Funny...I just stumbled across a thread comparing a MP to a Stock Eaton....LMAO.

I just realized why my challenge to Robs rediculous statement about KB touched a nerve.

Honestly, I had no idea we had a blower war thread already
going.


Hey Cal.....I am not surprised you like the Chief reference. It probably reminds you of your favorite group..."The Village people".... .


Rocks

 

you made it farther with yours than mine....Hope they do you right like they did me.

 

Bob sorry to hear about this. Good luck and you will be tearing up the streets/strip again real soon!


BTW I have a KB and have 12,000 driving miles on it with wellover 100 1/8 miles and 1/4 track passes. Mine is fine

 

Wow! Way to drag a serious thread into the toilet guys. Save this ***** for the playground.

 

Rocks,
I'm like the # 3 poster on this site, (or something) and if there is ONE THING I have NEVER DONE through the years, it NOT ONCE talk bad about a product "or" personally attack ANY VENDOR, PRODUCT OR MEMBER. Nor have I EVER disputed the massive Power a KB makes.

HOWEVER
Watching the failures being swept under the rug IS NOT good for the Community, "although some seem to think it is".
Your right, NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW how many failures there are, AND THAT MY FRIENDS IS A SHAME.
I commended Bob for posting this, if others did maybe there wouldnt be a problem

BTW I know of 2 other failures now, (excluding Bobs) and I also have 2 friends that need to send theirs back again, both will now be on their 3rd unit. I can only base my statments on the trucks I know, and as it stands right now, each and everyone I happen to personally know has had a problem. IMO that is MAJOR, not extremely low.

Yes that post you talk about did hit a nerve, because it was an extremly informative post simply comparing the sizes, measurements, and design of a Eaton and Mag, and then everyone attacked the Mag. I took it personally and I shouldnt have : o (

I also said I was sorry for starting schitt, and really didn't want to open this can of worms again, but you insisted on a reply so here it is.

I was wrong for going against my own rules and attacking a Product, and for that I am truly sorry, however I still believe people need to be honest here and not sweep a problem under the rug. These failures were happening years ago in 03, and their still happening now in 05. Yet no one talks about it, maybe if they did the problem would go away.


Again I want to apoligize TO EVERYONE
I never attacked a product before, and I hope I never do again.
The KB is DEF King of the S/C, and DEF on EVERY top running L out there, there is no disputing it's power and cababilities, my only complaint has always been them not fixing a known issue. Schitt I prob would have bought one "if" they did.

 

Guys- If I'm getting a KB, what could I do different to ensure this of not happening?

Or is this a design flaw?

How difficult is the install?

Thanks

 

There is no design flaw in the Kenne Bell. Rob is blowing this WAY out of shape. There are thousands of Kenne Bells out there with no problems. The occasional one that acts up is always taken care of by Kenne Bell.

If you want a blower that will eventually put you in the tens(after you build up your motor...LOL), you have two choices. Kenne Bell...or the Whipple...which seems to be missing in action.

If you want a blower that will get you some mid to high elevens...MP will work great for you. Although they have five known failures out of a couple hundred sold. They too take care of you if there is a problem.


I love how you get on here and proclaim you will never bash another product Rob, while at the same time you talk ***** about KB.

It reminds me of another post you made trashing ZEX while at the same time claiming your not trashing Zex....LOL. Meanwhile you spent gawd knows how many woohoo's, telling everyone how great your Zex kit was. But that was before race tested gave you the hook up.

I'll give you this, you didn't use to trash others products. What's changed Rob?


Rocks

 

Thank you

Here's a question.

What if you wish to not do a built motor, but want a very reliable/conservative yet powerful combo for daily driving? For example, let's say 14-15 psi and 14* of timing (or could you go more because the KB has lower discharge temps)?

Is the KB still a good choice? Is it safer than doing a borderline tune on an Eaton/4lb?

 

For the H.P. you seem to be looking for, the Magnum Powers would probably be plenty of blower. It's cheaper too....LOL. Either the M.P. or The KB will make more boost safer than the stock eaton.

Rocks

 

On the timing question....I am a little hesitant to make recommendations that could screw up another mans truck...or woman...LOL.

I would follow your tuners advice on timing.

 

so after all these threads.....did you get your problem covered under warranty?

 

We would like the opportunity to post a response. If the moderators feel it is advertising and want to remove it, so be it, but that is not our intent. We merely want to show our views on the Lightning supercharger failures. This post will be in two parts - because Jim Bell has a lot to say!

Part I - LIGHTNING SUPERCHARGER HISTORY

How some aftermarket "Cool Air Kits" can damage your supercharger and engine.

We have a saying at Kenne Bell, "It's not the problems that matter. Everyone has some. It's what you do about them that is really important."

Here's an update on our Lightning supercharger problems. As far as I know, Kenne Bell has talked to everyone with a problem, but there appears to be a lack of information on the web, so here goes. First of all, I know exactly how many Kenne Bell Lightning superchargers have failed and I know why. I personally inspect every one of them. And we have nothing to hide, nor do we try to keep information from our existing or future customers. Just call, FAX or E-mail us. However, a remote post may not come to our attention.

Kenne Bell now has thousands of perfectly happy Twin Screw customers with a very small percentage of failures. We sell a lot of superchargers. Of course there has been some failures, but all superchargers have been warrantied - except for those that were run without oil, overfilled or ingested a throttle body screw. Even then, we sell the parts or new supercharger at our cost as it isn't our policy to profit on a customer oversight or misfortune. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a bearing, seal, drive rotor or drive component failure on our Lightning supercharger. 1-1/2 years ago there were a few inlet plate sealing problems where we used too little sealant. That has been long since rectified. One other minor issue was the slight clatter at idle which is caused by a cam or slightly rough idling engine. It's not a problem with a smooth running engine, but we have made a change to tighten up the clearance with a new "green" coupler which has been in use for about a year (see "Supercharger Gear Noise" www.kennebell.net/techinfo/ford-techinfo/Lightning54only/GearNoise.pdf). A quick check is to slightly increase the engine rpm. If the noise goes away, it's a rough idling engine. Now, I'm sure there is someone who may disagree and feels his supercharger failed because of another reason, but that's the reason we're doing this post - to inform and provide good general information that can hopefully help everyone.

Kenne Bell began selling the Lightning supercharger in late '02 after some serious track testing and abuse on Johnny Lightning's truck and our dyno. Somewhere in the original production, there was an issue with supercharger case distortion from over torquing when installing the kit. We solved the problem with an o-ring case and other changes. All customers who had problems were taken care of. Some time later, another problem surfaced when our customers started really turning up the boost AND installing those ridiculous aftermarket "hot air" underhood replacement filter systems - the ones falsely and wrongly advertised as "cool air kits. There are many who profit from these things, but until someone can show me hot air is better than cold air, I'll stay with my opinion. " We experienced some more rotor to case contact. We offer a detailed explanation of the "hot air" kit problem on our website( see WARNING: "Hot Air" Underhood Inlet Kits http://www.kennebell.net/techinfo/ge...AirWARNING.pdf) and now send out caution flyers with all new kits and repairs. With this condition, the rotors expand, contact the case, become noisy and/or even seize. This occurs almost always on the discharge side of our supercharger where the rotors are hottest. Example: 16 psi of boost may see 260 deg discharge temp with 100 deg inlet temp. But raise the inlet temp to 160 deg and the outlet temp is 320 deg and the rotors expand proportionally. The reason the rotors touch first on the discharge side is that is where the air is the hottest. Remember, the air is being progressively heated as it is compressed and travels through the rotor inlet to outlet.

...end Part I.

 

Part II - LIGHTNING SUPERCHARGER HISTORY

Yes, we had some customers who experienced 2 failures. One customer had 3 failures before we finally figured it out. On the third unit, we insisted he install a JPL kit which at least has a separate cool air hose that runs to a bumper scoop. No more problems. Underhood temperatures can reach 200 deg or 130 deg hotter than the outside temp. Think carefully about this. Would you knowingly block off your radiator to improve aerodynamics, remove the engine fan to save HP and drain half the engine coolant to reduce weight? Now the engine runs at 300 deg vs. 180 deg, the pistons expand and score the cylinders or seize - just like any excessively hot supercharger rotors. So, why hurt your supercharger rotors with hot underhood radiator, engine and header air? Don't expect the suppliers of these "hot air" underhood kits to warranty your supercharger. None of them has yet to call me and offer help, so I'm suggesting you lose the "hot air" concept with any supercharger. By the way, does anyone believe this hot air doesn't also create potential problems for your engine's pistons, rings, valves, plugs etc.?

And I don't buy the "shrouded" filter or "it'll get enough cool air when the truck is moving" theories. Yes, there's some cool air that enters the engine compartment, but it is not enough. Even at the end of a quarter mile run, we do the worst thing imaginable to a positive displacement supercharger - we get off the gas and shut the throttle body thereby sealing off the cooler fresher inlet air supply forcing the supercharger to re-circulate it's own hot compressed air through the bypass valve. Now the supercharger unfortunately sees only it's own hot air bypassed into an intake system sealed off from any cooler air that can mix with the bypassed. Remember guys, the throttle body is shut off - hopefully - at the end of a 1/4 mile run, on decel etc.

Anyone, including the manufacturers and suppliers of these "hot air' kits, might ask Ford and other OEM engineers why they have designed expensive inlet systems with sealed canisters that ingest cool outside air from the fenderwell, hood etc. They've been doing it for 20 years, yet we still see them replaced by these "hot air" systems.

Occasionally, all of us - manufacturers, suppliers, resellers, competitors and customers need to take a deep breath, set aside the rhetoric, pull together and decide if a particular concept is good or bad. One of the posts said Kenne Bell should tell us what they recommend or don't recommend. At Kenne Bell, we believe "hot air" products are a bad addition to our supercharger kits and has contributed significantly to our failure rate.

Jim Bell

 

Very informative post. So you RECOMMEND a JLP kit? If not then what? Certainly not the stock airbox although it keeps the hot air out it does not flow enough in higher boost applications....

 

Whats the word on what caused bobs failure? I know he was running a cool air kit so just wondering what casued his.