OEM Supercharger swap
 

I'm swapping in a late model supercharger with the tall hat for the 2015 supercharger that my z06 came with. I have already added a new hood insulator or liner for extra clearance.Has anybody done this swap? Any tips that might be helpful? It all appears pretty straightforward as far as the mechanical part and I'm hoping that the swap doesn't throw any codes. I'm using new gaskets and just swapped out the belts and tensioner a couple of weeks ago and plan to get started on it tomorrow morning barring any issues. Thanks in advance.

You're going to need a new hood liner (17+) if you're putting the taller lid in. Otherwise, it will rub and either damage your regular liner or the hood might not shut at all. As far as installation, should be a simple take off and bolt on.

Are you putting in a new SC or just changing the lid? Some of us just did the lid for a little extra cooling. Might be easier and save some $$$ if you just do the lid. No real power gained but a little more volume under the lid for cooling IATs. Remember that you need to change the hoodliner for the 2017+ SCs. The 15/16 liner is not pressed deep enough for the 17+ SC.

Thanks. I should have mentioned that I put a new hood liner on Monday. I actually like the painted one better!

Agreed. The lid only is really all that's needed. If OP is going through the trouble of swapping the supercharger, I'd say to sell the stock one and swap in a 2300 or 2650.

I bought the whole supercharger bricks and all. It was a takeoff from Callaway. It even came with a new pump and heat exchanger.

If all goes well I'll probably sell the stock one and recoup a lot of my investment.

I'm doing the switch because of an occasional misfire issue. There are a couple of cylinders that run lean on the original supercharger and this should take care of that. Not looking for any horsepower gains. I track this 20-30 days a year and on the track is the only time I notice that I'm having issues.

Wait... so instead of logging the data on the car and hunting down the misfire problem your idea is to put a new supercharger on?

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here. Have you logged the car during misfire with HPT or other scanning software yet?

I've only used the gm gds 2 software. When I took the car in for service they couldn't find anything wrong. The lean cylinders is a known issue, that;s why GM changed it. It should also help with heat soak. I decided to do the swap and if that fixes it I'll sell the original supercharger.

Swap is done and everything is working well. The new supercharger is louder. I'm not sure if it's the difference in the hood insulation or the supercharger or both. Ran it up to 6000 in 5th and no codes. I swapped everything from the old supercharger to this one. I did get the gm gasket kit that came with new bolts, gaskets, and pvc seal and replaced all of the old stuff. I couldn't lift it off the engine by myself so I used my engine lift and it worked like a charm. Easy half day job.

If he had the same problem I had on my 2015 it is hard to find somebody who will spend the time to log the data. First, they have to be willing to go to the track with you and spend a couple of days while you run around the track hoping the misfire will occur (It can be somewhat random when it occurs and can come and go during one session or be there for two days). GM has a TSB out for people who encounter a random misfire P0300 while on track. The misfires usually occur around 5200 rpm under wide open throttle and full load conditions. The rear two cylinders have higher combustion temperatures which can lead to misfires. When that happens the power level drops off to some degree and the car's response feels soft, not quite as responsive to throttle inputs when it is happening. On my car cylinder number 8 would misfire quite often but only generate a P0300 code that showed the misfire occurred 64 times at 5200 rpm at wide open throttle.

When I found a GM engineer who was willing to do that at the NCM VIR HPDE there were so many people lined up to get their cars logged the person left before my turn came up.

Supposedly, the 2017 SC upgrade was put in place to address this issue.

Bill

When are you taking the car to the track next?

Bill

I'm going back to VIR April 10th and then again the 20th and 21st. Full course all days so if the weather cooperates I will be able to tell if it fixed it. I know my plugs, coils, wires, etc are fine so hopefully this will fix it. I also pulled a vacuum on the intercooler circuit before I started up and got a lot of air out of the new bricks. My new mityvac broke while I was doing the bleed so I'm not 100'% sure I got all the air out but there's only one bubble visible from under the hood. I've ordered a new one,Lisle this time, and will try to get more air out next week. It's running good today but honestly the only difference I can tell right now is the increase in sound from the supercharger. Everything is running great.

Well I didn't get enough air out because the bubbles are too big in the tank. I used the GSpeed switch and Dry break container and got a lot more air out. Still don't think it's enough. Ordered the GM tools so I guess I'll find out if it's worth 400 bucks or not. I'm guessing the GSpeed solution at less than half the price works just as good. GM parts is shipping it out on the 14th so I doubt I'll get a chance to try it this weekend but I'll post my results when I do. I'm going to use the Gspeed tool and once I've gotten all I can with that try the GM tool. Should be interesting just wish there was a cheaper way to do it.

If you have HPTuners you can cycle the pump on and off manually with the scanner with a hose attached to the supercharger coolant inlet to get the air out.

Yeah the Gspeed switch does the same thing and so does the gds2 software. The Gspeed is pretty simple I just have to pull a relay and fuse to connect it. That's what I'm using now. It got a lot of air out but there are still 2 big bubbles in the tank.

You may have to jack the front end up a bit and try again. I've read that's what dealers have to do to get all the air out.

Yeah that helps. It's easier with the front clip off and the fender liner out. I did it that way last time because I was working on something else. I'm not pulling the front clip again for that though unless I have issues bleeding it the other way. Even with it jacked up it helps to take the screws out of the tank and tilt it to get more air out. This is probably the 5th or 6th time I've done it and it's a pain.

Well I'm going to try to make a long story short.. I hope this makes sense.
I started bleeding the intercooler with the Gspeed dry break. I tried it flat on the floor and with the front of the car jacked up. It got air out of the system but there was still a big bubble.
I took the dry break off and hooked up the GM rig. One word of advice If you spend the 400 plus for this you also need to buy an electric vacuum pump. Anyway sitting flat on the floor it got a little more air out but very little. Then I jacked the car up 2 feet. Several big bubbles came out. I cycled the pump several times and got a little more air. Then I jacked the car up 3 feet. Got another big blob of air out. Cycled the pump but it didn't matter. Then I decided what the heck. I jacked it up until the back of the car was 1/8" off the ground. Got a few more big blobs of air. Cycled the pump but it didn't seem to matter. I let the pump run for maybe t minutes and cycled the intercooler pump but nothing else came out. I figured that was it but since the electric vacuum pump was running I just let it run. Twice while I was letting the car down I got more big bubbles. When it was all said and done the air bubbles were considerably reduced. Small enough that I think it will be fine on the track but not as small as I got it with a hand vacuum and taking the tank out when the front clip was removed. I am pulling the vacuum from the line that exits the supercharger not the one that enters.
What I learned.
1. The system is a pain to bleed.
2. The bleeder needs to be on the line that exits the supercharger. Pulling a vacuum basically sucks the air out of the top port on the tank. That is the reverse of how coolant flows.
3. The Gspeed bleeder is fine for getting the air that migrates to the top of the system and that's great for track days or when the car has been sitting overnight.
4. The GM bleeder setup makes bleeding the intercooler system a one person job. It's still easier with 2 but one person can do it.
5. The GM bleeder is much better than a hand pump.If you have an electric vacuum pump and don't mind spending over 400 dollars then it's the way to go.
6. You can probably accomplish almost the same thing with a hand vacuum pump kit. Since the container is so much smaller than the GM container it will have to be filled and purged multiple times and it takes forever to get it done and in the end it probably won't do as good a job under similar circumstances.