In a way, I want to say, this is a "continuation" of a story that started in 2013. For those who want the full story, feel free to check this thread:
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/en...-thread-43103/

Short story, in 2013 @ChibiBlackSheep (aka Mike) purchased a Novi Paxton 1000 Centrifugal SuperCharger from a fellow member @zipper . After that, he did a lot of work to source the remaining parts to a discontinued kit to mount this to a L36. He eventually succeeded, swapped some injectors, did a lot of research and tuning adjustments. Still had some "kinks" to work out. In spring/summer of 2021, due to some issues Mike was in a position to sell his Monte and I took the opportunity to buy it. My primary reason to buy it was to migrate this unicorn Novi Paxton setup. Second, I admired what Mike had done with this Monte and I mimicked some of my mods off this car. Buying Mike's Monte also helped make my summer better, as my Monte was stuck on a lift for about 1-2 months on a project that did not go as planned (having Mike's old Monte gave me a fun Monte to still drive during the summer). My original Monte (we will call "blue Monte") and Mike's Monte (we will call the "black Monte"), with the exception of the Novi Paxton, these Montes have similar performance mods.

I began this with saying this was a continuation of what Mike started in 2013. Well, it is. By driving the black Monte, I believe I may understand one of the situations Mike was evaluating. I believe the Black Monte had an issue with valve float under boost. As a result, I bought some CompCams 105# springs. My I could be wrong, but watching readings from the PCM, I don't believe I see fuel starvation. Talking to more experienced people than I, they believe this is a direction to follow. And so everyone knows, the Black Monte is NOT a parts car! I plan to keep this car a fully functioning car.

And for those who are familiar with very high HP 3800s, I do understand, there are other "go fast" goodies I should consider. Baby steps.

 

Both Montes are winterized (not in the most ideal situations for this type of work, so everything is in phases, hustle is as conditions permit).
OK, so here is where I am on things at the moment:

• During the fall, tested a blow off valve on the black Monte. This gave me a plan of how to connect vacuum to the valve. GM has a plastic fitting for the upper intake that feeds the brake booster and has a small vacuum branch. The black Monte uses it for the california emissions secondary air pump (I borrowed that connection for testing). Looks like Federal emissions had that branch caped. But GM appears to have made some changes and the blue Monte has a fitting without this branch (nothing a trip to the salvage yard couldn't solve).
• Replaced almost all the hardware for the Novi setup with stainless steel (I have been replacing a lot of hardware on the blue Monte with stainless, so the Novi gets that treatment).
• Mike got slim radiator fans for the black Monte. I plan to try and stay OEM fans. I have been looking things over. First, the black Monte is not properly secured (as the original fans were part of that and now gone). I found GM had an answer in an earlier W-Body, in this case, a 1997 Buick Century. It had brackets that worked PERFECT on the black Monte. After looking over a lot of GM fans, I think I can get by with notching the fans on the blue Monte (if not, I am preparing to consider swapping to the fans used by an older W--Body).
• Look for a way to support the purge solenoid on the front of the engine. When installing the Novi's jack shaft, you remove the ability to use the original GM support/retainer. I found the L36 in the H-body *MIGHT* have my answer (I snagged three of their brackets).
• Purchased 105# CompCam springs from ZZP during Black Friday specials.
• Removed the actual Novi from the black Monte.
• Removed the end pieces and bearings for the jack shaft assembly (but Jack shaft is still in the black Monte).
• Purchased a pair of 3800 F-Body aluminum valve covers that have the oil cap. I plan to do these up in a brushed aluminum (like I did my L26 upper intake). I want the dual oil cap covers so the breather goes on the back of the motor (and I can keep my nice dress up cap in the front).
• Removed the volute from the Novi (in the early pics, it is the red housing on the Novi).
• I have one-off aluminum pulleys on the blue Monte. Going to the Novi setup, I need an extra tensioner pulley. Plus, I want the Novi's accessory pulley to be bare aluminum and look like it matches the other aluminum pulleys. The paint has been stripped from the Novi pulley, I currently have the aluminum tensioner pulley and the Novi accessory pulley with a friend who runs a machine shop. He is going to try and duplicate the tensioner (as I am unable to contact the person who originally made and sold it) and he is going to try and dress up the accessory pulley with some vented holes so it also matches the other pulleys better.

I needed some items prepped for powder coating. First being the fuel rail from an earlier L36 currently on the black Monte (the fuel rails "look" the same, but there are two different styles, to use the 42# injectors on the black Monte, took the earlier fuel rail). Also, this rail uses different injector retaining clips. So you can spot the difference in rail based on the retaining clips and comparing what I call "the bell" that holds the injectors.
A friend of mine was able to take some parts to his work and sand blast them at his work. Radiator brackets from the Buick Century (I got two pairs of those), the H-body purge solenoid brackets, the little spacers for the valve cover bolts, the end caps for the jack shaft and the volute.

These items are now in the hands of a friend who can help get them powder coated.

Side note, I do have some dress up plans for the black Monte as I retire it from a life with boost lol. So the black Monte will get some love in this process.

Here are some pics to bring everyone up to speed a bit.

 

Im not jealous! Youre jealous!

Lol seriously, cant wait to see this start coming together.

Ive never actually asked but, what are the benefits of running this type of boost rather than the regular M90? Any downsides?

 

There's tons of downsides. It's such a rare kit that it's very hard to find help!! haha

This does boost gradually and more efficiently, and it sounds way cooler

As a fun unicorn build that you won't see a lot of, it's a great kit. If I could back 10 years, I would have just slapped a ZZP Turbo on it and called it a day.

 

Very very happy to see all of my hard work with a good home though. I'm so jealous of seeing my car in someone else's hands, but Jason is doing right by the car, and it couldn't have gone to a better home!

 

Yeah, that's gotta be hard to watch. I couldn't do it

 

Mike gave the best answers. And I regret, shortly after Mike was piecing this together, I had a local guy (within 20-30 minutes of me). Sadly, I did not have the funds at the time. Now I have an entire car. I honestly have no basis for comparison for different types of boost. I just like the fact it is a very unique setup and something rarely seen in the 3800 community these days.

 

Heck, I still find it weird driving the black Monte lol! Thanks Mike. But, the good news, the Novi is not going to be lost or go to someone who has no idea what this set up is all about. And for now, the black Monte is still getting some good attention. I hope to fix up a few odds and ends with the black Monte over time. I'd love to do a swap for some Impala LTZ 10 spoke 18's! My dad kinda opened the door and just not sure yet (first I have to get his cleaned up and see how they look under the brake dust on them).

 

Thanks for posting, this is cool to look at!

I hadn't heard about these in probably a decade, and now I see two people actively playing with CSCs (theres a big one on the FB 3800 right now too).

Curious- it looks non IC'D, what do you do about charge cooling? Just run a huge pulley?

Not sure if you know, but any idea why it has a divided outlet? I've never seen a CSC with that before.

 

To add to what Chibi said-
Another upside is the the efficiency on these tends to be much higher than a M90. People who push M90 setups run into massive heat / knock issues because once you get too far past the stock pulley size you end up tanking efficiency / adding tons of extra heat. They can make good peak power numbers.

Another downside is they come on much softer. An M90 will have 80%+ of boost the second you floor it anywhere in the rpm range. CSC setups tend to ramp boost significantly with rpm. That can be seen as a positive though on a setup like this as its easier on the trans and putting the power down.


IMO the unicorn aspect he mentioned is the best part. You pull up to just about any car show (outside of a major nationwide 3800 meet) and you're practically guaranteed to have the only CSC there.