Powerdyne Superchargers

Price Paid:  $5000.00 from Powerdyne

Year / Model Reviewed:
2002 K10526-201

Summary:
On August 11 of 2006, I installed Powerdyne's K10526-201 on my 2002 S10 Xtreme. This kit consists of JBA headers with gaskets, fuel management unit, plastic intake tubes, BOSCH bypass valve, crank pulley with spacer, serpentine belts, and the BD-600 supercharger with mounting brackets. As typical with Powerdyne, they shipped me the wrong headers; the ones for the C2500 Silverado which will not fit within the S10. After a long 4 week wait, the correct headers finally arrived. Once the install was completed, my S10 increased in horsepower from 151 to 235 at the rear wheels. On September 3 of 2007, shards of the inpeller fins were blown into my engine, destroying several cylinders! I replaced the Vortec V6 and of course, Powerdyne would not honor their warranty. So I dissembled the BD-600 myself to find that the tips of the impeller fins had been sheared off, the impeller shaft was bent, and the puny roller bearing on the impeller shaft was completely worn out. NEVER BUY A POWERDYNE!

Strengths:
Quiet with no whine.
No oil lines.
Some horsepower gains.

Weaknesses:
No cooler or denser air charge.
BD-600 is unreliable junk!
Warranty is a joke.
Customer service is useless.

Similar Products Used:
I have used nitrous oxide injection in the past with no problems.

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $2500.00 from ebay

Year / Model Reviewed:
2006 BD-11A

Summary:
I was searching for new (better) bearings for my BD11A (which is on the bench), when I came across this forum. I can only echo the agony of owning this product that are already posted here over and over. Mine is just over a year old, very low mileage and never raced. The ceramic bearings are gone and Powerdyne tech support doesn't exist. I say this with confidence, because they don't answer. However, I have a feeling that, if I wrote to buy a new one, there would be a reply immediately. Caveat emptor boys and girls.

Strengths:
It was good while it lasted.

Weaknesses:
It's weaknesses are well documented here, repeatedly. I can't add any new ones, just nod in agreement.

Similar Products Used:
None. This is my first experience with a power-adder. I like the concept, but chose the wrong supplier.

Price Paid:  $1800.00 from lockal auto store

Summary:
This is quite possibly the worst produst i have ever seen. The car that i used this supercharger on was a 1971 Chrysler Newport Royal (yes i know its a big old bargey sedan but god i love it). I picked up one of the belt drive units with the 9 pounds of boost pulley on it. This was a small bit of a cutom instalation as the supercharger was being instaled on a mopar 472ci crate engine and i knew i wouldnt b gettins much of a boost in horsepower as this small supercharger was feeding a huge hemi but i wasnt looking into puting much more stress on the motor and this was a reasonably cheap supercharger system. Anyway onto all of the fun bad things that happened. After being instaled i started up the engine and everything sounded just fine and i let the car sit in the driveway and idle fur acouple minutes then took a trip around the block. I got a quarter of a mile from my house and the internal belt decided so fly apart on me. I was slightly pissed as the car had not even exceded 2500 rpm's but i assumed it was just a bad belt. I called the customer service and had a new belt shipped to me fairly promptly (about 2 weeks). I put in the new belt and put everything back togeather fur try number 2. Let the car run fur a bit in the driveway then took it out on the roadand went around the block afew times nd everything seamed to be working well. I thought everything was all fine and dandy now, the belt wasnt turning 2 shrapnel inside the housing and nothing was making any funny noises. Afew days later i took the car out to go 2 a local cruise night, i got about 5 miles from my house nd it started making a terrible screaching noise. Turned around and went home and took it apart to find the ceramic bearings were shot. Since i wanted to get it up and running again i went down to the local auto parts store and they found me a set of good quality bearings (non ceramic) that would fit. About a week later everything was up and running again ( i had been lazy nd only been workin a bit every day on it). After this repair everything worked fine for around 400 miles of driving and a blast down the local strip from time to time. One night coming back from another cruise night at the local wendies i was geting onto the highway and the worst sound imaginable started coming from the engine. I shut down imediatly and took a look under the hood. The impellor casing had a large home in it and the impeller had shredded itself into god knows how many pieces with many of the smaller ones that wernt to big to get stuck in the carb sucked into the engine. Needless to say the entire engine was basicaly wrecked with the cylinder walls deeply gouged out from large metal chunks in the engine and pistons with a good few holes in them nd 2 heads with a good bunch of scratches nd dents in them. I called up the company fairly angry that their produst had decided to explode ruining my engine and i was tond that since i had changed the bearings myself had vioded the warranty and any damage to my engine was my own fault. No matter who i talked to at the company it was the same case it was my fault that the supercharger had failed. They told me that because of the use of non ceramic bearings the impeller seize up in teh houseing which i assured them was not the case as the pulley still turned freely and that it was the fins of the impeller(i dont know the technical term for them)had broken off and that is what had caused the damage. they still would do nothing to help me and i am currently trying to pursue legal action against the company but with no avail so far. Needless to say NEVER EVER EVER EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR buy any product from this company!!!!!!!!!

Strengths:
they have knack fur destroyin ur engine if u wana consider that a strength

Weaknesses:
if u read my post that shud b ovious

Similar Products Used:
vortech on a 1972 chrysler 400 ci big block. 7000 miles later and it still woking like new

Price Paid:  $1800.00 from COOL BLUE PERFORMANC

Year / Model Reviewed:
1988 ford mustang GT

Summary:
I purchased the powerdyne in May 2006 thinking that it would be a great bang for your buck item. Wrong! I opened the box and found that half the kit was missing, so I got on the phone and called their famous customer service and left messages for almost a month before hearing back from them. Once I got through they told me they would ship it right out. I kept playing phone tag with them and hearing the parts are going to be sent out today for 4 months. In January 2007 a customer service rep informed me that powerdyne had went bankrupt and they were a new company buying the powerdyne business. Guess what! Same story of the parts are being sent out today. One week later I talked to the same man "MIKE HUTCHINS" and he let me know that the former owner had taken the computer program necessary to make the parts. The parts that were missing were the FMU, FRONT MOUNTING BRACKET, CRANK PULLEY, SPACER, COMPLETE BOLT KIT. Ispoke with another powerdyne person named "Larry" and for the trouble and wait they were going to send me a bypass valve and a 1 piece 7in. crank pulley. I thought wow that is nice of them for my trouble. Everthing was due to be sent by February 10th. I finally all of the missing parts (I thought) in April 2007. The items in the box were mounting plate, bolts, F 150 crank w/ a big aluminum spacer. No FMU to be found or the time and trouble parts that were agreed on. I called up Powerdyne and spoke to good old Mike and got a answer of were are not responsible for the missing FMU, and the other parts did not come in the original kit so there is nothing left to say. I have now vowed to post as much info about Powerdyne's problems. The kit has now been installed for a month and guess what. I did'nt see that big increase that was suposed to be there. There products are shabby to say the least. If anyone has the extra money if there supercharger fails there is an upgrade available for the BD11, and 11A. The company that does the mods is 928 Motorsports. You will feel the increase but it will cost you some money. With my experience I did the research about the company and nothing popped up about the company going in the tank. That's why the customer service was so helpful "not", because they was no one there. Good luck if you choose this product. Good luck with the service department also because you will be in contact with them.

Strengths:
No oil lines

Weaknesses:
No power like advertised. Maybe half of the advertised power. Customer Sevice/Sales Department. Lack of effort to make things right. 1 year to get everthing needed to install the supercharger, and a let down on power. Don't believe anything that say, especially if it something for your trouble's of waiting "which you will wait"......

Price Paid:  $7000.00 from Dealer in Sacramento

Year / Model Reviewed:
1987 Mustang GT (BD110)

Summary:
I purchased this mustang with the powerdyne supercharger already installed in it. The car passed california emmisions with the blower on it, just need to put the stock MAF meter in and the stock throttle body in and it passes smog. I am really impressed with this supercharger it is virtually silent, it really helps when trying to make a sleeper. I just recently had this car dyno'd with the blower on it...I pulled 400hp and 376 torque.
After reading some of these other reviews i am really surprised to hear such problems. mine has been trouble free thus far. I have broken my tranny (T-5) since the purchase, not the supercharger. I think this supercharger coupled with a nice blower cam, larger injectors and a re-mapped/chiped computer done right this kit is great. I am not always hard on it but i don't drive like a granny either so i will say the product durability is good. I drove the car 3,000 miles from sacramento to virginia and had no problems with the supercharger. I have also taken the car to the dragstrip...And once again have had not issues with the supercharger. I have not quite yet installed a boost guage to measure boost output but when i do i will let you all know.

Strengths:
Super quiet, no oil to have to worry about, passes california emmissions, fits under the stock hood without any major modifications.

Weaknesses:
does not have a cooler denser air charge as the company claims. Do not offer an intercooler option.