The Game Is On

For some people, too much is not enough. Case in point: Troy's 2009 Dodge Challenger. For most folks, this modern day pony car packs more than enough looks, power, handling and all around coolness to keep them happy. Not this guy. The crew at Marathon Automotive in Traverse City, Michigan have already installed a handling kit, along with a tire and wheel package. Now they're taking it up another notch with a Kenne Bell twin screw supercharger kit. If any questions come to mind as you follow along, please email me at davidbajema@gmail.com

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 Happiness (and horsepower) comes in cardboard boxes. Two of them, in our case. There are a lot of components that make up this kit.

The patient is prepped for surgery. The installation of the intercooler requires removal of the front bumper cover. A few cotton towels are stitched together to protect the paint. Fender covers can now be placed over them to insure that the finish remains unmolested. 

Here's the stock intake manifold. The first step is to remove it, saving the fuel rails but not much else.

KC Klumpp is the technician in charge of the installation. In this shot he is installing the intercooler. This system removes the heat from the air that enters the engine. This is accomplished by running the air that leaves the supercharger through a small radiator located inside of the intake manifold. The heat is absorbed by the radiator, transferred to the coolant (antifreeze) within it, and moved by way of an electric pump to the intercooler. The air flowing through the nose of the car then removes the heat from the intercooler. After the coolant has shed it's heat, it is pumped back up to the intake manifold to start the process all over again. 

 At this point you may be thinking "Why would the air coming into the engine need to be cooled?". Simple physics, that's why. The supercharger compresses the incoming air. Air is a gas (78% nitrogen, 21 % oxygen, 1% various other components). When a gas is compressed, it's temperature increases. In addition to that, even more heat is absorbed from the manifold and the supercharger itself. These components are bolted to the engine,which operates at almost 200 degrees. Remember the cooler the incoming air charge is, the more dense it is. In other words, if the air is cooler, we can pack more of it into the cylinders. Getting more air in there means we can add more fuel. More air + more fuel = more horsepower.  Don't you just love science?

 Here's the intercooler all mounted and ready for hookup of the hoses. The fittings on the driver's side will be connected to the intake manifold and coolant pump. If you're thinking that it looks a lot like a heater core, you're right. Both of them share the same function: transfer the heat from the coolant to the air.

Here is the coolant pump. It's mounted under the driver's side headlight. It is wired to run whenever the engine is running.

An opening is cut in the inner fender splash shield just behind the driver's side headlight. The air inlet tube will be routed through here. The rubber edging is a nice touch.

Now it's time to test fit the supercharger unit to the intake manifold and mount the bypass valve. This controls and limits the boost. Without it, engine damage is certain.

Here's the new intake manifold, mounted and properly torqued down. 

At the rear of the manifold you can see the fittings and hoses that route the coolant to the intercooler. 

The fuel rails are now installed, along with the extra capacity fuel injectors that are supplied with the kit.

Insert Weekend Here

When I arrived at work on Monday morning, it was apparent that Rob and KC had stayed late on Friday and gotten a lot more done of the car.

The supercharger was bolted on, as was the throttle body and air filter. The new pulley configuration was bolted on, too. Pretty impressive, but there's more work to be done.

 Here is a shot of the new pulley setup. Check out the thickness of that brace on the front of the supercharger.

Just to orient you, this is the view looking at the passenger side of the trunk. That's the battery to the left and one of the power distribution boxes to the right of it. The red box is an electronic fuel pump booster, which was included in the kit. It ties in between the fuel pump relay and the pump itself. A boost sensor detects the boost level and takes over control of the fuel pump voltage.

A shot of the boost pressure sensor, under the right side fuel rail.

The round black reservoir to the right is for the intercooler system. It's topped off with a 50/50 mixture of antifreeze and water.

 Included with the kit is a power programmer. The last step of this job is to plug this unit into the OBD2 port under the dash and reprogram the engine controller. A new program with updated fuel and spark curves (along with many other parameter changes) is needed to deal with the jump from naturally aspirated to supercharged status. 

After warming up the engine and purging air from the cooling system, the car was road tested (with restraint; no full throttle pulls), then returned to the shop and allowed to cool down. Fluid levels are rechecked and the system is checked for leaks. I hopped in with Rob and went for a ride. When the tires hooked up and the boost came up, I swear that the whole planet spun backwards for a moment. If you've read about the horsepower gains that superchargers can provide and you think that they are exaggerating, I can tell you that they aren't kidding. The Punisher is now officially the whole package. Killer looks, crushing acceleration and comfort. If you need more than that, maybe you should fly over to Europe to buy your next supercar. I'll take something from Detroit.

At this point, the supercharger installation is complete. Hopefully, I'll hook up with Troy for a photo shoot of The Punisher. If any other upgrades are performed, I will hopefully be able to document them here.