Pumba

Gentlemen,

Do any of you have experience and data on the use of a Vortech supercharger on a Z06?

What are the pluses and minuses?

Dr.Ron

I heard from Chris @ East coast supercharging that the vortechs don't hold up on the vettes. They go with the magnachargers I think. I heard one idle. You'd never know it had a supercharger in it, that's how smoothly it ran. It's a bolt on of over 120hp!


[Modified by Dr.Ron, 2:08 PM 10/18/2003]

0C5stein

Pumba,
MSI installs ATI (Pro-charger), Magnuson, Vortech & Paxton. They all have their pluses and Minuses.
I like the magnuson very well, but it requires a hood change and will not pass California smog.
The Vortech is by far my favorite.
It is as quite as the Magnuson, it puts out more horsepower, and uses an air to water intercooler. The down side is that it is the most difficult to install, because of the intercooler setup. The best part is that retains the stock cooling fans and is the only one that is california smog legal (which is a really big deal to us).

Good luck on your selection, but for what it is worth, I'm putting a vortech on my car (and I could put any of the three on my car).

Pumba

C5stein,

Thanks for the note.

Where is your shop?

I have downloaded and read the Vortech installation manual for LS1-LS6 installation, and it is within my capability.

I have talked to the people at Vortech and they have told me that because I have CNC'd heads, a VaraRam, long-tube headers, and Crane 1.8:1 rocker arms their setup will not acheive the 6.0 to 6.5 psi boost that is advertised. This is because my motor offers less flow resistance than the stock motor.

Have you had any experience changing the drive pulley on the Z06 Vortech package from 34 teeth to 30 teeth as is used on the LS1?





[Modified by Pumba, 4:25 PM 10/18/2003]

0C5stein

Our shop is in Sacramento California.
We don't have experience with your specific setup. The Superchips programmer will not be any help to you with all of those mods either.

You might try contacting Andy at A&A in Ventura California. My guess is that he has done exactally what you are talking about doing. He is also a Corvetteforum vendor. We have seen his work and it is clear that he is as concerned about quality as we are. Hell, I would even let him work on my car. :yesnod:

I hope this helps.

Racer

:bs There are lots of us with vortechs on our Vettes. This is my second Vortech equipped C5. I have sheared my crank pins, and shredded two alt/crank belts. All problems have been cured using updated parts. Mags are great superchargers but they won't produce anywhere the numbers the Vortech or the ATI will. :cheers:

Dr.Ron

Hey Racer,don't shoot the messenger! :jester I'm just relaying what I heard. If you've had success w/ them, then fabulous! :flag The guy tuned me & I went 11's,He does 2-3 superchargers a week so I figured he knows what he's talking about. :thumbs:

Racer

Hey, no problem. But when the Vortech guys chime in, you will see that most are running fairly trouble free. My first Vortech vette probably has 25,000 miles on it by now. I don't even think he has thrown a belt in it. I never when I had it. You might have an awesome 11 second car,:thumbs: :thumbs: but I have Vortech equipped cars, and I am answering from my own personal experience. On top of that my tuner has done numerous installs of all three S/C kits and he recommends Vortech very highly. :smash: :D :cheers:

lager99

And Steve's car gave me a :) :conehead :)

:cheers:

Yano

I talked to Chris before I bought my Vortech kit too. He said he hated the kit, loved the ATI. I talked to tons of other tuners that hated the ATI and loved the Vortechs.. Andy has basically completely redesigned the ATI and that is why I went with the Vortech. It seemed that every single week I read the forum there was a new problem with the ATI. I have one of the original type Vortech kits. It has worked great. :D To each their own

63Corvette

For what it's worth, you Vortech people should read Larry Webster's road test of one, on an 03 Z06 on page 28 of the November Car & Driver. Neither Larry or the Vortech guy could get it to run faster than a stock Z06 (12.4 @ 119mph) in spite of dynoing at 538 HP???

lager99

:skep: Who's on glue? :p:

Racer

:rolleyes: Not even going to comment on that one. :rolleyes:

Ryan Bell

:iagree:

That's stupid.

stingray454

I saw that article too. And it makes no sense at all. They blamed it on larger diameter wheels that were supposed to be for show only. But they were only like 19's, so they weren't that ridiculous.

Vortech C5

They used Toyo Proxy tires. They don't nearly hook up as well as the stock goodyears. Put some realistic tires on that beast and watch out. I shaved an honest 1 sec. off of my car in the quarter mile. After having the Vortech, I will NEVER go back to stock. :cheers:

MacMan

I had the Vortech SQ trim on my Cobra Mustang. Awesome. I loved it. It's been on the car for three years now putting down 485rwhp, and the current owner still hasn't had any problems.

I'll be going Vortech on the Z06 as soon as I can save all the pennies (gonna take a lot of em.)

Sandra Bigwoode

yes, i had a vortech v-2 with liquid intercooler fitted at the vortech plant in may 2003 at the 7,000 mile point.

vortech performed an engine teardown and 1/4 performance in the valley reassembled the engine with forged internals, arp head studs, and a double pitch chain on the cam drive. the car was otherwise stock except for the t-1 suspension.

baseline: 285 whp, 275 wtq
final run: 403 whp, 341 wtq at 6.5 psig at 6400 rpm

i know these numbers may seem low compared to others here with vortechs' but this was done at the home store and i believe them. the pulley is stock 34 tooth for this application.

i love the car, and people who know fast corvettes have driven it and walked away impressed!

the vortech kit installs very neatly, but is a lot of work. 18-24 hours of labor is quoted by the factory. a number of people commented at a corvette run here in jax, that if they hadn't known better they would have assumed it came from bowling green that way... since the kit is so well integrated.

vortech's facility is huge in channel islands, ca very modern with 3 large dyno facilities and really neat computer monitoring of the unit under test.

pick a local installer who has done several of them and you won't be disappointed. finally we used unocal 91 octane with ethanol for the final run, it is the best premium you can get in california. out here we get 93 no name everywhere...

av8or3

My setup has been trouble free once I got the belt alignment problems worked
out(with Vortech's help). 23k since install,I love it, and I did it myself!
Search "The Transformation has begun" for a blow by blow account of the
install.Others doing the install at the same time jumped in on the thread as
well, is a good read if you're planning on doing the install yourself.


[Modified by av8or3, 1:53 PM 10/21/2003]

pwrshhftd

well he was just trying to sell you a magna charger.
i have been in the biz a long time and i have NEVER heard anyone bash a Vortech. They are the standard in supercharging, no matter if its mustang, camaro vette or whatever.
I have owned several vortech s-trims that went the distance, 100,000 + miles.
You just dont hear of a vortech tearing up.
period.

Now vortech owns paxton and vice versa.