Hi Everyone. Hoping you can help me with an issue we're having.

We are a repair centre for Corvette in the UK. One of our customers asked us to supercharge his 2019 Grand Sport. We have previously installed a Magnuson Heartbeat system on a 2015 Stingray and were very impressed with the kit. The customer advised he would rather go with a ProCharger. As this is not something we had done before, we asked advice from one of the US suppliers of the kit. It probably wouldn't be fair of me to say which supplier.

We made it clear that the car would be used on track and asked if any further cooling would be required. We were told, no, the standard intercooler would be sufficient. We went for the P-1X unit with the tune provided by ProCharger.

We tested the vehicle on the road and we were happy with everything. But we can't put the car through the same sort of stress as a track day. Having given the vehicle back to the customer, he is having major overheating issues on track. He gets less than three laps in and starts getting misfires due to heat soak, then he has to idle the car until it cools down. He gets no meaningful running whatsoever. He's seen temps of 262F.

I've spoken with ProCharger a few times and they have made a few suggestions. High octane fuel, increasing gap between the intercooler and radiator, utilizing a restrictor plate in place of the thermostat etc. The problem is, these suggestions seem quite minor, and the car is six hours away from us. If we bring the car back, it's got to be for a fix, not a trial.

I've read that using an air-to-water intercooler would make a big difference on track, but I'm struggling getting ProCharger to quote me for one. They're also stating that we'd need a custom tune once fitted. There aren't really many places that do that over here, and I'd really like to trust that the place knows what they're doing.

Sorry for the long message. I guess what I'm asking is:

In the air-to-air intercooler provided totally useless for track use? Or is there hope we might be able to make it work?
If so, or if not, what are your suggestions as far as getting a fix that allows this car to be used on track?

Thanks in Advance!

 

In my experience, these cars definietly need to upgrade the Radiator and Thermostat when adding a Supercharger. Espesially when tracking them. Procharger is only adressing the IAT's not the overall coolant or Oil temps. You are adding twice the amount of heat with the power adder so 40% more cooling capacity from a bigger radiator is key. When you look at the factory radiator next to an aftermarket one you will understand. DeWitt's is a bit pricey but very good. CSF makes a great radiator and doesn't break the bank. Katech 160 Themostat, Brisk one step cooler plugs, tuner set the cooling fans to come on sooner. This is the norm for my guys here in Southern California.
Hope this helps.

 

Thanks so much for your reply. That makes a lot of sense. I hadn't really considered the extra strain being put on the original cooling components. Do you think, in your opinion, the modifications you've mentioned would give us a decent chance of being able to use this vehicle on track? I'm not talking endurance or anything, just your usual track day.
Our temps over here aren't usually anything like SoCal, but they have been recently which isn't helping things.

I think I'll put the proposal you've mentioned to the customer but, in the meantime, if anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears. As mentioned before, our number one goal is to make this a single visit repair. Within reason, I'd rather throw more at it than needed if we're more likely to get the desired outcome.

 

When I track my car I don't see anything above 220 degrees. I believe it will be the solution.

 

Yeah there’s no way you will be able to track that car. There were a couple threads a few years back and it came down to DeWitts radiator, 170 thermostat and tune took care of it.

 

I don't track my car, but I will tell you that the air to air intercooler does rob a lot of the air before it gets to the radiator. I have a procharger f1a94 head unit on my car with the biggest a2a intercooler they offer. I also have an upgraded 2019 radiator and AMP 160 thermostat and housing. Right now in Oklahoma its in the mid to high 90s and just driving around in the city my car gets hot. Around 220s if its stop and go traffic. A few wide open throttle pulls on the highway and it could easily reach over 220s. It's just a corvette thing with the car getting hot because of the a2a intercooler. I would almost be certain the a2w would likely help greatly if not fix the issue. I believe the procharger a2w unit was in the $7000 range.

 

Thanks for the replies guys!

Wow, that A2W intercooler setup is nearly as much as the supercharger kit!

Completely coincidentally, we have the car with the Magnuson back in for service at the moment. I've had another look over it and it comes with A2W as standard. I'd be interested to know if Magnuson supercharger owners get the same issues with overheating.

I think, with the ProCharger car, we'll likely go down the radiator, theromstat, spark plug route. It seems you've had success with this in the past so hopefully it will do the job on this one!

 

I have an A&A kit on my car. The A2A intercooler lays horizontal with the ram air scoop. No radiator obstruction. Did Pro Charger have a different A2A Intercooler recommended for the track?

 

There were two intercoolers listed in the dropdown box when we ordered the ProCharger kit: Horizontal and vertical. I did some reading prior to ordering and concluded that the horizontal cooler would suit the track better. When I came to order, the supplier said the horizontal intercooler was only available for 2014 vehicles. ProCharger have since confirmed that the 2015+ cars cannot accommodate the horizontal cooler.

We have a 2017 Z06 here at the moment, which has the later cooling system. The coolers sit horizontally on that too. It seems that it's a better setup as it doesn't block flow to the radiator.

The vertical intercooler really does block quite a lot of airflow.