LSA S.C. install on LS3: the project begins

[RupertPupkin]

Originally Posted by Valkyrie14

So far I can tell you that there are plenty of parts out there. It can be as easy as getting a kit from a vendor for around $6000. Or how I’m doing it finding guys that have ZL1s that went for a Whipple and are selling what is sitting in their garage.

I have all of the $$$ pieces so far and I am only in $3,350 so far.

I can find whole kits for 4900$ New shipped. Regardless, the price where you’re at, it’s still pretty good. If you have the time, willing to search and don’t mind getting stuff used, then all good. More power to you.


Have you just been looking here in the forum? I’m assuming probably FB/eBay etc. also.

[Valkyrie14]

Originally Posted by RupertPupkin

I can find whole kits for 4900$ New shipped. Regardless, the price where you’re at, it’s still pretty good. If you have the time, willing to search and don’t mind getting stuff used, then all good. More power to you.


Have you just been looking here in the forum? I’m assuming probably FB/eBay etc. also.

Everywhere. The deals have come from people on the forum. But I was able to negotiate because I knew what they cost new from vendors and GM and used on eBay.

[Valkyrie14]

Originally Posted by LaN-

Doing a blower first is the best choice. I did a cam first and regretted it.

When you did your LSA who did you use to do your tune?

[hammdo]

If you ck my build thread, I wrote the install guide for ADM and did ALL kinda of mods ;o). Guide is linked in the first post...

GPI did my first tunes, after that, ABADZL1 and I did them...

-Don

[Valkyrie14]

Originally Posted by hammdo

If you ck my build thread, I wrote the install guide for ADM and did ALL kinda of mods ;o). Guide is linked in the first post...

GPI did my first tunes, after that, ABADZL1 and I did them...

-Don

Wow Don, thanks for taking the time to document all of your work. I actually stumbled upon your ADM guide earlier, it is what helped me decide to do this myself, that and a lack $ to pay someone else to do (I also love to work on my cars).

For tuning do you use HP? I have an SCT, but I have been wanting to be more hands on with my own tuning. But that was when I was thinking of tuning for basic bolt ons. A blower and cam down the road seem daunting to me and I am just pay for the tune. My challenge is that there isn’t a tuner with a dyno within 3 hours of me.

[Valkyrie14]

Originally Posted by LaN-

850's are good

replace the pulley now because you can't once its on the car. The entire blower needs to be removed.

While the car is torn down you'll want to think about putting in a cam.

I've got ported heads, NA cam, headers and the LSA with stock pulley and are putting down 630.

This may be an obvious question. Is the crank pulley what determines the amount of psi for the blower? Or is that tuned? I guess the real question is, what difference does the size of the pulley make. I see so many size options and I am not sure which I should get.
I was going to roll with stock, but if I have to take it apart to change I think I better do this now.

[LaN-]

Originally Posted by Valkyrie14

This may be an obvious question. Is the crank pulley what determines the amount of psi for the blower? Or is that tuned? I guess the real question is, what difference does the size of the pulley make. I see so many size options and I am not sure which I should get.
I was going to roll with stock, but if I have to take it apart to change I think I better do this now.

TLDR - The pulley size determines how fast the supercharger spins.......how much air it moves.......how much boost it makes. Get a 2 piece pulley between 2.75" - 3"

Although the boost level itself is ultimately a result of the efficiency of the motor the pulleys determine how fast the blower spins which results in how much air it moves. The more air it moves the more boost it will create. That being said you can change either the crank pulley or the supercharger pulley to change the boost level. It easiest to change the supercharger pulley.

To give you more reference.......I'm on the stock crank pulley and stock supercharger pulley. I'm seeing 5-6PSI with that setup. If i didn't have ported heads or an NA cam I'd more than likely see a higher number, but all that matters is the power to the ground not what my boost gauge says.

The stock pulley is roughly 3" so get 2 piece pulley around 2.75"-3". This way when you want more power in the future its a simple swap of the supercharger pulley and a shorter belt.....and a tune lol.

[hammdo]

Originally Posted by Valkyrie14

Wow Don, thanks for taking the time to document all of your work. I actually stumbled upon your ADM guide earlier, it is what helped me decide to do this myself, that and a lack $ to pay someone else to do (I also love to work on my cars).

For tuning do you use HP? I have an SCT, but I have been wanting to be more hands on with my own tuning. But that was when I was thinking of tuning for basic bolt ons. A blower and cam down the road seem daunting to me and I am just pay for the tune. My challenge is that there isn’t a tuner with a dyno within 3 hours of me.

HP Tuners for me. GPI can remote tune — as is many cases. You can datalog and they can use that to tweak the tune - happens all the time. It can take time but, works well.

Mark (ABADZL1) and I use my laptop in my car, Mobile WiFi on my phone, and I go driving While we’re talking and he works my laptop remotely. TeamViewer is what we use so he can remotely control my laptop.

Works pretty well I might add ;o)

I know there is a lot in my thread but, I do go over tuning and what we did for e85 also..

-Don

[LaN-]

Originally Posted by hammdo

HP Tuners for me. GPI can remote tune — as is many cases. You can datalog and they can use that to tweak the tune - happens all the time. It can take time but, works well.

Mark (ABADZL1) and I use my laptop in my car, Mobile WiFi on my phone, and I go driving While we’re talking and he works my laptop remotely. TeamViewer is what we use so he can remotely control my laptop.

Works pretty well I might add ;o)

I know there is a lot in my thread but, I do go over tuning and what we did for e85 also..

-Don

GPI is great, but if you can find a shop that knows their stuff putting it on the dyno is always better and safer. If you can't find a shop that really knows their stuff see if you can rent some dyno time and have GPI remote tune it. If you're like me getting the numbers is a great feeling. It also gives you some good data for future mods.

For example there's an import shop right down the street from me and I rented their dyno before the blower install to get a reference point and once the weather gets nicer i'll go back to get the after numbers. $50 for a few runs isn't much to have that data.

[Valkyrie14]

Originally Posted by hammdo

HP Tuners for me. GPI can remote tune — as is many cases. You can datalog and they can use that to tweak the tune - happens all the time. It can take time but, works well.

Mark (ABADZL1) and I use my laptop in my car, Mobile WiFi on my phone, and I go driving While we’re talking and he works my laptop remotely. TeamViewer is what we use so he can remotely control my laptop.

Works pretty well I might add ;o)

I know there is a lot in my thread but, I do go over tuning and what we did for e85 also..

-Don

There is a lot in that thread. I got to page seven and decided to take a break. I am treating it like a classroom.

I like the idea of the remote tuning on the laptop while driving with my tuner doing a live reading. Does Mark teach you about what he is doing and why?

[Valkyrie14]

Originally Posted by LaN-

GPI is great, but if you can find a shop that knows their stuff putting it on the dyno is always better and safer. If you can't find a shop that really knows their stuff see if you can rent some dyno time and have GPI remote tune it. If you're like me getting the numbers is a great feeling. It also gives you some good data for future mods.

For example there's an import shop right down the street from me and I rented their dyno before the blower install to get a reference point and once the weather gets nicer i'll go back to get the after numbers. $50 for a few runs isn't much to have that data.

Buddy I live in the woods...the deep woods. I am three hours away from the only dyno in the area. I don’t really know the tuner at that dyno, I have talked to him and he seemed knowledgeable, but I don’t think he is as experienced as others. That is why I am considering HP so at least I can eventually be my own experienced tuner.

[Valkyrie14]

Originally Posted by LaN-

TLDR - The pulley size determines how fast the supercharger spins.......how much air it moves.......how much boost it makes. Get a 2 piece pulley between 2.75" - 3"

Although the boost level itself is ultimately a result of the efficiency of the motor the pulleys determine how fast the blower spins which results in how much air it moves. The more air it moves the more boost it will create. That being said you can change either the crank pulley or the supercharger pulley to change the boost level. It easiest to change the supercharger pulley.

To give you more reference.......I'm on the stock crank pulley and stock supercharger pulley. I'm seeing 5-6PSI with that setup. If i didn't have ported heads or an NA cam I'd more than likely see a higher number, but all that matters is the power to the ground not what my boost gauge says.

The stock pulley is roughly 3" so get 2 piece pulley around 2.75"-3". This way when you want more power in the future its a simple swap of the supercharger pulley and a shorter belt.....and a tune lol.

Man am I glad we are talking about this. So the SC pulley is the one that sits next to the snout and the crank pulley is the one that sits on the harmonic balancer? I want to get my money’s worth out of the SC psi but not push the max of the blower. What is the limit on the LSA?

[Greenhornet2]

Ted at Jannetty knows the cars like the bank of his hand. When I did my whipple he sent me a tune to get me running and it was 98% perfect I had no complaints, he just got a little more power out when I dynotuned. He'll also remote tune using data logging. Elesthree on here just used his time to get his she pushing over 900whp and fixed some of his issues. He can do a lot. As far as boost, your pulleys are like the gears on an 18 speed bike and the blower is the rear tire. Boost is the measure of restriction. So before my cam my 3.875" blower pulley got me 10.5psi, after the cam same pulley size I dropped to 8psi, because the engine is less restrictive and can breath better, though i'm still making more power. So I have to drop my pulley size to get my boost back, and it will make even more power! I don't know the lsa pulley size set ups, but Ted uses sct and if you want to pay him to do your running he will get you where you want to be.

[Valkyrie14]

I PMd Ted and Mark, Let me know any other tuners that are experienced at this conversion and I will talk to them as well. I underestimated what the tune is going to cost.

Pulleys. 8 rib or 6 rib. We are running up against the edge of my budget. I got the lower today and there wasn’t a pulley on it. So I need to get one of those. Budget wise I think I need to use as much of the LS3 pulleys that I can to save money at this point. What mods are necessary, any spacers that are needed. I see some spacers in kits, but some of those are for L99 kits, and I don’t know the minor differences between the engines, if any.

I believe the stock is 6 rib. So can I get a 6 rib pulley and belt and be done with that part of the project or is there a need to replace the crank pulley? At this point I could delay the project if going to an 8 belt is worth it and get the additional parts. What is the benefit of 8 rib and what would I have to also replace?

Getting there. Biggest pieces are either here or on the way. Thanks for all of the advice so far and advice to come. This forum is great.