Stroker or Supercharger?

I want more power and I have been thinking of ways to get it for about a year now. I am still far from having the money so this wont be anytime soon at all but I figure id start a thread and get ideas. Heads and cam would be nice but if I was going to open the engine up, id rather put a forged bottom end in there for strength and peace of mind and also have a good foundation to add a supercharger or nitrous later on. If I do go the supercharged route, should I have to worry about boost on a stock bottom end with 60k+ miles on it? A Kenne Bell would be great but its probably out of my price range so it would most likely be a procharger if I go the boosted route. Heads and cam would also be great and be the cheapest way to go but again, something just worries me about the stock bottom end with 60k+ miles on it. Nitrous is pretty much out of the question unless I have a forged bottom end. I hear too much stuff about guys blowing a hole in a stock piston and i have seen pictures of stock pistons that had been running nitrous and it aint pretty. I guess it all comes down to reliability and peace of mind. I dont want to have to worry about blowing up a piston or throwing a rod.

So what are your thoughts? Like I said, I am far from having any power added but figured id make this thread to help me make my decision and possibly help anyone else that is looking to do the same and is stuck on which route to take.

Stroker first, you can always supercharge it later.

Joey........stroke it first........I would do heads and cam next(not sure how well those stock hemi heads flow, so maybe its not necessary....)

My thinking behind this is,if the engine is constricted N/A, under boost is going to be even more restrictive......I did the s/c first only because Jon threw the sucker in my truck bed, LOL so I had it....(thanks Jon!!!!!!loving it!!!!)...I left probably 100 or more HP on the table by not doing the heads and cam first.....(but again....I have a restrictive truck engine....things might be different in your generation engines.....)

Lets put it this way..... just about anything that will net you more power N/A, will net you EVEN MORE power boosted....(with a few exceptions with certain cam grinds with excessive overlap....that can loose power boosted.....)

So yeah...........that's my 2¢

Oh, and I wouldn't worry too much about the mileage......I boosted a 14yr old, 86k mile engine......LOL still holding up good........

Stroker and .020 over pistions and arp head & main studs

I don't know that studs are really necessary.........there's quite a few truck guys running 15+lbs of boost, with the factory head bolts.........

bogieboy wrote:

I don't know that studs are really necessary.........there's quite a few truck guys running 15+lbs of boost, with the factory head bolts.........

There not, but they don't hurt to have what maybe $450 for both head and main studs? Cheap insurance and thats retail pricing.. not to mention lets say you blow a simple head gasket after you replace the stock head bolts agina you have payed for it already.

Very true........gotta remember that I am coming from the "college student budget" mind set.....if ya don't absolutely need it....don't get it..........LOL

My complete supercharger bill was $508......that's including the $50 for 3 dyno pulls at Mr Norms this spring......LOL

So...that's wherre my advice comes from.......LOL

Thanks guys. I gotta start saving my pennies for that stroker. And I do agree, studs are the way to go but I didnt know they were that much. I had studs on my Chevy 402 I built about 10 years ago and they cost less than half of that price and they were from ARP. I just checked the site and they are still the same price today. Why does everything cost so much more for newer cars?

The head studs were a lil more thna i thought lol main studs cna be had for cheap though lol.

I did on my older car casue them OEM ones were litearly $20 cheaper...

I think Mr. Norm's has a shitload of 6.1 crate motors just sitting around. Might get a good price on that and would be really good power from a nice upgraded motor that's still stock.

Illinois Chaos wrote:

I think Mr. Norm's has a shitload of 6.1 crate motors just sitting around. Might get a good price on that and would be really good power from a nice upgraded motor that's still stock.

That is a really good idea. I had a guy selling a complete 6.1 for cheap last summer but I couldnt come up with the funds. If i bought a 6.1 to swap in, I wouldnt keep it stock anyways, I would at least put a new cam in before its dropped into my car, then add heads later. Ill send him a PM just to get an idea of what that might cost me. Thanks Tom.