How safe is it being supercharged?

[engineermike]

I really think you can get near-stock reliability but you sacrifice some power in doing so. The sc companies are in a horsepower war because that sells kits, and then who wants to pay a tuner to reduce power to gain reliability?

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[SolarFlare]

You want safe? Stay stock.

 

[01gt46]

3 years, 15k miles since my Whipple install. 1700 miles/3 states and 4 different tracks in 1 week on Rocky Mountain Race week alone this year.

Car runs a high 10 at my D/A on pump 91/Boostane. Has never seen a drop of Ethanol, because we simply do no have it here in my home town.

Been beat on about every test and tune night since I did the blower install, and it's my toy so it only comes out for race days or RMRW, with very little of the accumulated mileage being from actual driving on trips/ect.

Whipple tune since day 1, always ran great right out of the box.

Only other mods up until spring of this year were OPG's/CS, did race only exhaust spring of this year.

Thanks! Good info!

 

[BigR4444]

You want safe? Stay stock.

I mean. Yea.

I guess it depends on what you wanna do. If you wanna take it to the drag strip then sure, add boost and get comfortable with the idea that you're rolling the dice to some extent.

But if you're like me. And you just wanna cruise around, and enjoy the car, (for 10, 20+ years if you're me) just keep it NA.

I get it, I've thought about slapping a supercharger on there. How badass is that sound; and being able to tell people it's got 700hp. But you're here asking that question because you understand that boost means more pressure on the engine, which means more chance of something bad happening.

I'm not an expert by any means, but maybe look into ESS's G2 kit. It seemed like a cheaper, lower psi alternative. The larger pulleys only give you like 6-7 lbs of boost.

 

[schmeky]

Follow the lead of Roush. Stage 1 is 700 hp crank, about 600 wheel.

Stage 2 is 750 hp crank, roughly 650 to the wheel.

Car will live a long time and still be brutally "street" fast.

 

[Meatball]

about 7k miles boosted, 17GT m6, Whipple g5 s2. Almost exclusively on 91. Not even a hiccup but (a) “octane adjust” is on except for the very few times I run boostane, and (b) I’m very gentle on the engine and trans at all times when I’m not having fun. Still, I’m under no illusion that I’m going to have low, stock levels of engine failure risk with ~50% higher torque across the engine and tranny.

 

[abmobil]

I’m planning on pulling the trigger on a stage 2 whipple (with whipple tune) & boundary OPG & CS tomorrow for my 2020 GT PP1. I know there’s a risk anytime you modify a car but it seems I keep reading about motor failures and seeing YouTube videos about all these people blowing their motors after adding boost.

How common is it?

Is it your DD? If so I would keep power around 600 Wheel but it should be plenty reliable.

I have a 17 GT with almost 28,000 miles. It’s been boosted for 12,000 miles. It’s not my DD but I’m not easy on it. VMP Gen2r. Tuned by VMP. Lots of back rd roll racing. Lots of mountain runs. It’s never complained. Still on the stock clutch. Mine makes 611 wheel.

I would do it again.

 

[Mach9310]

I’m planning on pulling the trigger on a stage 2 whipple (with whipple tune) & boundary OPG & CS tomorrow for my 2020 GT PP1. I know there’s a risk anytime you modify a car but it seems I keep reading about motor failures and seeing YouTube videos about all these people blowing their motors after adding boost.

How common is it?

Like others have said, you want it to be safe? Keep it stock. I learned the hard way by purchasing my stage 2 Whipple without having any additional money saved up. Long story short, it blew up after 500 miles. 11 psi and pump gas. Car sat for a year while I saved up money for the rebuild. I now have a RPG sleeved motor, fore fuel system, and clutches on the 10R80 running a 2.875” 6 rib 18-19 psi on E85 and so far she’s held up. That being said, I’m well aware that even with a built motor and trans, stuff can break. Good luck with the build.

 

[Platinum_5.0]

What's everyone's opinion on which is stronger? Gen 2 car or Gen 3? I had a 17 MT82 car and on pump 94 ran 740whp and on E85 I ran it at 850whp for 3 years. Endless roll races shifting at 8000rpm every gear, sometimes 8200rpm when I was still on 3.73 rear because that's what I needed to get through the traps in 4th. Car had 50,000 miles on it and boosted since 12,000 miles. Completely stock MT82 and only OPG / CS done on the engine. Car trapped a best of 143mph in 4000DA and with belt slip on the 6 rib Gen 3 Whipple. The car never let me down ever. I changed the oil way more then I'd like to admit with Amsoil 5W30 and had an account with a local lab who analyzed every oil change sample and the engine was 100% healthy at 50,000 miles with zero signs of wear. Maybe it's luck, maybe it's great tuning, maybe it was my constant oil changes or a combination of all 3 but I feel that car could have lived on forever...lol.. converted it back to stock and traded on a 21 10R car now that I'm about to push with a Whipple to about 16-18psi. Wish me luck..lol

 

[tdstuart]

From the research, I have done...

Upgrade oil pump and crank sprocket. Get a crank support kit. Keep the boost low. 600-650 rwhp seems to be a really safe number.

Then just discuss with your tuner that you want to have a "safer" tune. Change oil probably every 3k miles, 5k if you have to.

There is a reason so many companies are building and selling supercharged mustang gts. It's a recipe for greatness. Just do those things and you should be relatively safe.


As far as the rabbit hole of money, plan what you want to do from the start. Are you wanting to get traction? You will need new tires and possibly new wheels. Do you think some drag-focused lowering springs would be a good option? Are you pushing enough power where the trans would need to be upgraded? Are you pushing enough power where driveshafts are going to be an issue?

If you plan on keeping it in the 600rwhp range then focus on engine and wheels/tires. Then plan for driveshaft or trans depending on how you drive.

 

[abmobil]

Like others have said, you want it to be safe? Keep it stock. I learned the hard way by purchasing my stage 2 Whipple without having any additional money saved up. Long story short, it blew up after 500 miles. 11 psi and pump gas. Car sat for a year while I saved up money for the rebuild. I now have a RPG sleeved motor, fore fuel system, and clutches on the 10R80 running a 2.875” 6 rib 18-19 psi on E85 and so far she’s held up. That being said, I’m well aware that even with a built motor and trans, stuff can break. Good luck with the build.

I strongly agree about having money saved up before making mods like these.
What caused yours to blow up? What power was it making? Was it on the Whipple tune?

 

[Mach9310]

I strongly agree about having money saved up before making mods like these.
What caused yours to blow up? What power was it making? Was it on the Whipple tune?

Rods/Pistons were fine but the block had scoring on 2 cylinders. I knew something was up when it only made 600 whp on 11 psi Lund 93 tune with 8-12 oz boostane professional in every tank. It blew the day after that dyno session.

 

[schmeky]

The cylinders don't score w/o reason.

Factory top ring end gap is about .012" on a cold engine. Running temp N/A I would think the end gap would be about .010". That's the thickness of 3 sheets of white copy paper, which isn't much.

Expecting a N/A coyote to survive with 11 - 15 pounds of boost on back to back runs is going to cause the end gaps to eventually butt, then press against the cylinder block, then a piston is going to let go immediately afterward.

An engine built for boost is going to run a minimum of .019" top ring end gap cold, and most likely run point or two lower on the static compression ratio as well.

A 12:1 Gen3 can survive boost reliably, but pushing over 700 whp and beating on it with back to back WOT runs increases the chances of failure exponentially.

Keep it at 650 whp or less and give it time to cool between runs and it should live a long time.

 

[01gt46]

Like others have said, you want it to be safe? Keep it stock. I learned the hard way by purchasing my stage 2 Whipple without having any additional money saved up. Long story short, it blew up after 500 miles. 11 psi and pump gas. Car sat for a year while I saved up money for the rebuild. I now have a RPG sleeved motor, fore fuel system, and clutches on the 10R80 running a 2.875” 6 rib 18-19 psi on E85 and so far she’s held up. That being said, I’m well aware that even with a built motor and trans, stuff can break. Good luck with the build.

Thanks for the info.

 

[01gt46]

Is it your DD? If so I would keep power around 600 Wheel but it should be plenty reliable.

I have a 17 GT with almost 28,000 miles. It’s been boosted for 12,000 miles. It’s not my DD but I’m not easy on it. VMP Gen2r. Tuned by VMP. Lots of back rd roll racing. Lots of mountain runs. It’s never complained. Still on the stock clutch. Mine makes 611 wheel.

I would do it again.

It is my DD.

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