I've always been partial to prochargers, but I'm not sure who makes a procharger kit anymore (procharger doesn't make an LT1 B body kit and combination motorsports/NRP who used to make a kit I believe is long gone, you could probably get an F body kit to work but I'm sure some custom work/ingenuity would be involved).

RMCR makes a Vortech kit, I believe Paxton makes a kit as well, or at least used to.

To be honest with you, I wouldn't do it though. The power gains just aren't worth the cost and risk on an LT1. When it comes to LS motors. I'm all for slapping on a turbo or LSA blower to a stock motor and letting it eat, but there are a few aspects of those motors that make them better equipped to handle the power boost can bring in stock form. They have far better head flow to take advantage of for bigger gains, already have a suitable ignition system, seem to have stronger pistons/rods and (this can't be overstated) far more tuning options/better capabilities.

not that an LT1 CAN'T handle some boost, but the factory hypereutectic pistons are a huge risk factor, even at low boost levels, unless your tune is spot on...which brings up another issue in that it is difficult to find tuners who have a good track record with tuning forced induction LT cars. The factory ECU doesn't have the capabilities that say an LS Gen 4 ECU has to tune for boost. Realistically, on a stock motor, I don't think you'd want to exceed 5-6 PSI and you're probably only looking at maybe 350 HP to the wheels give or take. Just not worth the $5000+ cost of a supercharger setup unless you are doing it more to be a show car and for the cool factor.

Centrifugal blowers are cool, sound cool, produce awesome midrange torque even compared to a stroker, but for $5000 to make 350whp I'd much rather do heads and cam with a bottom end refresh and make 400WHP; or spend a little more and build a heads/cam stroker; OR LS swap. Just my opinion, although bolting the blower on is probably easier labor wise than any of those other options.

Just breaking it down, you're looking at about $5000 for the blower, $500+ in dyno tuning and I wouldn't want to do it without replacing the fuel pump with a walbro 255 and racetronix harness. If injectors aren't supplied with the kit then you'll need those too. You're looking at like $6K in parts for a setup that won't make more power than a $2500 heads cam package. You can probably find a stock low mile LS3 and swap it in for cheaper than 6k and you'd be making far more HP with just headers/exhaust/intake/tune with late model gas mileage, drivability and just about no risk of spitting out parts from a bad tune.

 

I'm right there with you, OP. I was noodling on doing a turbo setup on my 383, but have instead decided to eventually go LSx. For now, my 383 LT1 is doing just fine. The cost per HP just isn't there anymore for the old LT1 when the LS's are dirt cheap.

 

Thank you for your replies gentlemen. All excellent factual information.
I had a feeling that the LT1 wasn't a great candidate for a supercharger addition. You're right that RMCR offer a 120 hp increase at 7psi with Vortech V-3 Si trim s/c and a stage 2 intercooled 175 hp increase at 8psi with the same s/c, but I was a bit concerned about blowing up my barely broken in LT1. I drive the car so rarely. The only mods I have done from new are a shift kit, Hypertech Pro, K&N PIFK, 160F thermostat, brake mod, and cat back. It drives really well. The issue is that I also have a Jaguar F type V8S with the supercharged 5.0 V8, and the 500hp and s/c whine is addictive. So I have often been tempted to think "why can't I do this to my SS"?
However, I value the depth of experience and advice available on this Forum, so you have set my mind at ease (LOL) about tinkering with what I have. I can live very well with the "if it ain't broke don't fix it " approach. The 96 Impala SS is pretty awesome in even a basically stock form. Thanks again.

 

If its more 'fun' you're after, swap out the gears to a 3.73. That will really wake the car up. Then maybe look to a head & cam swap. You can bolt-on a lot of power that way and coupled with the gears, you'll be smiling a lot more....right up until the gas station.

 

3.73 would be a good first step I agree. In fact with my Hypertech Pro I can reprogram the tach and speedo to correct for the gear change. I just need to find a trustworthy installer/tuner in the Tampa Bay area. Heads and cam sounds good too, but there are so many different ones to choose out there. Any suggestions of a pairing that would work well together?

 

Advanced Induction & Lloyd Elliott are two names I still remember from several years back as solid choices; however, things may have changed since the early tweens …

 

Thank you for the information .

 

Lloyd Elliott is who yo want to get a H/C package from. moehorsepower would be a tuning source. Your Hypertech is not something that gives more HP, just suitable for gear swaps

A mild cam and heads with the "right" tune will get you 100hp. Add 3:73 and a mild stall TC (2400) and it will be considerably faster and have excellent street maners

 

Thanks !

 

pcmperformance.com is another excellent tuner with a longstanding reputation for handling heads & cam packages well.

 

Good to know. Thanks

 

I had an intercooled Procharger setup on my stock LT1 many years ago. It was a dependable setup on about 7 psi. With headers and 2.5" catback it made 365 RWHP and 398 RWTQ on a mail-order tune. It was a fun setup and the supercharger whine was awesome. But I agree a heads/cam swap will give you better results at a lower cost and it will be easier to tune. The tuning is the absolute most difficult part about modding LT1's these days and is probably the main reason why LT1's died out. I've considered going LS for this one reason alone.

While the LS's are far superior, a properly built and tuned LT1 can still deliver respectable results.

 

I had an intercooled Procharger setup on my stock LT1 many years ago. It was a dependable setup on about 7 psi. With headers and 2.5" catback it made 365 RWHP and 398 RWTQ on a mail-order tune.

May I ask, who did that tune?
Inquiring minds want to know.

It was a fun setup and the supercharger whine was awesome. But I agree a heads/cam swap will give you better results at a lower cost and it will be easier to tune. Tuning is the absolute most difficult part about modding LT1's these days, and is probably the main reason why LT1's died out. I've considered going LS for this one reason alone.

Even though there is something of a resurgence due to gearhead-efi.com, the above statement remains mostly true, especially tuning for the original 16181333 & 16188051 - OBD1 - LT1 pcms.

And just to answer a question no one asked: 16214399 & 16242921 - OBD2 LT1 - are not worth tuning unless
a) you could tune the OBD2 LT1 pcm BEFORE TunerCAT sold it to JET as the Dynamic Spectrum Tuner, which will always be overpriced and undersupported by JET.
b) you get a mail order tune from one of the few people who still tunes them; PCM Performance being one of them.

While the LS's are far superior, a properly built and tuned LT1 can still deliver respectable results.

Those results improve considerably when using a 12200411 pcm.
The most cost effective way to use a 12200411 pcm is to:
1) run the LT1 as an OBD2 L31, which uses 1 coil instead of 8 (96 & 97 Camaros & Firebirds did it 1st)
2) use an Aussie operating system for (clears throat) significantly improved MpGs with no sacrifice in tunable power potential compared to an American OS

Using 8 coils is of course superior to using only 1 coil interms of performance potential, however the initial cost of the extra seven coils would take some time to recoup.

 

The shops that say they can't tune LT1s have a good reason to be afraid to tune LT1s.
3rd 4th & 5th owners of LT1 cars simply do NOT have reasonable expectations of what a pcm reprogramming can, and much more importantly canNOT, achieve.

Their copious lack of understanding of hotrodding basics that many of us grew up with as a matter of course
Their entitled worship of the idea that 'The Customer is ALWAYS Right' [which comes more from helicopter mommies & bulldozer daddies]
The likelihood that, the more recently acquired the LT1 car, the more likely they do not understand what needs maintaining/fixing before they'll get their money's worth out of a tune

Leads many to avoid tuning IronBlock LT1s so that they can avoid dis-satisfying customers who are too easily dis-satisfied - because next they'll turn into the incredible byatch.

For about ten years, I've been listening to tales of stupid customers, forever trapped on the wrong side of the Dunning-Kruger event horizon, asking for stuff that Spartus and Autocorsser and SSMOKEM stonebreaker would NEVER allow themselves to ask.

Just because it's easy do a better tune than 'pcm4lessKeith', does not mean anyone wants to be judged unfairly by an unreasonable customer.

Put another way - why did Tad Banzuelo really quit tuning IronBlock LT1s? Yea, the cars are very old and often in need of lots of repairs notwithstanding - I bet it's the socalled customers.