We are pleased to announce the release of our newest performance product specifically designed and engineered to enhance the 1997-2004 C5 Corvette Vortech Supercharger Kit. This product is the total solution to the current problem of serpentine drive belt shredding/pulley jumping due to pulley miss-alignment that is common to the standard Vortech S/C kit as delivered from the manufacturer.
The standard Vortech S/C kit for the 1997-2004 C5 Corvette has gone through an evolution over the years with many small refinements being implemented to the original design to correct multiple serpentine belt alignment issues that have been the majority of the cause of drive belt shredding and/or belt jumping to date. These refinements have been a step in the right direction to cure the problem, but not complete in scope and none of them has been a 100% total fix for the problem described.
We have been working on this product’s refinement for the past 7 ½ months in an effort to find a total, 100% solution to the problem at hand and we’re very pleased with the positive results to date. Both alpha and beta prototype kits have been thoroughly tested on the street and on the chassis dyno in M6 and A4 platforms, with both vehicles producing over 600+ RWHP at high RPM.
Our approach has been complete in design and multiple areas at fault of the standard Vortech S/C kit that needed improved upon were targeted and re-engineered here. There was and is no “silver bullet” fix for this problem, but rather a multitude of small refinements made to address multiple facets of its design that has culminated to the current solution we have designed.
This DTE HD S/C Belt Drive Kit can be purchased in a complete Vortech S/C kit assembled here at DTE with our other HD component additions we include in our kit over what you would receive as standard from Vortech. Or, the HD belt drive kit may be purchased separately as a “retro-fit” installation for those that already have a Vortech S/C kit on their car that wish to upgrade. This is a great upgrade for those DIY’ers that wish to install it themselves or for other tuner shops that carry and install Vortech supercharger kits in general.
We are currently building a web page that will contain current pricing, availability, shipment dates, further detailed engineering notes of its design and kit content details~ so please be patient, we’re almost there. We’ll add a link to this post from our website when it’s completed early next week.
We took this opportunity to show you folks a sneak-peak of the kit so we had time to answer any questions or comments if there are any, before it’s final release. We will also more than likely offer some special introductory pricing on these kits when they production is completed, so hang loose for that.
In a nutshell, we have picked up where Vortech has left off in the engineering dept. in an effort to provide you with a superior product in both power delivery and durability than even what the manufacturer has to offer.
As we stated in the original post, we're building a web page for this upgrade specifically that will have a complete description of how it works, engineering principles, contents of the kit and pricing, etc. As also stated earlier, it will be completed and online early next week. There is a LOT of information we've accumulated for nearly 8 months and the synopsis will be posted on the website for our customers benefit.
The first production DTE S/C Belt Drive Kit is being shipped to Xtreme Motorsports today for them to install on one of their customer's Corvette that keeps throwing belts~ as a retro-fit upgrade for the standard Vortech system that is currently on the car now. We've had 4 upgrade test kits on various Corvettes for the better parts of a year now, ranging from 555 RWHP 346's all the way up to 737 RWHP 427's and ALL have been bulletproof reliable since their installation. Once prototyping and R&D was completed over a year ago, it's been smooth sailing ever since.
Overall, the kit is not too complex, but it does require a systematic installation approach for it to be completed/installed properly. Therefore, we're entrusting the skills of a few tuner shops across the USA and Canada to install our product as installation centers, at least for the intial production release, that are already familiar with Vortech S/C systems.
We're doing this as an effort to provide all our customers an option of either choosing to install the upgrade kit themselves or to take it to a professional for installation instead. This not only gives the customer more options to choose from for their Corvette, but also provides the DIY installers a deep-well of product support knowledge to dip from if they need help, from any one of the different installation shops all over the USA and Canada.
Final costs should fall between the $1200-$1400 range and we're working with some of our material suppliers as we speak to bring the costs down for everyone by DTE purchasing in larger quantities.
I installed my Vortech myself, with the help of a Very experienced (and exacting) racing-mechanic friend. I have no doubts about our ability to handle this. Would you consider making a kit available? I'm a highly experienced Failure Analysis engineer, in exchange, I could provide very detailed and specific feedback on the installation process to further help you refine the kit and installation instructions.
We intend on offering a kit for the DIY folks, so that is already covered and the kit is as refined as it's going to get with regards to its mechanical ability, component selection and quality, so there is no addtional need for further development. We've completed R&D on this product for well over a year and that is why it has been so long to release it.
If we had to choose, we would much rather have a customer frustrated from waiting to get the final release kit and have it ultimately function as designed when he does receive it, than to have that same person upset and mad that they received an under-developed, junk aftermarket kit that was "pressured" to be released before it should have been. Unfortunately, there is far too much of that nonsense going on in the aftermarket these days and we have no intentions to ever add to that...
If the product is not right regardless of what it is....I would never release it prematurely. My personal and company's reputation mean much more to me than that..
I watched and participated in the process ATI Procharger went through to eliminate belt slip/breakage on their product and I know it is a painstakingly slow and deliberate process.
Kudo's to you for hanging in there and getting this completed.
Glad to hear you received your parts. We had sent them to Yank Performance Manufacturing a while ago and wondered if the end users had gotten their parts yet or not. That TH400 diffferential strut kit kit is VERY effective and Major Spray (Paul Majors) has made a number of 8-second passes with that set-up and the IRS Getrag differential has withstood the punishment to date as far as I know.
If you folks have any questions regarding the install, let me know and I'll walk you through it.
Glad to hear you received your parts. We had sent them to Yank Performance Manufacturing a while ago and wondered if the end users had gotten their parts yet or not. That TH400 diffferential strut kit kit is VERY effective and Major Spray (Paul Majors) has made a number of 8-second passes with that set-up and the IRS Getrag differential has withstood the punishment to date as far as I know.
If you folks have any questions regarding the install, let me know and I'll walk you through it.
Phil- DTE
Thanks Phil, if we have any problems with the install. I'll give you a call.
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