VF SS LS3 Manual - weakest links?

[ZX14RVFSS]

I’m Recently the lucky owner of a series 2 VF SS that has considerable money thrown at it.
3” stainless, crow cam, upgraded springs, stringer pushrods, new heads, etc a dyno readout says 360 rear wheel - don’t know if accurate, doesn’t matter.

Thinking at some time, I’d like to bolt on a SC, as despite being on the wrong side of the “fun age”(but not dead yet), I’ve never really owned a performance car. I’ve always raced motorcycles and my current Zx14 runs 9.2 on the 1/4.

Just wondering though - before I start researching superchargers and options - I was trying to understand the cars weak points. At present the car feels solid and harmonious but after SC….will the clutch stand up? What about gearbox ?? Can the oem diff stand 600kw ?
I’m going to upgrade brakes as a matter of course, and I’m pretty happy with suspension / height given our goat track roads.
I suppose I want to know what I’m in for dollar wise before committing to a $15k supercharger spend- ? As from my motorcycle endeavours, these things are never straight forward lol.
Cheers Si.

 

[Smitty]

all depends....
buy a much upgraded muscle car (that you didn't upgrade) ...you can bet it has not been babied!
abuse is certainly possible... how much? who knows. do you have a full history on the car?

these things will take a fair bit to break things (but watch the box input shaft, they snap easy) otherwise ...?
600kw will kill a standard diff.. you can be certain it will. Get an LSA 'large'diff in there with the matching
halfshafts and uprights

and a GTS clutch kit. A standard clutch will live with 400fwkw but not much more...


ps.. make sure you upgrade the injectors too

 

[Skylarking]

IIRC (and that’s not a certainty) the factory supercharged car has better engine internals, a bigger diff with diff oil cooler and also a stronger 6L90E transmission with different ratios and a trans oil cooler or a bigger clutch and different ratios in the manual which also has oil cooler.

Supposedly the factory setup also has better engine cooling (not sure if different radiator or not) and associated ductwork and bigger brakes. Probably why the car sold for a higher price.

You can upgrade any car till your heart is content but things will break along the way unless you take a leaf from the factory setup and what failures occur on the strip (should that tickle your fancy). Probably your biggest problem may be with insurance companies as some won’t insures supercharged mods (as I saw when getting quotes a while ago … and no my car isn’t supercharged but the quote system still popped up that info)

 

[ZX14RVFSS]

all depends....
buy a much upgraded muscle car (that you didn't upgrade) ...you can bet it has not been babied!
abuse is certainly possible... how much? who knows. do you have a full history on the car?

these things will take a fair bit to break things (but watch the box input shaft, they snap easy) otherwise ...?
600kw will kill a standard diff.. you can be certain it will. Get an LSA 'large'diff in there with the matching
halfshafts and uprights

and a GTS clutch kit. A standard clutch will live with 400fwkw but not much more...


ps.. make sure you upgrade the injectors too

She’s been babies…only 40k kms, last set of rears fitted 2019, full and over serviced history, etc…

The SC kit includes injectors, fuel pumps, etc - but yeah, thought diff was going to be a question…

 

[ZX14RVFSS]

IIRC (and that’s not a certainty) the factory supercharged car has better engine internals, a bigger diff with diff oil cooler and also a stronger 6L90E transmission with different ratios and a trans oil cooler or a bigger clutch and different ratios in the manual which also has oil cooler.

Supposedly the factory setup also has better engine cooling (not sure if different radiator or not) and associated ductwork and bigger brakes. Probably why the car sold for a higher price.

You can upgrade any car till your heart is content but things will break along the way unless you take a leaf from the factory setup and what failures occur on the strip (should that tickle your fancy). Probably your biggest problem may be with insurance companies as some won’t insures supercharged mods (as I saw when getting quotes a while ago … and no my car isn’t supercharged but the quote system still popped up that info)

I can accept the little things along the way, it is what it is and pay to play etc - the builder tells me the ls3 is over engineered to buggery and rods would be fine to 800kw - I have no idea…
it’s the larger driveline items that add to the cost that worries me, ie if the gearbox / diff / drive shaft would all need upgrading as well, then I think I’d just leave as is, as thats another $12 - $15k ish on top, and I’m not that set on a SC. If it happens it does.

Interesting point re insurance and you may have cancelled my future aspirations or at least diverted them…. I’m not driving an uninsured car. I need to make some calls…
Thanks.

 

[losh1971]

The factory LSD is the weakest point of any SS diff. Get that ZF clutch pack slipping and it will soon pack it in and you will lunch the spider gears. Fit a decent Trutrac or KAAZ and it will be much better.

 

[losh1971]

600rwkw is a pretty ambitious target. Hope you have more than $15k.

 

[ZX14RVFSS]

600rwkw is a pretty ambitious target. Hope you have more than $15k.

Yes, just realised what I wrote - not going to happen lol.

 

[RevNev]

We've got a VE SS ute kicking around with a modified 6 litre engine and Magnuson supercharger on E85 and makes 750kw at the wheels. That ended up with an AP triple plate clutch, 6 speed Holinger gearbox with a Modena straight cut gearset from a V8 Supercar and a 9" full spool diff conversion and custom tailshaft for the driveline to cope with the insane amount of power.

Prior to switching to E85 with conservative boost by memory made around 500rwkw, it was spitting out T56 and TR6060 gearboxes and blowing diffs with a bit of a caning on sticky tyres.

There's a lot of people claiming strong supercharged horsepower with stock (non- LSA) drivelines and no breakages, but it's unknown how hard their cars are driven to ultimately test the stock driveline durability.

 

[losh1971]

We've got a VE SS ute kicking around with a modified 6 litre engine and Magnuson supercharger on E85 and makes 750kw at the wheels. That ended up with an AP triple plate clutch, 6 speed Holinger gearbox with a Modena straight cut gearset from a V8 Supercar and a 9" full spool diff conversion and custom tailshaft for the driveline to cope with the insane amount of power.

Prior to switching to E85 with conservative boost by memory made around 500rwkw, it was spitting out T56 and TR6060 gearboxes and blowing diffs with a bit of a caning on sticky tyres.

There's a lot of people claiming strong supercharged horsepower with stock (non- LSA) drivelines and no breakages, but it's unknown how hard their cars are driven to ultimately test the stock driveline durability.

Yep, and a few decent boot fulls from a standing start with 600kw+ would soon shred the rubber couplings pretty quick.