'96 Cobra 10psi P1SC Installed...only seeing 5psi.

[svtruck]

Procharger P1SC install is finished (except for cleaning up some wiring).

Cars idles perfectly, revs smoothly...power comes on nice, no hesitation.

However, it is maxing out at 5psi all way to redline. My compressor is pullied from Procharge to make 10psi.

My first thought is that my belt is slipping. I can twist the (kit supplied Gates belt) at least 90 degrees and push it down at least 1" which I would define as pretty loose. I posted over on Corral and read that there is a steel tensioner from the '99-up Cobras that I should switch to.

My question is (to those with experience) should I pick up a shorter belt as well? If so, how short? Gates or Gatorback? What part number?

Any advice is appreciated. :rockon:

 

[98Rsnake]

what size is your belt? i have a 112 7/8 gates on my s-trim 98. the belt that came with the kit was a 114 and slipped so bad it only made around 5psi. also what size pulley are you running?

 

[svtruck]

Not sure what size belt...I'll have to get under the hood and look for some numbers on it.

My packing list says I have a 3.90" 6-rib pulley.

 

[98Rsnake]

it might say on your packing list what size the belt is. 3.90 sounds a little big, mine came with a 3.60 stock with no intercooler and runs around 10psi with a powerpipe.

 

[AtlanticCobra98]

I have a 3.40 and i only see 6psi with a 3 core intercooler.

 

[caseydp75]

My 3.9" Pulley is for 8#. And an intercooler will lower the boost you actually see at the intake.

 

[Blown Venom]

Check your boost line going to your gauge for any leaks or kinks. My car showed NO boost until I played with the line and it didnt looked kinked or anything. Reads fine now. Its free so just a thought...

 

[svtruck]

Hmmm...that would really suck if they set me up with the incorrect pulley huh?

Packing list doesn't say what length my belt is.

Unfortunately, I didn't measure the pulley before I installed the compressor, that 3.90" size I quoted was off of the kit's packing list and says 10psi "HO" right next to it meaning for the high-ouput kit (these come in 6/8/10psi kits). I know that the P1SC has an aggressive step-up ratio...definitely different than a Vortech so I don't know how comparable they are...but I don't know. I guess I'll have to slip the belt off and measure it.

I just took it for another spin and it still registers only 5psi...I do see 2-3psi under part throttle around 3K which is pretty nice...car revs so much easier now!

EDIT: I also got a check engine light, codes were for a mis-fire on cylinder #4 (why couldn't it be on the driver's side!?) and for "fuel too rich" or something like that. I went with a Lightning 90mm air meter and 42# injectors rather than the ATI supplied FMU...so I know I need a tune. It fouled that crap out of my first set of (stock platinum type) plugs.

Let me ask you guys this too...when Procharger says a kit is a 6 or an 8 or a 10psi kit...does that mean 6/8/10 when it leaves the compressor...then less when it reaches the manifold (albeit colder and denser due to the intercooler)? Or should I really be seeing 10psi in the manifold...and on my boost gauge?

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[svtruck]

My 3.9" Pulley is for 8#. And an intercooler will lower the boost you actually see at the intake.

So your kit is the upgraded "high output" 10psi kit? (going by your signature)

You have (apparently) the same pulley as mine...what psi do you see on your boost gauge?

Car seems to run fine and pulls strong! I just want to make sure everything is how it should be.

 

[Yellow98SVT]

The biggest pulley I have ever seen with any Mustang kit is the 3.80 and that is only for the 05's. The 3.80 was specifically made for the 05. All the non-intercooled Cobra kits come with a 3.60.

 

[svtruck]

Ok, so maybe my paperwork is just wrong. I drove the car to work this morning and it has a slight miss sometimes and breaks up on the top end...still at only 5psi...I think it is trying to foul my plugs, still getting those rich fuel codes. I looked at my belt this morning and is a 114" Gates one. I'm going to slip it off tonight to measure my pulley...I'll see how tight it is then and report back.

 

[-Chip-]

I would be getting the car tuned before I kept busting down on it. Also what kind of plugs are you running with your setup?

 

[svtruck]

I have NGK TR5s I believe...I researching on here for plugs and these were recommended. Yeah, I need to get it tuned...it is overly safe right now (running really rich) but I'd hate to keep fouling plugs. Of course, finding time to take my car somewhere is difficult for me.

 

[svtruck]

Just got off the phone with Jake and Patrick at Lamotta Performance...they said they've seen this problem several times in the past. They said the rich condition is caused by the blow-through setup of the air meter and that I need to convert it to a draw-through using an Anderson power-pipe. Jake said that the owner of SCT tried to tune a Mach-1 with a Procharger at his shop for hours and hours and finally gave up.

They quoted me $1300 to convert it including dyno-tuning. That sounds pretty steep to me. He said that since I have the air meter already that'll knock $150 off so $1150. I asked what all is included and he said in addition to the power pipe, a lot of labor spent fabricating the piping to put the meter and filter in the fender and then dyno-tuning it. He said that their customers who have converted to this setup in the past have had no trouble tuning it after the conversion. He said that is like their "going rate" for this Procharger blow-through to draw-through conversion. They said that you can tune it to run ok with the blow-through setup, but if you move the air meter even slightly it can throw off the tune, it is that sensitive.

So........any advice for me? I simply don't have that kind of extra money...I've already dumped over $4K into this blower/injector/meter setup.

What about this power pipe, can I get one of those and fit my 90mm Lightning air meter and a filter to it myself? I'd have to find something to bridge the gap in the Procharger tubing where the air meter is now. Also, would I have to cut up my fender to fit the two tubes through and into the inner fender?

This sucks...WTF Procharger???

 

[svtruck]

I ordered an Anderson power pipe. Spoke to a friend of mine who runs a metal fab shop, he is going to fabricate what ever is needed to adapt the Lightning air meter and filter on to the end of it...and put a piece of straight pipe in place of the air meter in the Procharger piping after the intercooler.

What a pain in the azz. Nothing ever goes smoothly for me.

I still want to take my belt off and see about measuring my pulley to see what diameter it is though...maybe buy a smaller belt too...

 

[no_slow_svt]

i didnt read all the post but
a 3.90 pulley on a pre 99 cobra will only put out around 6 psi. also might read less psi if you have some mods like exhaust or ported intake.
a 3.90 pulley on a 99 and up will put out around 10psi
they changed the guts of the head unit between those years and thats why there is such a big difference
J

 

[svtruck]

Well that sucks.

I'm looking at my packing list right now and it says at the top "'96-'98 Mustang Cobra Intercooled SC Procharger System". What is strange is it says "3.90" 6-rib pulley (10 psi) Stage II (HO) single shoulder" and is checked off as included...and above that it says "3.90" 6-rib pulley (6 psi) Stage I (Std) single shoulder" and they wrote "NA" in the check off column. However, it says under that line, "use above with cut down impeller"...don't know what that means.

I'm going to call Procharger today to see what they think. It would seem strange that this pre-printed packing list says 3.90" if that was in reality the incorrect diameter pulley for the 10psi "HO" kit. Maybe they changed which headunit they include in the '96-'98 Cobra kits to that '99-up one?

I'll call and (hopefully) get this straightened out today.

 

[caseydp75]

Man I had the same herky-jerky cutting out crap problems with my procharger months ago right after the install. I wound up spending thousands more dollars buying upgrades that were supposed to fix the problem. Have you tried rotating your MAF around a little? I just loosened the hose clamps and rotated it about 10 degrees at a time until I found a sweet spot. It's a PITA, but that 90 degree bend right before the MAF causes turbulence in the air that the MAF has a hard time reading. If you have to fabricate anything, I'd cut the tube between the MAF and the throttle body and splice the MAF in there. At least the air would have a straight shot across it.

I kinda went backwards with my setup. I was running an 8# pulley but the tune was a little too rich and I wasn't seeing 8# at the boost gauge. So I bought the $87 10# pulley and now all is well. (But I still don't see 8 or 10# of boost at the gauge. It runs, so I drive it.)

 

[blk04cobra1]

same thing happened to me, but it turned out to be a faulty bypass valve and was leaking boost under full load...but they dont tell you which way to put the valve on either, one way is draw-through, the other blow-through...do you have a bypass valve on your current power pipe? If so, try switching it around and see if your boost jumps up.

 

[svtruck]

Man I had the same herky-jerky cutting out crap problems with my procharger months ago right after the install. I wound up spending thousands more dollars buying upgrades that were supposed to fix the problem. Have you tried rotating your MAF around a little? I just loosened the hose clamps and rotated it about 10 degrees at a time until I found a sweet spot. It's a PITA, but that 90 degree bend right before the MAF causes turbulence in the air that the MAF has a hard time reading. If you have to fabricate anything, I'd cut the tube between the MAF and the throttle body and splice the MAF in there. At least the air would have a straight shot across it.

I kinda went backwards with my setup. I was running an 8# pulley but the tune was a little too rich and I wasn't seeing 8# at the boost gauge. So I bought the $87 10# pulley and now all is well. (But I still don't see 8 or 10# of boost at the gauge. It runs, so I drive it.)

Thanks for your post...sounds like we're having similar problems. Jake Lamotta said the same thing about the air meter...I know that mine is situated such that the sensor is on the engine side...I think it should probably be spun around so the sensor is on the fender side.

Do you know what diamter your 8# and 10# pulleys are?

My car runs ok, but when I get on it to see what kind of boost it makes (now maxing out at exactly 6psi) I think it is throwing so much fuel at it on the top end it is fouling my plugs because after a blast like that, if I push the clutch in the RPMs fall and it stalls immediately.

My latest theory is that 1) my air meter needs to be spun around 2) my chip is tuned for expecting to see 10psi of boost and is giving the motor appropriate fuel but 3) my compressor is only pushing out 6psi of boost.

I'm going to call Procharger today and I'm hoping they gave me the wrong compressor/pulley - I know that's sad, but I'm to that point of frustration that I just want it to run right.