the forum support members listed above.. these guys have worked most of the kinks out of the kits that one would experience if purchasing directly unmodified from ATI or Vortec.

the supercharger install is not for the feint of heart, but can be done with some determination.. about 20-30 hours for the first time is not unrealistic.. as finding the right tools and fittment and eveything takes a little time. a clean engine bay always helps.

other then that.. you could always pay to have these things installed.. again, Wongs Perofrmance is in your State I believe... it would be well worth it to pay to have someone install it rather then try and do it yourself if you do not have a healthy tool box a good place to work on it and jacks, ramps, jackstands..etc.. the cost of purchasing tools can get quite out of site.

why don't you let us know what your working with so we can better help you come up with a satisfying solution...

Chris

 

Jason Esher at automotionperformance is a procharger dealer in denver. He's installed a D1SC in my 95.

-derek

 

i went through many different stages in this blower game to acheive my finall goal ( a street driven pump gas 10 second car) my word of adivce is to take a minute and ask yourself what you really want the end result to be and build the car once and right. greg from blowerworks is the man. his knowledge and products brought my car to my final goal.
tell him john with the yellow '94 said hi

 

got a web address for Greg at Blowerworks...

www.blowerworks.com ain't it...

TIA

 

Be carefull of high boost or nitrous on the LT1/LT4 engines.. They go poof real quick if not kept in perfect running order and if your right foot is heavy, while using a stock bottm-end...

 

Try: www.blowerworks.net