Preparation for the STILLEN supercharger

Buddy Revell

Agreed. GTM's numbers thus far are also with the base level Rotrex on stock cats and exhaust.

Kyle@STILLEN

There is absolutely no concern about leakage of the intercooler. On the Nissan Titan kit we were using a tube and fin intercooler which was also being used by numerous other supercharger manufacturer's including Magnusson. We had many trouble free years until all of a sudden something changed. The manufacturer was having some serious issues and every single company that we know of has since pulled their intercoolers from them and taken their business elsewhere. We also went one step further on that kit and decided to switch to a bar and plate intercooler for added durability.

Tube and fin intercoolers are good intercoolers, they're basically the same as a radiator. However a bar and plate is much stronger and much more durable. It is a bit more expensive but the benefits outweigh the cost.

To answer your second question regarding what would happen if the intercooler leaked...As I mentioned that did happen on the Titan and on those trucks every customer who had a leaky intercooler received a new bar and plate at no charge and received some additional money for labor. Additionally if anyone lost a motor due to the leaky intercooler (which I think only happened once) then we paid for a new motor.

jran76

I think you mean bar and plate?

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Kyle@STILLEN

Sorry, you are correct

Zguy

Thank you very much for your timely response.

Throttle

Now I understand why you kept the type of supercharger a secret for so long. It has been a while since I have been able to check up on this topic and I am a bit disappointed to find that a centrifugal was chosen. Why?

The TVS is nothing short of an evolution in supercharger design yet it was not used. Did Vortec release some ground breaking new design that is on par with the TVS advancments? Or was a centrifugal chosen for ease of mounting, maintaining the stock hood or just because Stillen is more comfortable with them? Was the TVS even tested? How did it compare to the Vortec unit you are using? What made Stillen choose something other than the best?

I am asking because I respect Stillen and I know that you guys did research a lot of different options before picking the Vortec... what made the difference? Please help me to understand.

~Throttle

2fast4thelaw

This question has been covered in the other Stillen thread that for some reason I cant find anymore. Stillen was forced to use a centrifugal because a TVS or screw type supercharger will not work with the dual throttle body setup. I may be wrong but I think there was some other issue with the VVEL system on the VQ37. There just wasnt room and one of thier design goals was to be able to keep the stock hood. (Thank you stillen! I kind of thought the aftermarket hoods for the 350z's were a bit Ricy) I am not exactly thrilled about the Vortec blower myself but they obviously know something I dont. I think they are noisy but thats just my opinion where many others are fine with them.

However I want to to them for the awesome intercooler and intake design. I feel this will definitly give them an edge to the competition and will definitly make the system more scalable for higher boost options that they will inevitably will offer.

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To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

370Zsteve

The guy was trying to help, Throttle.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

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SOLD MY Z MARCH 2018 - another Core OG moves on - new ride 2019 Z Corvette Grand Sport - no mods necessary but already have eyes on HFC and intakes LOL IT NEVER ENDS.

Trips

I don't think that was a nice reply!

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Kyle@STILLEN

We chose the Vortech centrifugal for a few reasons.

#1) Hood clearance- We built a supercharger for the 350Z and G35 that required a replacement hood. We found that this hurt sales and a lot of people did not want to be forced to change their hood. When we designed the kit we didn't think it would be a big deal because we all focus on performance before aesthetics. Because we learned that not very many people wanted to change their hoods on the 350's, we decided to stick with the centrifugal on the 370 and G37.

#2) We absolutely could have made an Eaton or Vortech top mount blower fit and to be honest, it would have been A LOT easier!!! But again, there would have been issues with hood clearance. If we went with the top mount supercharger we could have simply designed a hammerhead looking rear intake tube, retained the factory throttle body position, and designed a cast aluminum intake manifold with intercooler built in...Very similar design to our current offering for the VQ35. However, that system would have required a hood that is about 3-4 inches taller in order to clear the kit. It would have been a lot easier but we believe that the vast majority of people would not want to change their hood.

#3) Power potential, yes the new Vortech units are very nice and if you can fit an appropriately sized blower then you will have great power potential. However, fitting the appropriately sized blower would be the issue. Superchargers are designed for certain displacement motors. The smaller the motor, the smaller the blower. The larger the motor, the larger the blower. This is because the supercharger needs to be able to move enough air so that it can supply the engine with a sufficient amount of air. The Eaton roots supercharger system that we use on the VQ35 is designed for engines up to 3.5 liter displacement. It works very well up to about 8 psi. Anything more than that and it just can't move enough air. The next size up supercharger can move more air thus making more power, but its larger size means the hood bulge needs to be even bigger...The same would be true for the Vortech/lyscholm twin screw blowers.