The stock S-trim comes equipped with a 3.6-inch pulley. Since Johnson felt comfortable adding a few pounds of boost, he had Snelgrove swap it for a 3.33-inch pulley. "This should get us to right around 12 pounds of boost," said Johnson. Sure enough, after re-adjusting the tune, he spun the rollers on the dyno and saw a maximum boost output of 12 psi at 8,000 rpm. Power output was up to 696, a gain of 15 rwhp.
At this point, the S-trim is maxed out, according to Johnson. "The blower was out of its ability to move more air," he said. "If we want to make more power, we could go with the T-trim." But then they would have to dial it way back or add octane, according to Johnson. And Bleich wanted to maintain the ability to run on 93-octane fuel.
We haven't pushed it to the limit, but Mr. Bleich will have a long relationship on the street and track with his much-improved Boss. Horsepower output is up by almost 100 percent, and he doesn't have to baby it or run any fancy, expensive fuels--the perfect balance.
8 Snelgrove then installed...
8 Snelgrove then installed the supercharger bracket to the timing cover, pre-routing the belt before installation.
9 Because of the location...
9 Because of the location of the supercharger in relation to the throttle body and throttle position sensor, the throttle body must be clocked 90 degrees. This is achieved using the included adapter.
10 Then the S-trim supercharger...
10 Then the S-trim supercharger bolts to the bracket. This is a self-contained unit and requires special lubricant.
11 Snelgrove then removed...
11 Snelgrove then removed the front fascia and installed the included air-to-air intercooler.
12 Because the piping displaces...
12 Because the piping displaces the stock coolant reservoir, Vortech includes this one for mounting to the right-side strut tower brace.
13 Hood then modified the...
13 Hood then modified the emissions piping to fit.
14 Snelgrove is seen here...
14 Snelgrove is seen here running the air-charge piping to and from the intercooler.
15 He then installed the...
15 He then installed the original mass air meter into the included mass air meter housing.
16 Finally, he attached the...
16 Finally, he attached the inlet pipe to the supercharger. On the dyno, the combination yielded 633 rwhp with a JMS custom tune.
17 Next, it was time for...
17 Next, it was time for bolt-ons. Snelgrove began by removing the entire stock exhaust system--headers back.
18 He then installed American...
18 He then installed American Racing Headers' 17/8-inch long-tube headers.
19a Meanwhile, Hood worked...
19a Meanwhile, Hood worked on the driveshaft swap.
19b He removed the two-piece...
19b He removed the two-piece stock unit in favor on a one-piece aluminum driveshaft from Dynotech.
20 Snelgrove then installed...
20 Snelgrove then installed the off-road H-style mid-pipe, which was included with the kit from ARH.
21 He then installed a Magnaflow...
21 He then installed a Magnaflow after-cat system and attached the two using the stock clamps.
22a Another mod that Bleich...
22a Another mod that Bleich chose was a pair of billet lower control arms from UPR.
22b
23 Back up front, Snelgrove...
23 Back up front, Snelgrove worked on modifying the front fascia to accept the intercooler.
24a After reinstalling the...
24a After reinstalling the fascia, you can see that taking a little extra time for nice, clean cuts makes this Boss look like it's never been touched.
24b
25 Here's the finished product....
25 Here's the finished product. What's really nice about this kit is the stock-like appearance--exactly what Bleich was after.
26 Since we were only making...
26 Since we were only making about 10 pounds of boost, tuner Monty Johnson recommended a pulley change to 3.33-inch.
After the bolt-ons were installed,...
After the bolt-ons were installed, Bleich's Boss laid down 681 rwhp--a 48-rwhp gain! Usually headers and exhaust yield about 30 on a stock car.
Back on the dyno with the...
Back on the dyno with the smaller 3.33-inch pulley and a new tune from Johnson, it made 696 rwhp--a 15hp gain--and still at only 12 pounds of boost. From stock, it now makes 328-rwhp more--nearly double the power of a stock Boss--and on 93-octane pump gas.