This is the set of belts and pulleys that powers the car’s accessories. If you add a supercharger, you usually need a special version so everything fits and the belts can run the supercharger and accessories correctly.
PRI is a big trade show for racing and performance parts. The host is saying he first saw a kit there before it later got developed into newer versions.
A serpentine kit is an aftermarket belt setup that uses one long belt to run several engine accessories. When you add a supercharger, the belt routing often has to be changed, and these kits help make that work.
The Corvette C8 is a newer Corvette generation from Chevrolet. It’s special because the engine sits more in the middle of the car (not up front), which affects how companies build performance parts for it.
“Pro-charge” means adding a supercharger. A supercharger forces more air into the engine, which usually makes the car faster—so the host is talking about the cost of doing that after buying the car.
Dealer markups are when a dealership charges more than the normal listed price. The host is saying if you have to pay a big markup, then buying one Corvette and modifying it may cost more than just buying the higher-performance version.
A “Super Trigger Kit” is a device kit that helps an aftermarket supercharger system work with the car’s computer. The key point here is that it was available before proper tuning/calibration was ready.
Here, “tuning” means adjusting the car’s computer settings so the engine runs correctly with the supercharger. If tuning isn’t ready yet, you may need a temporary workaround to make the system function safely.
An “ignition box” is an extra electronics module that helps control how the spark/ignition behaves. The speaker is saying they used one because the proper computer tuning for the car wasn’t ready at the time.
Boost levels are how much extra pressure the supercharger is adding. More boost can make more power, but it also requires the engine to get enough fuel and be tuned correctly.
The fuel system is everything that gets gasoline from the tank to the engine and keeps it at the right pressure. With more boost, the engine needs more fuel, so the fuel system has to keep up.
V4 mode refers to a cylinder-deactivation strategy where the engine runs on four cylinders instead of all eight (or otherwise reduces active cylinders). It’s typically used to improve efficiency, and performance tuning may allow it to be enabled/disabled depending on driving conditions.
Term
launch reveler settings
These are settings that control how the car behaves when you start from a stop. The goal is usually to make launches more consistent and hook up better instead of spinning tires.
Here, cruise control isn’t just for highway driving—it’s being used like a button to change how the engine runs. The tuner can link cruise control on/off to other engine settings.
“0 to 60” means how fast the car goes from stopped to 60 mph. It’s a simple way to compare acceleration between cars.
Term
BlowerKit
A “BlowerKit” is an aftermarket kit to add a supercharger. It usually includes the main blower and the extra parts needed to make it work properly.
Term
all-wheel horsepower
“All-wheel horsepower” is basically about power being sent to all four wheels, not just one axle. That helps the car put the power down and accelerate more effectively.
The intake manifold is the engine part that channels air to the cylinders. If you add a supercharger, the airflow route changes, so the manifold may need to be replaced or modified.
A twin-screw Whipple is a type of supercharger. It uses two spinning parts to push air into the engine, and it can be set up differently than other supercharger styles.
The “LT engine platform” is GM’s modern V8 engine family. Starting with that platform means they’re designing the supercharger/intake parts around that specific engine’s layout.
Term
C706
C706 is referenced here as a factory supercharged configuration used as the starting point for building intake manifolds. In forced-induction discussions, these internal or model codes usually identify a specific engine/supercharged setup that determines what parts fit and how the airflow is routed.
A front-mount intercooler is the common setup where the intercooler sits up front to get lots of cooling air. They’re saying the C8 makes that hard because the engine is in the back, so getting air and plumbing up front is complicated.
Pressure drop means the boosted air loses some of its pressure as it travels through the system. If you have to run long tubes to the front, you can lose boost and make the setup harder to engineer.
An intercooler cools the boosted air before it goes into the engine. A liquid-air intercooler uses coolant and a heat exchanger to move that heat away, which can fit better when there isn’t room for a normal front intercooler.
A heat exchanger is like a radiator-style part that moves heat from one place to another. In this case, it helps the intercooler system cool the boosted air using coolant and airflow.
Term
ice watered air set up
This describes a very aggressive cooling method using chilled water/ice to pull heat out of the intake air. It’s more like a race-focused trick than something meant for everyday driving.
An “air-to-water” intake setup uses water-cooled components (usually a heat exchanger/intercooler) to cool the compressed intake air. This approach can help manage intake temperatures and can be easier to package than air-to-air cooling in tight rear-engine or mid-engine bays.
Term
OE
“OE” means the original parts the car came with from the factory. They’re saying their setup doesn’t have to work around those factory components as much.
This is talking about superchargers that are connected to Ford’s official offerings. The point is that the hardware may come from Whipple, not just a generic aftermarket kit.
Emissions are the exhaust pollutants your car produces. When you add parts like a supercharger, the goal is to keep the car within legal pollution limits.
CARB is California’s emissions agency. “CARB compatible” means the supercharger kit is designed to meet emissions rules, so it can be used in places with strict testing.
The Mustang is Ford’s performance car line. The podcast is talking about parts kits for older Foxbody Mustangs and also newer options. The point is that there are upgrade choices for different Mustang years.
Whipple is a company that makes superchargers for performance cars. They’re saying Whipple did well partly because of how the products were sold and made available.
“Air-to-air” means the hot supercharger air gets cooled using outside air before it goes into the engine. Cooling the air helps the engine run better and more consistently. It’s one of the common ways to manage heat on supercharged cars.
A “10-speed automatic” is an automatic transmission with ten different gear ratios. Because it has more gears, it can shift in a way that keeps the engine in the right RPM range. That usually means fewer big RPM dips when you accelerate.
“RPM drops” are when the engine speed briefly falls during a gear change. If it drops a lot, the car can feel like it loses power for a split second. More gears can help reduce how much the RPM falls.
The “boost curve” is how much boost pressure the supercharger makes as you rev the engine. A “flat” boost curve means it stays more consistent instead of rising and falling. That usually makes the car feel more even when you accelerate.
A “centrifugal” supercharger is the common “spinning impeller” style that compresses air as it speeds up. How it makes boost can change with engine RPM. The speaker is saying this style helps keep boost more consistent when the engine stays in the right RPM range.
A “powertrain warranty” is coverage for the big moving parts of the car, like the engine and transmission. If something covered breaks, the warranty helps pay for repairs. Here, they’re talking about warranty coverage for the supercharger kit installation.
“Turnkey” means you get everything you need as a complete package. You don’t have to hunt down extra parts or do a lot of extra setup yourself. Here, they’re saying the supercharger kit is ready to go with tuning included.
Term
crank bearing service bolts
Crank bearings support the crankshaft, and “service bolts” suggests a specific hardware-related fix or procedure tied to a known issue. The host is describing a recall/service action on GM trucks that their warranty would not cover because it’s handled by GM.
In a supercharger setup, the pulley size affects the supercharger’s drive ratio, which changes how fast the blower spins. That directly influences boost level and the engine’s stress/load, so warranty decisions may depend on confirming the pulley size used.
Octane rating is a measure of gasoline’s resistance to knock (premature combustion) under high load. Using too-low octane—like 87 instead of the required fuel—can increase knock risk and contribute to engine damage, which is why the segment mentions checking fuel type.
Term
ASC certified mechanic
ASC certified mechanic means a technician who has been approved/qualified by a certification program. The warranty rules here require the work to be done by someone with that credential.
Oil pump gears help the engine move oil to lubricate everything. If those gears fail, the engine may not get enough oil pressure, which can cause serious damage.
The rear main seal is a gasket-like seal at the back of the engine that keeps oil from leaking out. If it starts leaking, it can be expensive, and people may argue whether a modification made it worse.
A “complete system” here means the supercharger kit is sold as a full package, not just parts. It’s meant to be set up so the car can run correctly with the new boost.
A “tuner kit” is a kit where you’re expected to handle the computer tuning side yourself (or through your own tuner). It’s different from a package that’s fully set up for you.
“Tuned” means the car’s computer settings are adjusted to work correctly with the new performance parts. With a supercharger, that usually means matching boost and engine timing so it runs right.
“Stock parts” are the original factory parts that were already on the car. They’re saying the upgrade should work with those original parts for most people.
Aftermarket parts are upgrades made by other companies, not the car’s original maker. They’re often installed to make the car faster or better, and warranties can work differently than with factory parts.
This is a warranty that doesn’t care how many miles you drive. In this case, it’s covered for one year, and they’re saying the supercharger system is included.
An extended warranty is extra coverage you buy on top of the normal warranty. They’re saying they offer it because they’re confident in the part’s reliability.
The head unit is the main part of the supercharger system—the core assembly that does the boosting. They’re talking about adding extra warranty coverage just for that main unit.
Term
stage one or stage two kit
“Stage one” and “stage two” are like different upgrade levels. Stage two is usually the bigger/stronger upgrade, and they’re saying the warranty message applies to both.
Concept
peace of mind
Here, “peace of mind” means the warranty helps you feel safer about buying the supercharger because you’re less worried about unexpected repair bills.
The Ford Mustang is a performance car. Here, the point is that if a 2021 Mustang is out of warranty, the owner may decide to install a supercharger kit themselves instead of paying extra for warranty coverage.
The Dodge Charger is a car that can be built for performance, not just everyday driving. In the podcast, they talk about adding a ProCharger, which is a device that helps the engine make more power. It’s mentioned because it’s part of a performance upgrade plan.
Headers are aftermarket exhaust parts that help the engine push exhaust gases out more easily. Here, they’re mentioned as another upgrade people may do later to make more power.
An “EO number” refers to an Executive Order number from the U.S. EPA that certifies certain aftermarket parts for emissions compliance. When a supercharger has an EO number, it typically means it was approved to be installed legally for emissions purposes (depending on the application).
This is a custom engine build based on a 427 cubic-inch “small-block” V8, made with Dart parts. The big idea is it’s a lightweight aluminum build that’s stronger and more tailored than a stock engine.
This is a belt-and-pulley setup that drives the supercharger. A “six-rib” belt has multiple grooves that help it grip and last under higher power demands.
A smog pump is an emissions device that helps clean up exhaust on older cars. The point here is that newer emissions hardware (like better catalytic converters) can make it unnecessary for some builds.
This just means companies that sell aftermarket superchargers and the parts needed to install them. The host is saying you can’t always mix-and-match brands easily, and that can get expensive.
A serpentine belt system uses one belt to power multiple engine accessories. The “serpentine accessory drive kit” is the set of parts that sets up that belt routing, and it can be bought in stages rather than all at once.
This is another Chevrolet V8 engine family, but it’s the larger “big block” version. Supercharger kits have to be designed differently to fit the engine’s mounting layout.
This is Ford’s smaller V8 engine family that a lot of people build and modify. The kit needs the right brackets and belt routing to fit that engine correctly.
“8 rib” and “10 rib” refer to the number of grooves (ribs) on the belt used to drive the supercharger. More ribs generally means more belt surface area and grip, which can help handle higher power and torque loads.
These are specific supercharger model names. Different models can move different amounts of air, which changes how much boost and power you can realistically make.
The Ford F-150 Lightning is an electric pickup truck. The podcast brings it up as an example in a discussion about different kinds of builds and what people choose to do. It’s mentioned because it’s a different kind of powertrain than a typical gas car.
This is an upgraded belt system that runs the car’s accessories. Using a serpentine (one-belt) layout can help fit everything more neatly and support a stronger supercharger setup.
Clocking is just rotating the supercharger housing so the hoses and piping line up the way you want. It’s a packaging trick to make the install fit and route cleanly.
Oil clocking is about making sure the supercharger’s oil passages are oriented correctly after you rotate it. The goal is to keep the supercharger properly lubricated in your specific install.
They’re talking about running a supercharger with a smaller boost increase on an engine that has lower compression. The idea is to make more power without stressing the engine too much.
A universal intercooler kit is meant to work on many different cars. Instead of being perfectly shaped for one model, it uses parts you can route and position to fit your setup.
Here, “tubing application” means how the pipes for the supercharger system are routed around the engine bay. Getting the routing right helps everything fit and work properly.
The frame rail is a strong structural beam along the side of the car. When you install performance parts, the piping and intercooler sometimes need to be positioned so they don’t hit that beam.
An OE bolt-on kit is designed to install using existing mounting points, so you don’t have to cut or heavily modify the car. It’s usually meant to be a straightforward upgrade.
A “cowl induction hood” is a hood with an intake scoop that pulls air from higher up on the car. The host doesn’t like the look and says it can make it harder to see over the hood.
A “Coyote swap” means replacing the original engine in a truck with a Ford Coyote V8 from a newer Mustang. It’s a kit-based conversion so the swap is easier, and it can be paired with a supercharger.
A “pushrod” engine uses rods to open the engine’s valves. It’s a different engine design than some newer setups, and it’s often mentioned when people talk about swapping engines.
Term
88 to 96
“88 to 96” is the year range of trucks this kit is meant to fit. Different years can have different body and mounting points, so the kit is built for that specific range.
Term
cal induction hood
A “cal induction hood” is a hood made for performance, usually with an opening that helps feed air to the engine. The speaker is basically saying they’d choose a different hood, but they admit it looks good.
The Ford GT40 is a famous high-performance race car from Ford. The podcast is talking about engine parts related to it, like intake components, and how they fit into a build. It comes up because people use those parts to make an engine perform better or match a specific setup.
“GT40 intakes” are aftermarket or upgrade intake parts that help air flow into the engine. People use them to improve how the engine breathes, especially on Ford builds.
Term
351
“351” refers to a Ford V8 engine size—351 cubic inches. It’s a classic displacement used in many older performance builds.
Term
Ford Motorsport
“Ford Motorsport” is Ford’s performance-racing brand/parts program. The host is saying their truck used parts associated with that performance lineup.
The Chevrolet Tracker is a small SUV made by Chevrolet. In the podcast, they mention it in the context of changing equipment or parts—something like a “super tracker” setup. That’s why it’s part of a discussion about what they’re installing and testing.
An “OEM type kit” is an aftermarket upgrade meant to install like it belongs there from the factory. Instead of lots of custom brackets and weird routing, it uses the truck’s existing mounting points and parts.
A “shared drive kit” means the supercharger is driven using the truck’s existing belt/drive system. That usually makes the install easier and cleaner because you’re not redesigning everything.
The “six rib belt line” is about the belt design—specifically how many grooves/ribs it has. That matters because the supercharger adds extra strain, so the belt setup needs to be up to the job.
“Belt wrap” means how much the belt is wrapped around the pulleys. More contact helps the belt grip better, which is important because a supercharger makes the belt work harder.
A “slide tensioner” is a part that keeps the belt tight. If the belt tension isn’t stable, belts can slip or wear faster—so the kit adds a better tensioner to help prevent that.
A “blow off valve” releases some of the boosted pressure when you lift off the throttle. That helps keep the supercharger from fighting pressure changes and can make the car feel smoother.
Higher compression means the engine squeezes the fuel-air mixture more tightly. That can help make power, but it also makes the engine more sensitive to knock, so you need the right boost and tuning.
Term
mass air converse
This is about how the engine measures how much air is going into it. Older setups were tuned one way, but the newer approach uses different sensors/strategies.
It means changing the engine computer’s settings by loading a different program into it. The host is saying that method isn’t the main solution anymore for these newer setups.
A standalone tuning computer is an aftermarket engine controller that gives you more control than the stock one. People use it when they add big modifications and need the engine tuned correctly.
This is how the engine computer figures out how much air is going into the engine. Instead of using a mass-airflow sensor, it estimates using RPM and pressure—so tuning can be trickier with big boost changes.
In engine tuning, “timing” usually refers to ignition timing—when the spark occurs relative to piston position. The host notes that the described approach adds fuel but doesn’t adjust timing, which matters because correct timing is essential for power and for avoiding knock/detonation under boost or higher load.
An FMU (Fuel Management Unit) is a device that changes how much fuel your engine gets. It mainly helps add fuel, but it usually doesn’t adjust ignition timing, so it’s not a complete “tune” by itself.
Back pressure is extra resistance that makes flow harder. In this context, it’s part of why the setup can behave in an undesirable way while pushing more fuel.
The Chevrolet Camaro is a performance car, usually a coupe, made by Chevrolet. The podcast mentions older “kits” people can buy to get a certain look on older cars. That’s why it comes up in a conversation about customizing and restoring.
A fuel pressure regulator keeps the fuel pressure at the right level for the injectors. If you push it to extremely high pressure for too long, it can wear out or fail.
Boost control is how you control how hard a supercharger or turbo pushes air into the engine. It helps you hit the power target without risking damage from running too much boost.
Term
mass air conversion kit
A mass air conversion kit helps the engine computer measure how much air is entering the engine. It’s often used when you’re changing EFI parts so the fuel delivery stays accurate.
Holley EFI is an aftermarket computer-and-fuel system that controls how much fuel the engine gets. With superchargers, it’s commonly used so the engine runs correctly when boost changes.
An intercooler cools the hot, compressed air coming from a supercharger or turbo. Cooler air helps the engine make more power and can help prevent pinging/knock.
Core support is the metal structure behind the front grille that holds the radiator area together. It can get in the way when you try to fit an intercooler and its hoses.
A transmission cooler helps keep the transmission fluid from overheating. Since it’s often mounted up front, it can take up space where an intercooler would need to go.
A universal kit is an aftermarket kit meant to work on more than one vehicle. It’s useful for custom projects because you can adapt it, but you may have to do more fitting and setup work.
Blow-by is when some hot combustion gas slips past the piston rings instead of staying in the cylinder. If that’s happening, the engine can start using more oil and the crankcase can get messier—especially under boost.
Piston rings are small metal rings on the piston that seal the cylinder. If they wear out, the engine can lose compression and start letting gases (and sometimes oil) where they shouldn’t go.
Valve seals help keep oil from getting into the engine’s combustion area. If they wear out, the engine may start burning oil and you can see smoke or smell oil.
The BYD Seal is an electric car. The podcast asks questions about things like valve seals and piston rings, which are parts you’d normally hear about when diagnosing engine problems. That suggests they were discussing a specific symptom or repair topic related to the car.
A compression test is a way to see how healthy each engine cylinder is. It measures how well the cylinder can “hold pressure,” which helps you spot internal wear before you add a supercharger.
A leak-down test checks whether air can escape from a cylinder when it’s sealed. If it leaks a lot, it usually means worn rings or valves, and that’s a red flag before adding boost.
The 2011 Ford F-150 is a common truck that a lot of people modify. Here, they’re talking about putting a supercharger kit on it and keeping it running reliably for a long time.
A supercharger kit is a set of parts that adds a supercharger to make more power. It’s usually designed to work together, so you don’t have to guess what parts are compatible.
They’re talking about fuel pumps that move more fuel to the engine. When you add boost, the engine needs more fuel, so people upgrade to bigger/higher-flow pumps.
The Alfa Romeo 155 is a performance car model. The podcast talks about changing parts related to fuel delivery, like pumps, and using a device (an FMU) to help control fuel pressure. It comes up because those changes are part of making the car run stronger when modified.
An inline pump is a fuel pump placed in the fuel line. It helps deliver enough fuel pressure/flow when the engine is demanding more fuel.
Car
Ford Lightning
The Ford Lightning is a high-performance F-150 pickup. Here they’re explaining that it’s set up with bigger fuel injectors than a normal F-150, so it can handle boost better.
“19s” means a smaller injector flow rating than the “24 pound injectors” mentioned right before it. The point is that the Lightning had bigger injectors for extra fuel needs.
This is the bracket at the front of the engine that supports accessory components and provides mounting points. If it matches between vehicles, the supercharger kit can be installed with fewer changes.
The throttle body is the part that controls airflow into the engine. Some trucks use one throttle body, others use two, and that affects how the supercharger kit connects.
It’s a piece of tubing that combines two airflow paths into one. The speaker is saying the conversion is simple because it basically becomes one combined discharge tube.
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All right, special guest today.
This is Walt Sips.
Walt's from ProCharger.
Walt, what's your title there at ProCharger?
So I'm the director of service and motorsports.
Well, so I take care of all the automotive, motorcycle, power sports, technical service,
customer service folks.
I also handle our racing side, so racing sponsorships and racing support and our team
of racing techs that travel the track and handle calls and stuff here too.
Yeah.
Okay.
So for those of you guys that have been listening to CarCast for a long time, you know that
I've had several projects, have several ProCharger, SuperCharger projects.
We often check in with you guys when we're at the SEMA show.
It's usually one of my favorite booths that go in and snoop around.
We typically grab somebody from there.
Eric Radsens has been on several times.
Your CEO, Ken, he was on years ago.
I think he maybe even stopped by, came into the studio when we were using Adam Corolla's studio.
So been a long relationship with ProCharger.
But the reason why it's kind of come up recently is some really cool development
and three things that caught my attention over the past few years is one, I was working on a
Mustang, the Foxbody Mustang project, the red car that's back there and had been talking
with ProCharger for a long time saying, we need to find a good front-engine accessory drive kit,
something that we can use on custom cars, custom builds, because nobody that makes
the front-engine accessory drive kit has brackets for a SuperCharger.
And I was working on developing even some of my own brackets to work with it.
And for three years, just kind of kicking back ideas back and forth on that.
But over those years of me also just kind of complaining to Eric and others over at
everybody else and whoever else is over at ProCharger still.
Eventually, I think I saw the first kit at PRI a few years ago and then it's developed.
So I'm going to get into the serpentine kits and some of the newer kits that are out as well.
And I have some questions around that, but let's start here.
Let's start with Corvette C8.
C8, fantastic cars, really kind of blown up.
A lot of attention recently with C8 because of ZR1 and ZR1X.
But you guys have been jumping on that car almost since the beginning, since the first,
you know, when C8 Stinger came out.
It's been a number of years now.
And E-Ray as well.
E-Ray, very, very cool car, by the way.
And not necessarily a big seller for them, but it was that
reversal to what ZR1X was going to be.
You look at now the whole lineup of C8 Stinger, ZO6, E-Ray, ZR1, ZR1X.
There's really, really cool stuff there.
But this is something that kind of comes up on, well, kind of.
This is something that comes up on a lot of shows that I do.
Like I do with Edmunds.com is you do the math and you go,
oh, I'm going to buy a C8 or I'm going to buy an E-Ray and it's this much money.
And I'm going to do some modifications and I'm going to pro-charge it or whatever.
Why not just buy like a ZR1?
I was like, okay, you do the math and you look at the price difference,
but you're not taking into account the potential dealer markups, right?
You could walk into a dealer and somebody wants $50,000 over a sticker or more.
And now it doesn't become cost-effective anymore.
It's a waste.
So let's get into a little bit of C8.
I mean, I'm going to bring up some stuff while you're getting into it.
Yeah, yeah.
The C8 kits, what have you guys developed for C8?
How did this come up?
Well, as you mentioned.
What are the obstacles and stuff involved?
Yeah, as you mentioned, we've been doing the C8s pretty much from the beginning.
We were the first ones to have a Super Trigger Kit for them.
We had a Super Trigger Kit for them even before tuning was available.
The Corvette's always been a great platform for us.
For years, we had the quickest and fastest C5, C6, C7.
So that's always been a good market for us.
We make good power on all of those cars.
So for the C8, obviously, new challenge.
We had bought some cars.
We started developing a kit for them.
Obviously, with the rear engine, mid-engine deal with the engine,
the way that's set in there, obviously posed some challenges where we had to do things,
obviously not standard compared to some of our other kits.
But we found a way to make it work.
Obviously, the Coupes came first.
The hardtop convertible and low profile kit came second.
But initially, when those cars came out, as you mentioned,
there was no tuning available for them.
So we had to find a way around it.
With other things.
So we had a ignition box that we used.
We had some fuel control that we did.
We had some other things almost back to the fuel pump and FMU days
to try to work around the fact that there wasn't any tuning on those.
So we had a complete kit that we could sell to guys.
We called it our Tuner Kit Plus.
It was a good kit.
Worked well with some of the limitations we couldn't do as high at boost levels
because there just wasn't much room in what we were doing
as far as the fuel system and tuning goes to support the higher boost levels
on one of those cars.
But it worked well.
So guys were able to put a supercharger on them quickly,
do their thing without having to do stand-alones and things like that.
So it sort of worked well.
But when the tuning came out, obviously, we were again at the forefront of that.
Our tuning that we developed for those cars,
we've got special features in there that you can turn on and off V4 mode.
You can change your launch reveler settings.
You can do a lot of that stuff all by buttons on the steering wheel.
So if you want to turn off V4 mode, you can turn on or off cruise control
and that effectively turns that off.
That's where the only one who has that ability to do that.
So we built in some really cool features that other people don't have to go along with that.
So anyway, it worked really hard to get the tuning for that.
Those cars run and drive great, get great fuel mileage, but they're super fast.
I've personally beat on them at the racetrack, but also on the road course,
they work really well.
You can run nice, long, hot sessions with those cars
and don't have to worry about overheating or anything else.
I mean, they're going to work well past a lot of the stock parts like brakes and so on.
So yeah, that kid has really, really been a good one for us.
And the e-ray was just the next level of that because as good as the C8 is,
I mean, that e-ray being effectively all will drive.
Now you're able to make all of that power to all four wheels.
So you're able to do subs, two seconds, zero to 60 launches in that thing,
which is just out of control for a car you bought off the showroom floor
than out of BlowerKit too.
So those cars really went well.
I mean, I think, yeah, 185 horsepower, all-wheel horsepower for a car with just a BlowerKit.
It's pretty impressive.
Okay, so a couple of questions here.
Is one, the packaging, it's not common for ProCharger to have to replace the intake manifold.
This isn't a twin-screw Whipple Supercharger.
This isn't that type of Supercharger.
But on the Corvette, why was that necessary?
And you have a couple versions, the low profile and kind of a standard profile like we're looking at now.
But why was it necessary?
Are you also adding fuel injectors or what were you doing with this model?
So we actually started on the LT engine platform with the C706 building intake manifolds.
So obviously the C706 was a factory supercharged car.
On those cars, at the same boost level as stock, we were removing the factory Supercharger,
adding ours and gaining 170 horsepower or something like that, same boost level with one of those.
So we kind of had the technology to be able to come up with runners and intake manifolds
and all the stuff that we needed to do to make that work when the CA came out.
So back to the C7.
But that was easy because we would run a front-mount intercooler just like we did on a regular C7
and then blow through that new intake manifold that we provided.
We actually did that back in the Supercharged Cobra days way back when, you know,
where we removed the factory Supercharger, put our box on, but blew through that intercooler that they had.
So this was the next step up from that, the C7.
Moving to the C8, we needed a way to get an intercooler on the car.
And being, you know, rear-engine car, you're not necessarily going to plumb,
you know, tubing all the way up to the front to put a front-mount intercooler on there because
of pressure drop and complexity and packaging and the fact that if you looked under C8,
you can almost see at the bottom of it except all panels.
Yeah.
So it was very difficult.
So in this particular set up, we decided that we were going to do a liquid air intercooler on one of those.
We use a heat exchanger in one of the side pods.
So it was a nice fit for that to get air flow across the heat exchanger.
And then we did the intercooler in the intake manifold itself with our own reservoir and things
like that under the hatch in the back.
So that was born out of necessity more than anything, but it wasn't just, you know, a
knee-jerk type of deal, you know, yes, it was a necessity, but we were already kind of going
along those lines because as I mentioned, we had the C7 stuff that we were doing.
For the C7, we also made our competition kit, which was a liquid air intercooler set up,
and we made our pro-race kit, which was an actual ice watered air set up.
So in addition, we had been working on intake manifolds for other applications, you know,
LS, LT, you know, small block, big block, Chevy, Coyote.
So there was, we were already in the process of building some air to water intakes
for other applications anyway.
So we're like, well, what, you know, we're learning here.
Why don't we adapt that to the C8 in a situation where it was, you know, not only did we already
have the technology, but it was kind of needed in that particular application.
Right, so it definitely makes sense.
The intercooler is a big issue, especially with the rear engine, rear mid-engine,
but also, I guess, gives you a lot more flexibility now because you're controlling
more of the entire system, right?
You're controlling the whole path from the supercharger, not having to adapt to something
that's OE, like you can start to control it.
So if you want to offer upgrades and modifications and things like that,
you can definitely add to that.
Yeah, it's a cool kit.
It's interesting and it's really kind of lighting up those Corvettes.
Out here in California, you know, we have carb, right?
So we have different issues than a lot of other states when it comes to supercharging.
I will admit, I do see a lot of vehicles running Whipple superchargers and I don't
know if it's just because of, you know, like Ford, for example, you know, their partnership
with Ford superchargers being sourced from Whipple and it's not just an emissions issue,
but yeah, the two big issues, this is worth talking about, is the two big issues are emissions
and warranty, right?
With the Ford supercharger, Ford is, in theory, covering that warranty.
At least it seems that way to the customer.
How are you guys, like emissions is a big issue now.
That's obviously not a secret.
So you guys are going after as much, you know, carb compatible kits now as possible.
But warranty as well.
Like why go with Procharger versus, you know, the Ford or the GM kit or whatever is offering
those types of supercharger kits?
Well, we do.
So again, we actually have more carb compliant kits than any of our competitors.
I mean, top to bottom of our program.
We still do carb compliant Fox body kits all the way to new stuff.
You know, we go back a long ways, carb compliant stuff on the Corvettes.
The C8 kit is carb compliant from through 2025 model year.
So that's definitely a plus.
The F-150, new F-150 and Mustang, that stuff that is in the final stages of getting complete,
you know, testing is already in process and things like that.
But so it's definitely something that's important to us.
It's a big market to us.
You know, as you know, we have our main location here in Kansas City where we do most of the
stuff, but we do have a location in California as well.
So we definitely understand how important the emissions part of it is.
Also, though, the warranty, as you mentioned, yeah, I mean, the thing that kind of,
I'm sure helped, you know, the Whipple brand a lot was that, you know, that was sold through
four dealers with that warranty.
However, our kits, they also come complete, you know, the drivability is outstanding.
So going to these four dealers and giving them an option has really been a good thing
for us as well, because the install is much simpler.
The drivability is much better.
You know, the fact that it's an air to air versus an air to water, the power is a lot more consistent.
Customers are super happy with it.
Plus, you know, like a 10 speed automatic, the way that that transmission works,
it's not like an old three speed where you had big RPM drops between the shifts with a 10 speed.
It's on, you know, it's keeps that RPM, that boost right up there, right?
So you're going to get a flat boost curve, no matter what.
So you're going to get the efficiency of a centrifugal plus, you know, the RPM is going
to stay flat.
So the boost curve is flat.
But the one thing that we were missing there for a while that four dealers are like, yeah,
I love it all except the fact that how do I cover it?
We have our own, we have, we work with our own partner now for the three year 36,000 mile
powertrain warranty on those as well.
So now there really isn't, you know, an excuse other than the fact that people might know that
that, you know, Whipple name in a Ford dealership, you know, many of the dealers that we work with
these days on the, let's say on the Ford OEM side, you know, you can walk in and buy either one.
So it kind of depends on what the customer is looking for.
And you get the same thing.
You get a complete kit with tuning, with a warranty, turnkey, rated rock.
So how does the warranty work?
What does it cover?
Obviously with like, you know, our big dealer out here, if you go to somebody like, you know,
a more famous place like a Galpin auto sports, you buy your car, you can walk right in.
They'll install a supercharger that's covered on warranty.
You walk out, you just kind of feel like it's done and it's easy.
And if there's an issue, you bring it back.
Are there additional steps with, because you guys are using sort of a third party warranty.
So yeah, but in regards to that, it's not really that much different than the other
company's warranties, you know, we all kind of do on the same.
There used to be a lot of these, you know, they, let's say,
yeah, third party warranties where it was like a used car lot, right?
Here today, gone tomorrow.
Right.
Nobody really does that anymore because you can't really trust that.
That's not a, not something you feel super confident in when you buy, right?
I mean, it's only, sometimes it's only as good as the paper is written on.
But in this case, we make it super easy.
So no aftermarket component can void a factory warranty anyway.
Okay.
But it's usually limit what it covers.
That's a federal law.
So for instance, if you bought a brand new 26 Mustang and you didn't buy a powertrain warranty,
then your radio stopped working.
You're not going to take it to a Ford dealership and say, oh, well, you know,
sorry, you put a supercharger on there.
We're not going to fix your radio because one had nothing to do with the other.
Now the powertrain part of it, obviously, that's a whole different deal.
So basically how it works is that the powertrain warranty, in addition to anything that Ford,
let's say, wouldn't cover or GM or whoever, you know, whoever you bought the warranty,
like whatever type of vehicle you bought the warranty for,
it basically starts coverage after whatever the dealership says they can't do.
So for instance, you know, the crank bearing service bolts and recall,
whatever it was that GM had on their trucks, well, that had nothing to do with us.
That was a GM deal.
So GM is going to handle that part of it.
But let's say if it was something else that was not related to that, that had an issue,
then certainly that would be something to where, okay, well, GM says they're not going to cover it
because it had a supercharger and it's not part of their normal, you know, recall, let's say,
well, then that's when our warranty would kick in and take care of the rest.
So, you know, it's like any warranty, you know, they're going to do their inspections,
they're going to make sure that it wasn't abused.
When it comes as a, you know, a system, it's going to come with our tuning,
so we can be able to read the file, we can see what size pulley it had, we can see what the,
you know, we mean even down to the fact that if we needed to pull and see what kind of fuel it had
in it to make sure they didn't put 87 octane in it, and that was the reason why it broke.
I mean, obviously, like everybody else, we're going to do the due diligence to make sure that it
didn't have to be covered, but at the end of the day, if it checks out, then it's covered.
Who has to install the Procharger kits to get that warranty?
So, the way ours is written, it would be a certified, you know, Procharger dealer
or an ASC certified mechanic.
Okay, yeah, interesting. And you're right. So, there are some complexities to the warranty stuff,
but it's easy to navigate. I imagine even if they just call you guys and say,
I want to do a Procharger, I want to know what this means. I'm so worried about the warranty,
don't wait till the warranty's up. You're right. If your headliner falls down,
that has nothing to do with your engine or your supercharger. But where it starts to get interesting
is because you're kind of giving that example, you know, oil pump gears or a crank bearing or
a rear main seal. And they may be prone to failure on certain vehicles, but it could be hit or miss
and, you know, a GM or a Ford or a Dodge or somebody can go. We've replaced a few. We haven't
replaced many. We're not recalling it. We understand it's a little bit of a weak link.
And then what's going to happen is someone at some point is going to get into this argument and go,
I put a supercharger on my car from anybody. And they're going to say,
well, the weak link was XYZ when we knew that. And the manufacturer's going to go,
but you exacerbated the issue by putting the supercharger on them, right? Like we can't,
we don't know for sure you were going to blow out those, you know, those oil pump gears or that
rear main seal. But you caused the issue more, right, by putting the supercharger on there.
And then how do you guys, guys deal with that?
Well, I mean, it's kind of the angel argument, right? What comes first. But I will tell you that
even before the warranty, okay, I mean, we've been offering our complete systems with tuning for,
I mean, as long as we've been a company and we sell it, we sell our kits typically two different
ways. You can get it as what's called a complete system for a bone stock car and you can buy what's
called a tuner kit. So if you wanted to do your own tuning or the car was already modified or whatever.
Our kits, so every vehicle, if you flip through our application guide and you see the vehicles that
we do in there, every one of those vehicles is brought in house, test fit, tuned in house,
verified and driven before they ever go back to the customer, okay, whether we own it or
whether we send it to a customer. So we've put miles on them before we ever allow it to go to a
customer. So how would, for our part of it, our kits, we know that they're going to work well.
The warranty is more of a peace of mind than it is to cover any sort of failure. If we were worried
that we were building a kit that we were going to have to warranty regularly, that would be
ridiculous. You know, you wouldn't, if you knew that you were open yourself up to warranty claims,
let's say, you wouldn't warranty it. You know, it's kind of like the Tommy boy thing, right?
You know, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna go into that, but you know, it's the same kind of thing, right?
We know the warranty is good. We know that it's going to cover what it needs to cover,
but we also know that the chances that somebody actually needing it are extremely low. It's more
of that. I, you know, I bought this SUV and I put a super tuner kit on it, but my husband didn't
like it. So this is the way I made him happy was have a warranty or vice versa. You know, I didn't,
my wife doesn't know this. Mustangs got a supercharger on it that I bought it that way when
it came. It's more of the peace of mind thing so that, you know, you can feel better about your
purchase more so than actually needing to use it. Again, those kits, the way they're designed,
the way they're tuned, beat on before anybody ever sees them, we're pretty sure
that we're not going to have any issues with stock parts. Now, can bad things happen? People get
unlucky? Absolutely. So that's what we're there for. But for the most part, they should never
even have to worry about it. It should be something that they slip in their glove box and
look forward to that 37,000 miles when they can put the next stage of their upgrade on, you know.
I never really thought about this until now, but when I was always thinking about warranties in
this case with, you know, with aftermarket parts, I never really thought about warranty because
of a failure with the ProCharger, right? As a ProCharger user for years, that was never my
concern. It was always what's going to happen to the vehicle. It's never really the ProCharger,
right? And I'm sure you've, you know, people beat on ProChargers and sent them back and said,
you know, why is it seized up or whatever, which is also kind of great because it gives
you guys an opportunity to go, what limit did, was this push you for us to understand what's
happening? Like, which is why you guys do so much in racing and have somebody sponsors and
stuff and ask those customers to push as hard as they can. And the Superchargers have always had
a warranty regardless of powertrain or anything else to do with that. So like the, when you buy
one of our kits, it doesn't matter what your car it is, let's say it's way too old to be able to
get a powertrain warranty. You know, it comes with a one year unlimited mile warranty on the
Supercharger and its components, not wear items, but that standard comes with a kit,
put as many miles on it as you want it as a year, it's never an issue. And then you can get an
additional two extra years on the head unit for like a hundred bucks. So again, I couldn't sell
you an extended warranty on the head unit for $100 if I was worried that it was, I'm going to
see it often. So yeah, I mean, we've always stood behind our product. This is just kind of the next
level of what it's doing. And honestly, you know, again, I would feel just as strong selling that
kit, you know, whether it's like a stage one or stage two kit with or without a warranty.
Today as I would any other day, again, it's just more of that peace of mind thing and to
make sure that we have, you know, that we're competitive, you know, the last thing we want to
do is that in that person's mind, he really wanted a Procharger, but he had to get something else
because that had a warranty, you know, we want to take all of that, that that out of the picture,
you know, if they want stuff, we want to be able to deliver it to them.
My last question on warranties, and we'll put this to bed is on most of all these new kits that
are coming out, are the warranties included with the kit or is there an extra fee for that? Is it
optional? Yeah, it's an optional thing. Because some guys don't want it. Some kits, it's not available.
You can purchase it as a, you know, let's say you go to your four dealer and you buy the kit,
they put it on, you know, it would likely come with it because the four dealers in most cases
are adding it. But let's say you bought it off the website and you wanted to install the kit,
you know, you had a shop down the street that you was a, you know, certified, you know, mechanic
and could fit cover that part of it. Yeah, that's certainly a thing you can do with some of the kits.
Some of the kits, it's available as right away when you order it. The other ones are going to,
we're going to send you a sheet. If you want it, then you mail it in, you pay the fee,
you know, it's whatever. So, so it is additional. Because again, it's also about, you know, price.
Sometimes the guys, you know, the price, the warranty, let's say for a, you know,
new Mustang or FN 50, 700 bucks. So it's not a ton, but that may have been the thing that pushed
them over, you know. Yeah. I can, my credit card's got this limit on it. Sure. You know,
and then it becomes, well, how much do I really want it, you know. Right. Or the car's out of
warranty. I mean, and then you're like, sure, I've got a, you know, a 2021 Mustang or something
and go, hey, it's out of warranty. Anyway, I've been waiting. I'm going to put this,
I'm going to put the pro charger on there now and I'm going to save the 700 bucks because, you know,
what do I, what do I need it for at that point? Like you said, it already has the pro charger
itself already. Well, in some cases too, guys don't want to wait until the end. You know, they're,
let's say they're budget or maybe they're using firm or their limits or whatever,
they'll buy the kit, they'll put it on, but they know in three months, the next big check that
they get, they're also doing headers and custom to them. You know, so why would they buy the warranty?
Because then it's no longer being good. Right. So, you know, some guys will buy in stages too,
you know, and knowing that they've got plans in the future for it. So.
Okay. So I wanted to also ask about these new serpentine kits. So this is something that as
the new kits, like you said, they're so great, you know, having that warranty, having kits that
were made for your vehicle, new or older vehicles, it fits, it comes with a tune, it has everything
on it. If you want to do upgrades and add more power, maybe with a built-in engine or something,
you can do that, but having that turnkey system with a tune ready to go. And like you said, if
it's an older car and it's out of warranty and you want to do the installation yourself, you can.
Otherwise, get a shop to do it and try it out from there. However, there are instances where
those kits don't necessarily always make sense. You know, guys like you and me, we've been,
you know, in the aftermarket space going to events like the SEMA show and stuff for years.
I have that block truck that you can see behind the 95 truck. We had it at SEMA years ago. It does
have a supercharger on it. Kind of funny. This might be a little nostalgic for you, but
this is the engine and look at that old Ford Motorsport. That had an EO number.
Yeah. No, I have the, so that was made by PowerDyne. Made by PowerDyne, which is gone.
I still have my PowerDyne with an EO number on it, just the same way. Yeah. I don't think this
thing does anything for my truck, but it's on there. It's on there. It shouldn't be, but
they sound cool. It's funny. We dined it and had like 30 more horsepower than stock and like
80 pound feet of torque and I'm like, I don't know what kind of heat soaks going on or what
kind of blow-by is going on, but the thing is just terrible. It's just really not working.
But anyway, on that particular truck, I've been talking for a while and I'm really behind on this,
on building the new engine and stuff for it. We have a new engine. In this particular case,
it's an all aluminum Dart 427 small block. We've done some cool stuff with it. It's got their heads
and they built the short block for us. But for me to put all of the factory accessories back on
that vehicle doesn't necessarily make sense. It's got a lot of custom work anyway. Let's face it,
it's nice to put on a kit that bolts right onto your stock car, but most of them look like crap.
Yeah, or you make sacrifices. You like that power line. It's a six-rib belt kit and Dylan
is going to support an X amount of horsepower, so that's going to work out long term.
You want to clean it up and if I'm going to do my own AC lines and I'm doing my own power steering
lines or things like that, we start to look at a whole new front engine accessory drive kit.
Modern day air conditioning units. By the way, all the AC units now, you get the compact ones
are so much smaller. You get a higher output alternators. You know, whether you're using,
you know, most of the custom cars don't necessarily need, even if there are emissions
compliant, you don't need the smog pump, right? Like a lot of those are eliminated because
the catalytic converters are often much better, more efficient. You don't need the smog pump
form. So you can eliminate a lot of that stuff by going to a custom front engine accessory drive.
Sure. But nobody out there is really working with the Supercharger companies, right? Other than
maybe one or two. And none that I've seen that's working with like the Procharger going, hey,
we've got Bill at Specialties or somebody like that is making a kit. And so it was a matter of time.
And this is what I was asking the guys at Procharger for, I don't know, maybe since around
2016 or so going, hey, how about a 400 accessory drive kit? How about a front kit? How about a
front kit? And, and over the last few years, you guys have come out with a number of different
kits. And let's get into that because very, very cool, because now you can go, I'm going to do a
front engine accessory drive kit, even if I don't have a Supercharger. But if I want to add it later,
there are options. That's the beauty of your kit. That's the one thing every other, you know,
Fiat kit doesn't have. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that's really why we decided to do that. You know,
we've had Serpentine accessory drive kits for a long time. Now we've kind of called them our
classic kits, but we've had them for a long time. So guys could do it. But yeah, they were,
they were having to buy the Supercharger and the whole thing right away. Some guys can't do that
and don't want to do that. Not sure if they want to do that. So there's lots of different steps.
Let's say that they can, they, they could get into. So what we decided was, you know, we got
so many calls from a guy that said, I, I have a Holly front drive kit, or I have this brand,
or I have this brand, you know, I want to bolt up a Supercharger to it too often. Those guys were
irritated because the two don't work together. You had the front accessory drive kit, or you pulled
all that off and you put somebody else's stuff on there. Well, that's not necessarily great for
the budget because normally that stuff isn't cheap. The, you know, a couple of companies who have
done some stuff over the years with our blower kits and serpentine accessories, that's fine,
except they also don't support very high power levels. So, so then you get into that, you know,
you know, you're really kind of strapped by what you want to do. You got big power while you're
kind of stuck. So what we decided to kind of get around that was again, develop these serpentine
accessory drive kits where you could do just the accessory drive kit. So maybe your budget only
allows you to do this, or you're want to finish up the car and get it running first before you
add some more complexity or do whatever. Right. You can start with our serpentine accessory
drive or never add a blower if you want. You can start with that serpentine accessory drive stuff,
put it on the car later, add the blower and the bracket as a separate purchase,
if you wanted an added intercooler, do the things that you need to do later,
but you've already got the foundation there. So you're not having to spend all the money twice.
So that really works out well. Or let's say somebody had one of our old school kits and was
like, man, I really want to clean up the underhood. I like that. I've already got a blower. They can
buy an accessory drive kit and a bracket, use their own blower, you know. So, so there's a lot
of flexibility in that. We obviously started with certain markets, you know, that we, we, you know,
did small block Chevy, big block Chevy, LS, LT, small block Ford was one that personally I've
been asking for for a long time. Sounds like you have been too. I'm a Ford guy. So we have a lot
of Ford kits. I mean, we started with that 94, you know, with, with Ford kits, but surprisingly,
after all these years, we didn't have something that could make big power and have air conditioning.
And, you know, when we were all 20 years old, air conditioning was the first thing to go.
Now 30 years later, it's the first thing we add back. Yeah, right.
So, so the idea was to be able to have a really nice kit
that you can run AC on, but still make big power. So that kit that we're looking at,
that certain accessory drive kit that's on the, which on my left, some, some, you know,
might be like that. But that particular kit, you can do an eight rib drive or 10 rib drive
for the supercharger. You can do supercharger models up to, you can come up with it up to an
F1X or F, you know, F1A94 supercharger. So, you know, 1400ish horsepower. So it's going to give
you a lot of flexibility to do that. And not only that is, let's say you didn't want to add air when
you started, but then you did later, all of that stuff can be added later. You're again, and not
buying everything over and again, you're stacking on what you're already on. So you can get it with
as simple as a water pump or an alternator, you can add power steering, you can add AC,
you can add AC, but no power steering. So there's lots of flexibility in that particular kit.
So it really works out well for guys to do that. And in a case like what we just talked about with
your lightning, or a guy with a Fox body who doesn't want to run, you know, that stuff in the
stock locations or wants to upgrade to a nicer looking front drive kit, because let's be honest,
you know, some of the older Mustang stuff, you know, if it's been out there a while,
even if it still works, it's rusty, it doesn't look super great. If you're cleaning up your
hood, engine bay, you know, you want a more compact setup. So those kits work well in all of that
stuff. So for a guy like you with a lightning, if it's a really high horsepower application,
you know, you don't have to settle with a basic lightning supercharger kit, you can buy a serpentine
accessory kit, move everything around, put some modern accessories on it, make it a lot more
compact, but still have a drive system that'll support big power. And then a question for you,
are there might be sort of finite options that are maybe difficult to list on the website,
in particular, like we're looking at this particular image here, both of these images,
where it's, it's, it's blow through onto the top of the motor. If, if I was developing or somebody
was developing a kit that maybe used a, an intercooler of some sort, you can clock this
supercharger, you can have, you can have this point down or point to the left or point to the
right. Like you can, you guys can set that up. There's probably a couple of different options,
maybe like three options. Actually, there's, it's almost infinite on the housing side of
things. So the main part, if you look at the two images, you see the blue tag is sticking up.
That clocking because it's self-contained supercharger, the oil clocking matters,
but that's going to be set up by the bracket you use. Okay. So nothing you have to worry about
there. If you're using our bracket, the blower is going to be clocked oil clocking wise for your
application correctly. Right. However, the housing, you can rotate that 360 degrees. You can put that
wherever you want it. So if you are doing your own tubing kit, and I'll kind of walk through this,
the engine that's in the, with the gold valve covers, that's actually a 64 and a half Mustang
convertible. Okay. We originally developed our, you know, 64 to 66 Mustang kit on that. And then
we upgraded it to that serpentine accessory kit that you see, that car's low boost, low compression,
you know, it's, it's definitely a driver. And the one on the right is a higher compression 347
blueprint engine. Again, the foundation of that was we're not going to put a lot of boost to it
because that engine already makes a decent amount of base horsepower. So we can blow through that
highly throttle body, you know, with a minimal amount of boost and give you a big gain,
but you could do that same combo with an intercooler, as you say. So let's say
you wanted that serpentine accessory kit, but you're like, man, I, I definitely need an intercooler.
I'm going to be about a power level. I need it more than you had here with the universal intercooler
kit. Exactly. You can, you can rotate that. You're like, ah, man, that one hits my frame rail,
but I need to go, you know, let's say straight down. No problem. You loosen up the straps,
you rotate the housing, you can make it fit however you need to do for your tubing application.
Awesome. I love that that product is out there now. So you can do the, the OE bolt on kit or
start with a custom solution like that and add to it over time. Like you said, just add a super
charger or not at AC or not power steering or not. Like just having that modularity, I think is,
is super cool. I would imagine those kits are, are becoming more and more interesting to both
customers and to builders going, oh man, now we have options here. We have some ideas.
And it's also going to be easy enough where guys can, you know, for the, you know, I work third shift
guy who's up in the middle of the night kind of deal, you know, you can jump on our website and
buy an accessory drive, have it shipped to you in a few days, you know, and have what you need.
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Okay. We're back and yes, this is a little bit self-serving. I've been digging into some of the
Facebook groups that I'm in on specifically Gen 1 for Lightning's and there's been chatter
about the kits that are out there. I'm actually going to maybe start in the wrong direction.
I'm going to start here and take a look at the coyote swap kits that you have.
By the way, this isn't specific to just Ford Lightning's. This is OBS Ford F-150s. I would
imagine if you're looking at Broncos of that era as well, doing a coyote swap kit but then
super-charging it. One of the things that this is just me. I know I'm going to get
blasted for this, but I'm not a fan of cowl induction hoods. I don't like cowl induction hoods.
I think they look goofy. I'm a short guy as well. You can't see over them. I'm out on cowl
induction hoods. And by the way, for you guys doing like coyote swaps on your Fox body and you are
using like a twin screw, something like a Whipple and you've got that cowl induction hood to fit
it on there. I'm like, I don't know why you just did that. I just don't know why so many people
are doing it that direction when I guess you could buy the crate engine with it. I don't know,
but I'm just like, why not get that stock looking hood and use something like a pro charger?
But less of an issue with the trucks, but let's look at this coyote swap kit as well. I'm going
a project that came from you guys in house. Somebody must have had this truck or coyote
swap the truck and you guys wanted to put a pro charger on it. And then somebody said,
why not make this a kid? I don't think this was just like a bunch of people going,
how about a coyote swap? I think it was you guys first.
Well, funny you say that because we, yeah, we have coyote swap kits. We have Godzilla swap
kits. So we've had swap kits for pretty much anything that guys want, but that particular
truck you're seeing there was owned by one of our development engineers. That truck originally had a
push rod, 58 lightning motor in it that had a pro charger on it and made a lot of power.
And then he wanted to change it up and that's when the coyote got put in there. Well, of course,
if you show up in our park a lot one day, pretty much everybody here has got a pro
charger and something. So it was definitely going to get a blower on it. So yeah, it got it
definitely got our coyote swap kit. That uses a version of our 15 to 17 Mustang intercooler on it.
So yeah, it requires some work to get that intercooler behind the grill and bumper.
But yeah, that kit really came out nice. It's one that's kind of built for that
truck with some modifications that has a coyote in it. So it works really well, but it is our
coyote swap reverse kit that we use in other applications to just was some tubing and some
specific things to make it fit the, you know, basically 88 to 96 at 150.
It looks fantastic. It just seems like a bad ass truck and you guys have a video out on it as
well up on the YouTube channel. You can see it on the pro charger website, but seeing that truck,
I would ditch the cal induction hood myself personally, but I think it looks good.
And this, I think happened before the factory gen one lightning kits that came after that something
new, right? That that I want to look at as well. So here we are. We're looking at these engines with
the 351 with the GT 40 intakes on them. I showed you pictures of mine that had the old Ford Motorsport
These are not intercooled kits that we're showing right here, but tell us about this. This kind of
made sense is, is this your truck? That's my truck. Yep. So that's that's my truck.
That truck had a had a different brand of super tracker on it before, you know, we
before this kicked off, I was telling you about my old 94, my black one that had a
different brand on it. Then this particular truck when I got it had a different brand on it yet.
But as you mentioned, you know, there's limitations to that. So what we wanted to do was make a
more complete style, you know, OEM type kit. If there was such a thing back in the day,
you know, many, you know, that's one of the things when the gen two lightning came out,
they were super charged. So a lot of guys that had those were like, when wish we had something for
the gen ones, well, it took everybody long enough. But now we actually have one that's basically OEM
quality. So you could bolt up that kit in just a matter of a couple hours. It reuses and retains
all your factory accessories and the factory locations. It's got a really durable bracket,
you know, some of the guys have been doing some custom brackets over the years and some better
than others, you know, you know, some of the guys that are doing their own custom stuff have been
really, really nice. But then others that are custom brackets, you're like, you know,
my eight year old son could have made that better. So we really wanted to make something that was
beefy going to support a decent amount of power. It's a shared drive kit. So it's really simple.
It uses the factory six rib belt line, obviously with the longer belts, but we've given it
plenty of wraps. So, you know, your air conditioner, you don't have to worry about,
you know, issues with the compressor or power steering or any of the other kinds of stuff. So
a lot of good belt wrap there. It uses the factory tensioner, but we also have our own slide
tensioner in there to help kind of preload that because that's one of the kind of the weaknesses,
so to speak, of a 88 to 96 truck. The tensioner has always been a little questionable. So we
gave it some help to take some of that out of there. And then we try to make the, you know,
the discharge really simple, you know, it's got a couple of sections of silicone, got a blow off
valve in there. It already comes with things upgraded like our D1SC supercharger head unit.
So that's a couple of steps up from the base model that we would normally do on most kits.
It already comes with a bullet blow off valve, which again is an upgrade over the standard one.
So we really try to make it a, not only a simple value, but also a simple kit, but also good value
in the sense they get some upgrades that they don't necessarily have to pay for. So it really
works well. That kit will support, you know, a shared drive kit, 650 of horsepower. So if you've
got a pretty modified application now, and you don't think you're going to push past about,
you know, 6650, that kid will work fine for you. You know, if you've got an engine that makes,
you know, let's say 400 on its own, it's going to be pretty easy to get some boost to that. Now,
it is also available with a universal intercooler kit and tubing if you want to do it. So if you've
got a higher compression build, you want to push more boost and like, let's say, you know, we might
set up on a stock one, certainly you can do that. You can get it with an intercooled kit,
do it up that way, or if you wanted to fab your home, and that's fine. The biggest thing on these
is that they're the guys that know these know that, you know, you used to be able to do like a
mass air converse on these trucks, burn a chip. That's not really the thing anymore. So the new
deal is some of by Holly or some standalone, you know, to tune them. So it will need some
tuning and some fuel system stuff to get you wrapped up, but it'll use all the stuff that's
readily available. Guys, I've already been using. So, so yeah, definitely a long overdue kit for
those, but a really nice kit. Yeah, that's what I was going to ask about. So because this is older,
doing a tuned kit, sort of a turnkey solution, wasn't really in the cards, I don't think,
right? Because now you're you got to address the fuel system, you got to address the tuning.
And I guess the issue would be trying to attempt to establish some sort of tune
for this, you know, speed density type of system when, when the truth is
it's never going to run to its full potential. And, you know, there's probably a handful of
really good tuners that can probably make it work. It's just not really meant for it. So
well, we still we still do, you know, when we first came out before tuning was such a big thing
now we had kits, you know, with a pump, you know, an inline fuel pump and an FMU. We actually still
somewhere still sell some of our Fox body kits that way. Some of the older GM stuff is that way.
There's just not much tuning available. So for a completely stock application,
yes, it's certainly possible to do that. But as you mentioned, it's sacrifices, right? So
all it does is add more fuel. It doesn't do anything with timing. It doesn't do anything with that.
So right case like this, you know, particularly the older they get even nice ones, you know,
you know, nice clean low mileage ones, customers can be way better off doing it with the right
stuff than just trying to get by. Because if they just try to get by, they're not going to be happy
with it. You know, the intent is to really make people happy, you know, meet or exceed their
expectations. And by doing that, giving them something where they can actually tune it,
build it the way they want it, they'll be much happier that way.
My old kit, you know, my truck, old school style, it has that fuel management unit,
has that FMU on it, which is not the best solution, right? It's just creating some
back pressure and creating more fuel into, you know, through the injectors. But also,
there's something, you know, kind of 90s about it where you look at it and you go,
that's kind of cool. It's nostalgia, right? So I could see why you would even still sell
like some old kits, some old Camaro Fox body kits, because you just want the look.
Honestly, you could even kind of make it look that way, but not actually use it just to go,
oh, this is a retro kit. Well, the one thing I don't like to beat in styles about is, you know,
again, with some of what you were talking about earlier, I had my first kit back in 96,
I bought it out of the classified ads piece, part of it together. It had that FMU and fuel pump on
it. But that car was pretty heavily modified and I beat it every weekend at the racetrack.
Well, a factory fuel pressure regulator doesn't like 100 pounds of fuel pressure
very long. Right. So, you know, keeping a handful of regulators in my center console was not the
most fun thing. And I like to be nostalgic, but that's not one of them. No, for sure. Talk about
a fire hazard, geez. Right. The other thing, like you said, you said, addressing ignition, right?
So now we're throwing more aftermarket parts that we're grabbing like an MSD, like a BTM or
something, some sort of boost control like ignition box and stuff. And again, there are ways you
can do that. There are ways to do this that's more cost effective and easier installation than maybe
stepping up to, I mean, if you could find a mass air conversion kit, cool. If you can find that
anymore. I don't even know what that costs. It probably costs as much as a standalone EFI these
days. But going to like a Holley EFI or something is the way to go. The question that
you kind of alluded to this a second ago, but the other thing I was asking guys on your team,
as I heard about this kit in development was intercoolers, intercoolers, intercoolers,
is like, are we going to develop an intercooler? And yes, when we were talking about the Coyote kit,
the reason why I started with that kit is because of the intercooler. And I know that was kind of
a custom job. Are you guys going to come up with a Bolton intercooler kit? So we don't,
listen, if I'm going to spend all my time trying to do like custom EFI,
am I also going to have to spend time on trying to custom mount and do the piping and all of that
stuff for an intercooler kit? Or are you guys doing that now? Well, we're not, right now, we
have no plans to do a straight Bolton intercooler kit. And I'll tell you why is because you,
you know, the guys that know, you look behind the grill of those trucks and you're like, man,
there just seems to be a whole bunch of room. It just be bolted in and here you go.
Well, unfortunately, the two things that the two roadblocks that guys will have are that
the core support, surprisingly, there's not enough for a lot of room to be able to get tubes
through there without actually putting a hole saw to it or whatever, right? So some guys aren't
going to want to cut up their, you know, factory core support. The second thing is, is that that
grill is actually pretty deep. You've got some other plastic panels back there. You've got your
hood latch. The latch is big. The latch comes down far. You've got your transmission cooler
up there on the driver's or the passenger side up top with some, some steel lines.
So certainly it's possible, but it's also going to take a guy that's going to,
that doesn't really care about cutting up his truck. And this kit was kind of designed for the
guy that's that in between. You know, I want some more power, but I don't want to, if I want to go
back on my truck and make it bone stock for the collectability or whatever, he can pull that
kit up on a couple of hours and it's right back where the kit came. He didn't cut anything. He
didn't hack anything. He's going to bolt it on just to back the way that came. That truck, if you
look, it's got the power stroke, you know, front bumper on it. It's also lower, but it's got,
you know, trimmed behind the grill. It's modified hood latch. So that it definitely is,
you're not taking that truck back to stock easily, I guess is the point to say that. So
same deal with our, you know, accessory drive kit that we talked about for years.
In a case like that where the truck's already heavily modified and you're not
so much worried about ever having to go back to stock, certainly those universal type kits are
way to go because you can build it how you want it. You don't have to take, let's say, factory
engineered, you know, setup as gospel. You can kind of make it your own, right? Yeah. Just no two
are going to be the same. So there's two ways to do it. You either get a nice simple kit that you
can bolt on, not have to hack it up, or you can make some modifications, build it the way you want
make all the power you want and go to town. Okay. Yeah, certainly makes sense. I get looking,
we're looking at this photo. This is the custom truck with the Coyote Swap and the intercooler
that we see in here. Yes, you look at it and go, why isn't it wider? Why isn't it raised up? You've
got all this dead space behind the grill because there's a massive latch behind here. That whole
mechanism that comes down, the hood latch behind, you know, the emblem from the top down.
And yeah, and the tubes that are coming off the side, where are they going through the core
support? Are they hitting anything else? So it's more complex than it seems to be. But you guys,
you guys did it here and it would require some modifications, but it's not impossible to do.
I would imagine if anybody was looking for doing something like this, you could at least
maybe grab some photos or help advise them on like the thickness and the width and like what
kind of fits. And, you know, before we get too far into, you know, mocking up with cardboard and
everything else, just trying to get an idea from you guys. Certainly. And there was a guy recently
that just posted on one of the lighting forums who built his own bracket kit. Man, it looks outstanding.
And he used one of our Fox body, like 1050 intercoolers, and he has it all down the
bumper. And man, it looks sharp, but, you know, he custom made it all, you know, specific for his
application. And no one, the type of workmanship he did on that kit, he wouldn't have been happy if
I just supplied him a box of tubes. You know, he still would have wanted to modify it because he
made it his own. So that's the reason why we do it. We offer a guy's flexibility to do that.
Because again, you know, the last thing you want to do is you spend all the money
and you look at it and you're like, Well, yeah, I don't like any of that.
You know, I wish I just would have bought a non intercooler than did my own thing.
Oh, you know, we're bought it with an intercooler and then made my own tubing or whatever. So
there's different levels of it. You know, so it's again, there's always a give and take
to that. But you know, that's the main reason why we did it. In Clint's case, where he did his own
coyote swap and built that whole thing, his truck had been modified over the years anyway.
So some of the stuff he didn't even know it was already gone. Yeah. On my truck, it was bone stock,
didn't have any modifications on it. And when I looked at it, I'm like, I ain't cutting that,
not cutting that, not cutting that. So, you know, I wanted to be able to pull it off sometime and
put it back stock if I ever wanted to. So some guys still want to do that.
How many miles are on your truck? 115,000 and some change.
When you when you put the supercharger on just for the guys with the high miles, did you
did you have to rebuild the heads? Did you go through anything like valve seals or
piston rings? Or did you are you getting any sort of blow by burn and oil?
Well, it's pretty much this is universal for any of our kits on and high mileage applications.
It really depends on, because we get questions all the time, you know, I've got 200,000 miles on
our truck already. Do you really think I should be put the blower kit on it? Well,
that depends, you know, how well it's been taken care of, you know, the things that you're going
to want to do, the simple things you're going to want to do just to see is, you know, what's
compression tests look like, what's a leak down test look like, you know, what conditions
transmission are already in. If all of that stuff checks out, then the mileage doesn't really matter.
It's a good platform to start with. But you know, if you're like, ah, you know, it's burning a little
well, and, you know, it's got 30% down on this cylinder and 40% down on that one. And, you know,
leak downs crap. Well, yeah, you know, you might want to do some stuff. So the miles shouldn't
necessarily scare you, which should be what the condition of your engine you're putting it on.
You know, is what is the real question you should be asking. I mean, you know, this is a plug for
a different platform. But like, you know, my son has a 2011 F-150. It's got our stage two, you know,
supercharger kit on it. Trucks got 220,000 miles on there. You know, I mean, it's had the blower
kit on it since day one. So yeah, you can you can definitely put it and use it on some high
amount of stuff without issue. Was was your truck good? Was your truck in good shape? Or did you
actually have to do it? No, I was in good shape. I mean, it had, you know, previous to me buying
it, you know, the guy that, you know, had some pretty good service records with it. So it had some
of the basics done. I think a guy did a timing chain gears and stuff on it. But yeah, I mean,
it never been, you know, hasn't ever been off of it, none of that kind of stuff. And it was all good.
There wasn't any issue with it. So what did you end up doing for the fuel system in the tune?
So right now, mine just has like the setup from original on it, the previous unit, but it's on
low boost. My next steps are going to be likely a cam and some other stuff. So I'm going to have to
tune it anyway. So right now, it's more of a, I'm going to drive it through the summer,
do some car shows with it. You know, my son and I, we have a little Fox body that we do some
track days and some autocross stuff with. So I'm going to, you know, just for nostalgia,
again, hook the trailer up to it, haul the car out there. And then, you know, over the winter
time, I'll probably do some more and turn it up from there. So you're just running like either
slightly larger intake pumps, like 155s or 190s, maybe an inline pump and an FMU and,
and that's it. I think that's what my truck has. I can't imagine that that Ford kit came with
anything else. I think there's an inline pump and, but I've got the two tanks. You got the two
tanks, right? Yeah, but you do the, you do the pump pass the crossover. So it effectively doesn't
matter, you know, that you can pull out of either, either tank. But, you know, everybody that's done
one of those kits, you know, your kit, when it came from Ford Motorsport or Powerdyne directly,
or the V brand or whatever, they all pretty much did the same thing, you know, back then,
because there really wasn't any way to do it. And even if you had a custom chip tune, you know,
or a mass air, you know, most of the time guys already had that stuff. So, yeah. So yeah, that's
that's the simplest, easiest way to do it. You know, but again, on some of that stuff, low boost,
you know, those lightnings, the way they were fueled, they were already kind of over fueled
compared to a regular F-150 anyway. So they had bigger, you know, 24 pound injectors versus the
19s and so on. So they got a little more room in them anyway than a standard F-150. But on that note,
that particular kit we're talking about for the lightning, it's also set up for that same style
front accessory drive bracket for five liter and 58 trucks in Broncos 88 to 96. So the
nice part is those front accessory drive, they're all the same. The difference comes down to whether
it was a single or dual throttle body, you know, some of those old F-150s twin throttle body,
some of them were mass air trucks, even, you know, they had twin throttle bodies down to a
single tube with a mass air, you know, meter and so on. You can still use this kit on those
trucks or Broncos. You just have to change the tube. So if you buy a kit and it's a regular F-150
instead of a lightning, we take 50 bucks off because we don't send you some of the connections to go
from the blower to the throttle body. So we take 50 bucks off and just give you a part number for
the one that you can buy from Ford. It's basically a two into one tube. And then now that becomes
your discharge tube. So it's super simple, super easy to do. I mean, if you're the Amazon type,
you can even buy one of Amazon for 20 bucks, you know, and do it up. So there's lots of different
options. But again, it's made for those guys that can do that too. You know, we have, with the
resurgence in Broncos, you know, we did just as many guys asking about, you know, OJ Broncos and
everything else that we do of anything else. So yeah, it's popular for those too.
Well, it's awesome. I appreciate the conversation. I'm sure we can go a lot longer, but I think we're
going to wrap things up. But what we'll do is maybe we'll catch up again at SEMA and see what
you guys got new. And usually I'd be asking about it. But we'll wait, we'll wait for SEMA. Well,
you can surprise us see what's going on over there. Thanks so much. Well, I appreciate it.
Good luck with your truck. It sounds awesome. And looking to see what you guys do next with it.
Sounds like you guys are having a lot of fun. You and your son having a good time out there.
Yeah, absolutely. Guys listening, of course, or watching this on YouTube, you can check out
ProCharger.com. You can see all of this information that's up there. It's priced up there. There's
pricing information. You can build your own kits and feel free to call and chat with with Walt or
somebody else over there on the team, run through your questions. And if you do, they're always
happy to answer them. So and I love that about you guys. Great customer service over there. So I
appreciate it. And yeah, all right, we're going to wrap things up this week. Thanks so much guys.
And until next time, keep the air in the spare and the bag in the wheel.
About this episode
Walt Sipp from ProCharger walks through how the company tackles forced-induction fitment, tuning, and support—starting with Corvette C8 development. They explain early C8 hardware workarounds, why dealer markups can change the “base C8 + supercharge” math, and how liquid-air intercooling packaging evolved for the rear-engine layout. The conversation then expands to ProCharger accessory-drive kits for staged upgrades, plus Gen 1 Ford Lightning and OBS truck supercharger installs, belt drive details, and modern tuning and warranty coverage.
