Supercharger installed on my 3.5

[Charger - SXT]

My 3.5 SXT supercharger experience and why I did it.

First to cover the part where the HEMI people will ask why didn’t I trade my car in and get a HEMI instead of spending the money on the supercharger.

I tried on several occasions to buy a less optioned HEMI but my car is to upside down in the loan. With the depreciation of the car and the balance still owed I was upside down – believe it or not - $10,000.00 on a 7 year loan I have already been paying on for 2 years. Now I have only 5 years left till it is paid off with a great interest rate of 6% at $560.00 a month.

If I was to get the lowest priced HEMI that I was trying to get approved for, the car along was $30,000.00 plus tax and license, add on the $10,000.00 that had to come from somewhere for the difference in my loan and I was looking at a purchase price of around $45,000.00 with tax and license included for the HEMI, just to have the pleasure of a HEMI. Also consider the I would be loosing the money for the mods I already did on my SXT, -wheels would be switched to the HEMI- but the headers, B&G flash, lowering springs, dual exhaust and other items that cost me money would be lost, this means the HEMI costs me even more money.

Loan details * If I was able to get the loan I would have a new 7 year loan just to be able to afford the car. This means my payment would have been around $700.00 a month for the HEMI and I would now have 7 years to pay of the HEMI instead of 5 years to finish paying off my SXT. This means I would be paying 2 additional years to pay off a the new loan. Also consider the fact that the HEMI is stripped, no dual power heated seats, no sun roof and other items that are in my SXT.

On to the math * If you compare only 5 years of the new loan at $700.00 a month including interest to finance the $45,000.00 HEMI that would mean I would be paying $8,400.00 additional over my SXT loan just for the 5 year period. Add on 2 extra years because the new loan is for 7 years and that adds an additional $16,800.00 on top of the $8,400.00 amount. The total of “additional” cost to own a HEMI instead keeping my SXT would be $25,200.00, which is a lot of money to me.

Ouch, a lot of extra money just to say I own a HEMI, for that price you can buy a new low option SXT.

So if you look at the numbers it makes since to have a car paid off in 5 years instead of 7 with more options and mods already on the car that I would not have to be redo on the new car. So to fix the power issue, I installed a supercharger for a cost of $3,000.00 and don’t have to worry about the other $22,200 I will need to come up with over the next 7 years.

One of the nice parts of having a supercharger is when other ask, “do you have a HEMI”. Now I just pop open the hood and say “nope, its supercharged”. And when I am at a car club event I can open my hood with dignity, after all, HEMI engines look pretty much the same, but having a supercharger under the hood will set you apart and chances are you will be the only one with one in a 500 mile radius, if not the region to have one.

On to the installation.

[miplank]

[ekaz]

I am in no way going to check that math.
Congrats on the supercharger. Are there any reliability issues with them on the V6's? I know a few a HEMI's have turned into paperweights with them.
If the V6's have the same issues, did you figure in the possible cost of a new engine?

[DaILLestWun]

Congrats, but you spent time justifying not getting a Hemi and pretty much left out the info on the SC. Give us some info. Please tell me you are planning on dynoing the thing...

[UK CHRYSLER 300C]

errrrr,dont they do superchargers for hemis?I thought so!as far as all that bumf about $10,000 here and $10,000 lost there,you only live once,I'm glad I bought a hemi(and a diablo),a HEMI is full blown 8 pack,the merc engine with a charger is a 6 pack on steroids and we all know what happens with steroids.POP,enter the Grim Reaper

[Charger - SXT]

I am in no way going to check that math.

I wasn't sure how much to write but i have read so much negative comments from other threads regarding trading up, so i figure i can cover any remarks about that if i put in enough info.

Congrats on the supercharger. Are there any reliability issues with them on the V6's? I know a few a HEMI's have turned into paperweights with them.
If the V6's have the same issues, did you figure in the possible cost of a new engine?

From what i know the HEMI has a runner that goes half way into the intake and from what i have read they think this may be the issue, of course i am only going by what the other threads have mentioned.

The 3.5 and 2.7 plenum does not have this so the air/fuel should not have any issues, "I hope".



I was trying to attach pictures but no go, so trying using photo bucket hope it works,

Looks like it works heres my car, on to the pics

[blackmagnum06]

awesome charger! im liking the color scheme silver with black!!

any pics of the supercharger?

[Charger - SXT]

On to the installation.

I purchased the kit from “Mopar Super Center”.

[Charger - SXT]

More pics













I picked up a 4” neoprene elbow and aluminum straight piece to connect to the
air filter that was supplied for the blower inlet. With this set up the filter does not sit up near the hood and now sits in a cooler air area with more surface space around it. You will also see the hose on the left connects to the outlet of the by-pass valve, and the hose on the right goes to a PCV valve set-up that I made that does not allow pressurized air to enter push past the stock PCV valve. The PVC valve may be a one way valve but did not seem to fully keep air from going back into the motor. The set-up I am doing allows for this air not to enter the motor and the air from the PCV valve can still escape through a “T” and another one way valve to the compressor inlet.

[Charger - SXT]

The final product





How does it run * I have about 1200 trouble free miles on set-up now. I am replacing the boost switch with one that activates at 1 pound of boost instead of 2 pounds from the valve that comes with the kit. I am also replacing the by-pass valve I installed with one that closes at 6 inches of vacuum instead of 2. The purpose of the valve is to keep pressurized air from building between the blower and the throttle body when coasting since it has no place to go. At highway speeds the blower is spooling enough to cause pressure and this allows the pressure to escape. With the new by-pass valve pressure will start to build earlier and I will still have the advantage of the by pass effect.

I notice that under light throttle and around 2 rpms there is positive pressure being fed into the intake, even thought the gauge may still show vacuum I can feel the power difference going up hills and accelerating.

Once boost hits the car starts to pull, and about 4500 the power band and plenum opens up and the car really pulls hard and keeps on pulling till the trans shifts.

I am in a car club and the president of the club drove my car and then let me drive his HEMI. This supercharger does not make the car feel like a HEMI because the boost does not start to take effect till around 3000 rpms. It does add a great deal after that. The torque on the HEMI down low just cant be matched since there is no boost lower than 3000 rpms with a 5 pound boost set-up.

I am getting the programmer in February and then will go to the dyno and fine tune the set-up and get power figures then.

[miplank]

looking good so far!

[UK CHRYSLER 300C]

how about some numbers,should be impressive

[blackmagnum06]

nice write up! now post some videos of drive-bys i want to hear it

[formerice]

Hats off to you! Your gonna have a very unique car. Don't listen to the naysayers. One suggestion : talk to Mat Snow at > www.snowperformance.net . He will set you up with a cooler to keep your supercharged motor living. Trust me, I drove a supercharged Toyota Tacoma V6 over 150,000 miles with an overdrive pulley 12+ pounds of boost. 3.4 litre in a 4x4 extra cab ran mid 14 's. Stock it was 205 hp and 3850 lbs. SRT hardware has a similar set up on his blown hemi.

[BaconFlavoredChunkies]

Good write-up man. I'm in the same boat financially -- a Dodge dealer offered about $11,500 on a trade-in for my maggie SXT... unfortunately I owe just under $18k...

That supercharger ain't cheap, but given the situation I'm considering it. Can't wait to see what kinda number you pull on the dyno. BTW, total cost of the kit was about $3500, right? Any guesses at what a professional install would run pricewise?