Basically, which install is harder/more difficult? I have done a paxton novi supercharger install before, not too bad, just time consuming. Cams seem like very tight, tedious work, and I have little experience with valvesprings, other than a quick rocker swap on pushrod engines.


Will a paxton novi or vortech kit come bolt on ready with a tune to download?

Obviously both need to be tuned, but which physical install is harder?

 

cams are harder.

 

Cams aren't that bad. What can be tedious is degreeing them. However, a blower is less tedious to install. Regardless though, at some point, to get the most out of your combo, cams will be needed. You just have to decide if you want to stay NA or go FI and that will show you the way.

 

Cams will be harder for sure. Supercharger installs are easy if you have decent mechanical skills.

 

the tools you need to do a proper job on the cams jacks the cost up a good bit. The blower you can do with basic hand tools for the most part (and 1 special 3 dollar fuel line disconnect tool). Blower will make ASSLOADS of power compared to cams and you can do cams later as an upgrade that will yank another 20-50hp out.

 

Here's the deal, the supercharger is super easy to install and gets you pretty close to being done given that your engine can handle the boost you are running. Cams will never be needed, unless you want 900HP+, if you have a supercharger/turbo. Actually the stock ones will make over 700RWHP easy with a completely stock engine and you get to keep your 6,500RPM redline. Keep in mind that a longer duration cam or higher lift cam will raise the risk of dropping or smashing a valve. Gone are the old days where cams were key to making power and forced induction is everything and often all you need. My car makes 515RWHP/445ft lbs of torque and the only engine work is full length headers, catless exhaust and a procharger polished blower pumping out 15psi. It also get 19mpg on the freeway and can be daily driven in super hot or super cold weather without a single issue. Hope that helps.

 

Here's the problem. The stock cams are designed for low rpm power generation. In fact, it's the same grind as used in the trucks. The redline may be there but you are still stuck w/ a cam that is designed to peak at low to mid rpms. If the old days of matching cams to your combo were gone, there would be no aftermarket cams for late model cars. Instead there are so many grinds available that it even almost matches the old Windsor family in terms of selection. I can guarantee you that dropping in the right cams will net you a size-able gain. Especially when, for the old 2V cams, duration was only around 200°. That is not something one would consider as a cam for a muscle car, especially since mild cams start at 210-220°. For example, looking at my 4.6 on the Dyno book, a blown PI car, just by switching the Comp XE264H cams gains 30 hp, w/ almost no losses down low. Another example is a Vortech charged 98 GT engine w/ a built engine (including TEA heads). Just swapping to a set of XE274AH cams netted 100 hp. Provided there were some losses down low, I think you see my point. Now, considering those cams were NA cams, imagine the gains w/ blower cams, which have less overlap. Lastly, if kissing the valves is a worry, remember that when you go the FI route, you get larger dish pistons, which increases the PTV clearance. If not, you might as well notch them since you're replacing them anyway.

 

There's no doubt that you're right about what you said but in the context of the question that was asked the supercharger is probably all he needs. If you are looking for maximum power and maximum torque to get the fastest car possible then you will need cams. Once again if you replace your cams now you are talking about replacing your pistons for clearance, your head springs for strength and if you're going to do that you might as well put connecting rods in and a forged crank and rebuild the entire bottom end. If 600RWHP is ok with you then replacing the cams is really a big waste of money considering they are around $699-$899 alone. Yes the supercharger is $4-$6 grand and when you get into rebuilding your engine to support big cams it'll be that too so you can either bolt on a supercharger or basically set your car up for the big cams and net a 60hp gain...lol...not worth the $5000 for the engine rebuild in my opinion if you can pull 600BHP with a bolt on.

I can run low 11's in my mustang and the only mod is headers and a supercharger, again it all depends on the question that was asked and the requirements of the user and in this case it's cams vs. supercharger and the question is which is easier. Supercharger is the answer...they are even easier than a turbo setup which is super easy as well. I can turbo charge a lawn mower! hehe

 

A riding lawn mower or the push kind? lol
are you the kind of guy that takes his turbo'd lawnmower to the track for lawnmower races? heh

 

To do FI right, you need to rebuild the engine anyway. Especially at those power levels you listed since 450 rwhp is as far as one should go on stock components, unless they want to run on borrowed time. Also, going w/ aftermarket cams doesn't always require piston notching. For his purposes, he would never need to, as a mild cam will do fine since streetability is very important in his case. Lastly, last time I checked, cams were $550. Expensive yes, but it doesn't require an entire rebuilt like a blower pushing past 500 fwhp would.