The whipple is a more effecient design. **in and of it'self**
Put a whipple & a KB on a bench side by side and the whipple will consume less torque and less rpms to match the KB.

What we have to consider is the total environment. That is since nobody around here races a bench.

IMO.. (just like Sal has experienced) a KB when fed properly is keeping up with what demands the 10second guys are expecting. In the real world environment we don't see much of a difference appearantly.

One thing I nearly always see in pump design and evaluation is a "choked" inlet. You can argue one pump against another all day long.. but if your not feeding them properly it's all a flawed comparison to begin with.

Btw.. two small issue's that nobody seems to consider is mass of the rotating componets and crank shaft loads. Trying to accelerate that mass is a load that sucks up torque. Larger pullies and larger rotors consume energy.
As Mr Newtons third law states... "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." If your seeing belt slip up top and/or blower bearing failure. Don't forget the loads on the front mains are very high too. (assuming your not running a caged version)

Rich

 

I long sold my KB but I do remember that the instructions said do not spin past 18,000 rpm for racing(that is a 9inch lower 2.5 upper and 5300 max engine rpm) and do not use an open air filter like most people here use. Do the whipples state this as well?

 

Rich,

You brought up some interesting points but the main one I'm interested in is the quote above. The choked inlet has already started to prove itself on the KB. We will see if the same holds true for the Whipple.

Everybody is probably wondering what I'm talking about so here goes.

One guy dynoed the KB vs Whipple with the C&L intake plenum and adaptor plate on the KB. He had more torque but less HP with the KB.

Ronnie dynoed his KB with the adaptor plate removed using the larger JL intake plenum. The results were a wash at 15#'s of boost.

Vinnie posted, if I remember correctly, that his better numbers with the Whipple did not include the use of the the standard Whipple intake with 9" filter. They actually used a 12" filter and I don't know what kind of MAF intake setup. Correct me if I'm wrong on this one Vinnie.

Now Ronnie is going to turn up the wick on both of these blowers and it will be interesting to see if the Whipple will start to wheeze with the 9" filter. I don't know if there is room to fit the 12" filter with the standard Whipple intake. The 9" filter should be tested anyway because that is the way it comes just as the KB was tested with the standard plenum.

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

 

Easterisland - I believe (if I remember, too) that was a stipulation from KB related only to the warranty. When my first KB seized I was questioned about my boost level and that "over spinning" issue, but the warranty was still honored. Not sure if it has anything to do with actual performance?

D-Day

 

I do not know the exact reason why they say do not spin past 18k rpms but if they say do not spin past 18k and one does it anyway I assume they could "void" the warranty.

 

easter

I wondered the same thing? I don't have the formula handy, but someone on the board told me that my 16lbs boost was over spinning? Go figure, and they (KB) still gave me a brand new charger no questions asked.

Although I will say - I never did find out what went wrong with the first one. Who cares when you get a new one 48 hours later.

Boy do I miss that KB, just might have to go out and get another in addition to JLP plenum.

The Whipple is new and I give them a thumbs up, but is it really worth the extra $800 or so, plus the "holy ****" install time - especially if you are only interested in the street????

D-Day

 

Some people feel $800 would be worth the piece of mind of not having to worry about the blower locking up every time they romp on the truck. Remember, it's the Whipple rotor packs that come OE in factory supercharged cars, not KBs units.

Also, it's not an $800 difference. The Whipple TUNER kit is $800 more, but that comes with a tuning device and some other parts. The base Whipple kit is $3200. And now if you have to add the JLP plenum to the KB to make it perform as good as the Whipple (not that I believe that, but that seems to be what people think in this thread), then that makes the KB with the JLP plenum even more money than the Whipple.

Just FYI. Obviously either one will make boatloads of power for the street, and for the track. Pick your flavor.

 

Are you a Whipple Dealer Sal?

D-Day

 

msrp on the base kit has been increased to 3859. even so if you factor in the kb@3000, a jlp plenum@600, and a good new intake@200 or more, your brand new kenne bell is the cost of a whipple and you still did not receive the new better vac lines, the new plumbing and the cool pulley. also oe doesnt use this whipple blower, they use the lysholm which by my understanding is no longer utilized by whipple due to supply and demand concerns.

 

As of right now, no. But I plan to get setup with them in the near future.

 

I was not aware of a price change. I still have customers telling me they are buying them for $3200.

 

Here's what I do: smoke lots of weed. Then, if you have a good idea, you're a friggin genius. But if you have a bad idea, it's just expected.

Kinda like road racing a farm implement. Keep the expectations low enough and any accomplishment is spectacular.

 

$3630 shipped for me and I believe that is the going rate from the vendors(not MSRP). What you might have found is customers who ordered 6 months ago who got the previous price honored.

Still, $600 more than a KB for all the kit includes is a fine deal in my opinion.

-Mark

 

ya they raised them. the original backorder people from a year ago got them at 3295 which is a good price. they raised them last december.

 

How do you figure. I have no worries at all when I "romp" my KB'd Lightning. I also think quite a bit if not close to all KB failures are helped along by a great thing called installer error!

If I am not mistaken, Whipple makes the rotor packs in house and those in house rotor packs are NOT OE in factory vehicles. Lysholm makes the rotor packs for auto makers. -Mat-