Preparation for the STILLEN supercharger

RCZ

Well, if you phrase it like that perhaps not. However, that's not exactly a realistic situation. A big factor with this kit is going to be upgradability. A supercharger that has a larger housing from the start may suffer a little bit on the low end, but has much greater potential. I think with those figures you were referring to the power levels between the stillen kit and the gtm kit? If Im not mistaken that was around the difference in the power curves.
This is all purely theoretical because we have no idea what the production power output of the CARB legal Stillen kit. They have said it several times. It may end up being higher or lower. So to answer your question I'll say this:

It is absolutely worth it to me for two reasons. 1) The power potential and 2) Price of upgrading. You say 10-12hp peak advantage? I say you aren't scratching the surface of the potential of having a bigger housing at 10-12hp. I think You are looking at more of at least a 50+whp power difference with some very slight alterations. That takes me to my second point, ease and price of upgrading. Changing a pulley and a tune may cost a few hundred bucks all said and done, labor included. So if you wanted to upgrade from say a stillen stage 1 to a stage 2, you would simply keep the compressor housing, but change the pulley and the tune. Correct me if I'm wrong, but GTM said that each staged kit uses a different compressor housing. That means that if you wanted to upgrade from a stage 1 to a stage 2, you wouldnt be looking at a $300 anymore, now you're looking at a $1000 minimum between parts, labor and a tune.

So absolutely, its worth it for me to lose 5% of power in the mid range in exchange for the potential to make so much more and very cheaply. After all, in any situation where you are actually using the power, your RPM's aren't dropping below 4k. That little bump in mid range tq more or less becomes meaningless.

(just to clarify, I don't know that upgrading Stillen will be $300 or that upgrading GTM will be $1000, those numbers are just there to point out the fact that there is a BIG price difference between a pulley change and a compressor change)

Buddy Revell

No, my numbers were just hypothetical. The curves for the GTM and Stillen dynos were a bit different than that. They had bigger differences in the mid-range and a smaller difference in the top end, but I didn't use those because those aren't the final numbers.

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'08 IP G37S/GTM Supercharger/20" DPE SP-5 Wheels/ARK GRIP Exhaust

RCZ

Oh alright, I didnt pay too much attention to that since Stillen's numbers werent final, but there you have it. That is my opinion. What do you think?

Also just want to add.... when you get into GTM's stage 3 kit with the bigger compressor housing, that difference in mid range between the two kits disappears since now you are running similarly sized units.

Zsteve

So are you saying one kits stage one will be smaller than the others stage one? So one will be good for low-mid gains and the other for mid-high gains?

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2010 LS3 C6 Silver coupe corvette

RCZ

Yup ignore button has been put to use since i last posted, so I can't really know if he posted anything back, not that I care. In fact I'm taking down all my unnecessary posts to reduce clutter.

Absolutely lets get back on track with this thread.

Yeah well, I'm sure Stillen will correct me if I'm wrong and I dont want to speak for them, but the stillen Stage 1 compressor is the same size as the other stage compressors. The only thing that changes is the pulley and tune. That's why its very easy and cheap to upgrade.

GTM on the other hand has different compressors for each stage, so yes the GTM stage 1 compressor should be smaller than (less peak power in exchange for a bit more low end torque) than the Stillen Stage 1.

Zsteve

Well that makes things more interesting, I will stay stage 1 if I get one so I guess I would want more tq than high end hp. But as always, once you have the power you want more.

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2010 LS3 C6 Silver coupe corvette

fstrnldr

I'm curious why you think its better to run a compressor out of or on the low end of its efficiency range rather than just be realistic about your power goals and buy a charger based on that from the beginning? I can't see choosing something based on what i might do later when its not the best option for what i am building right now.

LiquidZ

I think it comes down to people becoming power hungry when they are exposed to boost. Giving a kit that produces great numbers out of the box is great, but giving people the ability to make big power when they are ready without changing major components, even better.

The same design philosophy is used by Greddy with their twin turbo kits.

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Buddy Revell

Interesting points. Thanks. It'll be cool to see more performance data on all the different stages for these kits when they are eventually released.

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'08 IP G37S/GTM Supercharger/20" DPE SP-5 Wheels/ARK GRIP Exhaust