Procharged C7 Installation Instructions
Bolt-On Power: Corvette C7 ProCharger Install. When Chevy designed the C7, their intentions were to evolve the C6 into a vehicle that had performance capabilities that far exceeded the cost of the car. For those who are fortunate enough to take delivery of a C7 this year, the question becomes whether to mod the vehicle or not. [–]WestonPC7 Corvette Z51 S/C Acura Integra jalopy track car 0 points1 point2 points 1 year ago * (0 children). I just installed mine this week with pretty much the same experience. Instructions pretty good overall, but a bit lacking on the reinstall portion. I ended up with two supercharger bolts left over, one. Efficient Air: AlkyControl Install on our ProCharged Project C700. On the other side of the equation are direct-injected engines that are primarily fueled by an engine driven, mechanical pump. There’s currently no affordable solution for a larger mechanical pump for the C7, and changing the injectors or lobes can only do so much.
I procharged my 2015 Stingray!
Only by sheer coincidence. I picked up the car exactly 365 days before first start with the procharger.
Here are a few pictures from my DIY install. But first...
1)Results! 60 mph - 90 mph time 3.2 seconds stock, 2.8 seconds after supercharger. Skip shift removed, 4 cyl mode removed. I requested a 93 octane tune but I don't know if procharger provided that or left it at 91. Plan to dyno tune it soon. Here is a datalog of a 3rd gear 55-105 run. Puts it above magazine tested z06 times and just below 911 Turbo S times and that's starting in 3rd so before 70 mph the car is at a bit of a disavantage. Safe to say the supercharger really starts galloping at ~4000 rpm: 60 to 70 takes 0.97 seconds, 70 to 80 takes 0.90 sec, 80 to 90 takes 1.00 sec, 90 to 100 takes 1.03 sec. datalog!
2) Now for the tough work. Open her up: instructions don't say to remove the hood yet and I don't know why, but thats the first thing I did. just 4 bolts with a 13mm. No need to touch the hood shocks. They don't get in the way.
3) Air intake, hood scoop, small things. no problem.
4) Front bumper. All good until you pull the 2 clips off located to the inside of the headlights. DON'T PULL HARD. Pull up on the bumper just enough to get a screw driver in there and loosen the 2 bolts holding each bracket. Then the bumper just slides up. picture dos
5) Originally i lifted the car by the front section the K-Member then put jack stands on the rear section. This is great for stability and GM's preferred jack points. Problem is.... You can't pry the K-member down if you are using it to hold the car up, took me a while to realize that. Moved the jack stands to the side locations, left them there for the rest of the install, very stable. Also, make sure you have a 3 ft or longer pry bar and lift the K-member by prying up at the sway bar brackets, super easy this way to put the spacers in, did it alone. Make sure you use some thick zipties for the radiator, mine broke 3 times cause they were weak while i moved it around.
6) Balancer bolt. Easy. So easy. I guess people have a hard time because they try an impact or a breaker bar on its own. Its physics guys. Put the car in 6th gear, have someone hold the brakes. Breaker bar with 4 foot pipe on it, took about as much force as torquing a tire lugnut. 1 minute job. Torqued back to 240 by having two people pull on the torque wrench (pipe was too narrow). Oh! Put belt on now and zip tie it like I did, makes it easy to put on later. picture III
7) Woo supercharger on, since the bracket is such a nice fit, you can lean it on the power steering motor and start 1 bolt at a time, did it alone. picture d
8) Intercooler up. Wasn't very hard but definitely good to have two people, need to angle it one side at a time then it sits in the cradle. Or you could use a jack if doing it alone. Note that my leg bent that plastic support down a bit, nbd, made zero difference with the cover on. picture 13
9) Spark plugs to ngk6510. Hardest part of the job by far. Take pictures of each step to make sure you got all the electric stuff right. Scary part. Need to pull fuse box out. Needle nose pliers worked for pulling 7 of the 8 wires with quite a bit of effort. The furthest back on passenger side took several tries for about 30 minutes. I wish i had some curved needle nose, that probably would have worked.
10) I wish i took pictures of the tubing and stuff. The only very hard one was the charge tube from the supercharger to the intercooler (horizontal). I used windex on all the charge tubes to make them slide in easy rather than WD-40, doesn't get your hands slippery and dries quickly after install. Theres no space there due to the coolant lines. The other side was okay. Only use the smaller hose clamps for the 3/8' line or you'll run out for the 1/2' lines. Hose routing was very easy and procharger provided plenty extra 1/2' for you to route it which ever way you want.
11) All bolted up and tuned. First startup. No engine codes. gnarly 10 second video
14) all done. putting trim back on. Hood took 1-2 adjustments to get gaps correct. It still bumped the left side intercooler rubber elbow when closing but just slightly and it does not cause any damage. I was very surprised there were zero rattles, squeaks, air leaks, etc. I did have to retighten the belt twice because I didn't tension it right. Tensioning is relatively easy. About 20 minute job. Just have to remove the throttle body rubber angle. picture ummmmm.... tada!
All in all I am pretty happy. Time wise, 12 hour job for two guys including breaks.
EDIT: This is a P-1SC-1 kit with a 4.25' pulley. Not my exact car but an identical setup: dyno chart
The newest generation of our beloved Corvette comes from GM with an LT1 powerplant rated at 460 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque; very respectable numbers, and for most people that's more than enough to peg the fun meter. But for real gearheads, having the same amount of power as every other C7 pilot just doesn't cut it. They want 'more' and the easiest way to get there is to pump in some extra atmosphere. We're talkin' boost, and one of the biggest players out there when it comes to superchargers is ProCharger. You see, they knew that there would be guys chomping at the bit to make their new C7 faster, so they burned gallons of midnight oil and had a kit ready to go shortly after GM's new Stingray was released on the streets.
Built around their proven P-1SC-1 centrifugal supercharger, ProCharger wanted to make the system as complete and easy to install as possible. To that end, they stuck with their efficient and time-tested air-to-air intercooler and made sure critical factory components, like ABS, wouldn't need to be moved or otherwise tinkered with. A 'tuner kit' in satin starts at $5,300 and the handheld tuner (if you're not going have your car custom dyno tuned) will set you back another $400. We found the kit to be complete with nothing needed besides the tools to get it installed. After road-testing the supercharged C7, we felt the added power was great as it ratcheted up the performance, but still kept the car's street manners. To get the lowdown on the kit, and see how it fits into the Stingray's engine bay, we stopped by ProCharger to check out one getting grafted into a brand-new Stingray.
Required Installation Tools and Supplies
- Open-end wrench set (standard and metric)
- 3/8-inch and 1/2-inch socket sets (standard and metric)
- 3/8-inch hex bit set (standard and metric)
- 7mm and 8mm nut driver
- T15, T25, T30 Torx driver
- Propane torch (for crank bolt)
- Prybar
- 1/2-inch impact gun (for crank bolt)
- 1/2-inch breaker bar (for crank bolt)
- Flat and Phillips screwdrivers
- Plier set
01. First up was removing the air shroud and intake tubing from the factory air cleaner.
02. We then used the supplied T-fitting to modify the PCV hose near the cooling fan. One nice aspect of this kit is that we didn’t have to tap into or mess with any fluid lines.
03. Next up was assembling the main bracket and attaching it to the P-1SC-1 supercharger. A nice feature is that the bracket system can accept virtually every blower they make, from this P-1SC-1 to the massive F-1R or F-2.
04. Part of this process involved installing the oil drain line and filling the supercharger with a bottle (6 ounces) of blower oil that came in the kit. The oil drain line will make servicing the unit much easier.
05. And just like that, the unit was bolted together and ready for transplant into our C7 Corvette. The unit comes standard in polished and there’s a discount if you choose the matte silver finish (seen in background). ProCharger also offers the unit in black for a few bucks more.
06. With the blower assembled, we decided to tackle the system’s intercooler. ProCharger prefers air-to-air intercooling since it’s less complex and easier to install compared to air-to-water units. They also feel it’s more efficient and, with a massive 972 cubic inches of core volume, it’s one of the largest on the market. They offer vertical (what we used) and horizontal intercoolers for the same cost. The horizontal unit mounts parallel to the road surface, and while it’s not quite as efficient at intercooling compared to the vertical unit, it does allow better airflow over the radiator and A/C condenser. For all-out performance, go with the vertical system. If you’re concerned with maximizing cooling and A/C performance opt for the horizontal arrangement.
07. To install the intercooler we first had to carefully remove the C7’s nose. The process is detailed in their instruction manual and is easier than you would guess.
08. We then bolted the intercooler in place, making sure that it wasn’t rubbing on the A/C condenser. At this point we also installed all the intercooling tubing.
Procharged C7 Installation Manual
09. Next, there were additional modifications to the Corvette’s PCV system. In this case, we routed the supplied 5/8-inch rubber hose so it would be neatly hidden under the driver-side cover.
10. With the intercooler installed and the PCV system modified we could then install the P-1SC-1 and bolt it to the LT1 engine. The unit just cleared the ABS module, which is exactly how ProCharger designed it. After all, the ABS module is a pretty critical piece of equipment and not having to mess with it was one of ProCharger’s top priorities when designing the kit.
11. The ProCharger blower crank pulley used an ingenious cam-lock system to keep everything secured and happy. It’s hard to show in pictures, but when installing them it all made sense. All six fasteners received a dab of Loctite 272 thread locker.
12. Installing the crank pulley was one of the tougher aspects of the kit. The Reader’s Digest version is as follows. We loosened the steering rack, the K-member, and sway bar bolts. We then used temporary spacers and a prybar between the frame and K-member to raise things so we could access the front of the factory crank pulley. The blower belt is a dedicated system and doesn’t drive any of the other engine accessories.
13. With the crank pulley installed, we routed the blower belt. To get the belt under tension we used a ½-inch deep-socket to turn the brass collar on the tensioner counterclockwise until the marks lined up as per the instruction manual. We tightened down the pivot bolt (directly below the brass collar) to lock the system in place.
14. The factory MAF unit was removed from the factory inlet tube and installed in the new air tube supplied by ProCharger.
15. The main air inlet tubing was routed down to the intercooler and connected. Things were tight, but everything fit.
16. As far as intake systems go, ProCharger offers two options. For those who want a more factory look, they supply a high-efficiency oval filter that slides right into the GM airbox assembly. Here you can see the cleanable ProCharger filter (left) next to the paper GM version.
17. Here you can see how the modified GM airbox looks fully assembled. This is the system that would be required for a smog test in states like California.
18. For the ultimate in performance, they offer a much larger conical filter. There’s no cost difference between the OEM-style and this air intake system.
19. With all the connections and bolts triple checked, we re-installed the air shroud. The installation took just over 5 hours and was well within the ability of any competent mechanic to pull off. Also, while not required, ProCharger does suggest swapping to cooler heat range spark plugs (NGK 6510).
20. It was then time to use the included Diablo tuner to modify the ECU. The handheld is connected to the car’s OBD-II port (under the steering column) and you would follow the screen prompts to download the “Original Backup” file to the handheld. You would transfer this file to a PC and email it to ProCharger. Within 24 hours a tune for the car should be sent back from ProCharger and you would then transfer it from your PC to the handheld and then to the ECU. Since we were already at ProCharger for this install our turnaround time was much faster.
21. Here, you can see our baseline dyno pull for the C7. Our best pull was a healthy 413 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque to the rear tires.
22. After getting everything up to temperature our best pull with the ProCharger installed was 587 hp and a whopping 508 lb-ft of twist! Bust out the calculator and you’ll find that to be a gain of 174 horsepower (around 200 hp at the crank) and 102 lb-ft on right around 7 psi of boost. The 7 psi target was derived based on average premium pump gas quality and the limiting factors of a stock engine. The system is capable of pumping out additional psi for those that want even more.
23. With the graphs overlaid, you get to see the big picture. Sure, peak power was up, but more importantly power was way up all across the pull. Also, notice how, in naturally aspirated form, that horsepower started falling off just over 6,000 rpm and torque was crashing even earlier. With the supercharger, power was still on the rise at 6,500 (and would continue to rise until limited by the valvetrain). More importantly, the torque from 4,600 rpm on up was nearly flat and hovering around 500 lb-ft. We call that a good time.
An Inside Look
One unique aspect of ProCharger is that they offer their units in two noise levels. There’s a helical design for quieter operation and a standard/spur design for a louder noise level. They were also the first company to offer self-contained oiling for a gear-driven centrifugal supercharger. After assembly, all ProChargers are run to make sure everything is good to go.
According to ProCharger’s Ken Jones, “We were the first in the industry to utilize billet impellers (7075 T-6 aircraft aluminum, starting 20 years ago) and are still the only company to utilize billet for production street/strip impellers.” Billet is stronger than casting and free of flaws that can cause failures. The impellers are machined in-house on their five-axis CNC milling machines. Here, you can see the four stages of a ProCharger P-1SC-1 impeller.