Kenne Bell Vs. Whipple Who Wins?

[thekid96]

Should be fun to see some true colors shine through in these KB threads...

[Total_Perf_Eng]

When Rodney had first purchased hid GT500, he hadnt even realy driven it. So yes, it was a factory bolt on, with no other mods. But he was swapping out the rear gears.

What he has done now, I dont know. I dont even know if he still owns the car. But it is no secret that the GT500's dont need any other mods to make them high hp. Only big boost.

When you buy a stae II or III for a GT500, it comes with 2 seperate tunes. One is for street boost, the other is for high boost. Take a look at KB's website. It shows the setup, and the power graphs.

Originally Posted by Geneus

His motor is not forged..has no headers...has no blower specific cam, etc, etc, etc. I'm sure if I contacted Rodney it wasn't "I bolted on the KB supercharger and viola, I made 800+ rwhp" but rather a build...you know, continue to change and tune, change and tune until you get the desired result. I'm sure you inderstand that principle of trial and error, you being a well respected shop owner/tuner/builder of LS based motors, correct?

[meanmike]

KB all the way!

[Whipple Charged]

Just 411, to be 50-state emissions legal in CA, you must retain the stock air filter lid because of the charcoal sticker built into it.

[thalilbear02]

Originally Posted by Geneus

Fair enough...not everyone is into drag racing, though under the right conditions your mph can be an index of the power you are making...and of course ET is really dependent on the driver and how the car hooks up.

I'm not one who has to see a dyno sheet...your numbers sound right if you weren't running a lot of boost, did not put a blower specific cam in, and didn't have a set of good tubular headers to allow the motor to breathe out.

Yeah not a lot of boost because I wanted it to just be a daily driver... I didn't want to put too much money into it as when I purchased the car I JUST put my money into buying a new house, which obviously is more of an important investment than more boost I say.

Regardless though you are right, no headers, no cam, just the SC and the rear mufflers, running on lower boost just to keep it a bit civilized...

I'm hearing really interesting responses in regards to the customer support... I didn't have much problem with Kenne Bell actually, so I guess whoever had an issue with them in my personal experience.

[garagelogic]

Originally Posted by Total_Perf_Eng

FWIW, Rodney at RPM Transmissions bought a KB for his GT500 from me last year, and I believe he layed down somewhere in the neighborod of 810rwhp. I sent him a few different pullies though. I think he runs it in the neighborhood of 750rwhp.

At the time, his car was bone stock, with 3.73's installed. But I think he has upgraded it since then.

I ran a KB kit on my previous 2007 GT500, so let me speak from experience and not guessing. I've also ran a KB supercharger on a previous Gen II Lightning pickup.

The KB 2.8 Stage III kit on an otherwise stock GT500 can make 800rwhp, but only with the 2.5" pulley and on 116 race gas only. The smallest pulley that is safe to run with 93 octane pump gas is the 3" pulley, and that will make about 650-680rwhp. If you are in the West and can only get 91 octane, you're likely stuck with running the 3.25" pulley and ~625-650rwhp. I have seen a few GT500's with other mods (i.e. headers, bigger injectors, etc.) making 715-725rwhp with the 3" pulley, but they are pretty rare.

For those that suggest customer service with KenneBell is poor, I would beg to differ. Granted, if you are trying to reach them by phone, it's going to take awhile to get through. However, they respond to emails quickly and I've never had anything go unaddressed/unresolved.

As for who is better, KB or Whipple, that is a matter of personal choice. Frankly, I think either will get you to your power goals, but the KB is going to come with everything you need to install their kit on your application, including the tune, whereas with Whipple you will have to source a lot of stuff elsewhere.

[Geneus]

Originally Posted by garagelogic

I ran a KB kit on my previous 2007 GT500, so let me speak from experience and not guessing. I've also ran a KB supercharger on a previous Gen II Lightning pickup.

The KB 2.8 Stage III kit on an otherwise stock GT500 can make 800rwhp, but only with the 2.5" pulley and on 116 race gas only. The smallest pulley that is safe to run with 93 octane pump gas is the 3" pulley, and that will make about 650-680rwhp. If you are in the West and can only get 91 octane, you're likely stuck with running the 3.25" pulley and ~625-650rwhp. I have seen a few GT500's with other mods (i.e. headers, bigger injectors, etc.) making 715-725rwhp with the 3" pulley, but they are pretty rare.

For those that suggest customer service with KenneBell is poor, I would beg to differ. Granted, if you are trying to reach them by phone, it's going to take awhile to get through. However, they respond to emails quickly and I've never had anything go unaddressed/unresolved.

As for who is better, KB or Whipple, that is a matter of personal choice. Frankly, I think either will get you to your power goals, but the KB is going to come with everything you need to install their kit on your application, including the tune, whereas with Whipple you will have to source a lot of stuff elsewhere.

Thanks for the great reply...nice to hear from the "horse's mouth"...LOL.

I take it most of the guys on here are DIY'er's so having a complete "kit" is an advantage if in fact that kit is really complete. I know the Vette guys went thru this with Procharger who claimed to have a "turnkey" application for the C5-LS based cars. Truth be told, their kit was far from turn key and it was left to shops like ECS, A&A and others to build their own kits (with lots of trial and error in between) around the Centri head units. The result was a system that worked quite better than the manufacturer's so-called kit. At the end of the day, the best results occured when the car owner left the install to the tuner who had his own kit as there was "ownership" with the end result. The fact that there appears to be the want to DIY on the install in many cases here leaves much room for finger-pointing when things don't turn out as planned.

[Total_Perf_Eng]

Thanks for the honest inut. I "Think" Rodney was in the 725-755rwhp on the street tune, but id be lying if i told you what he was running (meaning fuel/boost). I do know the street tune is somewhere in the 15psi range, and the track tune is 23psi. But I wasnt aware it was 116. I thought they require 100 octane on their track tune.

Regardless, thanks for the input.

Originally Posted by garagelogic

I ran a KB kit on my previous 2007 GT500, so let me speak from experience and not guessing. I've also ran a KB supercharger on a previous Gen II Lightning pickup.

The KB 2.8 Stage III kit on an otherwise stock GT500 can make 800rwhp, but only with the 2.5" pulley and on 116 race gas only. The smallest pulley that is safe to run with 93 octane pump gas is the 3" pulley, and that will make about 650-680rwhp. If you are in the West and can only get 91 octane, you're likely stuck with running the 3.25" pulley and ~625-650rwhp. I have seen a few GT500's with other mods (i.e. headers, bigger injectors, etc.) making 715-725rwhp with the 3" pulley, but they are pretty rare.

For those that suggest customer service with KenneBell is poor, I would beg to differ. Granted, if you are trying to reach them by phone, it's going to take awhile to get through. However, they respond to emails quickly and I've never had anything go unaddressed/unresolved.

As for who is better, KB or Whipple, that is a matter of personal choice. Frankly, I think either will get you to your power goals, but the KB is going to come with everything you need to install their kit on your application, including the tune, whereas with Whipple you will have to source a lot of stuff elsewhere.

[Whipple Charged]

Originally Posted by garagelogic

I ran a KB kit on my previous 2007 GT500, so let me speak from experience and not guessing. I've also ran a KB supercharger on a previous Gen II Lightning pickup.

The KB 2.8 Stage III kit on an otherwise stock GT500 can make 800rwhp, but only with the 2.5" pulley and on 116 race gas only. The smallest pulley that is safe to run with 93 octane pump gas is the 3" pulley, and that will make about 650-680rwhp. If you are in the West and can only get 91 octane, you're likely stuck with running the 3.25" pulley and ~625-650rwhp. I have seen a few GT500's with other mods (i.e. headers, bigger injectors, etc.) making 715-725rwhp with the 3" pulley, but they are pretty rare.

For those that suggest customer service with KenneBell is poor, I would beg to differ. Granted, if you are trying to reach them by phone, it's going to take awhile to get through. However, they respond to emails quickly and I've never had anything go unaddressed/unresolved.

As for who is better, KB or Whipple, that is a matter of personal choice. Frankly, I think either will get you to your power goals, but the KB is going to come with everything you need to install their kit on your application, including the tune, whereas with Whipple you will have to source a lot of stuff elsewhere.

Not true, ours will come complete, down to the last nut and bolt like all our other systems. The only one's that we offer in non-complete are the "tuner" kits such as some of the GT500's. Yet we still offer complete kits as well. Were the first to supercharge GM EFI with PD SC's. Since 1988, we've been selling complete kits since then, 22 years. Before 2003, there was almost zero competition on the GM side, Maggie had a side mount system that didn't work well and KB had nothing. Once Maggie made the manifold type system, we were focusing on marine and starting on Ford applications. With all our CAD and testing done for the 2011 Mustang, we've been putting all our efforts on the LS based engines for trucks, suv's and all the cars.

[Whipple Charged]

Originally Posted by Total_Perf_Eng

Thanks for the honest inut. I "Think" Rodney was in the 725-755rwhp on the street tune, but id be lying if i told you what he was running (meaning fuel/boost). I do know the street tune is somewhere in the 15psi range, and the track tune is 23psi. But I wasnt aware it was 116. I thought they require 100 octane on their track tune.

Regardless, thanks for the input.

You can run the 3" pulley on 100 octane, but track tune requires high octane and leaded gas. You can't run 23psi on 100 octane, especially on a track or street where temps build.

[meanmike]

Originally Posted by Whipple Charged

Not true, ours will come complete, down to the last nut and bolt like all our other systems. The only one's that we offer in non-complete are the "tuner" kits such as some of the GT500's. Yet we still offer complete kits as well. Were the first to supercharge GM EFI with PD SC's. Since 1988, we've been selling complete kits since then, 22 years. Before 2003, there was almost zero competition on the GM side, Maggie had a side mount system that didn't work well and KB had nothing. Once Maggie made the manifold type system, we were focusing on marine and starting on Ford applications. With all our CAD and testing done for the 2011 Mustang, we've been putting all our efforts on the LS based engines for trucks, suv's and all the cars.

So you have something for the 2011 Stang? If so please tell me more.

[Z_Rocks]

Originally Posted by meanmike

So you have something for the 2011 Stang? If so please tell me more.

You'll be pleasantly surprise I'll let Dustin spill the beans...

[Total_Perf_Eng]

Wheres my website??? I need your help brutha.

Originally Posted by Z_Rocks

You'll be pleasantly surprise I'll let Dustin spill the beans...

[garagelogic]

Originally Posted by Whipple Charged

Not true, ours will come complete, down to the last nut and bolt like all our other systems. The only one's that we offer in non-complete are the "tuner" kits such as some of the GT500's. Yet we still offer complete kits as well. Were the first to supercharge GM EFI with PD SC's. Since 1988, we've been selling complete kits since then, 22 years. Before 2003, there was almost zero competition on the GM side, Maggie had a side mount system that didn't work well and KB had nothing. Once Maggie made the manifold type system, we were focusing on marine and starting on Ford applications. With all our CAD and testing done for the 2011 Mustang, we've been putting all our efforts on the LS based engines for trucks, suv's and all the cars.

Awesome, but that has not always been the case, has it? When I was looking to twin screw my 2007 GT500, I could purchase a Whipple blower, but that was all. No throttle body, no tune, etc. In order to install the Whipple, I would have looked to another source for the stuff I needed to safely install the blower. With the KB, everything I needed (blower, throttle body, MAFia, tune, belt, dual Boost-a-Pump, etc.) all came complete in the kit. It took me 4 hours in my garage to install everything and drive down the road with the new blower.

If you are now offering complete kits, that's a great thing as I know the Whipples are great units and certainly make power.