Bruce

ATI vs KB: We can settle this at Lancaster, which is in your neck of the woods.

Nick


I removed a sentence during the edit

 

Brucescrew,
Your right about the alky injection it works great !! Thanks for all the info you provided. I also agree with you about PD blowers versus centrfigals. However, we seem to be in the minority here. I just cant see how a blower that gives you instantaneous boost is going to be beat off the line. I agree that the ATI will make more power in the long run, but it just cant compete down low. But that's just my two cents, and I'm sure there will be others here that will disagree.


Crash,
Not to interfere, but if your talking about racing him with your truck, lets compare apples to apples. You've invested over $6,000 in your built motor and Brucescrew has a stock block with just a KB blower installed with a factory chip. His is also a 4 wheel drive truck with an auto trans. Obviously his truck is going to outweigh yours by close to a thousand pounds. Now if there's an ATI equipped truck similar in style/weight to Brucescrew's than that would be something to consider.

 

Glad to hear you're leanning toward the KB; in these heavy trucks, the twinscrew is awsome. The drivability is great! Good luck on your purchase. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for the comments RayCee, it's good to hear someone understands a true comparision. How is the W/A system working from Bob Kennedy?

As for you overtaxed, what are you running? I was at Lancaster 4 times this year, where were you? I have had problems with traction on the hot days. Next year will hopefully be better. I'm looking for better tires and maybe traction bars. My best 60' was 1.97 sec. and 9.13 in the 1/8th mile; reaction time on that run was .907 sec. My goal is to get below 9.00 sec. with a 90mm MAF and a custom tuned Autologic chip; the same tuner that did Bone's truck running a KB SC (Bob Kennedy). I like racing at Lancaster, the people are great. I learned alot about bracket racing.

Buy the way, my wife wants me to get rid of the vanity plates: TWINSCRU. I've had more people ask if there is some X-rated meaning behind it. I tell them what it really means and they still don't understand.....why would you screw a truck!

 

One thing, the ATI is about $500 cheaper, and with that money you could get a custom chip burned.

Didn't pilot run a 12.9 with his ATI supercrew?

The ATI with 12psi will give you all the low end you need. Too much will cause tremendous traction problems.

Another positive side to the ATI, you can remove the belt for long trips. Just takes 15 minutes.

 

If the A/F ratio is off, with any blower, you are screwed.

- Do you just want off idle and bottom end power with a decent upper rpm kick?
- Do you want to race people and barely edge them out if at all- not low dollar cars and stock trucks mind you. They are easy prey.

Then PD blower(at least with the available out of box kits)

OR

- Do you want more mid range and top end than a PD has to offer? You will be suprised with the bottom end due to the straight cut impeller and YOU WILL SEE PART THROTTLE BOOST unlike other cent kits.
- Do you want to SPANK on cars when you race?

Then ATI

 

offroadmaniac,

$500.00 cheaper, what are you talking about? From what I've seen they are similarly priced? Still, the custom burned chip is only part of the upgrade; you need the 90mm MAF, 42# injectors, etc. to even begin to match the low end power of the KB.

If 99% of the time you're truck is your daily drive and you're not one of the stupid road racers, then the KB has great drivability; you don't have to put the pedal to the floor every time you want get up and go.

As for looks the KB looks totally OEM - far better than the cents. It looks like a plummer went nuts under the hood on the ATI or a kids science project. Definitely, the ATI don't look nearly as good as the KB.

As for sound, the KB is very quite compared to the ATI when driven normally. Put the KB to the floor and it gets louder, but not nearly as loud as the ATI.

 

The only time the ATI can be considerd loud is at idle and at 1,000 rpm. AT WOT it can barely be heard, even then at only certain rpm. All I here is engine. Same with part throttle positions. In fact to really here it the window needs to be down and the radio off, which I don't listen to loud. The sound has a pitch similar to a jet engine.


On the other hand the KB is like they say whisper quite at idle and under vacuum. Although it can rattle a bit at idle. Some do and some don't. At WOT the KB is much louder and will increase with higher boost. During part throttle applications it can get to be droning if the supplied intake is modified to be less restrictive. Even just removing the white plastic restrictor and can cause this. To me the KB sounded like a howling cat. It was like the Lightning Eaton, just a higher pitch.


Quiter at idle = KB
Quiter under boost = ATI


One WILL NOT need to go WOT with the ATI to have boost. Part throttle applications supply boost. This is one reason why ATI uses a straight cut impeller. Part throttle, third gear at 2,800-3,000 and it supplies approx 4psi. My KB did the same. The only time I was able to get more out of the KB was below the previous stated rpm. Even then it was only 1-2psi more. I don't and have never installed headers, which may cause a boost lose.

 

Brucescrew-
you're right, I thought the KBs were around 4000. I guess the ATI is only 300 cheaper.

As far as looks go, I get compliments every day for the way mine looks. Everytime I pop the hood, ppl start coming over to look at it. They say it's an awesome looking setup. But, I feel looks are totally based on someone's opinion. So, arguing over that is stupid.

 

Let me ask this question - it only takes a yes/no answer. What auto maker is using cents on production vehicles?

If you have the time, why don't you think they use cents? Why are they only in the after market?

 

uhhh, konigsegg uses one, its the fastest car in the world.

Thats all i can think of off hand.

 

Automakers don't use cents due to driveability. Basically a cent is less user friendly for the AVERAGE person. The average person is who automakers model their products to. People need simplicity when driving. Now if you want serious power and you aren't the average person........

Honda changed there 4cyl engines for a similar reason. The older ones, although better in power, needed to be kept in the upper rpms for max power. Basically they had to be raced around. The newer engines are more user friendly and sadl, down on power. Import racers love those B18 engines.

 

Huh? How is a cent less user friendly? I think in terms of power I would say its similar to a turbo, which is on so many cars its ridiculous.

 

The majority of people seldom drive above 3,000 rpm and just idle around. Even when they do go WOT it's usauly in the low rpms and not for very long. That is where a PD shines. There will be more part throttle boost available too, which is also where the average person stays. The same boost level on a cent/turbo will produce more power than it's PD equivalent. So to get their max benifit(cent/turbo) they need to be higher in the rpm, where average Joe isn't.

 

Man this is getting to be the hot topic I see. I just want the truck to rip itself around easily between idle and 4,500 rpm's. I don't wanna get beat too often but I don't expect to go chasing Vettes either. I dunno?

 

SVT,

When people have spent a lot of cash on a kit, they do not like to hear that another kit is "better" than the one they bought! ha! I believe that ALL kits have strong and weak points. To me, NONE of the existing kits are perfect......NONE. Just gotta pick one that best meets your needs......and if you do not like it, sell it and try another one.

Are you feeling a little confused, as too which one to choose?....yeah, join the club. Having researched this to death, experienced the roots and having spoken to about 10 guys that have tried at least two (2) different kinds of kits I can only offer this, with everything else being equal:

Lowend (best to worse)
1. Roots; 2. twinscrew; 3. cent. or turbo (although, it has been reported that some turbos can spool up as fast as a roots and I have wondered how fast can a CHAIN-DRIVEN ATI cent. spool up)

MidRange (best to worse)
1. Turbo; 2. Cent. or twinscrew; 3. Roots

Topend (best to worse)
1. turbo; 2. Cent or twinscrew; 3. Roots

If you get the Kenne Bell, you at least, want a 255 "forced induction" fuel pump and a water to air intercooler. Bell does not make one for the f150 kits. However, I talked to Kennedy's and they said they could make a water to air intercooler for the Kenne Bell kits! You also want the Blowzilla 2.2 unit, NOT the 1.5 unit. If you had a twinscrew 2.2 with an intercooler (and maybe water injection as well) and a higher boost pulley, you should have an awesome set-up. Supposely some of the kit brackets is of low quality and their customer service sucked. However, I do not know if this is true and or if this has changed.

I would also consider, where at in the rpm range, do I want the most power? Do I want only out of the box power? Do I plan on upgrading immediately? ...or down the road? Am I buying new or used? blah blah blah.........GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!