Kingspoke

The new GM seems way out ahead of the competition!

Jimbob26

We saw the photos of the test cars with boost gauges...me thinks the Z06 will be boosted and sporting 550-600 hp

JoesC5

I believe the supercharger on the LT1 has a intercooler mounted on top of the supercharger just like the LS9 and LSA had. Look at he photo of the LT4 and you can see the coolant lines. But, the coolant lines do run to a remote heat exchanger, just like the LS9 and LSA has, that is located in front of the condenser.

The Edelbrock E-Force also has the intercooler mounted on top of the supercharger and it was designed to fit under the stock C6 hood.

Aaron Keating

So no more primitive roots supercharger?

BrianCunningham

Sweet find!

Currently running a centrifugal Vortech on mine

Vetteman Jack

Awesome. It just keeps getting better and better.

breecher_7

From a engineering standpoint that is a wild idea!
It will make far better power than the screw blowers do and be far more efficient. But I do really hate the lack of a external intercooler. This will be the downfall. The cetrifugal assembly will generate less heat than a screw blower would wich equals horsepower, but the IAT's are still gonna scream with no REAL source of cooling intake air as its being compressed post throttle body and will still absorb engine heat.

Its great to see them take a step like this, but I got a feeling its gonna have some real downfalls if it becomes a reality.

JoesC5

A little research and you will discover that there are many patented ideas that never made it into production. Just because GM has a patent on this supercharger idea, doesn't mean it will ever make to production.

Aaron Keating

Well here's to hoping they won't be lazy, and dogmatic in continued use of an outdated style of supercharger.

breecher_7

The problem is that this is still "outdated" technology. ALthough it will generate less heat then a screw blower. It is still top mounted and will absorb engine heat and has no good way of effectivly cooling the compressed air. Unless they run a massive internal intercooler powered off the A/C system, like the "killer chiller" setups, it will still have the same engine heat absorbtion and high IAT's as the outdated screw type heat pumps do.

JoesC5

That "outdated style" of supercharger does it's intended job quite well.
It's intended job is not to provide the maximum horsepower possible, but to deliver additional power when required while having near zero parasitic draw when not needed.

My Mercedes has one of those "outdated" superchargers and it works wonderfully. It's purpose is not to provide me with a million horsepower, but deliver additional reasonable horsepower when I want to accelerate while giving me excellent fuel mileage by using a smaller engine then would be required to me the same rate of acceleration using a larger engine but without a supercharger. So, if it gives me the additional horsepower when I need it, then why would a centi be any better? If I needed more horsepower, then I imagine that Mercedes would have designed it with greater boost to do the job or increase it's capacity, etc. I don't need a million horsepower on the street in my Mercedes, so the "outdated" style supercharger is a perfect solution. Don't need a million horsepower in a street driven Corvette either. 638HP(C6 ZR1) with an "outdated" supercharger is just fine.

Actually, very few people have superchargers on their cars that deliver the maximum horsepower possible. John Force does, and he's running an "outdated" style of supercharger, not a centi, on his Mustang. If he thought he could get an additional one horsepower from his Mustang by using a centi, he would, but he doesn't.

breecher_7

Are we really referencing the blowers on a funny car or a top fuel dragster? Because you and I know this is a totally different ball game... Not the same in any way shape or form other than they use the same principle to compress air.

They do not run long enough to absorb any engine heat and they run on alcohol..... WAY WAY WAY different ball game!

Aaron Keating

My thoughts exactly.

Not only that, but any top mounted SC is going to fall to being victim to heat soak.

Gimme a procharger over any top mounted any day. Linear power curve, great fuel efficiency, good long term durability. Sure it makes abit of noise.. but if you are buying a supercharged performance car it SHOULD make some noise.

That being said you could still have a helical gear and it'll be very quiet with the procharger style supercharger.

Same power or more than a Roots, with a hell of alot more fuel efficiency, and MUCH lower air temperatures being shoved down the throttle body.

breecher_7

I am not arguing with this statement, not one bit. And to the screw blower nutswingers that just want to talk about "low end power"...
Put a small *** pully on the that centri and run a restrictor plate or a gate and it will build boost just as quickly while allowing you to control maximum pressure.

Odds are though, we will most likley never seen a traditional centrifugal blower as a factory option on a GM car. Its just not "packaged" clean enough for people.

JoesC5

Yes, it's a different ball game. but on the street does the "style" of the blower really matter? GM decided that 638 HP was what they wanted for the ZR1 and they chose an engine package to deliver 638 HP, not 1,000 HP. They could have used several different methods to achieve that 638 HP but chose an "outdated "style" of supercharger.

What would GM have gained by using a centi supercharged that was designed to provide the ZR1 with 638 HP(not 1,000 HP)?

638 HP is 638 HP whether it's from a NA engine, a PD engine, a turbo engine, a centi engine, or a turbine engine, or a steam engine etc., so there must have been other considerations in their decision making process that made them choose the PD blower to get their 638 horsepower. Cost? Packaging?, Ease of manufacturing(compatible with their existing assembly line building other forms of Corvettes)?

A lot more goes into that decision making process besides "what's the maximum horsepower we can get?"

Aaron Keating

How is that "not Clean enough" ugh.

on a C6 ZO6.


Kills me to hear the "low end power" argument. Considering just how much road racers talk about the joys of NA vs Boost. A centrifugal is the best of both worlds. So very linear.

And hell, it's a 6.2 Liter V8 that makes 400+ ftlbs at 2k rpm. Seriously. it hits like a shot from a cannon already.

Aaron Keating

I'd say they did it because it was Cheap and because they're just not all that Bright when it comes to Boost.

breecher_7

Have you ever had the chance to datalog a ZR1 on a road course? Do you have any idea how much power that car is down and how much timing it is pulling due to high IAT's by the second lap? A lot is the answer... This would not be the case with a traditional centri setup as the charge air would stay near ambient as it does not absorb heat from the engine.

This is a never ending debate, but facts are facts. Top mounted blowers get hot, The IAT's run higher, higher IAT's = less timing wich = Less power. Roll a ZR1 right onto a dyno after 3 laps on Road America or Laguna Seca and I bet its down almost 100whp. Do the same with a centri car and you would see negligible changes.

Its just not an efficient way to make power in my opinion.

breecher_7

Bingo, at a production level a Eaton rotor setup is by far the cheapest way to make power. Hands down.

Aaron Keating

Yeah, a procharger (why not use the Best one as the example) only has a 26 degree F temp diff at all times to ambient air. That's ludicrously impressive. Especially compared to the Roots Superchargers.