Thanks to 2fast4u88 for this write up!

Ok well I'm going to give my .02 here.

So your think of going forced induction. Or boosted as alot say.
You can piece your own kit together. Turbo or superchargered. That or buy a kit. Like procharger or vortech for superchargers. Or a custom turbo kit.

Some might ask well what is needed? How much psi can I run? Or my car has alot of miles should I?

Well only you can answer the last ?. So lets start with so what is needed? For the general low buck setup you would need the charger or turbo. Some charge pipes. Now this is of coure different if you buy a kit. Were talking low buck here. Where say you might find deals on a used charge or turbo. Or want to build your own kit. It is possible to build one cheap. But not cheap to cheap out on stuff.

Now back on topic. Your stock pump will be fine for 4 to 6 psi. Not every charger or turbo is the same so keep this in mind. Before you think it is fine you need to check the fuel pressure. Along with alteast do a fuel filter change. Now if your car has 130k miles do yourself a favor and change it. I would how just recommend to buy a new pump for the piece of mind in having one new and better than stock.

You will then a intercooler or meth injection. I don't care what anyone one says. Do not boost a lt1 or ls1 with out something to cool the air charge. It just isn't worth it. Don't ask why unless you really want to know why. Just install one of the two. Now if you are running a 93-97 bird you are gonna have to get creative with a intercooler. You are either need to cut the bumper or mount the intercooler like a procharger setup. Other wise it won't get enough flow to it. You can mount it in front of the radiator if you like.

Just be warned that you will probalby have over heating problems or possible high ait's. A camaro your pretty much good with.

Now if you are going to run a fmu. Which I will get to in a few. I highly recommend to run a booster pump with a stock pump or aftermarket in tank pump. That is high strain on the fuel pump with the high fuel pressure one will create. But then you have cases where a booster pump will hurt flow.

Now we get to the tuning. Back in the day. You had very little choices. Where good tunes were hard to come by. Well alot ran fmu's. I think this is where the lt1 not taking alot of psi came from. Now we have some good pcm tuners out there. Along with we have the software now to tune our cars. How ever I do not recommend a novice tuner starting with a boosted car tune.

Now since we have that out of the way. Lets compare some pros and cons.

Lets start with a fmu setup
Pro's: No pcm tuning needed really. Kind of easy to setup. May be cheaper or not.
Con's: Hard to dial in the a/f mixture. The diaphrams in them can go bad. Requires a booster pump. Will kill pumps from the high pressure. Can't run much boost or fuel pressure as I want to say at 90psi (on the fuel pressure) the injectors will start locking up. You wil need something to retard the timing like a msd 6btm that has boost retard built in. Along with I would run a fuel pressure gauge to watch the fuel pressure. Along with a wideband or dyno tuning to dial the a/f mixture in as good as you can.
What would I do: Just stay away. It is out dated and garbage.

So what else do we have you ask? Real tuning... As in pcm tuning with some bigger injectors.

So what is needed. Someone to tune the car. Some bigger injectors. Not every setup is the same. So I'm not even going to list injector sizes for setups or power. Just ask for your setup. Bigger in tank pump if more than 6 psi. This always isn't true. So ask first. Then some gauges. At the very least a fuel pressure gauge. You never want to lean out from the lack of fuel pressure. A wide band is even more of a insurance for the setup.

So some pcm tuning pro's and con's
Pro's: Very dependable. Less things to worry about. Simple setup. Just all around better. The stock pcm is capable of doing everything you need. Keep the intake setup to a certian point. Meaning high psi levels.
Con's: May cost a little more but with the benifit of having a better setup.
What would I do: Do it you will be more happy than ever. Need I say more?

Now since we were just talking pcm tuning. I want to cover some stuff with you. There is alot to choose from out there. But not alot is they way to go when you are wanting forced induction. So I will give the run down of what there is out there.

We have dyno tuning, mail order tuning and street tuning. Programmers will not in any way be right for a booste setup. So don't even bother. Heck they are junk on a stock or built n/a motor.

So lets list some pro's and con's of them.

Dyno tuning:
Pro's: Get to find out what your putting down at the wheels. Better than a mail order tune. Can really find the sweet spot for the a/f mixture to make the most power and not harm the motor. Along with most have a sniffer or where they can hook up to your wideband. Can really dial the setup in.
Con's: Alot of places like to tune only wide open throttle. But this isn't the only place a stock tune could use some changing. Some can be pricey.
Would I do it: Well sure if they are going to do the whole tuning. Not just the full throttle parts.

Mail Order Tuning
Pro's: Cheap is about all I can say.
Con's: A mail order tune is no good really for a boosted setup. Not one of the mail order tuners will tell you. But not every setup is the same. And all they will be doing is guessing numbers to put into the tune. Which will make a mail order a base tune to get you to where you need to go to get a real tune.
What would I do: If I had to drive the car to the dyno. Then by all means yea. But there is a way around that leave the stock injectors in it till you get there. And stay out of boost. Other wise stay away. They are junk for a boosted tune. I know first hand.

Street Tuning
Pro's: A all around good setup. Not just wide open tuning but part throttle and all that good stuff can be changed/will be or should be. Software can be bought and tuned yourself. Or leave it to the tuner. Which I would recommend solomon from lt1pcmtuning.com. He has never done a tune for me. But I am sure he could do a boosted tune. He offers 3 retunes to really dial it in. Wideband is not needed to tune it but sure should be.
Con's: Um.... Nothing that I can think of besides not knowing your whp.
Would I do it: Yes I would.

Now lets take car of the psi you can run. Most will say for a stock motor not a whole lot. Not more than 6psi. Well a lt1 they say no more than 6psi. For a ls1 no more tha 8psi. Like I said before that not every turbo or superchager is the same. So no one can tell you for sure. Myself I ran a 12lb pulley p600b procharger on a stock bottom end lt1. Well not really the guy that had it before me did. I got it with a forged 355. He ran the the car with a fmu, 24lb ford injectors, procharger booster pump and a msd 6btm. He said is was run 9 to 10psi at the time. In which it did it from around 30k miles to 68k miles.

Now this was hard street racing and track time. The only reason the motor gave out. Was because it ran lean from the fmu taking a crap. So take it how you want on a lt1.

Now compression will also play a role along with the cam choice. So if you have a low compression setup. Or just wanting to know what you need for your psi goal. Just ask.


Now on the miles. No one can tell you what to do and what not to do. If the car is under a 100k miles. You should be fine. Above that if the oil pressure is good. Along with the engine is in good mechanical condition. You should still be fine. Just remember when boosting or just adding more power to a motor. It will not last for ever. No motor will. Take into account if you are adding more power. I figure you are going to race it. So that is more punishment to it. So only you can decide. If this is a stock motor. Just plan for a rebuild/build down the road.

Now this isn't everything there is to know. But the basics. This also goes for fuel injected motor. Sorry carb guys.

This was all from me also

Thanks to 2fast4u88 for this write up!

Meth or a Intercooler?
What is meth? What is a intercooler? Which is better? Which would you do?
These are some of the questions I see from time to time. There is more so any that is good I will add.

So what is meth you may ask? Meth is short for methanol. Technically a meth kit is really a water injection kit. Where you are spraying half water/half methanol. Some run washer fluid. Some run the premixed stuff. That is up to you. The kit is only activated when it sees psi. They are adjustable for your setup though. A stage one/base of the base meth kit. Will most of the time consist of a tank (there is different sizes). Some people will just tap into the windshield resivour.

You will have a pump, a nozzle, a pressure switch, tubing and a check valve. There is other options to add to a kit. Just keep in mind some kits come with two nozzles for a reason.

So what does it do? Alcohol/water injection is a method of cooling the combustion chambers of your engine by injecting a methanol/water mix to the incoming air mixture before it hits the tb/carb. Or before the fuel is added. Like on some supercharger setups. Where the nozzle is mounted will affect the out come also. What works for one setup may not for the other.
So what does this allow you to do you may ask? Run higher compression levels, Higher psi, cooler temps. Which comes out to less detonation and more power. Some may ask why not straight methanol or alcahol? Well there is two things most run a water injection kit for. Higher octane or cooler temps. If you need the higher octane rating by all mean run straight. If you are wanting cooler temps a 50/50 mix will probably get you better temps. As water has a greater capacity to cool the either of the above does straight.
Though with a side affect of water doesn't burn and to much will cause spitting and sputtering. Along with making the tuning harder. So your choice on what you would like to do.

Some mixtures/ stuff you can use that I know off. Along with what to watch out for when looking for stuff.
Methanol: Sometimes hard to find. Or can't find it when you need it. Can be mixed with water.
Washer fluid: Contains Ethanol. But some contain gylcol which is is most if not all deicers. Best bet is to shake it up and if bubbles stick around/form. Find something else. Rule of thumb stay away from green, yellow and orange. This can be ran straight or mixed with water. There is better stuff to use though
Denatured alcohol: Would be better to use than washer fluid. Can be found in the paint sections of most hardware stores.
Just some off the top of my head.

Meth injection needs to be tuned to the setup some what like nitrous is with jets. So anyone that tells you just slap it on and drive it full of it. So what setup works for one might not for the other. Just be warned using a wide band to tune it. Isn't the best. As it is probably set up for gasoline where gas has a lower stoich point. So your best to tune it with lamda readings as they don't change with fuel type.

Now for a dd I wouldn't run it. You have to worry about the pump burning up. Tuning it. Runing out with nothing to put in it. In the long run it could get pricey. Some may disagree that is your opinion. On a drag car I would by all means. Since the setup is lighter and will probably give you more power than say a intercooler setup. Some may ask what about running a intercooler and using meth at the track. If you did this you would need more less two tunes. On for the strip one for the street. Meth does have some some good points which are it is compact, light, and will probably give better numbers than a intercooler setup. Along with running high compression or boost.

And here is a link to some good kits. Along with if you go to the forum it has some good reads. http://www.alcohol-injection.com/