Dodge Challenger Forum banner

Part 1 of Sprintex supercharger install

16K views 91 replies 6 participants last post by  adman98 
#1 ·
Well the s/c will be here some time today. So I decided to start on it earlier by removing everything up to taking the intake off. I thought it would be easy and so I started on removing the front facia. Well 2 hours later and it's off. lol NO lie, that thing was a pain in the butt. I didn't take any pics or video, since it is straight forward. It's just getting access to some of the bolts and nuts. I did video where the highest nut is on the facia and luckily they were just hand tightened. But one bolt (on each side) has a piece of hard plastic covering about 1/6th of the bolt, so getting a socket on the bolt was fun-not really. When I go to install I'm going to cut a notch in the hard plastic-which does NOTHING-so I can tighten the bolt easily.

Then getting access to the support brackets attaching the intake to the block was tricky too. I bought an assortment of fasteners and I'm glad I did, I've broken quite a few.

Oh that reminds me.. who's damn brilliant idea was it to use rivet fasteners on the fender splash guard. I broke every single one. I first had to pry it out a little so I could use my cutters and cut the thing in half. I marred up my drivers side fender corner a little, that pisses me off.

So I started around 1545 and finished around 2100 hrs. And I just changed my pcm -which again- was in the tightest place ever. But I'm going to bed soon.

Tomorrows plan, is to drain the coolant.

If anyone has any questions, I'm glad to answer them. On wednesday I will finish removing the intake and replacing the injectors and then install begins. So part two will be that night-hopefully. Or thursday. Thanks for reading.
 
See less See more
#2 · (Edited)
No need to drain the coolant. Very little coolant comes out I just put a catch pan under the front, seriously not much comes out, after i got done I didn't even have to add coolant, ran the engine and bleed the system. One thing to help out drill a hole in the thermostat this allows air pockets to move thru the system and you don't have to wait for the thermostat to open up. If you have any questions I can help since I did the install myself. I didn't have issues as you described above, but over 30 years of wrenching experience helps.
 
#3 ·
Where did you drill a hole and how do you prevent coolant from coming out? When you take off the thermostat to take the crossover off, how did you prevent the coolant form coming out, because I've a few videos of guys replacing their thermostat and a lot of coolant comes out. I don't have a catch pan or similar not spill this all over my garage. I also have a coolant vacuum refill kit. So it would be easy to refill the coolant and pressure test it..

Did I read your past posts, that you sold your car?
 
#8 ·
2017, I just cut off the resonators and added 2.5 inch from the axle out to 3.5 inch black tips. It is the STP challenger so bigger tires/suspension/brakes.
 
#9 ·
Part 2 and unfortunately there will be a part 3.

So I started the install today and wow it started rocky. I also did not take pictures or videos, because I had 4 hours of sleep from working last night and it was soooooooo f-ing difficult. If I did have my camera up, I may have thrown it.

Anyway, I am missing some parts and they are sending them overnight. But it was too late today so I won't be able to start the car till Friday. The bracket that holds the idler pulleys was not threaded thru for one of the bolts. So they are sending a new bracket. I'm also missing a spacer and the sticker that goes into the gas cap area to indicate "Premium Fuel Only". I have to say I know this install in and out and have passed along mistakes in the instructions. The verbiage for the instructions is what made it so f-ing difficult. I started at 1230 in the afternoon and finished most of it at 930pm. With 3 hours already spent on removing the facia and a few others things on Sunday. I am exhausted. I can and will be anyones helper, if they need it if they do this install. All in all, it's not that difficult-if you have the right instructions and parts.

And the great news is, you don't have to get a new hood. I closed mine, well almost. I am going to take the hook/loop on the front of the hood that connects to the latch on the body and put a couple of shims/washers underneath the bolts. This will allow the hook/loop to extend into the latch on the body and connect. I haven't done it yet, but it will work. You don't have to cut into the hood.

A couple of notes: They list a part twice in the list of supplies. And there were 4 bags of nuts/bolts/washers that had labels on the bags, but they were not in the supply list. I also had 2 washers just in the box, which were also not in the supply list. There are 4 bolts that were not in the box, but were on the supply list, so I started looking around. Well I read the instructions about a dozen times and realized they had those 4 bolts holding the lower and upper supercharger together, but if you didn't read the instructions you wouldn't know this. No where in it, does it say they are there. The instructions and seller tell you go through the list and check to make sure all the parts are there, but no one tells you to look under the supercharger.. Wow.

It took me about 45 minutes to get the old coolant crossover off and the new one on. The main reason, the groove for the gasket to sit in, on the new crossover was barely there. So every time I went to mate it to the block, the gasket would slip. Oh my GOD. I tried using masking tape and that finally worked after the 4th try. I had to tape the top part of it, but use a thin strip of shop towel where the gasket was, so the tape wouldn't stick to that. I then bolted it up one at a time, but leaving a little room so I could pull the tape out without pulling the gasket out of alignment. If they would have cut a little deeper the gasket would sit in the groove and you wouldn't have trouble affixing it. And there is plenty of material to do that. I told the tech guy and he agreed. But they have to send all of this info to Australia, because that's where most of the parts are made.


I purchased this sc from Sprintex themselves and they are in Michigan. I have to say the customer service to include sales and tech are phenomenal. When I first started seeing the mistakes and missing parts I was freakin out and I called them to complain-nicely though. They were understanding and were going to make some changes.

I forgot to mention, some of the instructions are in complete. In one part, there are hoses to which you have to figure out where they go on your own, because the instructions just stop and don't mention the hoses.

I spoke to my sales guy and he agreed with my frustrations and told me no one has mentioned this before so they want me to put something in an email when I'm done to help them out. Which is great for a company to do. So I would recommend the company, but they have some kinks to work out. But if you want help, I could write the freakin instructions, so ask. I will put a few pictures up tomorrow when I get up and open the garage and survey the mess I made.

Sorry so long.
 
#10 ·
lol, what's funny, many of those same mistakes I complained about, hell I even had some jeep parts in my box which was not even on the check off list. I sent messages about the mistake, sounds like that's their story- they will take care of it. I don't think they fix the instructions.

glade too hear it will fit under the hood., oh just make sure your belt runs in the middle of the pulleys ( smooth ones) being plastic if they get side loaded they break, ask me how I know this.
 
#11 ·
I think I read about your broken belt in one of your posts.lol sorry. Oh and I think the torque specs are a little high even though they are mostly 5-8 foot pounds. I was torquing the timing cover bolt to the crossover and heard a snap. I sure as **** hope I did't F something big up. I stopped and then took my socket wrench and just touched it to make sure it didn't break loss and it didn't. I'm worried about the integrity of that crossover and gasket.

I felt the same kind of feeling-no snaps-but feeling I was torquing some of the bolts on the s/c to the plastic was also too much.

Thanks for the feedback and I'll let you know today or tomorrow how things finished.. IF I am able to finish...hahahaha
 
#13 ·
Well well well.... 0-60 in 4.9 seconds. Yes I have finished. Today was a brighter day and the good Lord made things come together. The replacement bracket was shipped today overnight, so my current bracket-which was not threaded all the way through is disposable. Well then I decided to try to thread the bracket myself. Off to Ace I was and I got the part. I threaded the rest of the hole and put the bolt in and it worked. yes oh yes it worked. So I installed it with the pulleys and the washers and put the belt on. That was easy. Then I installed the intercooler hoses in front of the radiator. I used a solder and made the hole in the hard plastic bigger to make the hoses to fit. Not too hard. I used this solder on the facia on install too. That hard plastic that makes removing and installing one of the bolts a PITA, was melted just enough to let me use a socket wrench.

So the s/c was done, the intercooler was done and with help from the wife the facia was done.. All were relatively easy. Now comes adding the antifreeze and the worries and potential problems with air in the system messing with the heat in the car. Well well well, I didn't have ANY problems. I unscrewed the bleed screw by the thermostat and added the coolant that I had in the bucket I used to drain the system. Air escaped for a bit and then the coolant came out. And yes I used a catch bottle as to not make a mess of my garage. About 95% of the coolant went into the system. I turned the car on for the first time. Fingers crossed and yes I checked and rechecked the fasteners, bolts, hoses and alignment of the belt. It turned over with no issues and no check engine light. I turned the heat on as the instructions advise and it took about a minute and the heat was blasting hot air. YES YES. I drove it around the neighborhood and then checked for leaks. None. The radiator went down very little. Let me back up a second-the intercooler only took about half of the 1.9 liters it calls for. So I drove my boy to soccer practice and then went back to pick him up. I was gentle with the system these times. I then went for a drive in the evening and wow is it fast.

Before the drive, I checked the intercooler and it took another 25%, so I'm 300ml low, but it will take a little time to get all the air out. I added almost the rest of the coolant into the radiator. But I kept an eye on the temperature while driving and it was just like before the install, sitting between 195-209. I plan on the 180 stat soon.

Heat still works as well. So I was consistently getting 4.9 seconds, but with a better tune I think I can get that a little lower. Though I'm not looking for a drag car, I can always improve the times. I'm just happy as a pig in slop-hey watch the jokes guys, lol, to have a V6 hanging with the 8's.

I am new to the tech or tune part of vehicles nowadays, so there was a little learning curve with that today. I had to call diablosport, but they were great and helped out. If you have or get a trinity2, don't hook it up to a mac, it has issues with that so use a pc.

I will post pictures tomorrow, the car is outside now(wife gets the garage) and I had a late ride and am tired. Thanks for reading. I will keep this up to date on improvements. Wife wants me to work on the third floor reno, so it will a couple months before I get anymore goodies-maybe. ;) What she doesn't know won't hurt me.


One final word on trading for a V8 or getting a supercharger. If you can do it yourself and not pay additional monies on top of the sc, I'd get the sc over trading it in. I say this for a few reasons.
I did this myself and have accomplished something big. (Ross the tech guy for Sprintex said 80% of people have a shop do the install).
Although the (great on gas) is not a make it or break it for me, having this sc gets me the power of a V8 with the gas of a 6.
A rare vehicle.
NOT going back to a stealer to negotiate with a piranha just looking for a sale.
I love working on cars in my spare time and this was fuuu.... not quite, but it's not the sc's fault, the instructions were in greek.

And lastly-the wife wouldn't let me trade it in. Sad, but true. --I'd do the install again and would recommend a sc over a trade in.
 
#14 ·
Hey dd, what TB did you have? What would you recommend? Also what tune worked for you and where did you go?
 
#17 ·
I had the stock throttle body that I ported. I had the stock throttle body, fastman throttle body and the 80 mm throttle body from overkill. I did a bunch of testing between all three. The fastman unit was much quicker than the the stock unit, so I took the stock unit and ported the hell out of it-like the fastman unit, even cutting the throttle blade support bar and shaving the lower bar( thin it) and ported it much more than the fastman unit, then I tested my fully ported stock unit against the fastman, the stock throttle body that I ported out just edged out the fastman unit. So I then sold the fastman unit knowing my ported stock unit was the best.

Then I bought the 80mm from Overkill and tested it against my ported unit. The overkill unit felt sluggish down low but it was a few numbers better in airflow at peak rpm -data logging verified this. Then off to the race track naturally aspirated of course, the ported stock unit just felt better and seemed to do better in 60ft time(swapped out both units at the track and tested them both), ported stock unit was marginal and then I decided my ported stock unit was better, it was pretty much a wash between the two tb's and went with the stronger down low stock ported unit and I sold the 80mm.

I should have kept the 80mm for the supercharger, I think it would have shined. I tried buying a new 80mm from overkill but I couldn't get a hold of the guy for weeks and even had an order in for a 80mm tb but it was never delivered from overkill.

The problem with the sprintex supercharger tune, they don't give you full throttle til 4900 rpms, I complained the entire time about this but Jay would never give me full throttle in the tune, instead all he would do was crank up the throttle response which was stupid.

The 80mm overkill unit would have increased low end power with the sprintex tune- it would have been a work around to get more throttle off launch.

So you can pick up more power with a larger throttle body just because the tune has limited throttle opening rate and a larger throttle body would allow more air flow at the lower rpms to kinda cheat their system in the tune.

I had several tunes from Jay with some tweaks so I don't remember and I already trashed all the tunes so I can't look back at them.

I didn't go anywhere just been working on my SRT on the front end, tomorrow I'm working on an engine strap to help transfer some of the wasted motion of the motor to the chassis to speed up the chassis response to help transfer weight quicker to the rear tires. SRT has so much power down low I need to get a handle on the traction side before I start searching for more hp/tq.

The v6 even with a supercharger was just the opposite, it lacked power down low and I was trying to find all the low end I could get, traction was a none issue, my v6 ran a best 4.0 0-60 mph time with several 4.1 at damn near any given time. I had the suspension set up for all the power the v6 could throw at it. My srt has so much torque and no traction right now I have only done a 4.4 0-60mph in my srt, trying to get traction. two different worlds for sure, the srt is a monster compared to the supercharged v6.

If there was a race right now between the two cars, the v6 would launch and go and be ahead of the srt, the srt would run down the v6 and just barely take the win at the end of the 1/4 mile- soon I hope to have the srt hooking as good as the v6.



Glade you got your supercharger on, keep an eye on the intercooler fluid, keep topping it off, it's very important any air in the system lowers efficiency and look into getting a hellcat coolant tank for the intercooler. keep us posted.

Just for comparison my naturally aspirated combo ran 5.0 0-60mph times. So right now your just barely edging out my naturally aspirated combo with the supercharger.

I just fine the data like this interesting, setting up cars different ways and see what they can do.
 
#19 ·
Scratch that comment on getting a new srt in a few years, I've heard the challenger is going away soon, very soon. As in 2019 to make room for the barracuda....
 
#22 ·
Two things.

1. Can you read the Sprintex tune and duplicate it in a custom tune? Then give yourself WOT sooner?
2. Is Sprintex EVER going to release that new design so I can fit it under the stock hood. It seems this install didn't have any clearance. I don't want to lift the hood to clear things.
 
#23 ·
Thanks dd. That info does help. Although I got my tune for a "Ross" with sprintex. I'm trying to figure out which gauge is for the air/fuel ratio. A lot of the gauges are abbreviated, so I'm having trouble finding it on the T2. I do think I'm getting wot before 4900, but I'm going to log some runs this week and see for myself. I downloaded that "datalog reader" from diablosport. I'm thinking of going to Pettys garage in NC for a dyno and tune. They work on dodge. I'm going to talk with them before I do this though and let you and others know.

lostviking, I don't know when that product is coming out and when I asked before I purchased my system in April, the guy told me maybe at the end of this year or early next. Also I used two washers to move the the loop/hook down so it engages the locking mechanism on the body. And my hood is flush with the fenders. I do have a 1/4-1/2 inch long scratch on the hood where the charger is rubbing the underside of the hood. So I'm going to use a washer on the hinges and see if that eliminates it. I believe that the charger hits the hood on bumps, because when I close the hood and it locks, it is not pressing on the charger. I can push on the hood and it presses down a little and then it makes contact with the charger. I'll let you know and take some pictures of my setup this week.
 
#24 ·
dd-Did you put a pedal commander on?

Lostviking-you can customize the tunne, but on the throttle I don't know what is wot. I can adjust the throttle by 1's up to 20. So I put it on 5, but didn't feel a change nor was there a change on the data logger. I did get 4.7, without adding anything. I heard the sc takes a little time before you get the full usage out of the tune. I'll see as time passes.
 
#25 ·
I know that Sprintex's tunes don't give you WOT until after 4900RPM I think it was. What I meant was can you read all the fuel and other information on the Sprintex tune. Then create your own using that information, and give WOT when you want it...not when they want it :)

When dd was doing his, before he sold it and bought the Scat Pack, I also mentioned that a little NOS would wake the bottom end up. Just a thought.
 
#28 ·
Thanks DD. Yea I'm not a huge fan of touch the throttle and I'm hitting the rear end of the vehicle in front of me in heavy traffic. But everyone says pedal commander is amazing. Once I get a good tune, I may get the PC.

But I'm either going to PA "ost" company or Petty's garage in western NC. For a better tune and dyno.
 
#29 ·
ddeennis, you know the hose that goes from the engine to the s/c in the back on the passenger side? This hose replaced the stock-solid-hose/pipe, so the hose collapses when I hit the gas. Is this normal?
 
#32 ·
The hose that hooks up to the intake track? I think I know which one you your talking about. I did not use the one in the kit, if it's the one I'm thinking, if it's the pcv tube, I used my catch can hose, the hose should not collapse. Is it the hose that goes just behind the valve cover?


Maybe post a pic if you can so there is no confusion.
 
#31 ·
#33 ·
You can see the difference in the tube and hose. When I hit the gas the hose collapses and then releases. I wonder if my stock tube would fit. Here is a pic.
 

Attachments

#34 ·
Thanks for the picture, so yes this is the pcv hose, you might be able to use the stock one or at least use the hard plastic line with a different hose on the end to reach the intake runner eliminating most of the sprintex rubber hose.


Goes to show from the throttle body forward it pays to open that up, in theory that hose should not collapse, that hose getting sucked shut, you need more air in thru the throttle body and cold air intake track and filter. Engine is still demanding more air and it's trying to take it from the pcv, the down side the pcv valve is a controlled vacuum leak of dirty crank case fumes and the air demand of the supercharger is maxing out the throttle body and cai system and searching for more air.

Now if this is doing it from idle in park and just winging the gas pedal and you see the hose collapse then it because the throttle blade is shutting first and the blower is still pulling air pretty hard and then trying to take a large gulp from the pcv valve hose making it collapse then it's not to much to worry about, your creating a condition for the hose to collapse.

if your running wide open throttle down the road and this is collapsing then you have throttle body and cai restrictions.

But never the less, visually it's not good to see, so trying to use the hard line and the smallest amount of rubber hose should take care of the issue.

I don't know, in what conditions you are seeing the hose collapse so I thought I would explain why in two scenarios above.

Hope this helps
 
#37 ·
I was also thinking...maybe with the tube always collapsed, that led to the unit having an oil seal failure.. what do you think? Maybe the pressure built up and it was too much for the unit. Just a thought and next week I'm going to call sprintex and ask them about the tube collapsing and see if its normal. I'm not going to put that bug in their ear about my theory, but I'll ask them in a round about way.
 
#38 ·
Oil seal failure? Explain for me.

Was that sprintex tube collapse even at JUST idle?




Just a quick over view how the pcv system works since we are on the subject.

Normal driving or idle, vacuum is high behind the throttle body, so crankcase fumes are always being pulled thru that tube and the pcv valve. On the other side (driver side) that tube is an inlet tube whether you have a open filter on the end of it or if it's connected to the filter box, either way, air comes in to replace what is being sucked out of the crankcase and into the intake track thru the pcv valve during high vacuum time.

Now during wide open throttle the pcv valve stops working because your no longer in a high vacuum state, typically your vacuum will fall near .75 to 1.5" hg during wot- this number varies depending on how much a restricted inlet system you have.

Pause...

Just a side note, any one of you can test your vacuum reading at wide open throttle to see if you have a restricted intake track or even if you think your throttle body is to small or any part is holding you back. Your typical high output hot rod engine with really free flowing inlet with no restrictions will see about .5"hg at wide open throttle, typical hot street engine is around 1.0" hg at wide open throttle and many of the stock set ups with no mods will see around 1.0 to maybe even 2.0"hg of vacuum at wide open throttle, if your seeing above .5" of vacuum at wot you can make some improvements to allow the engine to breath easier. This is a very simple check to see if better filters flow better, if tb's are really letting the engine breath more and so forth, have a really good vacuum gauge that can ready 1/2 or 1/4" of vacuum and record your number, make a change and see if that number comes down, as your vacuum number falls the engine is taking in more air. Very simple, very easy. no computer needed to tell you it's taking in more air.

Moving on

The driver side hose starts to have vacuum because of the air demand of the engine, unless you just have a filter on the end of it, then really no air is being pulled out of the crank case then, at this point you have pressure building up inside the crankcase and valve covers and this is where engine could start pushing oil past seals and gaskets, so it's a good idea to run a complete pcv system so the engine is always creating a vacuum thru one hose or the other.

You can't get away fully from the crankcase build up of pressure, it's always there, the pcv system does what it can to take some away, but it's main purpose is to draw out moisture and contaminants out of the crankcase.

Of course you can get crankcase vacuum kits that will create upwards of 15" of vacuum or more which creates upwards of 40-60 or more hp depending how hot your engine set up is. Another words creating vacuum in the crankcase makes easy power.

Thought I would just share this information, I don't know how much others know, so I just share.
 
#39 ·
On may 14 after a few hours of driving I looked under my hood and saw a bunch of oil and it was from the ssupercharger The metal unit sits on a plastic base which bolts to the lower cast iron plate of the supercharger. Anyway, the leak came from the drivers side of the sc on the side in the rear. It looked like it came from under the metal unit which was connected to the plastic bottom of the sc. I checked the oil level and it didn't read anything. So I sent it to sprintex, 9 days later they told me it was a main oil seal failure. So they put a new metal unit on it and sent it back to me. The newly designed unit. So my theory was the pressure was too much and the area when the oil appeared to come from must have been the weakest link.

And yes, the breather hose that sprintex supplied was closed/collapsed when it was idling. I observed the hose as the gas pedal was pressed to about 3-4rpms and the hose did not open up. It seemed to compress more... So that's y I put the stock tube back on because that one won't collapse. Hope you understand this all.
 
#40 ·
Hey dd, is this normal? Is this how your car handled? The first 6 seconds are with the throttle fully pressed, but in park so it only goes to 4K. The last of the video is two quick hard presses of the gas and the tube does open. So I assume it will open on wot. But it the collapsed tube correct in the operation of the supercharger and car in the video?

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6lq9hg
 
#41 ·
Text Font Line


A Guy
 
#44 ·
I watched the video, thats not normal, I wonder if you have an issue with the pcv valve, maybe take it out an see if it's working, what do you have your other pcv hose hooked to. It would be the drivers side hose- it's not plugged off or anything is it.

technically you can run with no pcv valve, you can run open breathers on the drivers side and passenger side with the pcv valve removed. The down fall of doing this you get moisture build up in the crankcase and causes milky water vapor and oil mix in some locations specially if the engine doesn't see full operating temps at times on short drives. So technically you could plug off the hose that goes to the supercharger inlet- the one that collapses.

So just because the hose collapse that should not cause any issue to the supercharger itself. The main seal oil leak must have been a fluke when it was put together. So I can't see how the main oil seal leak and the pcv valve hose is related when you could just plug off the hose and run no pcv system and just run open breathers.

Now with that being said, I wouldn't plug off the hose. I did do a trial and error on my set up running two open breathers on the back side of the engine, I took out the pcv valve and gutted it so it was just an open passage and connected an open breather to it and did the same to the driver side- built a small adapter and mounted an open breather on it. So the crankcase just vented naturally to the atmosphere. Then just put a big vacuum cap on the intake manifold where your collapsing hose was connected to. I ran this for a few weeks and noticed a milky oil water mix on my oil cap.

So i reversed the process and put in a new pcv valve, hooked up my catch can, and hooked the driver side hose up to the air cleaner box - I was running a hellcat filter system so I drilled a hole in the hellcat lid and connected the drivers side pcv hose to it. everything was back to normal.

Maybe you have a defective pcv valve that is not working properly,worth a check. keep us posted.
 
#45 ·
Well now you have me worried I screwed up the hoses. The drivers side of the supercharger has the brake booster hose connected to the back, that is the one I had to reverse the check valve which I did and followed the pictures and instructions. Correct?
 
#46 ·
On the drivers side rear, just behind the valve cover you should have port for the pcv system, this port has a hose hooked up to it that runs forward to the air cleaner assy. this hose should have nothing connected to it- it should be a straight shot from the air cleaner lid to the back of the engine. do you have this hooked up this way? if so this is correct.


The brake booster is connected to the supercharger with the check valve flipped, I would imagine if you had it hooked up wrong you would have noticed the brakes being really stiff. so you probably have that right.
 
#47 ·
The hose on the drivers side was never touched/disconnected other then removing it from the air box lid and then attaching it again after s/c install. So that side is good-I'm at work so I can't check now, but if memory serves me, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary on the drivers side.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top