What's so wrong w/ Kenne Bell?

[Wolvee]

Every time I've asked about choosing my next Blower or read someone else's question on it, 99% of the replies are "Get a whipple" or "Kenne Bells are junk". Is it because Youtube personalities are Tuning, selling and commenting or are there real problems with KB's? ..Even Procharger gets the same kind of hate and I'm not sure why.

KB's were amazing back on the 4.6's . Whipples are the popular thing and I understand they work well. (as well as the TVS) Even searching here on 6G there are almost no threads on the KB. There's more on Mustangforums and that place is a ghost town.

I'm looking at getting the 3.2l Polished or the 2.9 whipple stage2 kit with some options. Twin Turbos are off the table since that's the other suggestion people like to offer. To do TT's right, the price grows exponentially more than I even like the car, lol.

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[lxh89]

It's an antiquated design that KB offers for the 2015. For example, back feed blower requiring one to remove the feed tube and blower elbow to change the spark plugs on the driver side. Their blowers also require liquid cooling which just adds complexity to the install. Their tunes are not to the same quality as Whipple which was developed by an OEM Engineer.

Power wise, they are comparable but with the caveats and no clear performance advantage, most go whipple.

If you're a brand loyal KB guy, then go for it.

Tony

 

[Roh92cp]

KB is a great product and they use to be represented here by Travis at Boostworks, but he's not around anymore. The problem with KB is there marketing strategy. They like to sell direct to customers and don't offer much in the way of sales and adverts and art very active on forums boards or FB. They also have been notoriously bad a customer service and sales when calling them or by email although they have improved some. It's a solid product and second only to Whipple in my opinion, just they don't get any exposure. Whipple has always been active on the forums and boards doing customer relations and product tech updates and notifications. Just seems they don't try hard to get into the market and get more exposure. To make matters worse they have not done anything for the 18 and 19 Mustangs yet and haven't really done any PR on what they say is an upside system like Whipple has done. I've dealt with them for 15 years 3 different SC and its never been easy getting support or answers.

 

[Devil5oh]

When it comes to PD blowers whipple seems like the best option. I remember Kenne Bell was alot more popular back in the day especially with the 13-14 GT500's, Kenne Bell Mammoth swaps were very popular. However with the S550 it seems they've been lacking and whipple is definetly the most popular PD option for obvious reasoms.. the quality of the kit, the tuning, and the reputation is unparalleled.

 

[TripleB]

to continue the trend

get a whipple

 

[Kona 18]

- They lack representation
- They are not active on forums or Facebook, I bumped their 2018 kit thread and even tagged them, no response
- Trying to buy a kit is a hassle, you can't just go to your go to vendor you've had a relationship for years with to order one
- They keep using external bypass valves instead of integrating them into the lower manifold like everyone else(Roush, Whipple, Edelbrock, Magnuson)


The head units themselves will make power, they just haven't been keeping up with the time, it's like they think we're still in the 90's and early 2000's

 

[Notagain]

Few things.

1. Cant knock the nuts swinging other vendors make damn solid products I wont deny that.

2. Kenne Bell does sell thru vendors. Evolution Performance has a crap ton of options for 2015-2017 cars and at least 3 different sice kits. 2.8 3.2 and 3.6 plus they had some massive discounts for black friday last year.

3. People need to chill about the 2018+ cars. Obviously they dont have a kit yet thats inverted mounted and ready for the market. Keep in mind they are a wayyyyy smaller operation than say whipple or roush.

4. External bypass is not all bad go look at the yolo vid they did of a gated auto swapped GT500 with Power by the Hour. Having that adjustability on a big blower car would be insanely convenient instead of swapping pulleys. Ill dig up the vid im talking about here in a minute.

5. I believe 100% once the KB is out for the 2018+ it will be the biggest blower available for the 18+ car.

6. Anyone that thinks the design is outdated or whatever is a fool go look a the Tim Barth Tuned Hellcats and Jeeps with Big ol Kenne Bells. LOL!!

Each kit is going to have its pros and cons.

Sure Whipple is a badass kit but the are pretty much biggest name in the game. I dare say monopoly on the 2018+ right now as far as blower setups go.

 

[Notagain]

4.2 KB gated Boost controller 6R80 swapped GT500



Ohh that Kenne Bell just listen to that eargasm blower noise!

 

[Kona 18]

Each kit is going to have its pros and cons.

Sure Whipple is a badass kit but the are pretty much biggest name in the game. I dare say monopoly on the 2018+ right now as far as blower setups go.

Using a waste gate on that external bypass has been done for a while on other builds too, it's more shit to deal with though, sure using a boost leash to control the boost to ease into it and get better launches is nice, but it's just adding more bulk to the design, and like you said, the 2018's have less room to work with.

And yeah, they said the 18 kit will be a 3.2L inverted set up, how ever no info has been shared to build up the hype for it. They lack forum and facebook group representation, no one cares about magazines anymore. You need vendors and customers to hype your parts up all over the web now, not just magazines or forums, this means all the coyote facebook groups and their thousands of members.

 

[Notagain]

Or Countless goons on youtube that parrot the same crap and dont know diddly but like to nuts swing.

2 each their own.

Main reason i posted in the first place is saying the KB design is out dated is comical. They use a 4x6 rotor pack and are doing some serious work on the Hellpigs.

Complicated design as a negative point is hilarious too. Soo umm are hellion kits junk because they are "complicated" or more "involved" than a whipple kit?

LOLOLOL.

You cant be serious..........

 

[Kona 18]

Or Countless goons on youtube that parrot the same crap and dont know diddly but like to nuts swing.

2 each their own.

Main reason i posted in the first place is saying the KB design is out dated is comical. They use a 4x6 rotor pack and are doing some serious work on the Hellpigs.

Complicated design as a negative point is hilarious too. Soo umm are hellion kits junk because they are "complicated" or more "involved" than a whipple kit?

LOLOLOL.

You cant be serious..........

I said more "bulk", what it does is not complicated, it's just more stuff that is being done outside of the manifold and blower, like they aren't integrated, which I understand why, it's cheaper to keep it this way since it makes it so they don't have to make vehicle specific blower housings, only the manifolds, then they use tubing to mate them together.

 

[Notagain]

So is the ability to swap/upgrade headunits and leave the lower manifold really a con with that dang awful external bypass?

Going from say a little 2.8 to a 4.2 or larger headunit is simple and doesnt require disassembly of the whole kit.

Or the ability the setup cangrow with 1 kit as funds, built engine, car setup, ect. evolve is pretty appealing IMO.

Not demod and start over with a different kit or power adder as the hp goals climb.

Just saying bashing KB is a bit premature shall we say. Esp on the 2018 gen3 cars. At least let em put a kit out 1st LOL!!

 

[2-tone]

Nothing wrong with Kenne Bell. They are a smaller operation, and they make some badass kits. If I wasn't going with twins I might have tried a kenne bell 4.7 just to see how far it would go. That being said I have had great service out of my gen2 and gen3 whipple. And you can't beat the whipple support.

 

[Kona 18]

So is the ability to swap/upgrade headunits and leave the lower manifold really a con with that dang awful external bypass?

Going from say a little 2.8 to a 4.2 or larger headunit is simple and doesnt require disassembly of the whole kit.

Or the ability the setup cangrow with 1 kit as funds, built engine, car setup, ect. evolve is pretty appealing IMO.

Not demod and start over with a different kit or power adder as the hp goals climb.

Just saying bashing KB is a bit premature shall we say. Esp on the 2018 gen3 cars. At least let em put a kit out 1st LOL!!

Ok you win, I'm wrong, Kenne Bell is #godsplan and we should just all wait for their 18 kit which will put peasant Whipple owners their place...

 

[Notagain]

This entire forum be like....

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