GTM superhcarger kit in an Auto?
 

Hi everyone, I have supercharger kit dreams dancing around in my head and was hoping to get some info feedback form people who have them so I have a good knowledge of what's up before I possibly take the plunge in the future. Hopefully, this can become a nice concentrated thread of member input/reviews for others considering this as well. So here goes...

1. Has anyone had oil temp issues even with an oil cooler? I noticed it seems the coolers are all shifted to the sides where not as much air this to accommodate the intercooler. I was wondering if this was an issue. I have a 25 row cooler already.

2. GTM recommends the competition radiator option, does anyone have this and would I really need it?

3. GTM mentions that the 7at should not be driven with hard acceleration at higher gears and recommends their transmission upgrade packages. Anyone have this and how important is it? A big FI concern of mine is reliability ( I know it will be less reliable than stock, but is the difference negligible or would I need to be worrying about having a second car)

4. What kind of dyno numbers are you getting with the kit ( stage 1 or 2)? Also how much doe sit impact mileage ( I know it'll be down, but we won't be in Hummer territory right?)

5. any other comments or notes someone looking at that kit should be aware of? (especially for 7at)

Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance!

1, trans cooler should be good, i haven't heard of anyone having over heat issue with the trans.

2, competition rad is nice to have, but not a must, it is quite expensive, so it's your call

3, yea 7at should not be hammered at 5th 6th or 7th if you don't have a built trans, people have had issues with this. You can simply adjust your driving style to accommodate this issue, just down shift

4, depends on what oct tune, with 93, you should be looking at the range between 390-430whp for stage 1, 480-510 for stage 2. however if you want to go on 91 oct, that number will go down by a bit, check the press release by GTM for examples. Fuel mileage is not good, i'm having a hard time to get over 230 miles per tank with DD driving altho most get over 250 but hardly over 300. on the highway it can get a bit higher.

5, only advise i can give is to make sure that you know what you are getting into, it's not always smooth sailing, with these kind of extreme mods, problem will arise, prepare for them. also make sure there is a shop near you that you can trust for install and support when stuff needs to be replaced.

1. trans cooler should be good, i haven't heard of anyone having over heat issue with the trans.

:iagree: good to have it.

2. competition rad is nice to have, but not a must, it is quite expensive, so it's your call

:iagree:

3. yea 7at should not be hammered at 5th 6th or 7th if you don't have a built trans, people have had issues with this. You can simply adjust your driving style to accommodate this issue, just down shift

uhm hard to say. Mostly use gears 1-4, gears 5-7 use freeway mostly.

4. depends on what oct tune, with 93, you should be looking at the range between 390-430whp for stage 1, 480-510 for stage 2. however if you want to go on 91 oct, that number will go down by a bit, check the press release by GTM for examples. Fuel mileage is not good, i'm having a hard time to get over 230 miles per tank with DD driving altho most get over 250 but hardly over 300. on the highway it can get a bit higher.

I get over 300 a tank. Before I use to get 350-370.

5. only advise i can give is to make sure that you know what you are getting into, it's not always smooth sailing, with these kind of extreme mods, problem will arise, prepare for them. also make sure there is a shop near you that you can trust for install and support when stuff needs to be replaced.

:iagree:
Please get a custom tune. It will help the car alot.

Thanks for the info. The kit is already pretty pricey, then I read that you need a trans cooler for the 7at and then I read about all these recommended options like the competition radiator and transmission upgrades. It made me start to question how reliable it would be and just how much more everything was going to cost for a reliable safe build. I'm trying to save for a house so in the unlikely scenario where I did pop for the kit, I didn't want to run into a bunch of extra costs or expensive issues. Sort of just trying to get a really good idea of what I would be getting myself into so I can make a good decision because right now, my brain is just going "ooooh, 500 rwhp...." If I am getting about 21 mpg now on average, how much do you estimate that would drop with a SC?

I was averaging 21 before the supercharger also. my most recent tank i got 338 miles, just over 18 mpg. It is not too bad.

CSF makes an all-aluminum radiator+condenser module that is twice the capacity as the original radiator, and uses special high performance cooling tubes. We just got a new shipment of units today for automatics with built in OE "plate-type" transmission oil coolers.
Cost is about a 3rd of the price compared to what has been proposed to you, and ours is the only "drop-in fit" unit on the market, requiring no modifications to install.

FI builds with an oil cooler and our unit, are not pushing past 230 degrees.

Has anyone tracked with a SC 7at Z? Any issues there?

uhm very few autos have it. Need to build the tranny if your going to do that.

So if I want tot rack the car, SC is probably not the a good idea for me unless i want to pay 1k+ more to upgrade the transmission...

I know of one person tracking there car on the track with an auto. WWJD. But he doesnt have Forced induction. I believe you would be ok with tranny cooler and torque converter.

Yeah, seems like it's getting too pricey for me. Maybe if decide to no longer go tot he track would be the time to do FI. Thanks for the info everyone. I have a lot better knowledge of what I would need for it in the future.

/\ not to sound like a d!ck, but, if you aren't sure if you can afford going FI, or would have $$$ issues were something to go wrong, then perhaps you should just wait until your $$ situation improves. Oh, and house > car.

I cringe whenever I read threads from people talking about going FI and then ask how can it be done cheaper, or "is this extra part really necessary" and "you think it's safe right, I can't afford to buy a new motor if this one blows" etc etc.

You should assume that you'll be buying a new motor at some point and have the $$$ set aside already just in case. and remember Murphy's law, sh!t is going to go wrong, even on the best build from the best shop, you need to be ready just in case it does, that takes $$$.

Yeah, I'm going to do the right thing and go house first. It's just so tempting so I wanted to know what it would really entail and what would be needed. I wasn't trying to cheap out on important stuff, just trying to find out what was important and what was just extra. Affording the FI isn't the problem, it's more about regretting it in terms of delaying home purchase or having to throw down extra money for big issues. I was just trying to get a lot of info and understand what I would be getting into if I decided to go that route. I figure getting info form people would either result in wow, it's not as expensive than i thought and is pretty reliable or damn, it's way more than I thought and/or a bit iffy. And it seems like it's a little iffy if I plan to track it and costs more than I had anticipated so i will continue to hoard my money to get a house sooner. After that, though....

Yeah, that's def the better move imo. Honestly, if you are going to track (hpde) that car regularly, you're better off with just bolt ons and suspension/brakes upgrades. Heat is such a big issue with this car, even in N/A form, to truly reliably track mulitple sessions over a day or two requires ALOT of extra/custom cooling mods, even more so with FI. Car is plenty fast on the track n/a for most people.

I know AE performance has a 72 row oil cooler. I know that would help on the track.

I am running a stage 1 SC on my 09 G37. I have trashed the upper gears in one trans. But I got a replaceemnt without the upgrades.( Sam did his testing and development on my old trans) And after a reflash the trans has been holding strong with no upgrades. That said i highly recomend getting the trans built because a new trans will run u 10,000 plus. As for motor longevity so far 60000KM on my SC and motor is runnign great I change full moble 1 every 6000km though. Trans cooler and oil cooler is a must in my books too. I am running with a 6.5 psi pully stage on giving me 390+hp to the rear and about 350ish TQ. It is fast reliable and a DD for both me and the wife year round. Love it and fell fully confident about the car and its reliability

Hey Shumby, good to know your car is doing good, have you got your built trans yet or are they still working on it?

no not got it yet. it is done but Sam and I are having comunication issues. Hows your doing?

By reflash you mean tuning transmission through uprev?

My tuner says you cannot do that with uprev yet many tuners do.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

Tuning the auto transmission has been done.

Car's been driving fine with the new alternator which has fixed all the voltage issues, now working on solutions for the other stuff, hopefully it goes well.
Oh damn, if you have the time, PM me about the communication issues, it's weird how they are holding a already built unit and not shipping it back to you.

My tuner is an uprev pro tuner and just fails to get that point.

I need to make the drive to Z1

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

You can't tune the transmission really.. its called torque management.. ask him to do that.. to increase line pressure

I did. :shakes head:

How much torque are you putting down ?

Wtf is wrong with him.. there is a way to somewhat tune the tranny but it is under torque management software or something like that.

my built stage 4 should be finnished in march.
I gave Sam a brand new 7 AT with a 100 miles on it.

Z

Cant imagine spending 5-7k on a transmission build. Thats just crazy.

+1 which is why I'll never go FI with my 7AT. :shakes head:

It will be the quickist stage 2 in the 1/4 mile. and it will stay together.
low 11's.

stay tuned for updates.
But i will run it N/A first to see how much quicker it is than the stock 7 AT.
Z