Supercharger Kits--which One?

[newtofords]

I recently recieved paperwork in the mail on Procharger's kit for the 5.4L. Which companies make the best supercharger kits for the money? What are some of the power numbers, 1/4 times, and MPG that some of you are getting? Any reason why you chose the kit you chose?
Procharger claims that their kits are the lowest on engine temperate and therefore cause less damage compared to other set-ups. what do you think?

 

[pronstar]

What year is your truck?
This will help us to let you know what kind of power to expect. Newer trucks, especially the 3-valve motors, make a lot more power than older trucks like mine that have the NPI motor.

I run a Procharger. It's an efficient compressor, and when combined with an intercooler the intake temps are very close to ambient.

There are a lot of factors to consider with blowers.

Centrifugals like a Procharger make power up top becuase they needs revs for boost. This keeps stresses on the driveline to a minimum, relatively speaking. Some people think these blowers feel soft because they aren't used to revving their engines.

Other blowers (roots like a Lightning, or a twin-screw like a Whipple) make a lot of low-end boost. These tend to feel faster because power comes on at lower RPM, and most folks prefer this sort of power.

You can't go wrong with any of them.

 

[Grasshopper]

Ditto what pronstar said, 'cept that I run an Allen blower (roots) on my 4.6L Thunderbird so I'm biased that way.

 

[ELVATO]

So, correct me if I'm understanding this wrong, but here's what I've picked up.

1. A Centrifugal would be better for gas economy and as a daily driver because you won't get boost as long as you keep it out of the high end.

2. The driveline (driveshaft?) is stressed less because of the same reason as #1.

3. Since most engines produce more power in the upper end (stock), adding "other blowers" would produce a more consistant curve, as opposed to a centrifugal one, where the power band would get spike towards the end.

 

[pronstar]

1. All blowers will produce no boost - it goes thru the bypass - when under vacuum, which is basically a low-engine-load situation...like under small throttle openings. So MPG won't suffer...until you get on it.

A roots/twin-screw will produce boost very quickly when the throttle is cracked open, even at lower rpm.

A centrifugal will produce small boost at large throttle openings/low rpm, but will ramp up quickly as engine rpm increases.

2. High-torque/low-rpm is generally a bit more stressful on driveline components. To what extent is hard to say, as many trucks with roots/twinscrew blowers (including Lightnings) have gone hundreds of thousand of trouble-free miles.

Driveline components can include axles, tranny. Also, crank loads are greater with low-rpm/high-load operation, compared to maing power at faster rotating speeds.

A centrifugal is like a typical engine powerband, only magnified, making more power with increasing RPM. It gets faster and faster as revs rise, because you are making more and more boost.

A roots/centrifugal feels like you've added a ton of displacement to your engine, they make a lot of grunt. They still make good power up top, but it's not a relentless rush.

Put it this way. A buddy had a Procharger, then replaced it with a Lightning (roots-type) blower on his F150 wih a 5.4. His truck felt faster, and spun it's tires a lot easier, with the Lightning blower.

But at the track, it was slightly faster with the Procharger. (He ran 14 psi thru the Procharger, but only a 8-9 psi with the Lightning blower).

You don't want to run 14psi on a stock 5.4 w/ a roots-type blower. The pistons won't take it.

The torque curve is much flatter with a roots/twin-screw. They make power everywhere.

IMHO most people prefer the feeling of a roots/twin-screw, because of its "right now" power delivery.

In my case, my old 5.4 made no power up top, and I had traction problems on boat ramps with the stock engine. The Procharger gave me a lot of power where I previously had none. Revving it past 3500rpm made more noise, but not a lot more power. But now it pulls hard to 5200rpm.

 

[newtofords]

My expy is a 1998 stock 5.4L eddie bauer.
Now with that brough to light, what are your opinions?

 

[newtofords]

With your 5.4L procharger what power are you making?
and how much faster is your truck, or what ET are you at in the 1/4?

 

[pronstar]

Assuming you have a stock NPI motor, your 98 won't make much more than ~320hp at the wheels with any blower at a sane boost level. At least, I have yet to see any numbers beyond this.

Remember, the NPI 5.4 is only rated at 260hp at the flywheel, which is around 190-ish to the wheels. The pre-99 NPI intake/cam/heads just don't flow enough air to make serious horsepwer, they are designed for low-eend torque...and the torque numbers are good when boosted.

A 99+ with a PI motor with a blower can see up to around 360 - 380hp to the wheels.

The newer 3-valve motors can push over 400hp to the wheels.

I make 318hp, 410 lb-ft. of torque, to the wheels. That's somewhere around 400hp at the flywheel.

Those numbers will all increase significantly if the motor is built. Or if boost levels are pushed, but too much boost on stock pistons = bad.

Truck is pretty fast for a 3-ton truck, but it's 10 years old...everything is fast these days, and even V6 camry's run 14-flat in the quarter, and hit 60 in under 6 seconds.

I haven't been to a track, but on a G-Tech it runs somewhat inconsistent low-to-high 14s in the quarter. I personally don't think it will run low-14s at the track. But I think it run a mid-to-high 14.

 

[green03]

I thought the PI was 260 and the NPI was Like 230 or something like that. Pronstar do you have any head work or patriot heads or anything like that?

 

[pronstar]

You are right Green, our old NPI 5.4 is only rated at 235hp. 180 - 190 is all we can expect to see at the wheels on a well-running motor. Kinda sad for such a big, heavy truck.

My heads are stock, haven't had anything apart yet. If I ever rebuild, I'll port these heads and put blower cams in.

Still running stock exhaust manifolds as well.