Vortech supercharger install...*PIC HEAVY*

milgt

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Alright, to start off I didn't get as many pictures as I would've liked because I kept getting caught up in the installation and kept forgetting that I needed pictures of everything so if I don't have a particular picture of something, sorry. I did a search on the forum for "vortech install" and nothing like this came up so thought I would add it to the forum for those that may want to install themselves.

Alright, to begin with, the install is really straight forward after you dig into it. You may feel a little overwhelmed if you just skim the instructions but that quickly goes away once you start the install. First things first, Removal of the bumper cover and engine parts (intake and coolant reservoir). Drain your coolant and place your reservoir out of the way since it isn't reused. Take your upper radiator hose off and place it off to the side for future modification. Remove your throttle body as well and place it to the side for installation later. Loosen the bolts on your water pump pulley before you remove the belt as well.
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You're gonna wanna take the large wiring harness on front of the engine on the passenger side and free it of the two tie downs. Be careful with the one closer to the center of the engine because you'll use the threaded location later on in the installation. Refer to the last pic above to see the wiring harness.
The install calls for you to cut the stock hose clamp at the radiator Y where you removed the upper radiator hose and replace it with a worm drive hose clamp. I didn't understand the need in this because you don't mess with that upper hose at all other than this so take that for what it's worth.
Next, there is a wire connection that needs to be moved out of the way. The location is next to the PCM(?). Looking into the engine bay you'll see the wire connection to the right of the PCM and all you do is basically pull it up and dislodge and then move it. The bracket that the wiring connection was attached to needs to be bent and broken off.
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Now you'll wanna grab the upper radiator hose and cut 2" from the 90* bend and also replace the stock hose clamp with one of the worm gear clamps and rotate the hose as needed. There are two small aluminum pieces in the kit and the 90* bend one goes on the side that connects to the radiator the other will go in to the other side. All you're doing with this radiator hose is rerouting it to get the supercharger and piping a place to go.
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Moving on now to the new coolant reservoir. you'll have your new brackets and all to secure to the new tank, do so now. You'll be securing this tank to the inside 2 studs of the passenger side strut tower. you need to bend the A/C lines out of the way of course with care lol. You'll be cutting and extended the smaller coolant hoses and connecting them to the T on the new coolant reservoir.
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You'll now need to remove the 3/4" hose from the driver's side heater tube and grab the new hose included in the kit and route it to the bottom connection on the new reservoir tank.
Next step will be to modify your fan shroud to fit the piping route for the intercooler.
Stock:
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Modified:
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You'll also be modifying the bracket holding the fan wiring. Basically, your moving the wiring further into the fan shroud to allow for more clearance for the supercharger. You'll also need to do a little trimming of the top to fit the new intake piping.
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Now you move on to installing the supercharger bracket and also flipping the throttle body as well as installing the spacer in between the throttle body and intake manifold. You'll want to secure the blower as well.
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If you are using your stock pass. side PCV and also have the stock intake manifold you'll want to do the modification that is included in the kit. I didn't have to worry about modifying mine.
To prep for installation of the intercooler and piping you'll need to relocate your horns located on the driver's side. All you do with the horns is flip the bracket they are secured to and reinstall. It will move the horns further up and out of the way of the piping.
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milgt

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Manual cars will need to cut the brake booster line near the firewall right behind the fuel rail and insert the T fitting included for the bypass valve.
Manual car again, take the driver's side Pcv off and carefully cut out the 90* fitting going to the nipple you'll insert this piece into the included tubing for the new intake going to the supercharger.
Now you need to trim and cut the bumper pieces so that they will accomodate the new intercooler and piping.
driver's side intake piece:
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passenger's side piece:
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Installed on the car:
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Bottom piece:
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and the front bumper:
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milgt

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thanks guys! I hope it helps someone out in the future. It was a great experience for me to actually dig in a little bit more than what I've already done(IM,intake,cat deletes,and catback) and become more familiar with the car.
 

Kenaizer

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Dang good job. This could've definitely helped me with my install.
 

milgt

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Dyno went alright last night, numbers were there but we were having trouble with the throttle body being weird and shutting at about 6500rpms every run... I have a video of the boost gauge we had hooked up but haven't loaded it yet. Any insight from anybody on what could be the problem? Final #s were 600whp/460tq in 4th gear.

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milgt

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Why is your tq so much lower?

You selling your JLT Boss intake now?

Yeah, I plan on putting it up for sale just haven't gotten around to it yet with the install and dyno session and work.

I'm really not sure about the torque and all.....no offense whatsoever to my tuner but I might have a second person look at it and see what they think about the tune so that I know I'm getting the best I can as far as driveability and whatnot.
 

badnews

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Dyno went alright last night, numbers were there but we were having trouble with the throttle body being weird and shutting at about 6500rpms every run... I have a video of the boost gauge we had hooked up but haven't loaded it yet. Any insight from anybody on what could be the problem? Final #s were 600whp/460tq in 4th gear.

IMG_0901.jpg

How much boost was it?
 

cudaman

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Awesome thread. Just what I wanted to see... the HP/TQ curves. Question though on the intercooler. Only the bottom 1/3 seems to get airflow from the pictures as the bumper covers parts of the remaining section in the middle, and the top 1/6 gets air from the grille (maybe). Is there anything else in terms of piping or ducts that directs more air around the "entire" intercooler or at least the middle-section while at-speed on the road? The pictures are great at showing the bumper coverage over the intercooler, which may be a concern (or not). Any heatsoak measurement being tested done while dyno'ing? What sorts of intake air temps are coming out during the dyno (which is static, worst case since the car isn't moving)? If you have those numbers, might be nice to post. Great post though.
 
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milgt

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Awesome thread. Just what I wanted to see... the HP/TQ curves. Question though on the intercooler. Only the bottom 1/3 seems to get airflow from the pictures as the bumper covers parts of the remaining section in the middle, and the top 1/6 gets air from the grille (maybe). Is there anything else in terms of piping or ducts that directs more air around the "entire" intercooler or at least the middle-section while at-speed on the road? The pictures are great at showing the bumper coverage over the intercooler, which may be a concern (or not). Any heatsoak measurement being tested done while dyno'ing? What sorts of intake air temps are coming out during the dyno (which is static, worst case since the car isn't moving)? If you have those numbers, might be nice to post. Great post though.

I actually didn't get any measurements of the IATs over the pulls... I wish I had but we did the touch test and the intercooler stayed cool throughout the session.
 

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