hey guys, i have a totally stock '89 iroc-z with 98,000 miles on it. the car has the 9 bolt rear end with 2.77 gears, a 700r4 and the 5.7 under the hood. I have never had any problems with the car and was wondering if i bolted on a supercharger, would i screw anything up, being a stock car. any help would be great!

 

Depends on how much boost you want to run. With only a few psi, you shouldn't have to do anything. But, if you want to run some bigger numbers, you'll need extra fuel and reduced timing.

Try doing some searching .. there's a lot of helpful info. in the archives.

 

My Vortech didn't go on my 305 untill around 50,000 and I don't see you having any problems because of the mileage issue alone. Here is something I ran across (by accident) recently to consider. I did a search (Google??) on supercharging and came across a machine shop/parts supplier that had a decent primer on adding power. In a (large) nutshell, they said that the rod bolts (arguably the fasteners that take the most direct abuse) are under the most stress during the cam overlap phase, because there is no compressive force acting on them at this time. The big ends of the rods are basically being thrown "out-of-round" violently every time you rev the engine up. That force is of course the highest at or near redline. However, if you decide to add power via a supercharger and don't go too nuts with the boost, you would THEORETICALLY be BETTER off than you would be had you added the same amount of power without pressurizing the engine, because now the rod bolts would be under more stress, again with nothing counteracting the "egging" effect. Add a blower, and you'll have some compressive force mitigating the stretching of the rod bolts, even during the overlap phase of the cam..... Whew. A lot of words, yes, but I thought their point was well made. Try the supercharger if you want. Take your time and do it right. Good luck.

 

As a safety measure I would do a compression check on the engine and make sure everything is good to go before boosting. As long as the engine is in good shape you should be fine. Vortech S-Trim kit (inc MSD 6BTM, FMU, and secondary fuel pump) went on my L98 at around 75K miles and its been running like a champ for 50K miles @ 6psi. The engine can definately handle 6psi if its in good shape. Just keep up on the engine maint and stuff. I think the weak link will be the transmission. Mine was all stock and it went first. I would say upgrade the cooling as much as possible to ensure longer life. So trans cooler, engine oil cooler, etc, etc.