Is is smart to buy a used SC? What should you look for to make sure its in good shape?

 

Theres nothing really too wrong with buying a used SC as long as you buy it right. Main issue is one thing and one thing only. The bearings in the SC. Now you have to find out how hard it was driven or was it installed correctly? What I mean by this is that say you tightened the belt too much on the SC and always drove it like a grandma, you can still have bearing issues.

I guess it comes down to this, if you get it cheap enough, then set aside money to look into changing the bearing when they are shot. Or get someone qualified to look at it.

Dixit

 

One of the biggest things to watch for is mileage; I believe most centrifugal blowers have a guesstimate-rated lifetime of about 100,000miles (someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think that's what vortech publishes).

You won't know until you buy; you just have to play it by ear (ie. the above). You can't really follow any preventative measures unless you have the blower in your hands - who knows what the last guy before you did with it... you just need to ask If they ran smaller than a 2.87" you obviously don't want it either because it runs the blower beyond spec!

 

as well attempt to acquire ALL original parts as Stillen will rape you on replacements...

the only thing I know actually worked out was Chunger purchased the hex bolts for like $3 each...

 

same here....Stillen charged me 50 bucks for about 12 hex bolts in various sizes.

I beleive those can be purchased in any local nuts/bolts store.

 

Smaller than 2.87 being out of spec? You must have one of those crummy V2's

I bought my V1 used from a member on the forums. I haven't seen him in forever and my email since then has been long nuked, so I can't recall off the top of my head who it was from. A used SC kit is by FAR a bolt-on procedure (and from what I've heard, calling a new kit "bolt-on" is a tad underestimating it.) If you do not have mechanical skills, expect 30-40+ hours to be billed on it. If you don't have any mechanic friends either -- I wouldn't bother.

If it's not a mechanic you can trust with your life, don't give them this install. Had my SC be bolted up without someone who was **** retentive about the procedure of the install, it would have had a lot of problems. Issues for me were primarily in the thermostat housing, as it appeared to have the SC dropped on it, or was taken off with a sledge hammer, and needless to say, I was lucky my friend has his dad running a machine shop in the same building as his garage.

On the other hand -- if you are mechanically inclined, have 30-40 hours to plunk down on something like this, get a used one! At worst, you wind up paying the difference rebuilding the blower and only save afew hundred.

 

Hmm... so you mean to tell me that a V1 could handle a 2.62" on paper?

..... gee whiz... I have an evil idea brewing if so..

 

Matt's running a 2.62 on his V1. He says it does overrev the blower but not enough to exceed the headroom built in by Vortech.

As far as buying a used kit is concerned, I bought a used V1 kit and I have no regrets at all. There was a bolt or two missing but nothing serious. I took my time, researched the install thoroughly, and was very careful when I installed it. I also did a lot of background research to understand exactly how the fuel management system worked and the consequences of it not working properly, and I installed the necessary gauges before mounting the blower.

I have had absolutely zero issues with the V1 kit in the 10k miles I've had it. I bought the kit from a respected and well known org member, and I had confidence in his evaluation of the condition of the blower.

 

What type of fabrication is needed for a new kit? Is there a good list of tips where the install gets tricky. I already have a hardcopy of the stillen insructions.

 

You may be extremely lucky, and have all the parts and no damage to anything. Shipping can break stuff (as in my case -- thermostat housing required a lot of machining to get it to sit right on the side of the engine,) as well as the original owner damaging stuff taking it off, and/or forgetting to take stuff off (lost bolts!)

I had the oil T-line adapter missing, 2-3 bolts missing (not that bad -- go to brafasco, boom, all your bolts,) and the damaged thermostat. Not that much at first glance, but when you add in the fact that you don't KNOW what's going to work and what won't, if your thermostat bolts up fine, and is broken to begin with - you're going to have problems in the future.

The stillen instructions in conjunction with ptatoeheds (typeo?) instructions are all you really need. Buying a used kit just means you may not have everything you need in order to follow them properly, and that's where the tricky parts come in. The only "universal" list of forgotten parts is: random bolt(s) hehe.

 

thanks, where are these instructions? in another post?

 

Its found at the top of the Supercharger forum marked "Important!"

 

Maybe it's because the V2 spins up more boost than the V1 given the same pulley size...

But yeah... If you don't have a very trustworthy mechanic or you can't do it yourself. You may want to reconsider buying a S/C. This is NOT a maintenance free mod. Changing the belt (due to age or shredding) is a major job compared to "stock". I've been very lucky so far (or is it because I did the job myself : )

 

The amount of people on the .org complaining about their belt shredding and how they always have to fix their "broken" SC astounds me. Mine's worked 110% since it was bolted on and hasn't required any maintenance at all *knocks on wood*. If you have a V1 and the install is done right, I'd say you're on the safer side. The majority of the belt shredder guys are V2's I think.

 

v2 kit = plastic idler/tensioner that can melt/shred the belt

Other reasons = bad pulley alignment either by bad install or other defect