Dave B

I've been doing a ton of research for the Vortech SC and I'm not entirely convinced this is a terribly reliable setup. I constantly seeing posts about:

1) belts shredding
2) belts jumping ribs and shredding
3) pulleys melting
4) shaving the mounting bracket to reduce rub which = shredding
5) MAF problems
6) excessive fuel useage and fuel tuning issues
7) shimming the bracket/blower so that the blower is situated correctly
8) $400-600 blower rebuilds occuring anywhere from 10K-30K miles

Is it me or are you guys constantly having to work on these units to keep them running and tuned? I really don't want something I'm constantly going to keep fighting with just so that it runs right 80% of the time. For $4000 invested, I'd have hard time justifying the SC if it's nothing, but a headache. I was planning on running the stock 3.6" pulley with the JWT SC ECU and 7000rpm limiter.


Dave

Shadow

iTrader: (15)

I had my SC for about 16 months. During that time, I had

-2 belts snap (1 jumped the pulley and shredded, and the other snapped)

-Both the ideler and tensioner pulley melted causing a belt to snap (see above)

-Blower had to be shimmed on install.

-And the car used a ton of gas, but that's mostly due to my driving style. Still seemed a little high.

But I don't particularly consider it an unreliable setup. My first belt failure was due to improper install by the shop. And the pulley melting issue can be solved by metal pulleys. I was just a really stupid design by Stillen to use plastic. I had basically the minor annoying problmes, not the big expensive ones like unreliable blowers or MAF issues. I still think it's worth it overall simply because of the performance gains, there are tradeoffs for everything.

ejj

iTrader: (5)

Dave -

Most of the problems that you're refering to happen once you start to tinker with smaller pullies, etc.

I've been on the stock pully for a few months (3k miles). It bolted right up without problems. I did shread a rib, but that was because I failed to tighten the belt enough.

I have no fuel issues. I get about 300 miles/tank (17-19 MPG) with 100% city driving. That's not that far off where I was NA.

I would be fully confident that with the stock pully on there, you'd have no major problems to worry about.

Chunger

iTrader: (1)

I've had mine for about the same time as Shadow but have had NO problems. I have the newer "plastic" pulleys (I've since replace with Steel ASP recently) and 3.6" pulley (now 3.12"). When I changed my S/C pulley last month, both the idler pulley (plastic) and belt still looked great. Alignment of the new 3.12" pulley was fine, no shims needed.

Shaving the bracket is only needed if you get 3.25" or smaller pulleys. Otherwise, the belt doesn't rub the bracket.

Maybe I'm an unusual case but then again I did/do all my own work cuz I trust (virtually) noone else working on MY CAR.

~Chung

BlackCat

iTrader: (6)

After meeting up with some 350Z/G35 owners yesterday afternoon all I can say is that my SC'ed Max just isn't the same anymore! I want a 350Z!

Just kidding!

After installing my SC kit back in Oct.2000 I've had just the case of sour bearings (most likely caused by my overtightening the belt in search of getting rid of the slipping during the winter months) last November. I only ripped a belt because I didn't mount the washers properly after I reinstalled it. Right now I've got the plastic tensioner pulley only because of the slipping I had since the winter.

Other than that its been good to me. After switching from the stock pulley to 3.33" back in Nov.2002 I was happy with the extra power. Then after slapping on the Budget Y-pipe after that I was really smiling. I still can't overlook the fact that boost only kicks in around 3000 rpm and take-off and traction on an auto is something I've yet to get down properly.

What have I learned from owning an SC?
Modding brings its own rewards and headaches. Let the Modder beware...

max'n out

It all comes from making changes if you leave it stock it's fine which is why stillen says leaveit alone. Course if they where real smart they'd make stage kits like rms.

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

I got my V1 kit used, the previous owner (JW95SC) claimed absolutely no problems for the 66000 miles he had it.

I have had it on my car for 8000 miles, with a smaller pulley (3.25"). Absolutely no problems of any kind.

I consistently get 25-27 mpg combined city and highway.

I recently did a compression check, and I got the same numbers as from before the install. There was a very slight indication of some leanness, so I adjusted the SAFC correction upwards a few percent at 5000rpm and up. Haven't dyno-tuned yet.

jdmmax

iTrader: (6)

3-4 months since i got my blower and i have had no major problems. belt seems to have gotten a little lose nothing more than a tightening job and a few phone calls to chunger didn't fix

oh plus a manifold rubber gasket poping out problem.

my gas milage has not changed from since i was n/a although i do not boost around town i still take it easy on my car. i have to preserve my tranny because of the financial situation i have found myself to be in.

pulleys and belts are looking good so far.

Confused

iTrader: (4)

routine maintenance consists of changing the s/c belt every 10-15k miles (depending who you ask). does that affect your decision?

other than that the setup you are planning will only be as reliable as the belt/pullies. fuel shouldn't be an issue with the jwt s/c program.

JAY25

iTrader: (38)

I had my blower since last year; I installed it when I had 62K I now have 81K I had no problems with it at all. I did shred a belt, the problem to that was that I was missing two bolts so that was my fault. Ever since I installed the bolts that go to the blower I have not had any problems with it. After Dyno tuning the SAFC I got 360 miles to ¾ of tank.

Shaving the plate, you have to do that if you go to a smaller pulley therefore the belt does not touch the plate, remember stillen didn’t put a small pulley on there.


Two of the blowers I worked on that had shredded belts. One of them the previous owner had an idler metal pulley with rails on it. Stillen designed the plastic pulley with no rails. Sure enough after firing up the car the belt started touching the rail on the metal pulley and that will lead to a shredded belt. Blower number two, the owner had installed an alternator. Do not know where he got that alternator but it had a very sharp metal piece sticking out and it caused for the belt to be shredded. He shaved down that piece and the problem was corrected.

The cause of melting of pulleys is because the owners over tighten the belt. How do I know? I know I saw this on a car that that I worked on. Completely melted and dismantled the pulley. I have ASP metal pulleys had not had any problems what so ever.

Another problem people are sending blowers to vortech, vortech only wants the blower, so you have to strip that sucker completely naked, no pulley no plate no nipples everything has to come off.

Over tightening of the belt will also damage the blower bearings.

And my thoughts about the V2 kit, the V2 kit is just as reliable as the V1 as long as you get the ASP metal pulleys for peace of mind.

Chunger

iTrader: (1)

If I can add (without stepping on anyone's toes)...

Get the steel pullies (not the aluminum). The idler on the V2 does not ride "square" with the belt (by design).

Also get the correct oil drain hose (S-shaped), not coolant type!

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

no. 1 and 2 have the same cause....belt alignment. FYI : it will happen more frequent if you swap a smaller pulley into it. smaller pulley = less surface contact area for your belt.

no. 3 caused by stillen's plastic pulley

no. 4 - you dont have to worry about it if you are going to go with the stock pulley.

no. 6 is inevitable....before SC'ed I get 22 mpg. now I only get 19mpg. you can fine tuned your SC with S-AFC or adjustable FMU. Maybe wide-band O2 sensor??

no. 7 is the solution for no. 1 and 2.

no. 8......only thing you can do about it is the belt tension. make sure you dont make it too tight or otherwise, it might ruin the seal and cause an oil leak.

so far I have had problems 1, 2 and 7.shredded 4 belts until I finally aligned it with washers (no. 7)

WizzaMax

iTrader: (9)

only problems on mine are self induced...lack of knowledge

JAY25

iTrader: (38)

to add on to his comment in all reality, you boost you need more fuel to balance that mixture up. Nitrous, Turbos all those consume more fuel if not youll be lean and blow. Boost is addicting youll see. You read the fuel issue with people that dont know no better then to complain because the inline fuel pump will pump out more fuel like its suppose to because you are boosting. You dont slam on the gas pedal and drive normal you should be good. Also dyno tunning will help you out with that problem.

Jer

iTrader: (2)

I've had my setup for 11 months, 30k miles. Swapped the pulley in Oct of 2002 for a 3.33".

Problems with the car since :

- weak tranny (driving/hp figure's fault )
- blown rear o2 sensor (not S/C's fault - known issue)
- had to readjust the TPS sensor for 100% throttle (not the S/C's fault).


Knock on wood, but I'm still on the original tranny for a little bit longer, no belt shredding or melted pulleys (note we DID shave the s/c plate a bit when doing the pulley swap - to be safe).


But nothing special otherwise... generally it's a matter of chance or small installation error that causes problems to surface, however yes the vortech blowers do sometimes need to be rebuilt a little prematurely.

Dave B

Well thnaks guys, you made me feel a little better about everything. I seriously plan on running the 3.6 pulley for quite a while because I really want to have a decently reliable setup and want to learn the quirks of the setup.

I'll run the JWT ECU SC with the 7000rpm limiter. I wonder if I'll need to get injectors with the ECU program or if the stock injectors can handle the ECU program?

Am I right to assume that I'd be able to forego using the fuel management provided in the kit if I run the JWT SC program?

Anyone figured out how much boost and power (MEVI is on right now) I'll see with the extended redline?

Thanks again for the help.


Dave

Chunger

iTrader: (1)

The ECU program should be "programmed" for the stock injectors... so you would be wasting your money if you changed them, especially with a 3.6" pulley...

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

Is the JWT SC ECU programmed for supercharger operation with a specific pulley diameter in mind? Seems like it would have to be if no fmu is used with it. So you would have to have it reprogrammed if you went to a smaller puller later? Or will an SAFC handle the change in fuel requirement when you go to a smaller pulley?

Also, is the JWT SC ECU boost referenced?

Confused

iTrader: (4)

s/c program uses bigger injectors to eliminate the high fuel pressure of the stillen setup so i don't think stock injectors are an option. Different maf/injector options are rated based on max crank hp. The fmu is eleminated and for a 3.6" pulley, I don't think you would need to swap out the fuel pump. Of course, I would put it on a dyno with the a/f hooked up before making any redline runs to be sure.

If you want to do this once, I would suggest a 3.33" pulley with a walbro and an after market fpr. I would get the z maf/z injector setup just in case you want more boost later. Honestly, I don't think you will be satisfied for long with a 3.6 and the 3.33 is still conservative enough to accomplish your daily driver goal.

My .02

PCGuRu2K

iTrader: (34)

Same here

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

thx Jaime.....also the FMU slows down the fuel return and so it stays in the engine longer.

boosting IS addictive.......





you painted your hood black

and added earrings to it too, how cute!







j/k
did you feel there is less heat in your engine bay now? heard cf hoods help in releasing heat.

PCGuRu2K

iTrader: (34)

Well the CF is thinner so I guess heat is able to dissipate right through it

Yeah and I gave the engine blue drealocks too