Ok. Just got my ATI Procharger. Started opening the BIG box at 5:00 pm. Man, there's a lot of crap in there! Very impressive. Will post as I go thru the process.

Also got the Baumann Engineering shift kit at the same time. Ok.

This is going to be a lot of fun!

F

 

Good Luck Frank, you are about to learn about "The Curse." The curse is that once you have driven a supercharged vehicle, You will always have to have a supercharged vehicle!

 

Hey Frank Remember to call me if you have any questions on the kit. You should not have any issues, but if you do just shout. I want to make sure the install is as painless as possible.

 

Will do, Skid -
As a matter of fact I do have a question: do I need to go buy a special fan removal tool, as per the installation manual? Can I get buy with my good ole' socket set? I may call you this morning before I set off for my errands.

F

 

It's on! I'm still trying to get used to it! MANY thanks to Crash! and Skid for the very responsive help with the few "gotcha's" ATI's directions are not perfect for the install. NO griping, just how it is. Crash and Skid have helped with the subtilties. For instance, there is a washer you have to install on the blower bracket to realign the pulley's so the belt won't ride off. If you don't do it, then the belt rolls off. Also, the adjustment mechanism isn't easy to figure out either. It's a good design, but ATI could provide more wording. Fortuneatley I had crash and skid to help me here.

Next steps....
more power

 

Crash!/Skid (Derek/Mark): I want to appologise for being out of touch with you guys over the last few weeks. I've been busy with all kinds of crap.

Anyway, I'm taking a breather from the world of crap right now.

First I want to thank both of you very much for helping me with this blower. I really like the outcome!

Second, I will be in Dallas on Saturday 12-29 and I am available during the morning and up to about lunch time if you guys want to hook up and check out my install. Your choice. Not really neccessary or anything and I have no complaints or anything. I just thought it might be nice.

Third, how can I make more power...????

 

Oh Boy! Grab on to your hats! Here comes the "more power thing." LOL

 

I will be in Vegas on the 29th (NewYears baby!!!). Oh well I would have loved to get together for lunch. As far as the help you are very welcome. It is what we are here for.

More power...
Do the Intake mod...Tranny Mod...Superchip...injectors...etc. Let me know what you want and we can go from there.

 

No prob on lunch. Hve fun up there.

When you say intake mod, are you refering to the S&B airfilter or something else?

 

Howdy Ya'll. Here's some interesting test data from my drive up to my parents and back over Christmas:

From Waco to Irving I measured 103.2 miles and used 7.203 USGal of gasoline which calculates to 14.327 m/g. I drove approx 80 mph on cruise control almost the whole stretch. Very moderate headwind, no slow people in fast lane to have to pass. I was very impressed.

Driving around suburban Irving, TX I measured 38.5 miles and consumed 3.555 USgal of gasoline. Calculates to 10.82 m/g. This was lots of stop and go with a healthy amount of mid-throttle "gittin' onit' just to make sure i wasn't dreaming that I had a cool supercharged f150 .

Here's the interesting part: From Oakcliff all the way back down to Round Rock Texas there was a respectable and notice able cross wind. Also, there were lots of old people and others sitting in the fast lane smoking pot and having strokes and pretty much laying there having a 68 mph picknick. Heavy traffic, lots of idiots. I chose to not drive nice, but rather drive fairly aggressively with lots of third gear kickdown passing etc. every chance I could i would kick it up to 90 - 95 mph. No cruise control, no mr. nice guy. OK. I drove 165.3 miles and consumed 12.062 USgal of gasolline. This calculates to 13.704 mpg. I think this is incredibly favorable, especially considering the speed and amount of gas pedal i was using.

It seams that this milage is about 30% better than before the blower on highway driving and maybe about 1 mpg less on city driving.

I'm very impressed. Plus, my dad thought the supercharger was pretty cool too. Merry Christmas!

 

So what's the deal with this surge valve. It sounds like it's open even under WOT until about 3k rpms. I disconnected the vaccum line going to it. The vehicle seemd to be much more lively under part throttle in the 2k - 3k range, although it surged real bad when tranny shifts or i let up on throttle. Is there a way to make the spring in the surge valve more weak so that under part throttle in the 2k to 3k range I have a more pleasant part throttle response?

 

Frankinaustin, take off the surge valve and test it. Apply vacuum to the vacuum hose and see if it opens and closes. Spray some JB 80 or WD 40 on the valve inside. You might have a faulty surge valve. I know for a fact that the ATI surge valves and fmu's always mess up. Hope that helps.

 

There is no fault with the ATI fmu. To this date none have failed. Most of the issue is it is adjustable and the folks who have no idea what they are doing start jacking with it and mess it up. This is why most go with the Vortech one because you cannot adjust it. As far as the Blow off valve contact me or Crash and we can help.

 

SKID,
My buddies and I have had 4 FMU's fail on us. Two on D-1 stangs and two on late model Camaros. We know how to properly adjust the fmu's. We have been dealing with ATI's since 95. When one fails, we opt for the CARTECH FMU (#20005) instead of getting the fmu rebuild kit. The Cartech FMU's are superb.

Here's are 2 pics of teh 20005 Cartech fmu:
Pic 1 Pic 2

 

I took the surge valve off and lubed it real good and then slight adjusted the butterfly valve so it only opens about 80 degrees, per a suggestion from a guy at ATI. I can now say the vehicle drives more pleasantly. Under part throttle below 3k rpms, i can actually hear the intake air ckt change: bypass -v- no bypass. And I can make it happen based on how i press the pedal. It's much more lively driving in part throttle under 3k rpms. I am much more happy!

It's still the same bad2bone WOT experience, which is awesome and which also makes the girl yell at me (a desired outcome!)

Yesterday I think I got a tad bit of detonation way up high like 4800 rpms. Less than 1/5 of a second. Hardly noticable. Blown WOT detonation is a very different sound than detonation from needing to down shift in a manual tranny.

Just to summarize, nothing was broken, I was just wanting to do a little tweaking.

In the near future, I'd like to run a 12 PSI pulley with the appropriate air and fuel components (MAF/42#, fuel press regulator/fmu, and a properly tunned chip for this set up). I'd like to be able to stay with 93 octane. Yall can get my interest if ya'll can get a "kit" all fixed up, tested, and tunned.

The baumann is still sitting in the chair in my bedroom. The install manual reminded me of the old testament, lot of hell fire brimstone wrath if i don't do it right...