Vortech SC trim vs. H/C/I

[Joe 5.0]

I did all the searching I could muster at 3:30am, but I am need of some opinions. I am at a cross-roads. I want mid 12's reliably and I dont have a ton of money to burn. I dont really want nitrous due my mustang being nearly a daily driver in the warm months, and I'd like the power there all the time. What I cant afford is H/C/I + forced induction. I'm looking at spending ~$2k this racing season for engine mods. This probably means even a used V2 is out of the question. I have been looking at dyno graphs and reading opinions from people that have h/c/i and to be honest I dont want to lose any low end torque. I'm sure the top end charge more than makes up for it, but alot of fun of my mustang is it's plentitude of power from 1500 rpm & up. What I cant find is a dyno from someone with a basic bolt-on 5.0 with a 8-9psi Vortech kit. What will a SC-trim running 8-9 psi pull to the wheels on a 94 GT with full exhaust, decent intake & a good tune? The reason the SC is starting to look very nice is the ease of installation. I dont trust myself with installing heads, but I'm sure I could bolt on a SC.

Also, how loud is the whine from the SC-trim? Like I said, my car is a daily driver and I dont mind some noise, but I dont wanna be driven insane with a crazy whistle all the time.

 

[Pstatic]

If you are looking to spend less than 2gs on your car, neither HCI nor blowers are going to be good ideas. the reason being each costs about that much with out any tuning. If you want an HCI to idle propperly you will need tuning wich will put you overbudget. Worse, if you do not buy a good fuel system along with your supercharger, you will most likely blow your engine. Plus, with a blower, to make decent power you need to buy an ignition system to avoid spark blow out at aroun 4000rpm. I am running a vortech on my car with HCI as well, it requires 42# injectors an fmu a 190lph fuel pump a boost a pump and an ingition system. this all required a custom chip and a dyno tuning. I made the mistake of buying my HCI before I could really afford it and had to deal with months of poor idling on my daily driver. The problem was only cured when I got my vortech and got a custom tune.

 

[VibrantRedGT]

Heads, cam, intake, fuel system, etc. will cost almost the same as supercharger kit. I've done both so I know. You will get more HP from the blower. Oink had an AODE and with just an S-trim his car made 317 HP at the wheels. RC has the same thing as Oink but also a Typhoon intake, 70MM TB and Pro-M 77MM Maf and this got him 386 HP at the wheels through an automatic. I found my used Vortech S-Trim for $2,000 but I needed another $1,000 in supporting hardware (MSD6BTM, 42# Injectors, etc.). For $2K you can probably get TFS Twisted Wedge Heads ($995), TFS Street Heat Intake ($400), TFS Rockers/Push Rods ($200), TFS Stage 1 Cam ($140), 24# Injectors ($200), Pro-M MAF ($200), 255 LPH fuel pump ($115). Should give around 300 HP at the wheels. Plus you will need head gaskets and misc items. Also need to do the work yourself to save so money.

 

[Rootus]

If it's low end power you want, do the H/C/I, not the blower. A centrifugal blower is ALL top end power, nothing down low. A good H/C/I combo will give you a buttload of torque off idle, and it'll pull nicely to 6000 RPM.

Dave

 

[jmuva44]

you can get a gt40 or thumper setup and get surprisingly low ETs when tuned right and you can get it relatively cheap. I'd also go HCI cuz not only are you adding power but you will be, ideally, getting new head gaskets, new valves, guides, etc as well. You are adding power and solidifying the engine a little bit.

Just my opinion.
Chris

 

[Joe 5.0]

Well, like I said I dont trust myself with a H/C/I install. I have only done bolt-on stuff and I just plain dont know how to do a head swap. I dont feel like paying a shop to do it either. I am confident I can install a blower, because it is attaching to the engine, not changing the internals of it. About how much would a shop charge to install heads/cam/intake?

 

[Rootus]

Well, like I said I dont trust myself with a H/C/I install. I have only done bolt-on stuff and I just plain dont know how to do a head swap. I dont feel like paying a shop to do it either. I am confident I can install a blower, because it is attaching to the engine, not changing the internals of it. About how much would a shop charge to install heads/cam/intake?

A good shop will charge roughly $600 to install H/C/I. From personal experience, I can tell you that it's not hard -- a bit time consuming, but not as hard as you might think. After all, heads just "bolt on" . As long as you have a decent set of hand tools, you should be fine. Any specialty tools (i.e. pulley puller) can be rented cheaply (free) at Autozone.

Dave

 

[94GTLaserRC]

My "Blower" setup cost me over $5K...I got a used one along with the MAM, PowerPipe, injectors, Trex, and FMU for $2400. I was missing about $100 worth of hardware, bolts, hoses, lines, etc.

Plus.
Typhoon Intake $350
TB...$179
MSD6BTM ( I forgot how much..couple hundred)
$150 (injector repair and flow...left them out too long)
$35 for new Filter for MAM
New 255 lph Fuel Pump.
$800 PI Stallion TC
$550 TwEECer RT

IT GETS COSTLY.

For your budget: Thumper Heads, RR's, Rods, Steeda #19 Cam, Coil Blaster, Pulleys, Good tune, etc. You can probably find a used intake cheap also, or port the lower.

RC

 

[Joe 5.0]

Well, no f'in way I am gonna do heads and keep the stock piles of ****e. I'm not trying to do it on the cheap, but I dont have $5k to drop all at once. Maybe I should start piecing together a h/c/i combo and install it when I get all the parts.

 

[Killercanary]

That's how I did mine. I did little stuff like exhaust, pulleys, etc then an intake, then I added the heads/cam/ an fuel upgrades. I did this over a 4 year period of time as I couldn't come with it all at once.

 

[Joe 5.0]

Unless I find a used blower for ~ $1500 thats probably what I'm gonna have to do. I guess I should get of my arse and get rid of these wheels so I have some spending cash.