V6 Firebird

[jessica2112]

Hi all, I'm new. There is hope for the V6 owners. I have a 99 Firebird 3800 Series II V6. It is supercharged running 6 lbs. of boost. Clear Image headers, free flow cat, and exaust. It is getting a 3 series axle in next week with a posi and 3:42 gears. It runs.....so there is hope for the V6. I am proof.

[RG501]

how much did it cost for you to supercharge your engine?

[jessica2112]

I paid 1,500 for it used. Put it in myself in one afternoon. Pretty straightforward. I added a boost gauge, fuel pressure and air fuel ratio in a 3 pillar pod. They are rebuildable, so last a long time.

[RG501]

are they hard to install? how much HP does it give you? and does the HP last all the time unlike nos?

[76ta]

with turbos the extra hp is always there

[Mr. Luos]

Any dyno numbers or track time?

[WarShrike]

If you haven't seen it yet, you need to.

Project Virus

They didn't do just a bolt on with the 'charger though. They ended up milling the engine up to the L67 specs. Pretty potent setup if you ask me.

[jessica2112]

Yah, Ive seen that. The L67 has a stronger bottom end and harder pistons stock. The l36 are "soft" on the top and lead to burn through if you get too wild with a setup like this. That's why they recommend building the bottom end if you plan to go over 9 pounds of boost. The stock l36 is capable of handling 9, but this boost # requires the larger injectors, and fuel pump and supporting mods like headers and free flow exaust. IF you go over 9 lbs of boost, you have to build the bottom end. I have heard of 12 lbs being squeezed out of a powerdyne unit. The l67 does run a lower compression ratio then the l36 though. I know jenn "Pathogen", she helps me with alot of my questions. I have not gone to the track, since the installs, so I have no numbers for you yet. I plan on going in a few weeks. Im going to dyno it in July. Been working alot. The sc kit is good for about 75-90 hp I am told. It is a fairly easy install depending on the year you have. Mine was a 99 so I had to trim the right radiator fan shroud to clear the blower intake tube. The FMU (fuel management unit) was simple. It goes in your fuel lines by the driver fuel rail. It shuts off the return line to the fuel tank, to build enough fuel pressure so you don't have to buy bigger injectors and a higher output fuel pump. Alot of people do replace those pieces and take it out down the road. I am also running NGK TR6 plugs at .035. They are two steps colder, because the intake air fuel mixture is much hotter due to the "forced" action of the blower. Some people have installed intercoolers to help this, but as of yet, I have not. And I had to run a few vacuum lines. I cant afford to have the motor pulled and built up, so my example is what you can do with a stock l36. Yes the power is always there. It begins to build boost at about 2800 RPM. Max is in about 5000RPM. I'm sure a turbo setup is a better performer, but this is alot less complicated to tune and install, and maintain. I had a blow off valve installed in the outlet tube also.

[WarShrike]

Jessica, as soon as I noticed you were in Florida, I figured you would have run across the Virus and Pathogen 'birds some time or another. I really like those cars, very impressive buildup, and they are responsible for my unending search for building a list of performance parts for the 3.8 Liter V6's. Hopefully this will all come into play when I decide to use my firebird as a possible final project for my Mechanical Engineering major (wohoo).

Love how you setup the car, are you running the intake tube from the stock box to the 'charger? I've seen a bunch of corvettes with a centrifugal blower, but instead of routing the piping correctly to the snout where it could get a breath of fresh air, they just run a cone filter intake right off the supercharger. Giving the system a nice dose of hot friggin air from the engine bay

Keep up the good work, I'm eying the Series III 3.8 at GMPP, but I'll have to track down an air box from a Holden Monaro or Commodore from down under or just bend my own tubing to make the system run off the original air box.