10" lower to keep blower stock for warranty?

[AbsolutHank]

I'm thinking about picking up another ZL1, and am trying to determine a correct mod path.

My last car had a 2.4 upper, ported snout, TB, CAI and an LS9 cam. Using the 10" lower on my new ZL1 and leaving the blower pulley and snout stock should eliminate any warranty concerns down the road with a supercharger bearing/isolater failure right? I could also go with a different cam too while doing the lower. Thoughts?

[Stephen12ZL1]

I like my 10" lower and the upper pulley is stock. I have never removed the blower from the engine. If you do a 10" lower and a cam swap, your car will run great. Metco makes a 10.5" lower ring if you use a Metco lower balancer. ATI is limited to a 10" lower. Warranty concerns are less with an unmodified blower and you could easily return the car to stock.

[white ZL1]

Agree with Stephen, and is what I did.
As long as your dealer will play ball then you still have a shot at them replacing the blower should it start rattling.

[JANNETTYRACING]

Originally Posted by AbsolutHank

I'm thinking about picking up another ZL1, and am trying to determine a correct mod path.

My last car had a 2.4 upper, ported snout, TB, CAI and an LS9 cam. Using the 10" lower on my new ZL1 and leaving the blower pulley and snout stock should eliminate any warranty concerns down the road with a supercharger bearing/isolater failure right? I could also go with a different cam too while doing the lower. Thoughts?

You can go to 8.86 lower with stock injectors anything larger will require larger injectors, ID-850s recommended.

I prefer to use the lower to increase blower speed over the upper pulley method.

It takes more torque to turn the blower faster why reduce the belt contact area and induce belt slip during throttle transitions.

You can spin the blower past max blower RPM with just the lowers that are available.

Ted.

[2013 ZL1 #7860]

Originally Posted by JANNETTYRACING

You can go to 8.86 lower with stock injectors anything larger will require larger injectors, ID-850s recommended.

I prefer to use the lower to increase blower speed over the upper pulley method.

It takes more torque to turn the blower faster why reduce the belt contact area and induce belt slip during throttle transitions.

You can spin the blower past max blower RPM with just the lowers that are available.

Ted.

And the lower is easier to change and can be put back to stock pretty easily. And it is stealthy and the ATI setup is lighter than stock. (Most people who walk up the car look at the upper pulley first but rarely do they look below at the lower)

[AbsolutHank]

Originally Posted by JANNETTYRACING

You can go to 8.86 lower with stock injectors anything larger will require larger injectors, ID-850s recommended.

I prefer to use the lower to increase blower speed over the upper pulley method.

It takes more torque to turn the blower faster why reduce the belt contact area and induce belt slip during throttle transitions.

You can spin the blower past max blower RPM with just the lowers that are available.

Ted.

Definitely doing injectors too Ted...I was just talking about the other mods mainly.

[GenF-GTS]

Personal opinion here if you are going to mod it take responsibility for it, your warranty is gone. Put a solid isolator in it, any issues are your problem.

Computer will also show that the tune has been changed and also how many times it has been changed.

[jessrayo]

The way I see it you want to change the lower pulley so you will still have a warranty on the upper pulley isolator that pretty much everyone now realizes is bad. Why not just change the upper pulley and completely eliminate the bad parts right from the beginning?

The only reason the supercharger needs warranty is because of that spring isolator behind the upper pulley. If you change the upper pulley, pretty much everyone throws away the bad isolator with the pulley change and puts in a solid. If you do the upper pulley and put in the solid isolator at the same time all the supercharger problems are fixed. If you want pulley upgrades put a 2.5 upper on it an you wont have any more worries with supercharger then you can do a lower on the bottom if you want more boost in the future. That is what I would do.

[BPG]

Another ZL1? Lol, you change cars way too fast.

Can't wait to see what you end up with

[JANNETTYRACING]

Originally Posted by jessrayo

The way I see it you want to change the lower pulley so you will still have a warranty on the upper pulley isolator that pretty much everyone now realizes is bad. Why not just change the upper pulley and completely eliminate the bad parts right from the beginning?

The only reason the supercharger needs warranty is because of that spring isolator behind the upper pulley. If you change the upper pulley, pretty much everyone throws away the bad isolator with the pulley change and puts in a solid. If you do the upper pulley and put in the solid isolator at the same time all the supercharger problems are fixed. If you want pulley upgrades put a 2.5 upper on it an you wont have any more worries with supercharger then you can do a lower on the bottom if you want more boost in the future. That is what I would do.

Actually there is a Bearing concern, they can fail.

If you touch the blower they will not warranty if the bearing fails.

Ted.

[jessrayo]

Originally Posted by JANNETTYRACING

Actually there is a Bearing concern, they can fail.

If you touch the blower they will not warranty if the bearing fails.

Ted.

I don't know what the percentage of bearing failures are but I'm guessing it is less than 1/10 of the noisy superchargers. I think the main problem is the isolator. Most dealers will not want to warranty the blower if they are aware of any pulley changes, upper or lower.....

I've had 2 cars with LSA, superchargers. My Cadillac had the supercharger replaced because the isolator bearing was knocking. The knock was starting to come back and then I had the upper pulley changed and that fixed everything. My ZL1 had the upper pulley changed 3 days after I bought the car and never had a problem. You probably see a lot more cars than I do but I don't know of any car that had the upper pulley changed and a solid isolator installed that had a bearing problem later on.

I still think the smart way to go is change the upper and get that spring loaded isolator out from the beginning.

[CanadianZL1#992]

Originally Posted by jessrayo

I don't know what the percentage of bearing failures are but I'm guessing it is less than 1/10 of the noisy superchargers. I think the main problem is the isolator. Most dealers will not want to warranty the blower if they are aware of any pulley changes, upper or lower.....

I've had 2 cars with LSA, superchargers. My Cadillac had the supercharger replaced because the isolator bearing was knocking. The knock was starting to come back and then I had the upper pulley changed and that fixed everything. My ZL1 had the upper pulley changed 3 days after I bought the car and never had a problem. You probably see a lot more cars than I do but I don't know of any car that had the upper pulley changed and a solid isolator installed that had a bearing problem later on.

I still think the smart way to go is change the upper and get that spring loaded isolator out from the beginning.

When we had my wife's car done last month I was going to have the snout removed just to change the isolator but found out after November '13 the 14's had the solid isolator already. We just went ahead with a 9.55 lower for now. Later this winter when my car is being worked on her car will get the ported snout off my car with the 2.55 upper. I just didn't see any logic in buying 2 of them. I've had the solid isolator in my blower since 1K miles, spinning the hell out of in with no issues

[jessrayo]

Originally Posted by CanadianZL1#992

When we had my wife's car done last month I was going to have the snout removed just to change the isolator but found out after November '13 the 14's had the solid isolator already. We just went ahead with a 9.55 lower for now. Later this winter when my car is being worked on her car will get the ported snout off my car with the 2.55 upper. I just didn't see any logic in buying 2 of them. I've had the solid isolator in my blower since 1K miles, spinning the hell out of in with no issues

Good point, OP doesn't say what year, '14's and '15's already have a solid isolator. Then the lower will be fine.

[CanadianZL1#992]

Originally Posted by jessrayo

Good point, OP doesn't say what year, '14's and '15's already have a solid isolator. Then the lower will be fine.

A guy has to look at the build date on the 14's also Jess. The earlier 14's had the spring loaded isolator. I couldn't find a serial # split but my dealer had a TSB that states cars produced after Nov 13 had the solid isolator.