Had whipple install supercharger on 496 mag 5/03 40hrs later motor locked up 10/03 whipple to busy to r/r motor have gt perf. remove engine,and whipple picks up engine from gt. 6mo. later engine complete. whipple invoces me for 9800.00 dollars. motor upgraded with forged internals larger 3.3 blower. original cast crank reused.cam and rockers upgraded.heads ported.seems a bit steep to me. looking for advice.
Did they give you an analysis of what went wrong, with evidence? If it burned a piston or melted a valve it was the blower's fault. You need to get full documntation from them during the tear down as well as invoices for he new parts. For that price they better have put a new blower on it!
sounds like you got a better engine,
better internals, bigger 3.3 blower == after market custom engine for 9800.00. If the parts are good and the blower was bigger and new and this included labor maybe not so bad.
But what caused the original engine to lock up??
Racer
I think dustin said bad piston or possible rod failure not sure. just think 40hrs was a bit premature.If I had know going into this I would have left engine stock, and looked into a 502 based motor,with forged internals.
Well,
I was happy with the Whipple on my 496 MAG HO right up to the point that I sold it and built a Whippled 565.
Dustin and the whole group at Whipple are very "Stand-Up" and I trust what they say. I think most everyone here will agree that Whipple tries very hard to do the right thing, sometimes at there expense, but you can't please everyone all of the time.
I had 140 hours on my 496 when I sold it. It took some time to dial it in, but I was happy with the performance when I sold it.
I do know what you feel like......Once you leave stock, it's hard not to look back........
But 600+HP feels nice.....huh.......
I don't know both sides of the story, but if Dustin & Art were involved, you didn't get ripped off......
Welcome to performance boating.
CJG
I purchased a 540 single whipple from gt perf because of the time frame and I had a powell trip planned.My problem is with the fact that the motor lasted 40 hrs under what I would consider moderate use. I will say this The motor did run Great until it seized up, just wish it would have lasted longer its difficult to justify the expense.bang for the buck.
That was actually a spun main bearing. Chances of that having to do with the supercharger is pretty slim. There were no signs of knock. I do not think this is a common problem, it's the first 496 bearing that I've seen go bad. The minute the pan was dropped, you couldn't believe the smell.
Time was not are fault, you nor I could get a new crankshaft for the motor. Since GM stopped mfg'ing them and Crower wanted 6 months, $2000 we finally decided to go with the stock crank. GM found the cast crank to be better than the forged crankshaft and thats why they stopped production.
9800 is a great price for the amount of labor. 496's are really hard to work on, it's not like a regular carb motor that you can R&R in a few hours. The motor had to be lined bored, we then bored it .030" over for the custom JE pistons with 8.3:1 compression. Motor has good wrist pins, rings, etc. Crank was machined for clevite bearings and manley h beam rods. Can't forget all the ARP head studs and rod bolts, cometic head gaskets and all the other little stuff that was upgraded. Heads were heavily ported (cast iron, not real fun), inconel exhaust valves, SS intakes, new valve springs for the big camshaft, crane gold rockers, push rods and lifters. Also has a custom ground Crane cam which took some time to get since it's a new motor. It even needed valve cover spacers to clear the rockers. We then upgraded for free to the 3300 blower, new throttle body, machined the IC housing to fit, made new linkage for the longer supercharger, machined the front plate to accept the 3300. We reassembled the engine, closed cooling, wiring, oiling, etc which takes a long time, reinstalled the supercharger kit. We then dyno'd the engine and built a custom calibration (only we can do) which took a couple of days. The amount of time it took to long block the motor was basic, but to reassemble everything else, including a SC install, thats a lot of work. Just look at the motor.
Motor makes a conservative 760hp, 780 torque. This is equal to most other 800-850hp motors. The motor will need a large oil cooler, electric fuel pump and that should be about it.
Thanks,
Dustin
Well, now that the other side of the tale is revealed, I'd say that was a hell of a deal. Tyler Crockett out this way wouldn't do it for that price, no way.
DJ
I would agree that was a good deal. I have seen shops charge $9000 to add a supercharger to a small block! That sounds like a properly prepped 496 now, and should last a good while.
Regarding the blower (Whipple or otherwise) causing the motor to blow is a little misleading. As we all know, more often than not it's the fuel delivery, timing, cooling system, etc. that is the root cause. Exception of course would be if the blower actually came apart and motor ingested fragments.
Mercury must be building real p.o.s. if all they build into their motors is 120hrs of life expectancy. All I'm saying is that these cast crank, hyperutectic piston, non inconel valve motors may last while in stock applications. But, in a super-charged enviroment they are ify at best . As far as a "free" 3300 blower, that's assuming you return the original 496 blower to me. By the way, I would deal with whipple over the phone or by e-mail. But, as everyone knows, you are very busy and difficult to reach by phone or e-mail. If I had known that installing a blower would shorten the life expectancy of the motor so greatly, I would've gone a different route.
Thanks,
Jorge
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