Elevation and a Procharger

[Jordanfmeyer]

I am planning a birthday trip for my girlfriend to spend the weekend in the Denver area in two weeks from now. I’d like to take the Shelby out there but I figured I would ask the members here if elevation is going to potentially damage anything before I do. Anyone that has experience that would like to chime in to help me out is appreciated!

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[Jay-rod427]

Not going to hurt anything but it will for sure neuter it a bit on power. Unless some Mexico pulls you probably won't even notice.

 

[Jordanfmeyer]

Thank you both for that information. I appreciate it!

 

[m3incorp]

You do realize that those of us that live at high attitudes drive these and have same warranty as those at sea level. If you do a Mexico pull it will be against other vehicles that are feeling the same effects of high attitude as yours, so all is good. My home is another 1000' feet higher than Denver and no elevation related problems from any of my cars, even those that are recommended to run on 93 octane, which doesn't exist here. Since I live in CO and GA I get to sea level performance and high attitude performance BUT my cars in CO have never been to GA and the ones in GA have never been to CO. You will enjoy driving it in some mountains. I recommend taking a drive up Continental Divide for some really nice 14k foot views.

 

[Chummel]

I'm sure the OP is aware that people have supercharged vehicles in high altitude locations. If i had to guess he was probably more concerned about the tune and whether or not any changes needed to be made there to handle the elevation change.

 

[Jordanfmeyer]

I'm sure the OP is aware that people have supercharged vehicles in high altitude locations. If i had to guess he was probably more concerned about the tune and whether or not any changes needed to be made there to handle the elevation change.

Exactly my concern. Thank you I should have clarified that in the original post.

 

[Jordanfmeyer]

You do realize that those of us that live at high attitudes drive these and have same warranty as those at sea level. If you do a Mexico pull it will be against other vehicles that are feeling the same effects of high attitude as yours, so all is good. My home is another 1000' feet higher than Denver and no elevation related problems from any of my cars, even those that are recommended to run on 93 octane, which doesn't exist here. Since I live in CO and GA I get to sea level performance and high attitude performance BUT my cars in CO have never been to GA and the ones in GA have never been to CO. You will enjoy driving it in some mountains. I recommend taking a drive up Continental Divide for some really nice 14k foot views.

We will have to check that out! I’d love the chance to do some driving up in the mountains with this thing. What octane is available in Colorado? I do not remember if 91 is available. Either way, I will have to bring some octane booster with me to be safe.

 

[Jay-rod427]

No changes needed. Glorious power of a MAF sensor. Air in fuel this, less air in fuel that.

 

[r1lovin]

Car will be fine other than making less boost and feeling slower . Altitude is a cruel mistress lol

 

[XS]

Gas here is awful. 91 is max octane and even with that my stock GT pings on high DA days (like this time of year). Denver is at 5200 yes but DA here is commonly 6000+. DA up in the mountains can be as high as 16,000 up around the gambling resorts. All in all just be a little more careful and you will be fine. That said, my dad's Vortech car does fine on 91 as a driver. When wringing it's neck yeah it gets octane booster.

 

[SplawnDarts]

You lose some power to elevation - there's about 15% less air between sea level and Denver elevation.

NA engines will lost that much power.

Supercharger systems with a fixed compression ratio with lose that same amount but of course have more to lose.

Super/turbo systems with a blow-off valve with a fixed PSI boost will lose less - about 8% for typical boost levels.

Sophisticated systems that control the boost with a MAF would potentially increase boost above what's used at sealevel and lose nothing.

Your MAF tells the ECU how much fuel to ask for, so there should be no tune issues if the tune is set up right. It's no different than using the same NA tune in different atmospheric pressures.

The 91 octane gas here can be a problem.

 

[XS]

Also, not to go off topic, but they're doing significant construction on I-70 through Denver and I-25 through Denver. I have not been through in the last month (covid work from home) but the gravel and debris was significant. If you can, use E-470 and C-470 to bypass. The first is a toll road, but it's worth it.

 

[lightrules]

you'll be fine...just check your oil once in a while and keep a couple of 5w-50 bottles with ya...

 

[m3incorp]

Use reputable gas stations to fill up with the 91. Some people don't like Costco, depending on where they are in the country but Costco is my go-to station for gas.

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