treydg2003

Looking for real world experience. Currently 09 z with longtubes and btr2 cam. Love it but bored of the power 510rwhp. Live in Kentucky and i do a lot of local town driving and cruising. Id love to supercharge but im worried about temperature management as i do a lot of slow cruising around. Now with the 160 thermostat car never gets above 180 even in 100* outside temps crawling. So im worried supercharger ill be pushing the cooling to the max. Big power easy install but worried about cooling. HCI i could bump prolly another 60 rwhp with right combo and car never get hot. So looking to see what peoples input is that have supercharged setups?

Unreal

What is teh end goal power wise? Why not a nice set of heads, intake, etc and get a nice 50-60rwhp bump.

reasonable suspicion

Why would you want your car to be under 180 at operating temp? That's a special thermostat you have.

reasonable suspicion

bonus of no added weight!

treydg2003

No real end goal per say. Just wanting a bump. The only thing im hung up on is. The amount of money is going to be similar, however hci will get me 50rwhp and a supercharger will net me well over 100. So thats the delima. My car ryns cool with the 160 thermostat. My 05 ran the same with the 160 stat. Now if i let it idle for 10 mins yeah itll get to 195 ish water temp but while moving never see above 180. Ive just heard the intercooler blocks most of radiator causing temps on most people to hover at 220 ish and relying on the fan too much.

AzDave47

220 water is no problem. On road courses in my HCI 09Z I see 240 even with added cooling, C7s see 255 water temps. The supercharger will give you nicer street drivability compared with an HCI car up in the 600HP range. As you've discovered, the SC install will get you more HP/$
Realistically it is what are your priorities and pocketbook. Unreal's SC car is up in the 1200 hp range, won't get there NA but also big $.
I was very happy at Mojave this year that of the 6 cars to break 200 MPH, mine was the only NA car, the others were SC or turbos.

treydg2003

Awesome!! Yeah its just a delima ya know lol. Im sure that for longevity of my engine that HCI would be the better option. I also love the look on the face of a sc car that has 100 more horses gets walked by my old turd. If i can get 570 or 580 whp. Then im sure ill walk even more. I also love the way na power feels. But u get in an 950whp sc z06 and theres nothing like having your head slammed in the seat over 160mph lol. Decision decision

Unreal

Heads need to be done either way. SC + fuel system+meth+cooling+etc etc adds up quick. Start with a nice set of heads, see if that gets you where you want to go, then look at building a block/sc for later.

treydg2003

Heads have been addressed by ahp. They just werent milled or ported as previous owner had them done. I would have had them milled ect.

Too-Fast

You can supercharge your LS7, roots or centri, especially since the heads were not milled. You have to modify a few things for the intercooler and you will have to keep the boost low; probably get 700-750 crank HP, but long term durability may suffer. If you go cam intake and headers you can get more HP, but then driveability will suffer. If you want to enter the realm of much higher HP then you will have to get into the motor to make it stronger.

C6Z06Silverbullet

Hci

JShort

Another vote for HCI. Change your cam if you go that route and you'll pick up 90-100rwhp. That's a significant increase. 600rwhp is quite easy with HCI assuming you choose the right (matched) parts. The RPM B-3 cam with Advanced Induction heads are a proven combination and will easily put you over 600rwhp. More importantly, it runs the numbers at the track.

treydg2003

Yeah def leaning to hci. Just for ease i may have factory heads milled, either b3 or btr3 cam, and of course that mamo msd and nw102. If i could do that and be 570+ ag the wheels id be a happy camper

JShort

I think you'll be very happy with the right HCI. My AI/B3 combo is at 620rw and I only have a stock unported FAST intake. I'll be adding a Mamo MSD this fall. Could be 640rw. A properly setup HCI Z06 is a beast. You could see a 120-130rwhp increase over your current setup with the right combo.

C6Z06Silverbullet

Katech makes some really good cams too. Definitely do a MSD intake ported by Tony Mamo!

73DBG

Coming from someone who bought a low miles Z that already had a blower I thought just addressing the heads would be all I needed to do........why previous owner threw a blower on a Vette without reworked heads is something I can't even comprehend now that I know so much more about these cars. Now that I'm rebuilding the motor the right way I'll say this.....money starts to add up quick and theres a ton of mine as well do this while I'm doing that which can and will snowball real fast. What I thought would be an extra 5k or so for the heads turned into 10k+ real fast unfortunately. I do like the blower set up it sounds awesome and drivabilty can be much better than an all out HCI build depending on who's tuning your car. It really depends on how you want to use the car and how much cash you're willing to throw at it to do the mods the right way.

jayyyw

If the heads are already fixed, I vote for adding a SC and just enjoy it.