Hi there,

So with all of what I've read on these forums, tuners talk and the little experience that I now have compared to most of you guys that are experienced, I came to this conclusion and I wanted to know you guys point of view, feel free to criticize it and develop!

Say for any vehicle, Mustang, F150 you don't have the budget or plans to upgrade the engine with forged internals (which cost 8K+ todo) and you want to put a blower on it, you know you will be limited by the crank HP at the engine, and let's say that it is 500HP for every motor.

My question is then, what is the point of having an expensive blower when you can have a smaller blower for cheaper and compensate for the lack of power with pulleys that will provide more boost and eventually get at the same level as the Whipple?

For example a Whipple 2.3L cost $6000 + $1000 setup + say $300 in pulleys and you get 12 PSI (limit of the engine) TOTAL: $7300
vs
a small blower such as the Roush 1.85L for $3500 + $1000 setup + say $500 for bigger or smaller pulleys to make more boost to reach the 500HP and all in all it should be $5000

So to me the Whipple is not a viable option if you don't plan to build your engine, even when adding pulley with a lot more boost this will always be cheaper than the price difference between a Whipple and and a smaller one..

My experience:
I have a Roush blower (Eaton M112) and torque @ 500RWHP, can't push higher and from what I've seen I've spent a lot less money than the Whipple guys.

Thoughts?

 

We'll point of 2.3 Whipple over eaton is air charge temps, the eaton 500 whp will be a scorcher as the Whipple want even be making any heat

Robert

 

Not that simple. For one most of us never paid over $5000 for our Whipples and even now they can be had for $5300. I paid $3400 for mine. Quite a few picked them up for $3300 from JDM 2 years ago. Also just until recently the Roush was priced just. $200 less them the Whipple. Now they are selling off whats on the shelf.

You can't make the rwhp on a stock motor with the Roush that you can with the Whipple. 450-500rwhp is safe with the Whipple. Not the case with the Roush. The Roush takes to much power to turn and blows a lot more heat. In fact I think the most power we have seen anybody lay down with the Roush was 420rwhp and it popped the motor.

The Roush typically produces 380rwhp at 6-7 psi. The Whipple produces just over 400rwhp at 6-6.5psi. That increase becomes greater the higher psi you go. Then theres the 70 more degrees of heat the Roush produces at just 8psi which grows to 80 degrees higher then the Whipple at 11psi.

And 3rd the limits on the stock motor are based more on fuel burn then psi. 6-6.5lbs of fuel per minute is the limit. As i brought up in a thread the other day. Fuel burn and VE are the true indicators of what the engine is enduring. The Roush charged trucks are drinking 6lbs of fuel per minute at 10psi and make an average of 420rwhp. A little more if you added a Snake bite kit, snout cooling mod, and port it $$$$. Mine drank 6.1lbs of fuel at 12.2psi and made 475rwhp. And don't forget with hotter blower temps comes reduced timing. Seen a couple of trucks pop motors with Roush blowers at 420rwhp. Haven't seen any Whipple charged motors go up yet. But I suspect mine will be next. Gonna do some data logging next time I race and may pulley for 14psi.

Then you have comparisons of power bands. The Roush blower makes huge gains from idle to around 4500rpm. The Whipple or Saleen make the gains from idle to redline.

Last but not least, dyno's don't tell the whole story. Dyno's very from place to place and from day to day. Track times are a more valuable resource for power comparisons.

Bottom line, the Roush blower is a nice kit if you plan to stay stock and aren't looking for more then 420-440rwhp and a mid 13 second truck. If you want more on the stock motor go with a Saleen or Whipple. 475-500rwhp and a 12 second truck.

 

The stock power output on a na 5.4 is not enough for a heavy truck.

I added a roush intercooled sc on my truck, for everyday driving the power is needed for this truck. I don't street race, or race at the track, so its plenty for me. I often think about adding pulleys, headers etc., but for me it would be a waste of money. it has plenty of power to smoke the tires as it is.

The wipple, makes more power, but again its on a street truck and is limited by traction.

 

Roush has a lot of good things over Whipple. IAT is relocated, dual belt setup, comes with bigger injectors and some other little odds and ends. Whipple is for guys that want big power, and Roush are for guys that want power and a more complete kit from the start.