Supercharged Trailblazer 4200 I6

[bruhaba]

I fired my supercharged traillazer up this weekend. There is light at the end of the tunnel! I started this project in January 2009 with the idea of using an Eaton M112 off a mustang cobra on the inline 6 in my then daily driver 2006 trailblazer. I'll try to quickly summarize the project. I love this engine and think it has great potential. I started with a blower in hand and quickly realized I would need a mockup engine to be able to build and mock all this up with a spare engine in my garage. Once I got the engine, I decided where to put the blower so it would fit by hanging it from my engine hoist near the engine and making measurements between the mock up and the engine bay of the daily driven trailblazer while fixing it in place with anything from tie downs, duck tape to zip ties. Decided on position and then I built .....piece by piece. Here is a list of things I can think of without too much thought about the last 4 years, I'm sure there is lots missing:

custom intake - machined a flange by hand on my small milling machine...must have taken 100 hours, wrapped intake runners out of sheet metal and welded them to the odd oval shape of the port, welded them to the flange and plenum...blah blah...

custom throttle body inlet to mate the round throttle body to the oval supercharger inlet and bend at the ~70 degrees needed to clear the hood, this was formed from sheet metal and merged with a 3" pipe to the throttle body flange.


Fuel rail - made a custom fuel rail using fuel rail extrusion and bungs I machined on my lathe
built and ran new fuel system lines
blower plenum - a bunch of machining as well as sheet metal work to collect the outlet of the blower to a 3" pipe
blower - machined off the bottom intercooler flange of the blower so it would sit flat on my plenum
upgraded fuel pump to aeromotive stealth
added a return line to the tank
added an adjustable fuel pressure regulator
relocated the battery to behind the driver rear wheel along the frame
a bunch of intake piping and welding
4" cone filter, slot maf placed in 4" pipe with honeycomb in front of it, slot maf placed post intercooler for iat
3" aluminum intercooler/intake plumbing
crank pulley - pinned to crank, machined a fixture with drill bushing so the crank could be drilled and pinned to the additional supercharger pulley. I put a lot of time into making this a stout joint

bracketry for supercharger, idler, tensioner - all custom add ons machined from aluminum, figuring these out and making them look decent probably took hundreds of hours...literally

thermostat housing modified to be straight without the bend
built an intercooler reservoir for the liquid to air intercooler - mocked up out of foamboard and hot glue then duplicated out of sheet aluminum
bracketry for the liquid to air intercooler mounting to hold it floating above the air filter
lots of modification of the mustang cobra heat exchanger - relocated inlet/outlet, built and welded custom brackets
wiring and ecu relocation/extension of some wires/sensors, made custom injector harness
custom built catch can and rerouted crankcase ventilation system for supercharger
derale dual electric cooling fans and dakota digital fan controller
added wideband bung just prior to cat

Here is the somewhat finished project. I have to work a little on the blower alignment before I drive it, the belt wasn't too happy but she idled like a champ with the 4" maf and 60lb/hr injectors.

 

[jimmyjam]

wow. kudos to seeing this to fruition feel free to post more pics of the one off goodies you so painstakingly engineered

 

[TollKeeper]

I just hate seeing that Ford emblem under the hood of a GM.. Its like sacrilegious or something..


Good looking beast thou..

 

[dmanns67]

wow. kudos to seeing this to fruition feel free to post more pics of the one off goodies you so painstakingly engineered

This thread will need some pics inside and out! Looks good!

 

[Ryda55555]

Wow.... Definitely deserves a hope everything turns out well.
Would love to see vids of this truck running/on the road

 

[Phantom]

Def need more pics/videos of this. would love to see dyno numbers as well. Great job

Saw all the pics on photobucket. Very impressed!

 

[scorpio1]

Other than agreeing with the Ford under the hood of a chevy comment....

I love it. So much good work in that album of yours, very much respect for breaking down that wall of a S/C on an I6. Its not done very often if at all that I can find.

Ive been tossing around the idea of an M62 for a cobalt going into my TB's engine bay myself using it with a front mount Air to air intercooler. This makes that idea even more tempting.

And I agree, we need videos and a dyno as proof of the potential for this engine, if anything to push other designers/ companies to make these products available on the regular.

 

[bruhaba]

I just hate seeing that Ford emblem under the hood of a GM.. Its like sacrilegious or something..


Good looking beast thou..

I thought about that when I was milling the flange off the blower, but I couldn't come up with a way to mill/grind it off and have it look decent and not have to repaint it. I'll design up a cover at some point and engrave and polish it with something... other than Ford SVT!

Thanks for all the kudos. 4 years of hard work! time doesn't come easy with two small kids that take priority over garage and shop goofing. Major love out to my wife for supporting me through this. I didn't have any kids when I started this! I still can't believe I hacked up our nicest car for this.


Regarding the M62, you would have to spin it like 20,000 rpm just to make something like 8lbs boost. I calculated an m90 was sufficient for 8lbs, but not much more. I plan on running 8 now but would like to continue building this platform down the road with forged internals so I went m112. It is a really really tight fit though...probably what I'm most proud of thus far is packaging all this stuff and being able to shut the hood. If you ever get hold of one of these blowers, you will see they are huge.

I'll get some more pics/vids and maybe a detailed story when I get some time after this thing is running. I'm sure I'll be sorting out some bugs a little while.

 

[ieatglue]

More pics!!

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Congrats and Well Done!

 

[ConeKilrAutoX]

Congrats! this is a f*cking awesome achievement and build. cant wait to see more pics/vids!

 

[scorpio1]

Bruhaba- I see what your saying on over-spinning the M62, that's why I'd use the smallest pulley I could get on the snout, get that PSI level up there more. That or go crazy and use the TVS version of the cobalt M62, its got all the headroom I'd need. Oh boy, that's some dollar signs though, lol. And that's why we talk about this stuff on here before we try it. HAHA

 

[Boog2006]

Nice...videos please!

 

[bruhaba]

patience guys! I'll take some video when it' cruising around and sorted out. Never posted any video before though, hope it's easy because time isn't free these days!

 

[oh05ext]

damn that's impressive. congrats

 

[TollKeeper]

What about the SC from a Mazda Millennia? Thinking of a smaller SC with a overdrive pulley..

 

[bruhaba]

What about the SC from a Mazda Millennia? Thinking of a smaller SC with a overdrive pulley..

I'll answer you, but let's not hijack the thread.

Looks like a millenia was a 2.3L engine that made 210 hp. I think that supercharger MIGHT have some trouble supporting your goal with a 4.2L engine that makes almost 300 hp naturally aspirated? Get two of them and then you might have something interesting!

If you guys are serious about taking on a project, I strongly suggest reading Corky Bell's book Supercharged. He shows you how to do all the calculations to figure this stuff out... amongst a lot of other really valuable stuff. He boils the thermodynamics I learned in school down to kids math so that anyone can attack a cool project. Have fun!

 

[gmcman]

Impressive work Bru! Definitely looking forward to some vids. That looks like a very well thought out, clean install.

I love it. So much good work in that album of yours, very much respect for breaking down that wall of a S/C on an I6. Its not done very often if at all that I can find.

I agree, I really like the fact he did a S/C. What kills me is Whipple made a S/C for the 4.2 then axed the project, AFTER they installed it into an envoy. Even though there were reliability issues with the drivetrain that's something they can have put onto the customer.

Back on track.....that's a freakin, nice setup....even though it has a Ford emblem.

 

[scorpio1]

When I started doing my TB performance upgrade research I saw that they axed the project and I was like, "Wow they don't like money." Some companies never understand, if you really wanna go fast or make more power, you are willing to pay and break stuff. So why not put up a disclaimer saying hey this may grenade your engine, and sell it anyways... ... but I digress....

Bruhaba- The thing that really makes this S/C project so cool is the intercooler setup you chose, it makes the whole thing so stealth, no-one will see the whooping coming at the strip.

 

[bruhaba]

This is after the third round of tuning the MAF transfer function at idle. Seems the idle region low flow was pretty close on this one because it was happy from a cold start with the ecm's memory cleared. I got a gmail account and youtube account just so I could post videos for you all

[video=youtube;WUFjNSsI_EU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WUFjNSsI_EU[/video]

 

[Porkins]

This is after the third round of tuning the MAF transfer function at idle. Seems the idle region low flow was pretty close on this one because it was happy from a cold start with the ecm's memory cleared. I got a gmail account and youtube account just so I could post videos for you all

[video=youtube;WUFjNSsI_EU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WUFjNSsI_EU[/video]

View attachment 28113

 

[ConeKilrAutoX]

This is after the third round of tuning the MAF transfer function at idle. Seems the idle region low flow was pretty close on this one because it was happy from a cold start with the ecm's memory cleared. I got a gmail account and youtube account just so I could post videos for you all

[video=youtube;WUFjNSsI_EU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WUFjNSsI_EU[/video]

CONGRATULATIONS ! thats wicked :wootwoot:

 

[TexazReece]

Freaking Awesome I cant wait to see track time etc definite cool build

 

[eutechnyx]

If only they made a "ready to go" kit for this. even if it were upper 4k range it would be an awesome saving well spent. Would love to do something like that while keeping things reliable. Good job!

 

[bruhaba]

Took it out for it's maiden voyage tonight...things went pretty well. Got to hear a little bit of blower whine! Lots of tuning to do but it still ran fairly well. Have yet to install boost gauge and my cooling fan controller is giving me a headache. Other than that, It's essentially complete for the short term and ready for tuning and some fun!

 

[Playsinsnow]

It's unfortunate that GM doesn't have something more suitable for I6 use.

I'm real curious to see some numbers too.
As far as the "Ford SVT" goes, until it is removed-personally I'd just tell people that I found it on a car down the road. Keep driving you'll see one broken down eventually...

 

[Short Bus]

Where's the Kleenex

 

[bruhaba]

Got it tuned enough for me to lay into the throttle and first reaction at WOT...I was highly disappointed. Turns out I sized the pulley's wrong! It's only making about 2.5 psi of boost. A good starting point for tuning but serious damper on the fun factor I was expecting. Time to figure out a smaller pulley! the 2.5psi is enough to make it never downshift on the highway. Takes zero throttle to maintain speed and the converter stays locked...it's pretty nice.

For anyone doing forced induction...This motor does not like much timing under any boost. I keep pulling and pulling from what I had thought was conservative!

As a reference, I scaled the airflow and calculated horsepower increase from the additional airflow the engine was using over my stock logs...calculates to a tad under a 40 hp gain. Can't wait to multiply that by 3 to 4!

 

[Ryda55555]

Conekilrautox is gunna be jealousssssssss
Gtta get a video of it driving! I wanna hear what the engine sounds like with WOT

 

[NinjuhhNutz]

tissue? pssshhhhh I think I need a towel hahahaha
looks AND sounds great bro...good job!!!

 

[Pittdawg]

Once you get all the kinks worked out you should consider producing this as a kit. I'm sure that would be time consuming but I'd imagine you could turn a decent profit if you have the extra time.

 

[jimmyjam]

the amount of labor needed to hand build what the OP has done would not be affordable.......

 

[ConeKilrAutoX]

the amount of labor needed to hand build what the OP has done would not be affordable.......

ditto haha

 

[Playsinsnow]

the amount of labor needed to hand build what the OP has done would not be affordable.......

ditto haha

Bruhaba/ConeKilrAutoX:
On behalf of many others here, I will be hurt if we don't get first dibs in buying your ride. And so sad if it is sold without knowing it was for sale

Keep up the hard work!

 

[bruhaba]

Bruhaba/ConeKilrAutoX:
On behalf of many others here, I will be hurt if we don't get first dibs in buying your ride. And so sad if it is sold without knowing it was for sale

Keep up the hard work!

Thanks, that's a nice complement!

This weekend should be fun, I have a much smaller pulley on the blower now. Should make somewhere in the range of 8 psi boost. I've been travelling for work so haven't had the time to play.

With regards to a "kit". It could probably be done for an M90 blower using the stock intake, similar to what Whipple did years ago. Believe me I would look into building a "kit" like that if there was a market for it. There just aren't enough people willing to drop the coin when it comes down to it. Find a group of 10+ people willing to spend ~4-5g's and I'll put some serious thought and consideration into designing a kit just like Whipple did. Problem with these vehicles is it needs to be a 2006+ to make it capable of being tuned. Finding the 10+ people that have 2006 +TB's that are willing to drop the coin is difficult when it actually comes to putting money on the table. I still have the mock up engine I could build it on. I imagine these are the reasons Whipple dropped it in the first place.

 

[ConeKilrAutoX]

and people that dont have the 2006+ years arent always willing to pin out there old computer to swap to a 2006 p12, convert to MAF, or run the 2006 engine harness :/

 

[Playsinsnow]

... It could probably be done... Problem with these vehicles is it needs to be a 2006+ to make it capable of being tuned. Finding the 10+ people that have 2006 +TB's that are willing to drop the coin is difficult when it actually comes to putting money on the table.

Guess that means I'm out

5grand sounds like a lot. Roll it into a "5year loan" and you're paying less than a hundred a month more for quite the add-on. Worth every penny for those who want it IMHO.

 

[dmanns67]

Guess that means I'm out

5grand sounds like a lot. Roll it into a "5year loan" and you're paying less than a hundred a month more for quite the add-on. Worth every penny for those who want it IMHO.

If I hit up my bank for a 5g loan, they would probably look at me like I am crazy after I told them what it was for. Still totally worth it!

 

[Phantom]

If I hit up my bank for a 5g loan, they would probably look at me like I am crazy after I told them what it was for. Still totally worth it!

Just tell them that the supercharger would ensure that you would repay the loan cause it would be to much fun to drive to have them take it away from you! Lol

 

[gmcman]

With regards to being a 2006+ to make it work, what would make it work on earlier models? Wouldn't the MAP sensor be sufficient along with the O2 sensor? Of course the response may not be as smooth but how would it not work? I believe Whipple used a pre-2006 model for their prototype.