Project Dark Horse, Part 2 - Supercharger Install

Here is the new ducting needed to re-route the air through the supercharger.

The main tube will carry the boosted air charge from the outlet of the supercharger to the throat of the throttle body.

The factory airbox was retained and hooked to the inlet of the supercharger. It was mounted to a set of provided brackets installed earlier in the process that will move the box over a few inches toward the passenger side.

With that, the belt was installed and the fan shroud and fan went back in.

Now, the engine is going to need more airflow to feed the supercharger, so a replacement high-performance cotton gauze filter was used.

An extension piece of tube must be installed in the factory intake track because of the relocation of the airbox. Powerdyne does this to keep the air entering the system cool by drawing it from the factory location.

Once the extension tube was in place, the whole assembly was reconnected.

The bypass valve assembly was the last hard part installed. This valve will open in the event the engine sees too much boost to prevent detonation and possible engine failure. When open, this valve re-routes the air back into the air path after the mass airflow sensor, so the ECM won't miscalculate the fuel curve for the already measured air. Neat, huh?

A Diablo Predator Tuner is provided in the kit that will re-flash the ECM with new timing and fuel parameters. All of the stock safety systems will stay intact, like the knock sensor and the head temperature sensor, and all that will be recalibrated is the timing and the fuel. As an added bonus, you can opt to change your shift firmness and remove the speed limiter with the Predator.

We went back to Superior Automotive to have our seat-of-the-pants results validated. Joe Jill, Jr. strapped the truck down and gave it a good flogging. Superior's dyno results show an increase of 60 hp and 37 lb-ft of torque to the truck. This gives the rig the grunt it needs to be a true Sport Truck project.