2003 SS vs 2005 Supercharged SS
 

My SS has been running really well lately. I'm up to 18.5* of WOT timing, KR free, and while I'm not making much boost (~6 PSI), all the timing and the higher L36 compression is making the car feel pretty strong.

I had a good run with a fellow Monte Carlo about a week ago. I was on my way to work when I got lined up with a real clean yellow with white ground effects Supercharged SS at a red light with a younger dude driving. He looked pre-occupied with his stereo, so I figured he wasn't going to go for it. I was wrong, when the light dropped he went WOT! I did the same- we both spun a bit then hooked. I noticed immediately that his blower whine was really loud. Despite him holeshotting me, I slowly pulled past him. By the top of second I his front bumper was at my door. He let off and I did the same.

At the next light we put the windows down and BS'd for a second. I asked him what his mods were, and he told me he's running a 3.25 pulley, a downpipe, a cold air intake, a "chip", and Dynomax cat-back. He thought I was naturally aspirated and was really suprised at the outcome of the race. He seemed like a cool guy- I told him to get online and do some reading and recommended this forum and some others- I'm sure he's detonating like crazy on that 3.25 pulley, so I hope he reads up a bit and tries a more reasonable setup before he grenades his motor.

Nice.

Finally a real race....you are a cannibal huh? Congrats on the win.

Why do you say he would be detonating? Could you hear it detonating? My hearing is pretty messed up since the explosion and all so i wouldn't be able to hear if I had a beaver building a dam under the hood. Hell, I'm on a 3.0 pulley, and I don't have much more mods than him other than the old hacksaw to the mufflers.

So let me get this straight, and I don't mean nuttin by it. but you took a perfectly good NA motor, slapped a blower on it, and think you can beat a 3.25 pullied car with only 6psi? Crap, I put out 6psi out my butt after a night of spicy Mexican food and a couple of beers, that aint enough boost to beat a car with a 3.25 pulley. Like I said, I don't mean nuthin by it, but the numbers just don't seem to add up.

I see you are in Pittsburgh...they sure got lucky on Sunday....how the heck can you stand living in that cold. Man, if I had to live there, I'd have to have the misses knit me some special things to keep some special things warm if you know what I mean. Isn't Pittsburgh where the Bundy's lived....man I loved that show. Love and marriage, love and marriage....been around since the something and something....I had a thing for the gay lady on that show, I forgot the characters name...something about the way she ordered her husband around. grrrrr....

When you drop pulley sizes and start to increase boost without the proper modifications to pack it up you start to set the detonation process all out of whack and will knock like crazy. Which means your PCM is going to start messing everything up and on a boosted engine such as your L67 you can and will chip pistons by doing this.

By taking his NA motor and boosting it, he has a higher compression ratio, and will use boost WAY more effectively. Especially if he is properly tuned for what he is running (which he says he is by showing his advanced timing) and the other guy who probably isn't timed as well or running boost as effective won't run as strong.


Now if you are saying you have a really small pulley, and you don't have headers or other supporting mods on your car, I would quickly buy yourself a bigger pulley and slap that on the car before you start breaking pistons.

i agree with black sheep if you dont have a proper tune for a smaller pully and suporting mods like injectors and headers it will devistate the engine. putting a super charger on a naturally asperated car is a big improvement. do to the high compression on the engine and if you follow it with a tune and injectors headers things like that saves the engine and prevents detonation. thats why i am looking for a dyno shop in lakeland florida to dyno my mustang. to do a proper tune and do a proper tune for my monty also find out what my monty really has before i do some minor mods. like cold air intake things like that

oh i for got about the original post it is nice to hear that there is people out there are doing up grades nicely to there monty great job going neck and neck

Oh, I've got headers and a wide open exhaust(courtesy of hacksaw)...so if higher compression with boost is better, why did Chevy lower the compression on the L67 over the L36? I'll tell you why...you can cram more boost into a low comp motor than a high comp. I don't think I have ever seen a fast boosted car run more than 8.5 compression. I know there are more ways than 1 to go fast, and low boost high timing is a good formula for some...I just don't think it would be enough to beat the 3.25 pulley car. Down to about a 3.0 pulley, the more boost less timing usually is the better combo...once you get smaller than a 3.0 you better have an IC or big cam to bleed off the boost/heat.

I guess I just take a bit of offense when the OP posts about the guy having detonation, and then all you guys telling me I should run a larger pulley. You guys don't know that guy or his car, and you don't know my car. Hell, i could be running knock free, or knocking louder than a cop on a car's fogged up window on prom night, you guys just don't know. Don't ASSUME someone has knock...you you know what they say about people who ASSUME.....

Greg

Thanks everyone!

Because a 3.25" pulley is way too small for a car without exhaust and valvetrain mods, or exhaust and an intercooler. At the minimum, ported exhaust manifolds or headers and a cam or roller rockers, or ported exhaust manifolds or headers and an intercooler, should be used when running a pulley smaller than 3.4". Our cars have knock sensors and crappy hypereutic pistons, so you won't hear it detonating until it goes boom.

Huh? There's more to making power than just boost.

I just go by what I hear about your car...

Greg, headers and hacked off mufflers are not nearly enough mods to support a 3.25 pulley, let alone a 3.0. Your car probably has massive amounts of PCM knock retard (KR), and it'll probably blow up if you keep it the way it is- I'm suprised it hasn't blown up already. Do you have a way of scanning the car for KR? I think that the scan results would really suprise you.