Vortech Supercharger thoughts
 

It seems a lot of people don't like the Vortech Superchargers, but searching up I can't seem to find any reason why.

Is there a reliability issue?

They don't? The Vortech kits have a pretty good reputation, and have been out there longer than most of the other kits. I think they might have had some early install issues that were vetted. I think the base tunes that come with them are very conservative. That combined with them being centrifugal lead people to believe they dont make much power. But they actually have pretty huge potential. They are also rebuildable, and are pretty stout.

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I have a Vortech installed on my BRZ and its pretty good. With E85 its pretty great. I only paid $400 to have my blower redone after buying it from a guy who put 100k miles on it.

That's pretty impressive mileage on that supercharger ^

The Jackson makes a nicer powerband for a centrifugal unit

Unfortunately the belt routing IMO is a big benefit to other options. Otherwise the vortech would be in my consideration for FI.

Main reason is it’s to damn expensive. 6200.00 for 260-285 hp is ridiculous. An sbd turbo is 3000.00. A Jackson is 3995.00. I’ve never seen a Vortech even on a Black Friday sale
Worst I’ve seen is 5500.00. They will have to do better on pricing.

Hmm that doesn't sound right. The Jackson kit at 3995 is the tuner kit, and the Vortech tuner kit is a tad over $4600 from what I can see. So yup it's more expensive but heck not $6200. I think some folks like them because they are a bit simpler - old school gear drive, lower RPM, completely self contained oiling (Rotrex units have plumbing to oil coolers), and rebuildable for much less than a new Rotrex unit will cost. I've heard of Vortech units getting worn out over time (and being rebuilt). I've also heard of Rotrex units completely failing, and having to be replaced (hopefully under warranty) - not to knock Rotrex units, might just have something to do with the overall kit etc. There's a pretty good thread somewhere on here where one member dissected a Rotrex unit and had some comments. All that said, I believe the C30 units have a slightly better overall torque curve than a Vortech, which is a larger unit and flows more like a Rotrex C38 unit. End of the day, they're both centrifugal compressors, neither is going to rock your world in the low RPM registers :)

Bought my Vortech used for about 3500 with a new belt and smaller 3.12 pulley. I've now ran the blower for about 32k miles and have had no issues. Swapping to E85 and smaller pulley sometime in the next few months.

The only downsides I have had is the MAF is so far away from the block in terms of location. If it is not seated or clean, its a big pain to get to and fix. Also draining the internal oil isn't the most fun either but isn't like trying to undo a rusted exhaust. The real gripe is that they use empirical tools instead of metric. "How dare you make me use fractions."

Overall I would agree, the power band is lack luster for the pricing. However, during 40-50 degree temps, "boost weather" hits super strong and the vortech becomes EXTREMELY efficient. The kit itself has been high quality and matched with the race blow off, its a lot of fun.

Would I do it again if I had 4000 for boost? Probably, but that is only because it would cost me 8000 for a turbo kit because I would either go JDL GTX-R or Full Race EFR kit. If I won the lottery, I would have swapped over to turbo.

I especially like the fact that they are made in the USA, but you almost never see any discounting , elderbrock was the same way at first. They finally introduced rebates and a better wholesale pricing to their vendors and thus started improving their sales
Seems like they would try to make a little less money on a lot more customer base, than the most money on a few people. I guess it’s their version of reverse capitalism.
Non the less price a tunable kit fro 3995.00. They would move units guaranteed
Oh well we will sit back and watch commerce in action.

I put the vortech kit on my car shortly after I got the car new in 2013, and racked up 35K miles on the kit and counting as I sold the car a month ago and the new owner is driving it a lot more than me I feel.

No regrets, no reliability issues once the correct belt sizes were worked out by vortech. I was running the smaller 3.12" right out of the gate.

Actually have a Vortech setup incoming - qq for you & others, is it worth running the 3.12 pulley right out of the gate when running pump gas? (we have 93 here). I won't really be running E85 and was trying to decide if I should go ahead and upgrade the pulley while I'm installing the kit. Car has stock clutch and a decent set of headers.

I'm running the stock pulley with E85 and it's pretty robust. If you have a damn good tuner then go for the smaller pulley. However remember the motto "More boost more problems"

Bfrank whats a good price you paid. I’m looking and see them right now as high as 6200. The low I’m seeing is right at 5000. Shipped.