Kenne Bell or Centrifugal?
- Thread starter Boosted92LX
- Start date
-
Sponsors (?)
ill advised
Member
For my mostly stock AOD, KB all the way. It seems to me a great way to offset that tall AOD 1st/2nd gear. Being strictly a street car having a crazy top end charge doesn't really interest me. I'd rather build boost as soon as possible.I know this subject has been hashed over a hundred times, and yes I know the difference between the two. I know the pros and cons, the benefeits of each compressor. I've already got a few opinions from a previous thread, But what I want to know is which would YOU choose if someone handed you money and said, "Here, go buy a blower!" For an '86-'93 fox would YOU rather have the KB or the Vortech/Procharger/Paxton?
* I'd put up a poll but I'm too dang dumb to figure out how to do it! Or is it old... or both???
On my '90, considering the set-up it already has, I'd definitley go with the centri blower.
smokin joe
Founding Member
My preference is......a car with a standard i prefer the centrifugal, but a car with an auto I prefer the KB.
strtrcr50
New Member
LOL. Gear drive for a cam will do that too. That being said, I enjoy the noise from my v1 s trim.
strtrcr50
New Member
Assuming you have a good set of drag radials/slicks. IMHO, it's easier to hook up on the street on a centri when accelerating as hard as possible "while on a freeway entrance ramp."
Sharad
ALWAYS choose the V over the P!!! Wait... what?
you'll be hard pressed to find anyone that has personal experience with a KB on a Fox. They're few and far between.
Here's the KB I put on my dad's H/C/I '93 GT:
http://s142.photobucket.com/albums/r98/sraldiris/?action=view¤t=FASTXFIFirstStart-1.mp4
Here's the ProCharger I put on my stock-302 '89 LX:
http://s142.photobucket.com/albums/r98/sraldiris/?action=view¤t=89F1RFirstStartup.mp4
The ProCharged '89 was quite a bit faster than the KB '93, and the KB installation on the '93 was a NIGHTMARE!!! As in, I will NEVER install another KB on a Fox, no matter HOW MUCH the person is paying!!
Cliff's Notes: ATI ProCharger for the WIN!!!
Here's the KB I put on my dad's H/C/I '93 GT:
http://s142.photobucket.com/albums/r98/sraldiris/?action=view¤t=FASTXFIFirstStart-1.mp4
Here's the ProCharger I put on my stock-302 '89 LX:
http://s142.photobucket.com/albums/r98/sraldiris/?action=view¤t=89F1RFirstStartup.mp4
The ProCharged '89 was quite a bit faster than the KB '93, and the KB installation on the '93 was a NIGHTMARE!!! As in, I will NEVER install another KB on a Fox, no matter HOW MUCH the person is paying!!
Cliff's Notes: ATI ProCharger for the WIN!!!
- Dec 19, 2010
- 5,719
- 4,238
- 224
you'll be hard pressed to find anyone that has personal experience with a KB on a Fox. They're few and far between.
Here's the KB I put on my dad's H/C/I '93 GT:
FAST XFI First Start video by sraldiris - Photobucket
Here's the ProCharger I put on my stock-302 '89 LX:
F1R First Startup video by sraldiris - Photobucket
The ProCharged '89 was quite a bit faster than the KB '93, and the KB installation on the '93 was a NIGHTMARE!!! As in, I will NEVER install another KB on a Fox, no matter HOW MUCH the person is paying!!
Cliff's Notes: ATI ProCharger for the WIN!!!
Which procharger kit is it?
- Dec 19, 2010
- 5,719
- 4,238
- 224
On Sharad's procharger:
I just ran a search on procharger f1r. That blower supports 2000 hp!!!
You put that on a stock engine!?!? Yikes! is there anything left of it?
I just ran a search on procharger f1r. That blower supports 2000 hp!!!
You put that on a stock engine!?!? Yikes! is there anything left of it?
Sharad
ALWAYS choose the V over the P!!! Wait... what?
F1R.
Maybe no more difficult than assembling a model car, but four times as difficult as installing a ProCharger. So in my opinion the KB is harder to install and makes less hp/lb of boost. Lose-lose.
I love my dad's car, and he wanted the KB because he basically likes to cruise around and do burnouts... so the KB is perfect for that. It's not very fast though, and the installation is far more time consuming than a centrifugal.
On Sharad's procharger:
I just ran a search on procharger f1r. That blower supports 2000 hp!!!
You put that on a stock engine!?!? Yikes! is there anything left of it?
The F1R supports 1300hp. I put it on the stock engine as part of a tech project for 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords Magazine. We pullied it WAY down for the stock 302. The car ran 11.36 @ 122 on 12 pounds of boost. It would have been faster with their entry level P1SC blower. (less parasitic loss) In fact, I've been 10.17 @ 132 on a stock block 306 with a P1SC pushing 17psi.
Incidentally, I beat on that stock 302 like it owed me money and it WOULD NOT blow up under that F1R. (tune by Rick Anderson at Anderson Ford Motorsports) When we swapped the 427W into that car, I installed the stock 302 into another Fox of mine and beat on it for another year.
Agreed 100% The simple fact is the KB stuff has no support on the pushrod motors and does not make anything close to respectable power.
Not exactly. Most centrifugals (the ATI Prochargers with the 4.10:1 ramp up ratio being an exception) aren't able to move enough air in the lower regions to add anything to the power curve. If they're not pressurizing the intake, they're not adding any additional power. Furthermore, until that point where positive manifold pressure is achieved, they're actually costing slight amounts of horsepower as it is being taken away from the wheels and directed into spinning the head unit.
I think you're missing the point here.
For starters, who spends 100% of their time at WOT on a predominantly street driven car. Racing at the track is one thing, but I would bet that 95% of the posters in this thread spend about 1% of their total driving time running WOT down the track.
Where the power made with a centrifugal supercharger is only useful under hard throttle at higher RPM, the power made by a positive displacement supercharger is useful at all RPM and much more moderate throttle levels.
As someone who's owned a positive displacement blow car and who's driven/ridden in both, I can tell you matter of factly that the car with the positive displacement blower makes for a much, much nicer all around driver.
Pulling away briskly from a stop, merging into traffic or even highway passing doesn't require hard stabs of the throttle, or downshifting into more appropriate RPM friendly gear. The grunt provided by all that extra airflow down low truly makes the owner feel as though they're driving a big block V8 from the 60's. The power is instant, seamless and 100% controllable by your right foot….none of which are an option with most centrifugal set ups. Sure, swapping out to a steeper set of gears will help centrifugal guys get into their power bands more quickly, but it’s still only a partial improvement and it comes with a hefty highway fuel mileage penalty.
If I had the additional displacement to make up the low end torque deficiency of the stock 302 HO down low and a light enough car, then I would most certainly consider a centrifugal, but without that added engine displacement to help move things along, or for guys saddled with full weight cars, auto transmissions and who quite frankly don’t want to compromise their low highway cruise RPM, there’s really no other alternative to a PD set up.
I agree with the fact that PD blowers make instant torque, but very few people here will have them on a daily driver(windsor motor) and all of this back and forth is a moot point when talking about a pushrod motor. The centrifugal will be more fun, hands down. The PD will make more heat, and less power. Ive still yet to see a kenne belle make over 450rwhp on a 302, you could do that in your sleep with a centrifugal.
What a presumptuous statement. All of the owners in this video look like they’re having all kinds of fun.
YouTube - Kenne Bell 5.0 Compilation‏
Of course this is personal preference. For my money it would be a centri without a second thought. Why? Two reasons:
1. less money
2. more power
There are other reasons not to go with a PD like ease of installation, simplicity, efficiency, etc... However, none of those would actually deter me if they cost less money and made more power. Since they don't, the answer is an obvious one to me.
Chris
1. less money
2. more power
There are other reasons not to go with a PD like ease of installation, simplicity, efficiency, etc... However, none of those would actually deter me if they cost less money and made more power. Since they don't, the answer is an obvious one to me.
Chris
So, to summarize this thread, there are two camps.
1. I want the absolute most power I can wring out of my 5.0, so I want a centrifugal supercharger.
2. I like to drive my car on the street and have tons of usable torque at normal engine speeds, so I want a Kenne Bell.
[/thread]
1. I want the absolute most power I can wring out of my 5.0, so I want a centrifugal supercharger.
2. I like to drive my car on the street and have tons of usable torque at normal engine speeds, so I want a Kenne Bell.
[/thread]
TRICKYGT
New Member
Having been for a ride in both a fox 5.0 and my '98 4.6, the fox has a low-mid range torque advantage over the 4.6, especially when modded. Therefore, I think it would make more sense for a 4.6 owner to have a PD blower and a 5.0 guy to have a centri.
I'm curious as to what all this so called low end torque does for anyone other than not having to downshift as often.
A vortech car is no less driveable than one with a KB.
If you are not in the throttle why does it matter how much torque is made?
I don't know about you guys, but my idea of modding a car is to be faster than the next guy, keep the car driveable and reliable. All things that a vortech does well.
The kb leaves you at risk of losing a race to a guy with a NA engine, that's surely not something i would want after spending 4 grand on a supercharger.
My current setup makes good power down low, fortunately it makes it up top too.
But if i had to choose between the two, i'd take it up top.
No reason to compare pushrods to ohc engines in this case, bottom line the 4.6 has room for an intercooler and the pushrod doesn't.
A vortech car is no less driveable than one with a KB.
If you are not in the throttle why does it matter how much torque is made?
I don't know about you guys, but my idea of modding a car is to be faster than the next guy, keep the car driveable and reliable. All things that a vortech does well.
The kb leaves you at risk of losing a race to a guy with a NA engine, that's surely not something i would want after spending 4 grand on a supercharger.
My current setup makes good power down low, fortunately it makes it up top too.
But if i had to choose between the two, i'd take it up top.
No reason to compare pushrods to ohc engines in this case, bottom line the 4.6 has room for an intercooler and the pushrod doesn't.
