E-Force install.
I hesitate to post this info with all the monster motors now being built and discussed here. With the monster builds now exceeding 700, 800hp and more these numbers seem rather small and superfluous but it is, what it is.

I had no firm numbers in mind before starting but hoped for somewhere around 500 rwhp! I didn't want something that might/could grenade in 5 or 10k miles. Yea, it could happen anyway but the odds are a lot more in my favor with lower boost numbers. Anyone that believes they are adding tons of HP while retaining the original life GM planned for these engines is whistling past the graveyard. Not going to happen......

Now for the results....

ECS installed a 1593 E-Force charger kit and a new Dewitt radiator in my 06, MN6 over the past 2 days. Car has 16,000 miles and is bone stock except for Corsa sport exhaust. My goals were to add some HP but keep the drivability as CLOSE TO STOCK as possible. That was very CRITICAL to me! I also DID NOT want to open internals due to cost and potentially other issues.

My personal goals so far have been achieved 100% and I'm completely satisfied with the entire install. That's the only thing that really counts to me......

The fit and finish of these E-Force units is outstanding. Some excellent engineering was done and you can see it in all the components. Not sure WHY they went with aluminum wings (injector covers) because they are heavy and would seem to hold even more heat under there. You don't need them on and I'll problem run without them most of the time. The plastic ones GM used are light and do not retain heat.... perhaps an after market item from some enterprising vendor in the future? Over all those it's very impressive and looks like a factory unit. This is exactly what I wanted.

Mine is the lower HP kit that DOES NOT require a fuel pump change and uses the 3.875 pulley. ECS elected to go with my stock fuel pump based on information from Edelbrock and their own experience. No BAP was used but it wasn't a money issue as they had the go ahead if necessary based on tuning. It's a straight forward to upgrade if I decide I want the additional 50 hp. I would ONLY do it a Z06 pump change which is expensive and very time consuming to install. Not something I'm going to undertake. If the stock pump dies there is no fuel hence there shouldn't be any disasters! Car simply won't run...

Edlebrock claims 550 at the crank. The Dynapack (a little stingy according to Doug) yielded 493 rwhp on a warm day after a bunch of pulls. The IAT's were getting elevated so I'm pretty confident we're over 500 rwhp on a cooler day! I'm not a huge numbers person and simply wanted good street power. I'm guessing 500 rwhp equates to somewhere north of 550 at the crank which is right inline with Edlebrock's claim. To be honest it's more than enough for my purposes on the street. I'm not looking to start replacing driveline components either! The interesting part is those number were achieved with 4 lbs of boost at the low end to 7 lbs at red line. Can't see a lot of danger in those boost numbers.

East Coast DID NOT use the canned tune provided by Edlebrock. Never even opened the hand held unit that's supplied with the kit. Doug started from scratch and after a long day had it running great. I might add the car STARTED the FIRST TIME with just the stock tune. It would not idle under 1500 but Doug quickly corrected that and started tuning.
It took longer to get the tune finished then I thought ( almost 6 hours) but Doug wanted it right. This was ECS first install of the E-Force so it was a bit of learning curve. They have tuned a preinstalled E-Force but this was their first full install. It took a full day + to do the physical install. The mechanic (Mike) is a fantastic installer.... extremely professional and knowledgeable about installing super chargers. All things considered I'm extremely pleased I decided to let them do the entire install even though I have a pretty nice shop. Could have saved a fair piece of change but I didn't want to deal with problems if something went wrong. My learning curve would have been a lot longer than a day.... lol Then I would have had to have it tuned anyway!

I was on the road around 7:00 pm yesterday and heading home. It's a 200 miles home so it was nice test of the unit. The drivability was excellent. It's almost exactly like stock but you can feel a slight difference idling in traffic. Hard to describe.. not quite a surge when you back off at low rpm, but close. I got stuck in a massive traffic jam.... over and hour to go 6 miles! GRRRRRR.... Anyway the AC was on full without any problem heat issues. The new rad never allowed coolant temps over 190! Try that with a stock rad... never happen!!! I highly recommend the Dewitt rad if you are installing the E-Force and have any concerns about coolant temps.

IAT's are certainly elevated by this unit. I have a AeroForce gauge that I can check dozens of parameters and one I've been closely monitoring for 2 months is ITA's. The E-Force unit raised the IAT's significantly from stock.. around 30 degs on average. Not a big deal in cooler temps but on the 90 deg days you're going to experience some degrading in performance without a doubt. Lots of ideas on how to reduce the temps but I'll let the experts worry about it.

MPG went down around 1.5 mpg but I also was playing around with the car too. I haven't swapped out my old GY stock runcraps yet so traction in 1st, 2nd and half of 3rd is almost none existent when you stomp on it. It instantly overpowers the T/C... and then look out. If someone was inexperienced handling lots of power they could have an unhappy ending real easy. Hopefully the increased rubber size will help reduce that problem. I WOULD NOT let ANYONE drive it right now that doesn't have a lot of seat time in high performance cars..... The power is there when you want it.....

The unit itself is "extremely" quiet. You'd have to know it was under there to even notice it. Nothing like the noise you here from most SC units. No whine at all... NADA!! If you are looking for lots of SC noise this is not the unit to get! When you stomp it there is a very nasty growl and then sit back and enjoy the rush. I'm very pleased with the overall feel of the power band.... lots of fun to drive!

It's way to early to make definitive judgments about the E-Force except to say it's everything and more than I expected. It's not an inexpensive unit nor install for that matter but sometimes you get what you pay for. I have a factory looking unit that provides all the power I want for now. Drives like stock and is quiet under the hood. All things considered I'd give it thumbs up but time will tell regarding reliability, etc. I only put about 4k miles a year on so with luck it should last me awhile. There are other OP's that will be using them on a DD which will tell the real story regarding the reliability of these unit.

There are lots of systems that make more power for the money! No doubt about it... If you are looking for MAX power at higher rpms this would not be my first choice. If you are looking for a very nice unit that looks factory, supplies reasonable power this is one to consider. The boost is low enough that major problems should be at least minimized. I'm really into or past stock numbers for a Z06 which is what I was looking for. Is it as fast or faster in straight line as Z06? Well stay tuned and I'll let you know in the near future since my buddy owns a 08 Z... lol...

Bottom line it was a GREAT and fun experience at ECS! They are super people to work with (other than Chris) ... just kidding!
I can highly recommend them for anything you want done.

Well I've already written to much and said to little so I think I'll think I'll go drive my E-Force car again...........