A&A Vortech C5 Supercharger Build Thread by Toys4Life C5
10-31-2018, 05:46 PM
#101
Safety Car
sorry I must not have seen it, the posts are getting a little busier in here haha... well I'm kinda in the middle on that issue... there's no doubt that putting in some arp rod bolts is a good thing but on the other hand it is quite labor intensive and at that point why not yank the whole engine out and forge it, but keep in mind it gets more and more expensive the further you go down the rabbit hole... it really depends on the person though, some will be super conservative and never rev the car that high because of the bolts or other worries and others are willing to take a risk, personally I don't mind taking a little risk but you also have to understand what you're dealing... heck, I've seen people have more problems with very expensive built engines than they did with the stock one and for the cost of another stock engine it might be worth the risk as opposed to forging and hoping the machine work and assembly was done properly... but like I said, it just depends on the person
the smaller the blower pulley the faster you are spinning the blower which causes it to move more air at a given rpm... some people like to use a restrictor plate when they want to use a smaller pulley to move more air but do not want high peak boost numbers, essentially you will get the gains down low but caps them off at the top... if you restrict the blower too much it can cause your iats to climb, that is one negative... adding an overdrive balancer will accomplish the same thing as a smaller blower pulley so that's one reason you see many supercharged guys running them... here's a cool little calculator you can use to determine how fast you are spinning a given blower in relation to your balancer, blower pulley size, and rpm, https://928motorsports.com/services/selectingpulley.php... my car is a 6 speed and I really don't know enough about autos to recommend anything
, hopefully someone will chime in on that
the smaller the blower pulley the faster you are spinning the blower which causes it to move more air at a given rpm... some people like to use a restrictor plate when they want to use a smaller pulley to move more air but do not want high peak boost numbers, essentially you will get the gains down low but caps them off at the top... if you restrict the blower too much it can cause your iats to climb, that is one negative... adding an overdrive balancer will accomplish the same thing as a smaller blower pulley so that's one reason you see many supercharged guys running them... here's a cool little calculator you can use to determine how fast you are spinning a given blower in relation to your balancer, blower pulley size, and rpm, https://928motorsports.com/services/selectingpulley.php... my car is a 6 speed and I really don't know enough about autos to recommend anything
, hopefully someone will chime in on that
11-02-2018, 11:56 AM
#102
I blame this thread for changing my original mods of headers and cam only. Now I gotta get this kit.....LOL
As soon as I got my C5 all my friends started telling me not to supercharge it because I would kill the reliability of the LS1. That advice seems to be 100% false after reading all the positives about this A&A kit
As soon as I got my C5 all my friends started telling me not to supercharge it because I would kill the reliability of the LS1. That advice seems to be 100% false after reading all the positives about this A&A kit
Last edited by Buck2323; 11-02-2018 at 03:33 PM.
11-02-2018, 03:39 PM
#103
Instructor
Have followed this thread carefully and very informative info in it i must say and much of it is new to me, have also seen all the clips from the tube, i did purchase the basic(used unit 1400usd off trade in)A A V3si kit with the 3.8 pulley on its way to me now so waiting on delivery.
I have a 02 manual convertible with a XS Power catback system otherwise car is totally stock drivetrain, so a lot of work to do much more than i did expect, i am aiming for 500 - 525 hp no more as driveability is a priority, as i understand the car with kit works as normal at lower revs 1500 - 2500 as there is no boost is that correct ?
I have a 02 manual convertible with a XS Power catback system otherwise car is totally stock drivetrain, so a lot of work to do much more than i did expect, i am aiming for 500 - 525 hp no more as driveability is a priority, as i understand the car with kit works as normal at lower revs 1500 - 2500 as there is no boost is that correct ?
Last edited by MatsA; 11-02-2018 at 03:41 PM.
11-02-2018, 03:54 PM
#104
Safety Car
Have followed this thread carefully and very informative info in it i must say and much of it is new to me, have also seen all the clips from the tube, i did purchase the basic(used unit 1400usd off trade in)A A V3si kit with the 3.8 pulley on its way to me now so waiting on delivery.
I have a 02 manual convertible with a XS Power catback system otherwise car is totally stock drivetrain, so a lot of work to do much more than i did expect, i am aiming for 500 - 525 hp no more as driveability is a priority, as i understand the car with kit works as normal at lower revs 1500 - 2500 as there is no boost is that correct ?
I have a 02 manual convertible with a XS Power catback system otherwise car is totally stock drivetrain, so a lot of work to do much more than i did expect, i am aiming for 500 - 525 hp no more as driveability is a priority, as i understand the car with kit works as normal at lower revs 1500 - 2500 as there is no boost is that correct ?
11-02-2018, 04:27 PM
#105
Andy (A&A Corvette) will have some killer Black Friday deals no doubt! I would call and talk to him about it, he will let you know. I got mine through a black friday special last year. Great guys to work with!
11-02-2018, 04:53 PM
#106
Safety Car
11-02-2018, 05:25 PM
#107
Melting Slicks
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St. Jude Donor '21
That;s pretty funny...I was looking at that used kit as well, but I wanted a blacked out kit....I am still going back and forth with Andy with questions as I am here. I learned alot on this tread as well and hope "toys" does not feel like his tread was hijacked. He was extremely helpful especially with his videos. My goals are the same as yours, and even a bit less, but I have to think about rod bolts for my year so I will leave some power on the table with my rpms being set no higher then 6100...I really prefer to stay with my MAF, but that one will be determined by my tuner...Andy said he has tuned many many cars with the MAF...Time will tell
My goals are around 550whp. The supercharged C5 can be made to run well keeping the MAF and it can also be done well tuned in speed density too. As of now I still use the MAF and have already gone to max boost/RPM with my setup all of August, Sept and October and have proven to my satisfaction that the AFR's stay pretty close to where I want them to be. People start to freak out and get too **** about AFR's not being super precise when you go outside of the MAF's range and rely on the PE/RPM tables.... Precise is good, but just imagine how non-precise all the carburated nitrous cars were prior to fuel injection. .Those guys either guessed rich or melted /detonated pistons.... They had to rely on what color smoke came out the rear end, "reading the plugs" and smell of the exhaust but it was not very precise.... Now we are spoiled with affordable wideband O2 sensors. I always use my gauges at WOT to monitor for knock and keep an eye on the o2 sensors to make sure the AFRs are safe. No matter what type of tune you are running, a weak fuel pump or many other factors will quickly have you lean!
P.S. Don't hesitate to talk to Josh as well as Andy if you go the A&A route. I have no regrets with my kit.
11-02-2018, 05:50 PM
#108
Instructor
That;s pretty funny...I was looking at that used kit as well, but I wanted a blacked out kit....I am still going back and forth with Andy with questions as I am here. I learned alot on this tread as well and hope "toys" does not feel like his tread was hijacked. He was extremely helpful especially with his videos. My goals are the same as yours, and even a bit less, but I have to think about rod bolts for my year so I will leave some power on the table with my rpms being set no higher then 6100...I really prefer to stay with my MAF, but that one will be determined by my tuner...Andy said he has tuned many many cars with the MAF...Time will tell
Last edited by MatsA; 11-02-2018 at 05:52 PM.
11-02-2018, 05:55 PM
#109
Instructor
No worries about the thread - I like talking about SC C5's and I try to give info when I can add value and also gain knowledge by others views on things.
My goals are around 550whp. The supercharged C5 can be made to run well keeping the MAF and it can also be done well tuned in speed density too. As of now I still use the MAF and have already gone to max boost/RPM with my setup all of August, Sept and October and have proven to my satisfaction that the AFR's stay pretty close to where I want them to be. People start to freak out and get too **** about AFR's not being super precise when you go outside of the MAF's range and rely on the PE/RPM tables.... Precise is good, but just imagine how non-precise all the carburated nitrous cars were prior to fuel injection. .Those guys either guessed rich or melted /detonated pistons.... They had to rely on what color smoke came out the rear end, "reading the plugs" and smell of the exhaust but it was not very precise.... Now we are spoiled with affordable wideband O2 sensors. I always use my gauges at WOT to monitor for knock and keep an eye on the o2 sensors to make sure the AFRs are safe. No matter what type of tune you are running, a weak fuel pump or many other factors will quickly have you lean!
P.S. Don't hesitate to talk to Josh as well as Andy if you go the A&A route. I have no regrets with my kit.
My goals are around 550whp. The supercharged C5 can be made to run well keeping the MAF and it can also be done well tuned in speed density too. As of now I still use the MAF and have already gone to max boost/RPM with my setup all of August, Sept and October and have proven to my satisfaction that the AFR's stay pretty close to where I want them to be. People start to freak out and get too **** about AFR's not being super precise when you go outside of the MAF's range and rely on the PE/RPM tables.... Precise is good, but just imagine how non-precise all the carburated nitrous cars were prior to fuel injection. .Those guys either guessed rich or melted /detonated pistons.... They had to rely on what color smoke came out the rear end, "reading the plugs" and smell of the exhaust but it was not very precise.... Now we are spoiled with affordable wideband O2 sensors. I always use my gauges at WOT to monitor for knock and keep an eye on the o2 sensors to make sure the AFRs are safe. No matter what type of tune you are running, a weak fuel pump or many other factors will quickly have you lean!
P.S. Don't hesitate to talk to Josh as well as Andy if you go the A&A route. I have no regrets with my kit.
11-03-2018, 05:08 PM
#110
Safety Car
No worries about the thread - I like talking about SC C5's and I try to give info when I can add value and also gain knowledge by others views on things.
My goals are around 550whp. The supercharged C5 can be made to run well keeping the MAF and it can also be done well tuned in speed density too. As of now I still use the MAF and have already gone to max boost/RPM with my setup all of August, Sept and October and have proven to my satisfaction that the AFR's stay pretty close to where I want them to be. People start to freak out and get too **** about AFR's not being super precise when you go outside of the MAF's range and rely on the PE/RPM tables.... Precise is good, but just imagine how non-precise all the carburated nitrous cars were prior to fuel injection. .Those guys either guessed rich or melted /detonated pistons.... They had to rely on what color smoke came out the rear end, "reading the plugs" and smell of the exhaust but it was not very precise.... Now we are spoiled with affordable wideband O2 sensors. I always use my gauges at WOT to monitor for knock and keep an eye on the o2 sensors to make sure the AFRs are safe. No matter what type of tune you are running, a weak fuel pump or many other factors will quickly have you lean!
P.S. Don't hesitate to talk to Josh as well as Andy if you go the A&A route. I have no regrets with my kit.
My goals are around 550whp. The supercharged C5 can be made to run well keeping the MAF and it can also be done well tuned in speed density too. As of now I still use the MAF and have already gone to max boost/RPM with my setup all of August, Sept and October and have proven to my satisfaction that the AFR's stay pretty close to where I want them to be. People start to freak out and get too **** about AFR's not being super precise when you go outside of the MAF's range and rely on the PE/RPM tables.... Precise is good, but just imagine how non-precise all the carburated nitrous cars were prior to fuel injection. .Those guys either guessed rich or melted /detonated pistons.... They had to rely on what color smoke came out the rear end, "reading the plugs" and smell of the exhaust but it was not very precise.... Now we are spoiled with affordable wideband O2 sensors. I always use my gauges at WOT to monitor for knock and keep an eye on the o2 sensors to make sure the AFRs are safe. No matter what type of tune you are running, a weak fuel pump or many other factors will quickly have you lean!
P.S. Don't hesitate to talk to Josh as well as Andy if you go the A&A route. I have no regrets with my kit.
11-03-2018, 05:56 PM
#111
Melting Slicks
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St. Jude Donor '21
thanks, I am getting addicted to this SC idea. I am already buying supporting mods, but the list keeps growing. My 99 has more suspect parts then later years but the costs are getting out hand...now the whole trunion discussion because I decided to upgrade my valve springs....geeze...I will most likely skip the trunions unless I find later year rockers complete so it's a brainless swap when I replace springs...I would prefer to keep the MAF and Andy said get has tuned hundreds via the MAF. Now that I decided to go with the 3.8 just to err on the side of caution, I think I am very close to pulling the trigger. I am just waiting on some personal issues to work them selves out and that should be very soon...What hp/tq are you at now? Has the engine oil or coolant temp increased much since the install?
2. The more I read about the tunions the more I seem to find credible threads indicating that the failure rate is NOT that bad as long as you don't have a massive cam with crazy strong springs and but strong enough so that you do not float the valves. I may leave mine alone , but I am going to upgrade to LS6 springs NOW I have been pushing my luck with stock valvesprings revving to 6500....
3.I did not see much of an increase in engine temps but it is not like I am road racing the car... only the occasional burst which is not too hard on cooling. Do clean the crap out of your radiator and condenser when you have it apart. There will be a TON of debris in it from years of use.
4. As far as peak HP goes, somewhere around 500whp.
11-03-2018, 07:04 PM
#112
Safety Car
1. I don't believe it is that expensive to switch later to a 3.6 if you decide to. That haveing been said, if you have 91 octane, go with the 3.8. If you have 93 octane available go with 3.6.
2. The more I read about the tunions the more I seem to find credible threads indicating that the failure rate is NOT that bad as long as you don't have a massive cam with crazy strong springs and but strong enough so that you do not float the valves. I may leave mine alone , but I am going to upgrade to LS6 springs NOW I have been pushing my luck with stock valvesprings revving to 6500....
3.I did not see much of an increase in engine temps but it is not like I am road racing the car... only the occasional burst which is not too hard on cooling. Do clean the crap out of your radiator and condenser when you have it apart. There will be a TON of debris in it from years of use.
4. As far as peak HP goes, somewhere around 500whp.
2. The more I read about the tunions the more I seem to find credible threads indicating that the failure rate is NOT that bad as long as you don't have a massive cam with crazy strong springs and but strong enough so that you do not float the valves. I may leave mine alone , but I am going to upgrade to LS6 springs NOW I have been pushing my luck with stock valvesprings revving to 6500....
3.I did not see much of an increase in engine temps but it is not like I am road racing the car... only the occasional burst which is not too hard on cooling. Do clean the crap out of your radiator and condenser when you have it apart. There will be a TON of debris in it from years of use.
4. As far as peak HP goes, somewhere around 500whp.
11-03-2018, 07:09 PM
#113
Race Director
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2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
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get a wideband for sure... I have an innovate ecf-1 and psb-1 in my car and aside from having a sensor prematurely fail they have been pretty good and you get a lot of info into one gauge... ngk/ballenger is another good wideband but the gauge display isn't the best in my opinion... fuel pressure is dependent upon the fuel system... with a stock style fuel system with a boost a pump you should be holding approximately 58psi, with a boost referenced return style system base pressure depends where you set the regulator and pressure will rise with boost to keep injector flow the same
Last edited by neutron82; 11-03-2018 at 07:13 PM.
11-03-2018, 08:01 PM
#114
Safety Car
get a wideband for sure... I have an innovate ecf-1 and psb-1 in my car and aside from having a sensor prematurely fail they have been pretty good and you get a lot of info into one gauge... ngk/ballenger is another good wideband but the gauge display isn't the best in my opinion... fuel pressure is dependent upon the fuel system... with a stock style fuel system with a boost a pump you should be holding approximately 58psi, with a boost referenced return style system base pressure depends where you set the regulator and pressure will rise with boost to keep injector flow the same
11-03-2018, 08:12 PM
#115
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I'm not sure on the autometer gauges but if you want to be able to log it in hptuners you need to make sure it has an output so you can add that to the parameters that you are logging... if it doesn't have an output you will just have to rely on your eyes haha... do you have the older hptuners of the new mpvi2?... as far as I know the pro features aren't working on the mpvi2 yet which is a major setback for people wanting to tune or datalog with a wideband or other inputs... I removed my cats long ago and personally don't like them on boosted cars
Last edited by neutron82; 11-03-2018 at 08:17 PM.
11-03-2018, 10:53 PM
#116
Safety Car
I'm not sure on the autometer gauges but if you want to be able to log it in hptuners you need to make sure it has an output so you can add that to the parameters that you are logging... if it doesn't have an output you will just have to rely on your eyes haha... do you have the older hptuners of the new mpvi2?... as far as I know the pro features aren't working on the mpvi2 yet which is a major setback for people wanting to tune or datalog with a wideband or other inputs... I removed my cats long ago and personally don't like them on boosted cars
11-16-2018, 12:49 PM
#117
Safety Car
So what's your guys thoughts on the ring glands for piston 5 and 7? I hear its a potential issue but most comments were from years ago. Now is that an issue simply because our cars will be boosted and take more "engine abuse" or is it once again something that tuning can keep at bay? I do plan to ensure that my tuner knows what he is doing and keeps timing low and a bit rich when mashing the pedal.....Thoughts?
Toys, personal question- you've had the A&A kit for a few months now. What are your thoughts? Still smiling???
Toys, personal question- you've had the A&A kit for a few months now. What are your thoughts? Still smiling???
11-16-2018, 01:37 PM
#118
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a spot on tune is essential for making them live regardless of power level, you can just as easily blow one up with 2psi as you can with 20psi... if you can keep them from knocking and the tune is good, good fuel, and everything working properly, they can take more than most would think... if you don't mind bringing your car to Texas we have a really good well known tuner in the DFW area that I could send you to... sounds crazy but the bulk of the cars he works on are out of state
Last edited by neutron82; 11-16-2018 at 01:38 PM.
11-16-2018, 01:47 PM
#119
a spot on tune is essential for making them live regardless of power level, you can just as easily blow one up with 2psi as you can with 20psi... if you can keep them from knocking and the tune is good, good fuel, and everything working properly, they can take more than most would think... if you don't mind bringing your car to Texas we have a really good well known tuner in the DFW area that I could send you to... sounds crazy but the bulk of the cars he works on are out of state
Agree. I have about 3k on mine and it doesn’t miss a beat. Made 817 and I’m normally not very nice to it and made over 20 passes at the track this summer(most of which we’re back to back). I tune my own and others in the area. If I didn’t do my own tuning I would use the guy I’m sure neutron is talking about.
11-16-2018, 02:02 PM
#120
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yep, I won't let anyone else touch mine lol... he is also a dealer for a&a and could get you set up with a kit, install, tune, the works