n8, I'm really disappointed to read this thread. I don't know how I missed it for almost a week. No Compromise's experience got me to pull the brake and rethink the SC and on another forum I asked for thoughts and now your less than stellar review. I really wanted the SC, because I could do that mod right now. For a hemi I'll have to wait about 6 or so months until I get a contract signed on some property.

While there's zero doubt that a hemi will out perform the SC. I was hoping that what you sacrifice in sheer HP would be negated by the 12k+ dollars you'd be saving. The money for the hemi was getting spent on my toys no matter what, but with the SC I'd be able to finish off the Jeep and send my 73 camaro out to get the body work finished. I'd end up with 2 complete vehicles. I thought that would totally offset not getting 300 plus HP in the Jeep. Now, it seems I don't see many good reviews on the superchargers. And to be fair this is NOT a RIPP issue, as in the thread on another board someone with the HESCO unit expressed disapointment. Someone also said that one of the 2 big supercharger companies is on their 3rd longblock for one of their personal vehicles, that's pretty scary all on its own.

On the brightside, judging by x No Compromise x's ebay listing, if you decide to yank it n8, you'll still get back most of the cost of the charger, so that's at least something.

 

Yeah, the cold weather thing concerned me as well.

I wish one of the hemi installers would offer a sale up or some sort of package deal (if they're advertising it as an SRT8 package, why not toss in leather and installing the brembo brakes someone has just sitting around their house waiting on the final decision on what power adder/plant to go with!). A discount for a cash purchase would be nice too. I still don't get why the 6.4L is 14k more than the 5.7L.

lol Sorry for going on and on, but I've been really debating this for a long while now, it's very frustrating.

 

Hey wheres the original post that states superchargers (or turbos for that matter) do not like cold weather? That is way off, have you ever been to the track and seen bags and bags of ice piled ontop of the intercoolers or the big aluminum ice chillers for the intercoolers? Chargers love cold, the charger creates heat, and warm air does not "pack" as well inside the combustion cylinder. How many guys on here have the charger with a standard, like I previously stated, Ross said that the blower and the engine itself is in the most effeciency in the midrange of the rpm, and that it is most likely the auto tranny slipping because of the electronics. I would like to hear if a manual tranny guy has the same feelings towards the charger as well. And as for "spooling" it up at the track I would bring it up to 6100 on the trans brake and then as soon as the light turned green and the pedal hit the deck I had a wot switch that sprayed the intercooler with nitrous to cool the air.

As for all the guys that say you just can't bolt on a supercharger and expect GREAT results, pm me, and we will set something up in my friends 07 Mustang Gt automatic with nothing but a novi 2000 blower on it, stock everything, except all the kit stuff and exhaust, 525 rwh on the dyno. And if the traction control is on it acts like a joke, but you hit the off switch it is off the f'ng hook for what it is. This is probably the 12th blower we have put on a stock motor car.

I would really like to hear from a manual trans guy to see if he has the problem with the power.

 

I am really enjoying everyone's input so far as I am also considering a supercharger. (A hemi is beyond my financial capabilities)

I will be checking back in on this post regularly.

 

x2 im in the same boat ion this

 

Apparently somebody dug up documentation on the Vortech SC (the SC used in the RIPP kit) which states something along the lines of not using the SC in cold weather climates. I assume it has something to do with the bearings possibly...


RIPP heard from vortech as well. who said that you need to follow extra precautions on winter days, such as using engine block heaters, letting the engine heat up before driving it, light-weight oil, etc etc.

 

Absolutely impossible for 5 grand or less. A 5.7 do it yourself job will run 10k if you're lucky, dsy did it and his is running great. You might be able to harvest an engine and a trannie for under 5k total, but unfortunately that's just the beginning of what you need with these computer run JKs. It's not the same as swapping an engine into a 60s or 70s era non computer controlled muscle car.

 

Hey n8, I just finished installing my RIPP supercharger. Waiting for methanol (very hard to get in GA) and need to install the MBRP exhaust next week. I will keep you posted.

 

I have been reading all these opinions on superchargers verses hemis. I have had several YJs with V8 engines and now have an Unlimited Rubicon 6 speed with a HESCO supercharger. I have had the supercharger on for about 3k miles now. There is no comparison between the supercharged 3.8 and the much bigger V8 in performance or cost. I considered going the hemi route but decided I won't be going any bigger than 35" tires and not towing. The real problem I have with the 3.8 is it's ability to move the jeep kown the highway at 70+ MPH, or passing another vehicle going 60 MPH on a two lane road. It has plenty of power for the low speed off road trips I make and has enough low speed torque to get the jeep moving.I put in the HESCO supercharger because of the power added from 3000 RPM up. I don't have a problem with downshifting to get into the power band. I still have the stock air box and exhaust on the jeep. It is still quiet and now has plenty of power for my needs. It runs about like I thought it should from the factory. I have had the lightning bolt come on two times while going up steep grades. I emailed HESCO about it and the response was to contact them in a couple of weeks for a fix. Except for this one issue I am happy with it. The normal driving has not shown a change in fuel mileage, about 16 MPG overall.
Aggressive driving used to drop the mileage to more like 13.5 overall, with the supercharger aggressive driving only drops to just under 15 mpg, I am happy about that. How it will effect the lifetime of the engine remains to be seen, but I suspect the limiting boost to 5 or 6 psi and not constantly running under boost conditions it should not be a big problem.

 

Exactly 4lo. A blower on a stock 3.8minivan engine and a blower on today's stock Mustang GT are two entirely different things. Today's stock Mustang is ready for a blower because it's presumed that it'll get one installed anyway. I'm not sure I'd even call a stock Mustang engine "stock" when you're comparing the do engines. However, I'm positive that you'll still have to tune the Stang to get the desired results. With a blower you simply must have the valves open longer and higher in order to accept the boost so I'm certain that a blower on a stock Mustang still requires chips and tuning etc, especially if it's going to spit out a %50 gain. And as stated the exhaust still had to be opened up. But again even w/o those things if you muffled the blower by not doing a single thing but adding it on, of course you'll feel something significant with the Stang because if you get only a 35% gain of 300 stock horses that's still an extra 90 horses and hell yeah you're gonna feel it!! The 3.8's so plugged up and inefficient and the transmissions not built for speed so a bolt on blower will probably gain you 15-20% tops at the rear. That's what 240 horses total with a blower? That's nothing. That extra 40 horses will not be impressive after spending so much money and expecting different results. But again, do some mods and the blower will come to life and it'll knock your socks off if done right.

Don-T has the right idea when it comes to using a blower on the stock engine; using it to gain a modest power increase for towing and passing etc.