To supercharge or not to supercharge?

[Stinger]

#1800

I’m considering supercharging my 2002 GTS.  After 20 years and over 125,000 miles of driving with 450 hp, I’m ready for more (my current car has 78k on the odo).  Who can either talk me into or out of it?

1. Will it be too loud?  I do not want to make any exhaust mods.  The car came with a Borla when I got it, but the constant drone was annoying, so I swapped it out for stock.  This is my daily driver and I like to hear my music when I’m cruising around at 40 or 50 mph.  That being said, I’m totally fine with it getting loud when I step on it and get to high RPMs.  I just don’t want the drone at idle or in typical rush hour traffic conditions to be significantly louder than stock.  You might ask, “why supercharge if you’re stuck in rush hour traffic?”  The reason is that I still get lots of opportunities to open it up; for example, there is a stoplight right before a freeway ramp where I can go from 0-90 (heh heh).

2. Reliability and Roe vs. Paxton…I’m not looking to break any records.  I’d like to add 150 or 200 hp but keep the boost in a range where I don’t have to worry about reliability, detonation, etc (6-7 lb?).  All street driving, essentially zero track, and I never go above 5500 rpm.  But it appears that Roe is out of business.  Do I shop around for a used Roe or just go Paxton?

3. Gas mileage is not a huge concern; I currently get about 15-16 going back and forth to work.  I don’t mind a slight drop, but I don’t want it to drop to something like 10.

Thanks in advance for your inputs!

[1 of 3 GTS]

#1832

we had a Roe on our 98 RT10 for 15 years, zero issues. plenty of long trips, Detroit, Salt Lake City, Charlotte, FL, etc.  Installer and tune are the key.
Yours being 2002, 5 lb boost is safe, more than that you’ll probably need water/meth, nitrous, etc. Loud depends on exhaust mods, most likely catless or high flow cats. Maybe others will chime in. But, I’d say do it if you want.

[Ben Keethler]

#1864

Agree with the comments from the previous post. I have a new generation ROE kit and have been very happy. 2002 non-forged internals will impact boost level and would definitely include a water/methanol kit. That said if MPG is a significant driver for you, not sure if you want to play with more horsepower. The only way to get more horsepower consumes more fuel. The type of driving (street/highway) and your right foot will determine the MPG. I have a ’99 so do not have the same boost limitations. I never got great mileage before – roughly 11 mpg around town and 13mpg highway. I am not Mario Andretti, but also not Driving Mrs. Daisy. After supercharging (14lbs of boost) 700RWHP, I get about 8 mpg around town and 10 mpg highway. Hard to say how 5 or 7 lbs of boost would impact. Clearly for me mpg was not a concern.

 

[RT Serpent]

#1877

I’ve had my Gen2 RT Roe charged since 2007.  Still runs fine (other than it’s time for a new clutch now.) Tuning is paramount, but the neck snapping power of a roots blower is like nothing else.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by RT Serpent.

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