OK, so im finally saving up to get a vortech supercharger for my 2003 Mustang GT. I am new to the supercharger world, and have done alot of research and reading, but wanted to get some advice from you guys.
Im looking at two different kits, one that comes with the aftercooler, and one that does not. One question is do i absolutely need an aftercooler, or intercooler. Second is, if i get the kit without the aftercooler, and i add an intercooler at a later date?
Another thing, will i need to get a lightning MAF? This is a daily driven car, so im not going to do anythin drastic to it. And last thing is the tuneing portion. After i install the supercharger will it be safe to drive, or will i need to have it towed and tuned at a performance shop?

 

The aftercooler/intercooler is not necessarily needed, but would be a nice thing to have. Otherwise running a water/meth kit would be advised.

You will need a larger maf.

You can probably get away with going to the tuner, but the car is going to act funny and the gas mileage is going to be ****..

Larger injectors will be needed as well, possibly a pump, not 100% sure on that one though. I think the kit may actually come with a boost-a-pump and injectors, you'd have to look at that.

 

Depending where you live or howmuch boost you are going to run will depend if you need an aftercooler or intercooler. If you are not going to run more than 8lbs of boost you don't need an intercooler or aftercooler. You will make better numbers with both of these options but they are not necessary for 8-10lbs of boost. If you live in a very hot a humid place like I do here in Houston Tx an aftercooler or intercooler is almost a must have. Yes you can add an intercooler or aftercooler later on if you want. Yes you will need a MAF or you can probally get by with a diablo mafia(MAF extender). I do not recommend driving without a tune unless you want to blow your car up. You need to trailer it or baby it to the shop you are going to have tune your car. You can not get into boost without a tune or you are going to blow your engine up. Don't spend all this time and money and cheap out on a $400 tune that will save you thousands of $ and time. Also as stated above you are going to need #42 injectors and a larger fuel pump...I recommend an svt focus fuel pump or a Ford GT fuel pump.

 

just get your vortech supercharger kit from modular powerhouse. they sell a kit that is turn key ready even with a couple tunes. you get everything from the blower down to the plug. thats where i got all of my stuff and i put 30k miles on my car with both of his tunes and ran a best of 115 at 12.4 at the track with it.

 

When you get back stateside, retune, think you'd see 11s on a still conservative tune, but a tune that'd give you a little more power.

(NOT 100% sure, just have a few friends with the vortech kit on and running like 12.0s - 11s) they also have a water/meth kit on, since they aren't running an aftercooler or intercooler..

 

Good stuff there. Until you cross 400rwhp you shouldn't need a new MAF or even a MAFia. I'd really try to get the intercooler or aftercooler with your kit. It'll allow a bunch more timing and make more power safer. Water/methanol injection has consequences that you probably don't want to deal with (corrosion in the bottom end and on the valves) but aftercoolers are really top shelf. I prefer the vortech cooler type than an air:air cooler since you can put ice in the reservoir for track days. Definitely DO NOT get into boost without the proper plugs, injectors, fuel pump and tune. You can easily rattle the pistons right out of the motor (or worse yet and more likely trash a rod bearing and then break a rod and window the block)

Solid great advice. You'll still want a final dyno tune to make sure it's all good but at least this sort of complete kit will solve a HUGE number of issues for you and it'll end up cheaper in the end.

DO NOT BUY A TUNER KIT! You are not a tuner. You are a consumer.

 

Thanks guys for all the input, you all really cleared everything up for me. Both kits i am looking at come with the injectors, and a fuel pump, they also come with the computer chip. I do have a sct xcal2 tuner with a custom tune on my car now, once everything is installed i will just ahve it towed to the shop for a final dyno tune. Thanks again everyone

 

my car was tuned professionally on a dyno about 3 years ago... the mail order tune put down 410 hp on 93 octane at 5500 rpms. car ran out of fuel so i had to buy a BAP right there to feed the car. the svt focus pump couldnt keep up. tim only made a few small changes. i just didnt have traction when i ran the car...2.1 and 2.2 60 ft hurt me and the tires broke loose on each shift with the auto...all of that ate up ET...i have the miles per hour for a low 12 high 11. my california octane tune has like no timing i havent logged it to see what max WOT timing is but my 400 hp tune is only at 13* i had a race tune with 17* and more shift pressure on my tranny and converter but i lost that x-cal tuner with that 350 dollar tune. i picked up 30 hp over the 13* tune. that was in germany at 1500 feet above sea level.


im running the 91 octane tune and the car feels down about 50-60 horsepower...my friends says it still pulls hard. im going to track it next saturday with 15" pro stars wrapped in 26X10 ET Drags. i should see 1.7 60 fts with those flashing the converter at its 3500 rpm setting. i just havent had a lot of track time with the car in the past 3 years...i ran a best of 12.6 in germany on a heat soaked car up hill track with 1.8 60 fts at 107 MPH. im not expecting much especially in this phoenix weather....i think i will need meth even with my paxton intercooler.

to the OP i post on modular powerhouse and i havent seen or read about mail order tunes blowing motors. if you do get the mail order i highly suggest getting on a dyno to have your A/F ratio checked. thats all i and i found out my 93 tune made too much power for the focus pump.

 

there's no reason to tow it to the tunerif a tuned chip comes with the kit but staying out of the go peddle until you get it on a dyno is a good idea.

 

If you already have a hand held tuner then your local tuner should be able to send you a tune that you can use to cruise over to the dyno with. Just baby it and stay out of boost till you get there. And without a tune you wont be able to drive with larger fuel injectors anyhow.

 

Can't you change the injector size on the tuner? If so, will that be alright to drive to the tuner as long as you are staying out of boost.

 

could also just leave the stock MAF on with stock injectors and drive to the tuner. you just have to drive the car and keep it in vacuum. i had to do this for emissions testing in california a few years ago.

takes like 30 minutes to swap injectors and MAF...well for me it does.

 

Not with regular hand held tuners. You need to change a few things to make the car even run with larger injectors. But your dyno tuner should be willing to give you a free tune to cruise over with and then do the final tuning on the dyno.

 

The SCT Xcal 2 has a fuel injector selection.

 

Werd? mine does not have that.

 

Yeah when I google info. for the Xcal 2 it says fuel injector selection 19lb-60lb. I'll have to plug mine in and check it out.

 

I even have the updates from SCT and I don't have that.

 

Hmmm, now I'm curious. I'll have to check tomorrow and see. I'm hoping I can change it. I'll let you know.

 

select "Tune Custom Options" from the action menu. You can change injectors there with any SCT tuner as long as it's got a default SCT tune file on it.

Bring it over if you can't find it and I'll take a look. Some custom tunes do not come with the options configured to allow injector changes but it is a function that's typically there on Xcal's