which one whipple/magna/kennebell

ndspeed · October 21, 2002

can someone help. I have never had a supercharger and i am thinking of putting one on my 2000 silverado 5.3l and cant figure out which one to get. I hear alot about all three but which one really is the best and makes the most power. I hear that the magnacharger i real good but dont know to many people that have them. i here the kennebell is just as good as whipple but there has to be some pro's and con's of the two and i haven't heard much else about kennebell. whipple seams to have a detenation problem is that true or not and that kennebell doesn't. which one is the easiest to install myself. i have been told by some that whipple is easy and hard. whipple says no modifying the engine or anything like that but what anout all the bending and drilling and the whole lot of wiring for the computer. does kennebell have all of that drilling, cutting and bending i know that dont have the wiring stuff. basically i just want to know which one should i get that want destroy my truck and be a waste of money. i am thinking about the kennebell what do you think.

chevy4x4trucks · October 22, 2002

GandolphXX has a whipple on his avalanche, you may want to ask him. Other than that I'm not too sure who else has a supercharger here.

Welcome to the forum

bstewart · October 31, 2002

I have a Whipple on my 454 Suburban and love it. The install wasn't that bad. You will love the difference in performance. I will be installing a polished Whipple on my H2 next week. I will keep you posted.

dcairns · November 4, 2002

Both the Whipple and Kenne Bell use a Screw compressor, the Magna uses a roots type. Everything I have heard, is that the screw is more efficient and heats the air less. Whipple has a good reputation but does involve adding on an extra fuel management computer (lots of wire splicing) and extra fuel injectors on the front of the intake manifold (a manifold not designed for fuel). Kenne Bell uses the existing computer and replaces the stock injectors with slightly larger injectors. Kenne Bell's superchargers for GM engines are relatively new, but have been doing Fords for sometime and seem to enjoy a good reputation there.

I am going to be buying a supercharger for my Silverado SS (when I get it), and I am undecided between the Whipple and Kenne Bell. They both have their merits, I just don't know which will be better.

superZ71 · November 18, 2002

I have Vortech V2 Supercharged system on my 00 silverado z71. She has a Superchip combo with an aftermarket cold air intake, 7psi boost system. No intercooler yet but will be on soon. I am also upgrading with a superAFC so I can tune the fuel to air properly with drastic temp changes to alleviate detonation thru all RPM ranges. I still average 17 mph as long as I keep my foot out of the accelerator. If you are looking for a sweet system......this is it....why not..it has the Vortech name on it. The difference in the roots type charger and the centrifical base chargers is that the roots type will produce HP faster than the centrifical and it takes HP to turn it. The ford L has the roots type charger. As far as your question about detonation...if the engine is dyno tuned properly with the chip...you should be fine. You will need to do any mods ahead of time before you tune it.