Procharger or Vortech ?

[el-camino]

hi all,
in my brain is a new idea
i will buy a charger for my El-camino.
now comes the question:
what is the better choice ? Procharger or Vortech stuff ?
all comments welcome

[WS6]

well i like the fact that procharger has self contained oil for their head unit. the vortec requires you plumb into the engines oil system. this is mainly a preference though. however the air to air intercoolers offered by procharger are better than the water to air intercoolers offered by vortec on a street driven vehicle. if your a drag car only the vortec allows you to use ice water in the intercooler and this allows you to supercool the intake charge. you cant do this on the street which is why i like the air to air intercoolers better.

id go either full procharger or get a vortec head unit and use pro-charger intercoolers. i prefer air to air intercoolers and i think vortec intercooler which they call an aftercooler is ugly.

[HHStang]

I've had both and am doing my new project with a Procharger. Their support guys are better.

[ProStreet R/T]

Neither, LOL. I'm a big paxton fan

As for the intercoolers yes air:air is better for a street car BUT, I have serious objection to the way they package the ati IC. All the modern prochargers I have seen (for trucks at least) have the IC core mounted under the truck with an air scoop of sorts to direct airflow across the core. It's horribly inefficient and very prone to getting damaged. If you stick it right up in the grill then you can't go wrong with an Air:Air.

Have you decided which models your looking at? D1 or F1 procharger, S-trim vortech?

*cough* Novi 2k *cough*

[datsbad]

DO NOT BUY PROCHARGER = JUNK FOR SURE .

my bud just had his checked out , they charged him like 300 to check it out . said they need to replace a seal wen they take them apart . no problem however after putting it back on the car the nut that holds the impellar came off and ruined about everything. figured it out after 60 miles of driving where this funny noise was coming from . now he has aluminum shavings in the motor.

appears PROCHARGER did not put lock tite on the nut .
and they wont cover it . !!

so again stay away . i wont even gointo my stories with them on the mustang's . horrible peices of crap !

[WELTERRACER]

My procharger works perfectly....

all im going to say is 11.70 on pump gas and only 6 psi on a small block..

[datsbad]

i know seriously there are ones that work . unfornately i have horror stories

[camcojb]

I've had four that worked fine. Their customer service leaves a lot to be desired, but the product is fine.

Jody

[ProdigyCustoms]

I have seen one explode, but I see great parts fail everyday. I do not think a couple instances of failure constitute something being classified as junk, however I can see how when you are affected so closely, you feel that way.

BTW, of the two failures I know about, they covered the repair to the charger in both of those cases.

[IBM-Tech]

I bought the Vortech and like it. It was a pain haveing to drill the pan for the oil return line and feeding oil was just as much of a challenge. The Headers kept burning the supply line. Other than that, I am having troubles of putting a cooler for the Vortech s/c though. I haven't been able to find a premade version for the 87 IROC Camaro though, But, am looking into it and looking for advise.

[Blown353]

I've seen Prochargers blow up. I've seen Vortechs blow up. I've seen Powerdynes blow up. I've seen Paxtons blow up. There is a chance of failure in anything mechanical-- could be bad design, bad workmanship, poor materials, bad parts from a subcontractor, or any combination of the above. Sometimes you just get screwed. This is true of just about any part from any supplier. Sometimes it just doesn't go your way. When I get worried is when a manufacturer has a bad track record with a string of very similar failures-- that raises a red flag.

My Procharger has just about 9000 miles on it now pulley'd for 14psi and is doing great. No oil leaks, no weird noises, nothing. Very happy with the product. But as Jody said, their customer service leaves something to be desired (OK, a LOT to be desired), and their bracketry as it sits out of the box needs some massaging to function properly.

Troy

[WS6]

well im glad to hear im not the only one that thinks the guys at Pro-charger can be asses and not very helpful. ive also had problems with their bracketry. this was a specific kit so as far as im concerned everything should have been correct and it wasnt and they had an attitude about it. problems will always arise as nothing is ever perfect. how those problems are handled is what means the most to me.

[el-camino]

hmm, the vortech kit... is this a complete kit with all stuff i need ?

[IBM-Tech]

hmm, the vortech kit... is this a complete kit with all stuff i need ?

The Vortech kit I recieved was 100% complete. But, As I stated earlier, it doesn't come with an intercooler. Cooler is better. I have called their customer help line and did receive excellent customer help. I commended them on that.

[Thrillrr]

I run a Procharger F1-r and like it,just stay away from there P1 series ,because those models had seal issues. Depending on what kind of power your wanting, I would probably start with the D-1, but you'll have to punch your oil pan with those, but that's no big deal.
-Rob

[WS6]

hahahaha funny you mentioned seal issues. i just received a P1sc back from procharger a couple days go that was sent in for a front seal replacement. less than 2k miles on the unit

[Blown353]

Just over 10K miles now on my P1SCH... only oil leak I've had was a small weep from the drainplug when I didn't get it tight enough.

FYI, I believe the P1SC and D1SC series both use the same gearbox and geartrain, I think only the impeller wheel and exducer housing are different. Procharger can change a P1SC over to a D1SC; thus I don't see why a P1SC would be any more prone to oil leakage than a D1SC. Just luck of the draw I suppose.

Also, the Procharger seals are quite easy to change; they are standard Chicago Rawhide (CR) seals and at least on the front seal you can read the number with the pulley still on and get a new one at the parts store, and you only have to remove the front pulley to be able to change it. To get to the back seal you need to yank the impeller, which can be a REAL pain because they usually put the sucker on with red loctite. Gotta heat it up to remove it. Oh, and make sure you re-loctite the impeller and the bolt holding it on... things get ugly if that bolt backs off.

Troy

[ProTeal55]

I have always heard that Procharger has higher Air inlet temps , thus why they push intercooling so much. So due to this , would a Vortech non-intercooled setup be a better starting point , and then add a cooler later ?

I plan to do a simple/low budget blow-thru on my 55 later this year , and am looking to get the basic kit working , then add from their. What would be my best route to go. From what I have read thus far , it looks to be a complete non-intercooled 'Kit" from Vortech...

[speedster]

Hey ProTeal55 -
If you are doing a simple, low boost application, then both products should serve you well. Another consideration is that since you are using a carbureted blow-thru, you will see very little increase in power by using an intercooler at low boost levels. The air/fuel mixture cools significantly between the carburetor and the combustion chamber, thus acting like a mini-intercooler. This should also help keep your cost down.
-Bruce

[camaro608]

procharger is great for lots of boost and low amounts of boost and the vortech is for low amounts of boost.
well that what ive heard and seen