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Originally Posted by SeattleYates
Then, late in the installation, they discovered that I needed a new head gasket,
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Are you sure they didn't pop the head gasket due to a bad tune (e.g. computer program) while you were away? Superchargers are fun, but they can be your worst nightmare if the tune is not safe, or if the FMU doesn't correctly spike your fuel under boost.
Be sure you run ONLY 93 octane from a reputable gas station, check the blower belt frequently and be sure the FMU, boost retard, knock sensor and ignition controls you may have are all working. If any one of these go bad, you'll be back in the shop for a new head gasket (and hopefully not for a new piston or rod). Invest in a GOOD air/fuel meter that you can monitor from inside the car to be sure you're not leaning out under heavy load/boost. Lean is mean, but with blowers lean = blown gaskets.
I'm glad your happy with it and can afford to spend so much on a 120hp gain...at $141/hp, that about the most expensive mod I've read about in a long time. I'm not a fan of Dinan, and when I read things like this I know why...the blower and brackets run about $5-6K from Vortech. I didn't see an air-to-air intercooler listed in the package; but for $17K they should have installed one.
My back ground is building fast Mustangs, down to 8 second street cars. I have been there down that path with Paxton, Vortech and ATI superchargers, laptop tuning, running up to 160lb/hour injectors, tuning with FAST, etc. None of this supercharging stuff is to be taken lightly. Never trust an "off-the-shelf" computer chip to re-tune the computer for a blower...it should be done via a laptop on a dyno with an 02 meter measuring air/fuel mixture. That is the only way you'll have a safe tune.