I want to supercharge my stang

[Dominick Brittain]

I have a 2002 mustang GT 4.6l all stock except the clutch i replaced the stock clutch with a centerforce stage 1. I want to work up to a supercharger but im curious of what other parts I need to upgrade before doing so. I dont want to blow my motor up lol. So if anyone could help me I would appreciate it. What parts to be upgraded and good brands

 

[Kilgore Trout]

You will shoot yer eye out.

 

[madspeed]

hang out here on the forums and learn. Theres more than one way to skin a cat

 

[72 fastback]

I have a Kenne Bell 9psi intercooled on my o2 conv now for 2 years without any issues. I still use their tune. Mine is bone stock as well with an auto. The instant torque is awesome.

 

[trinity_gt]

I strongly suggest getting a "kit" from a reputable manufacturer such as Kenne Bell or Vortech. Everything you will need will arrive in a big box and you'll spend a weekend with a couple of buddies, reading instructions and performing parts installs until you step back at midnight and, voila, there's a complete supercharger setup on your car.

On a stock-internal car you will be limited to ~400rwHP (give or take...) and you won't really need to upgrade anything else. You might consider a set of gears in the back as a complimentary upgrade but the clutch, trans, axles etc will all be fine at that power level.

 

[Bob Hughes]

As stated....there's more than one way to skin a cat. What kind of supercharger are you looking at? There's so many options....are you mechanically inclined or will a shop be doing your install? Ur gonna need upgrades to the fuel system. It really depends on what route you wanna go...things like budget, time constraints, and mechanical ability are gonna be big factors. Is this your daily driver? Can you go without your car for a weekend.....a week....a month if you run into problems.....read up on here a decide what route you really wanna go, and I'm sure everyone will give the answers you're looking for.

 

[Pepperoni]

I have heard nothing but good things about Kenne Bell.

Low boost (<10 pounds) shouldn't require a forged bottom end or anything.

 

[blacksheep-1]

I've been running a Kenne Bell 6psi, no intercooler for over 5 years now, about 35K miles. I decided on a non intercooler because you're about to put a crapload of weight right on the nose of your car which srsly effects the handling. The KB at least puts the weight a little farther back. I will say this..IMO purchase the "tuner kit" and have a local guy (that's reputable) do the tune and injectors. KB's customer service is not that well received, apparently there's some kind of disonance between California and the rest of the universe.

 

[Pepperoni]

I decided on a non intercooler because you're about to put a crapload of weight right on the nose of your car which srsly effects the handling.

Maybe you can add a carbon fiber hood to the cost of supercharging lol

 

[trinity_gt]

I've been running a Kenne Bell 6psi, no intercooler for over 5 years now, about 35K miles. I decided on a non intercooler because you're about to put a crapload of weight right on the nose of your car which srsly effects the handling.

The intercooler in the blower manifold weighs a pound or two. The pump is negligible. The heat exchanger in front of the A/C condenser is another couple of pounds. The coolant is ... whatever. The intercooler part of the kit just doesn't add enough to make or break the handling. The compressor itself is where the majority of the weight is in that kit.

I'd much rather have the ability to run an additional 3-4psi of boost and the attendant HP increase than to worry about what an additional 10 pounds of hardware will do to the handling.

I'll admit I definitely feel the mass of the blower assembly on the nose of the car but can't believe I'd feel a vast difference if I omitted the intercooler.

 

[blacksheep-1]

Maybe you can add a carbon fiber hood to the cost of supercharging lol

most decent looking "carbon fiber" street hoods are built over fiberglass anyway, and they usually weigh more than the stock hood

I'd much rather have the ability to run an additional 3-4psi of boost and the attendant HP increase than to worry about what an additional 10 pounds of hardware will do to the handling.

True, horsepower is good, at some point I intend to do the upgrade myself, but besides those 10 pounds of hardware,you have the weight of the water, say ..two gallons, that's over 16 pounds right there. So that would be an increase of 26 to 30 pounds over the ..what? 40 pounds of blower and aluminum intake over the plastic pieces. Right where a mustang doesn't need it. In my car I did install an 04 IRS so the car is probably a little more "balanced". That's the way to make a car handle..right? keep adding heavy parts to it... lol

 

[trinity_gt]

True, horsepower is good, at some point I intend to do the upgrade myself, but besides those 10 pounds of hardware,you have the weight of the water, say ..two gallons, that's over 16 pounds right there. So that would be an increase of 26 to 30 pounds over the ..what? 40 pounds of blower and aluminum intake over the plastic pieces. Right where a mustang doesn't need it.

'Tis true, this stuff doesn't come without penalties. However, how big a penalty is an intercooler system? Consider the weight distribution of the Mustang as a whole: Suppose the stock curb weight is 3280lbs and the stock distribution is about 55/45%.

For a stock car that's roughly 1804 lbs on the front and 1476 on the rear axle. If we add two theoretical KB setups, one intercooled (70lbs) and one non-intercooled (70-26 or 44-lbs), all on the front axle, the numbers then look like this:

Case 1: Intercooled
Front: 1804+70 = 1874
Rear: 1476
Curb weight: 3280+70 = 3350lbs
Dist: 55.94/44.06%

Case 2: Non-intercooled:
Front: 1804+44 = 1848
Rear: 1476
Curb weight: 3280+44 = 3324lbs
Dist: 55.60/44.40%

The intercooled weight distribution change doesn't really seem, to me at least, severe enough to me to justify limiting power output to just 6-psi. The Mustang just isn't a precise enough scalpel for me, again personally, to care too much about carrying an additional 26 pounds over the front axle.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

^ did the math...

Anyways might look into a superdupercharger. They are lighter than superchargers, I think they have magnesium cases or something.

 

[blacksheep-1]

The intercooled weight distribution change doesn't really seem, to me at least, severe enough to me to justify limiting power output to just 6-psi. The Mustang just isn't a precise enough scalpel for me, again personally, to care too much about carrying an additional 26 pounds over the front axle.

Fair enough, but don't forget that a large portion of that weight is in front of the front axle, this was one reason I looked into the KB instead of the other types. Front end weight is bad, front end weight in front of the front axle is very bad. So in this case the KB would be preferred over some of the other units.

 

[blubullett]

most decent looking "carbon fiber" street hoods are built over fiberglass anyway, and they usually weigh more than the stock hood



True, horsepower is good, at some point I intend to do the upgrade myself, but besides those 10 pounds of hardware,you have the weight of the water, say ..two gallons, that's over 16 pounds right there. So that would be an increase of 26 to 30 pounds over the ..what? 40 pounds of blower and aluminum intake over the plastic pieces. Right where a mustang doesn't need it. In my car I did install an 04 IRS so the car is probably a little more "balanced". That's the way to make a car handle..right? keep adding heavy parts to it... lol

How many carbon fiber hoods have you owned? I have had three (one of my strange addictions) and each is around half the weight on the stock hood. Yes they seem to be carbon wrapped fiberglass but they don't have the bracing and seem to be half as thick as the factory unit.

 

[blacksheep-1]

How many carbon fiber hoods have you owned? I have had three (one of my strange addictions) and each is around half the weight on the stock hood. Yes they seem to be carbon wrapped fiberglass but they don't have the bracing and seem to be half as thick as the factory unit.

I work on a Grand Am Continental series team, we ordered up some hoods for the race car and didn't end up using any of them since they were too heavy. we stayed with the stock aluminum hood. The carbon hoods that were light flexed too much and tried to cave in, especially at tracks like Daytona and the long straight at Road America. The heavier ones work but were too heavy, so back to the stocker.