How low can I go...

[Paragongx]

with a supercharger pulley on a stock 2002 Bonneville SSEi? The wife's bonnie is going in the shop (read garage) for some midlife TLC. It's been a relatively problem free car for its duration with us but it's definately lost some zip. So in addition to some suspension work, general tune up, manifold gasket replacement and some other stuff I figured I'd re-build the supercharger since it will be out of the car. I ordered up quite a few parts from ZZPerformance today but I'm still on the fence on the supercharger pulley. Figured since I gotta pull the pulley anyways I might want to downsize a bit. I checked over ZZP's site but I'm still not sure what my best choice would be for my otherwise stock engine. Or am I best just putting the stock one back on. The car won't likely ever see the track, I don't even necessarily need a modular pulley but it looks like the press on ones start at 3.5" is that too small for bone stock? Also what would a smaller pulley do to the gas mileage? Any help or opinions are appreciated. If anybody has any real world gas mileage numbers that would help too. Thanks all

[00Beast]

Go with an MPS. Press on pulleys are a pain in the ass. If you're not going to add an intake or a colder thermostat, 3.6" is the smallest you should go, and you still need to scan for KR.

[Paragongx]

Thanks for the info, I've got the 180 thermostat for it but I'll probably just leave the stock airbox with the K&N in it. Any recomendations which is the better choice in the modular pulley arena? I looked at the ones on the ZZP site and I've also checked over the ones on 3800 performance. Are there other options I should be considering? Does the quickswap pulley marked on 3800performance have the ability to run an 8 rib belt? From looking around the site it looks like I'll be OK with the stock belt on a drop to 3.6"? Thanks

[sonoma_zr2]

I wouldn't mess with the 180 if you aren't going to get a tune or pcm swap to adjust for it.

www.intense-racing.com will have a 8-rib mps pulley.

I run a 3.4 for the street and still get 30+. pulley size only matters for mileage if your hear whine (foot is on the floor)

honestly, I would stay with the stock pulley, mildly port the sc (clean the inlet casting), and gut the stock box and call it a day.

[Paragongx]

A PCM tune isn't in the works for this go around but it might be sometime in the future...just gotta figure out how to explain to the wife she can't have the car for a week or so while it's out...and try and convince her it's routine maintenance I've seen mention in a couple of posts regarding gutting the airbox. What exactly am I gutting out of it? Have any pictures / writeups been done on this? What positives / negatives are there to doing that? Good to hear on the mileage, would be kind of hard to explain a drop in gas mileage to the wife just so I could get her a little extra oomph.

[00Beast]

You could buy a core from Intense, have the PCM sent to you, then send yours back, or buy one from a Junkyard and send that off.

Gutting the airbox basically involves cutting the front and inside panels out (you'll know what I mean when you see it, so the engine can pull as much air as possible through the filter. The stock setup has all the air coming through two 2x2 or so holes. Fairly restrictive.

Positives: More power, better sound, better mileage

Negatives:

[sonoma_zr2]

gutting the airbox involves removing baffles, they are what block out the supercharger "noise". The noise (whine) is allowed to escape and it also allows for more airflow into the engine. the more air flow through the engine, the more power it makes. combustion engines are basically air pumps. when the noise is allowed to escape, your wife will call you frantically on the phone and ask what is wrong with her car. then you will have to explain what you did. she may not like it, or maybe she will.

you may be better off with just a tune-up, leaving everything alone. while the sc is off, a mild port is beneficial. you can always change the pulley later (doesn't have to come off the engine to do it)

[Paragongx]

I wish my wife was that in tune with the noises her car makes. Would make my life easier. Nothing like getting in, firing it up, hearing an unusual racket, asking her how long it's been doing that and/or making that noise and getting the deer in the headlights look along with the "I dunno, a while". And most of the time she drives with her headphones on, which I'm constantly on her about.

[00Beast]

Driving with headphones in? That's not illegal in the slightest....

Get her an iPod dock or something. Has she not heard the factory Monsoon system in that car? I like that way better than headphones.

I gutted my stock box on my 03 and had it in for about 3 weeks before I got an FWI, and I liked it, but I LOVE my FWI, lol.