Vortech V3 SC installed on my Challenger one month ago and I stalled on Interstate today. Had SRT8 towed to performance installer and they pulled out the MSD Fuel Pump Voltage Booster fuse holder. It was charred to a crisp. $215 later car running fine, no high current to Booster. looks like fuse holder was defective. called Vortech and they said they would have MSD replace fuse holder. That really helps the $215 i ended up paying for towing, repair, and taxi to shop to pick up car.

That sucks....... Tell them you had 3-4 guys from the forum looking at the same setup but now they dont know......

wow samson, not good. Haven't had any issues with mine thus far. Any possibility of an install issue or?. Are they all typically installed in the same place?. I will have a look at mine depending on where its at?

Yep use, my name in vain too.. I was looking at getting one too.. They don't want my business, I'll get a different brand supercharger

I doubt its major. Vortech makes very nice stuff. I wouldn't let something like this necessarilly sway your decicion against Vortech.

wow samson, not good. Haven't had any issues with mine thus far. Any possibility of an install issue or?. Are they all typically installed in the same place?. I will have a look at mine depending on where its at?

The fuse is located under the black plastic access panel under hood where the Fuel Pump Voltage booster sits. Installer, Ramsey's Racing, is a seasoned Vortech, Kenny Bell and ProCharger installer. They typically have 3-4 cars in the bays installing SC's. Ramsey's actually replaced the fuse holder with one made for Kenny Bell SC and said it was same 30 Amp rating but much larger wire and better quality aluminum fuse holder than the soft rubber and plastic one that comes with the Vortech. The booster and fuse holder are made by MSD and used as part of the Vortech package I was told by Vortech.

fuse didnt blow - which means not over 30 amp load. fuse holder burned because poor quality and high resistance on connection to fuse.

other than that I love the Vortech. dissapointed in customer support of a one month old product, however.

hmmm.,. Good to know. thanks!. I'll Check mine

But how does it run other than that?

But how does it run other than that?

Quality of the actual Vortech components is outstanding. The SC makes the Challenger wicked fast. I have owned Porsche 911T, Z06 'Vette and this car with the Vortech is right there in that class - just scarey to hold on the road.

The canned install that comes with the Vortech is very conservative and cannot be altered. the A/F mixture is very rich and leaves lots of room for improvement. I leave mine in canned mode because I prefer very safe to very fast.

I would definitely choose Vortech if I had to choose again. I consider Vortech's use of third party accessories disappointing because I do not think the quality of the add-on accessories is near that of the Vortech components.

hows the driving under normal use? is there any sound from the sc or is the power just there when you step on it.I was thinking heads and cam to get extra 100 hp.why is the sc better or not .sounds like your getting alot of hp.

hows the driving under normal use? is there any sound from the sc or is the power just there when you step on it.I was thinking heads and cam to get extra 100 hp.why is the sc better or not .sounds like your getting alot of hp.

if the car is in D, instead of autostick, it minds its manners very well. but in autostick, it goes like a bat out of hell.

its rated at 540hp at the crank. which is exactly what mine put out, with a 15% drivetrain loss. i was at 460whp. gained 100hp to the wheels.

you will have better reliability i would say with heads and cam. since you have no extra stress on the engine, to get that extra power. that is, of course, assuming the work was done properly.

Can someone clear this up for me quick? I thought when you added a supercharger, you had to end up changing out the heads and cam for some reason? So, if people are changing out the heads and cams, and getting the same power roughly, maybe a little less, as the superchargers, what is the point of the charger for all that extra money? If they can both take it to about 550 crank, why bother spending the extra 3 grand on a charger? Sorry im real new to this dont know much about it.

I would still go with the Vortech kit that is what is used on the Hurst Challenger. Do you think Hurst would use anything but the best on there car with there name on it. They do there R&D they know what is the best out there go with the Vortech it is the top of the line.

No need to change Heads/Cam when going supercharged, The SMS Supercharger is a direct bolt on for a added 120hp, Heads and cam alone will only get you 70-80rwhp. Some folks choose to go with low compression pistons so they can add alot more boost to a S/C'r then what a stock motor will take.

Oh alright thats what i wasnt sure about. So with a charger and heads and cam that would be roughly 200? Or do they become more effecient with the s/c and put out more?

if the car is in D, instead of autostick, it minds its manners very well. but in autostick, it goes like a bat out of hell.

its rated at 540hp at the crank. which is exactly what mine put out, with a 15% drivetrain loss. i was at 460whp. gained 100hp to the wheels.

you will have better reliability i would say with heads and cam. since you have no extra stress on the engine, to get that extra power. that is, of course, assuming the work was done properly.

MIne churned out slightly more at the tire, 492 but we tweaked the canned Vortech tune just a little, but still well into the safe range. The stock vortech tune is nice and fat so its very safe for day to day use!. I also have the Magnaflow exhaust which helped a little as well . Just slap the kit on, upload the tune and go have fun:woot:

Superchargers are the cheapest horsepower available.

Can someone clear this up for me quick? I thought when you added a supercharger, you had to end up changing out the heads and cam for some reason? So, if people are changing out the heads and cams, and getting the same power roughly, maybe a little less, as the superchargers, what is the point of the charger for all that extra money? If they can both take it to about 550 crank, why bother spending the extra 3 grand on a charger? Sorry im real new to this dont know much about it.


heads and cam comliment a S/C well. since it gives all that extra air, alot more ability to flow through the engine. you would make more power with heads, cam and S/C. than you would with just the S/C.

i chose a S/C, because i can do a simple bolt on like that, in my garage if i wanted. but i dont have a hemi specialist, that i would let, work on my engine. within close proximity.

Superchargers are the cheapest horsepower available.

I dont know about that with the price of these nearing or over 7 grand.

Edit: also thanks for that Someguy

MIne churned out slightly more at the tire, 492 but we tweaked the canned Vortech tune just a little, but still well into the safe range. The stock vortech tune is nice and fat so its very safe for day to day use!. I also have the Magnaflow exhaust which helped a little as well . Just slap the kit on, upload the tune and go have fun:woot:


nice numbers. yes, the vortech tune can certainly benefit from a CMR tune. my car is stuck in the garage though till the snow is gone. then ill be getting RDP to do an email tune for me.

ive got the magnaflo HFC's, and the corsa exhaust. still waiting on vortech's fix for the intake on the cars with HID's. hopefully that will help me breath a bit better.

who did your tune??

I dont know about that with the price of these nearing or over 7 grand.

Edit: also thanks for that Someguy

my vortech was only 6,000$CAD. so it should be even cheaper in US. i also paid labour. but i couldve done it myself.

but i certainly wouldnt want to tear my engine apart on this car. ive busted my fair share of knuckles. and the cost of heads, cam and labour, would be somewhere in the 5k range i imagine. so i spent another 1k, and got an extra 30hp or so. seems justifiable to me.

in my case, if i was tearing into the engine. i would be doing a 426. which means i would be looking at 15k. so the blower was cheaper for now. lol. and then, when the engine finally lets go one day. ill get the 426 anyway, and have it built for boost.

Way i saw it heads/cam would be closer to 3 grand, maybe 3500 or 4 with installataion, but i really dont know much about this stuff I'm just getting into it.

Way i saw it heads/cam would be closer to 3 grand, maybe 3500 or 4 with installataion, but i really dont know much about this stuff I'm just getting into it.I think heads and cam installed are more like 7-8 grand.

I think heads and cam installed are more like 7-8 grand.

i havent priced it out. so im not even positive myself. i looked up the parts price. and it was around 3500$ i thought. and labour to replace a cam, and heads. then do a valve set, i cant imagine would be cheap.

I have been very happy with the Vortech installations we have done. There a few tricks to make the system cleaner and more reliable, mostly fit and wiring. We specialize in dyno tuning and found the calibration well sorted for reliability. Before Vortech came up with this plug and play kit, many shops were buying the tuner kit and doing the calibrations in house. There were many an engine failure from a poor tune.

I know there are some other systems out there, some with a little nicer hardware a bit more power. The real selling point for the Vortech system is it's reliability and the fact that it will be CARB approved and Smog legal shortly.

We did the testing and installation on the Hurst Challenger for SEMA this year and were surprised to see so much interest. In the past our big focus was on Viper Performance and tuning, but now we see more and more Hemi cars coming through the shop.

If anyone ever needs help with a Vortech installation or technical help, feel free to call us. We are here to help.

Dan Cragin
President
DC Performance
310-841-6996

I saw the install that DC did on the Hurst Challenger this last weekend at Cars and Coffee and it is a very clean job. If you want to see the car it will be at Bobs in Burbank next month on Friday night when I have the date I will post it.

I have been very happy with the Vortech installations we have done. There a few tricks to make the system cleaner and more reliable, mostly fit and wiring. We specialize in dyno tuning and found the calibration well sorted for reliability. Before Vortech came up with this plug and play kit, many shops were buying the tuner kit and doing the calibrations in house. There were many an engine failure from a poor tune.

I know there are some other systems out there, some with a little nicer hardware a bit more power. The real selling point for the Vortech system is it's reliability and the fact that it will be CARB approved and Smog legal shortly.

We did the testing and installation on the Hurst Challenger for SEMA this year and were surprised to see so much interest. In the past our big focus was on Viper Performance and tuning, but now we see more and more Hemi cars coming through the shop.

If anyone ever needs help with a Vortech installation or technical help, feel free to call us. We are here to help.

Dan Cragin
President
DC Performance
310-841-6996

Dan,

I think this is a key point that you make. e.g Have the Vortech installed by a shop that has experience installing specifically the V3 on the Challenger. The Vortech base hardware are no doubt well designed and also the firmware (Vortech canned tune) is very nice and reliable. I would choose Vortech over any other S/C I have researched for the SRT8 but the wiring is a weak point in the kit IMO. The third party parts are not as robust as the Vortech designed parts. The "system" is only as strong as the weakest link in terms of failure on the road.

My job is director of Quality Engineering for a large OEM and our motto is that the weakest link in our system is how we are judged. I am a simple consumer when it comes to the auto industry and I do not like to break down on the road.

If I were having this S/C installed new again I would request the wiring be upgraded, especially the fuse holders and various wiring hardware. If I were Vortech I would upgrade the wiring in the kit to be commensurate with their awesome S/C hardware.

Add up everything else that you would need to get to this horsepower including installation labour and you will find superchargers a great deal.

I dont know about that with the price of these nearing or over 7 grand.

Edit: also thanks for that Someguy