st.ryder64

My SC ate its bearings, so I sent it back for a rebuild. I purchased it used from another S2K owner and the kit he supplied came with an oil return that used the oil drain as the return. Subsequently, Vortech said this is a no no, so I'm researching other options. Vortech wants me to drill the pan (I have the pan off now). I also see the recommendations here to drill/tap the girdle. If the girdle wall was any thicker, I guess that would make sense to me...but it doesn't seem to be. And since it's only 2" or so higher and in the same basic void space, I can't see any real differences in either location. Comments welcome.

I'm also concerned about threading aluminum that can't be more than 3/16" thick. I'm thinking, at most, I'll get 2-3 threads. For an NPT thread, that seems ill-advised. I'm considering drilling straight through and putting a nut/lockwasher on the inside, rubber washer on the outside. Thoughts on this would be appreciated.

bruthaboost

SOS uses the same blower and returns to the drain plug and doesn't have issues. I have a vortech and do the same and haven't had problems for years.

starchland

s2000Junky

There is no sense in reinventing the wheel here. Vortech has always been the ugly duckling of the supercharger kits. What i'm saying is, their kit R&D wasn't as good for what ever reason as Comptech was, so just follow the lead of whats worked for nearly 20 years on the comptech kit, the factory oil drain port.

Slows2k

st.ryder64

Vortech. Mid 300's.

RolanTHUNDER

Drilling the pan is recommended according to the install instructions. If I install my kit I'd prefer using the factory drain plug as the return. Can't see how that would be an issue but I heard a mechanic say it's not advised because the oil HAS to return above the fill line otherwise there would be pressure build up forcing itself out the blower. Not sure if that makes sense at all since the oil that drains back to the sump is not pressurised. It's a gravity drain, correct?

st.ryder64

Vortech specifically told me that bringing it back to the factory oil pan drain was not advisable, and may very well have caused my bearing problem, because returning the oil below the line could cause the oil to not be able to exit the supercharger at the flow required. Like yourself, I don't know why that would be. Obviously there would always be the same level of oil in the SC drain line as in the oil pan, but anything above that would push down on the column of oil and exit the SC. That assumes the same pressure above the oil in the sump and above the oil in the drain line, obviously. Which might not be an accurate assumption, I don't know. The Vortech oil feed line has an orifice, like a jet, at the entrance to the SC, so it's spraying oil into the unit rather than forcing it in under pressure. Don't know if that adds anything to the discussion or not.

For my money, the simple fact is:

1. My bearings lunched.
2. The manufacturer of the SC specifically states not to return the oil below the sump level.

I've go the pan off the car, so I'm there now either way.

Another issue I noticed this morning...the adapter I'm using that screws into the pan oil drain hole and allows the SC oil drain hose to connect to it only has about 1/4" ID, if that. Vortech stated that nothing under AN-8 fittings should be used for this drain. AN-8 fittings have a 0.391" ID, according to Google. It's not a huge discrepancy, but it's on my mind as well.

s2000Junky

When you get the blower back from rebuild, sell the kit and pick up a old/new Comptech kit or SOS, non of which have you drill a new oil return in the pan and all use the same vortech/Novi blowers. Comptech/SOS kits are more refined in design. The bracket assy is better designed so you don't have to remove the blower to change out a belt, and for the stage 1 guys the current line of kits with the supplied piggy back and rrfpr is by far better with actual fuel, lowered vtec and map correction all in one and an actual external fuel pressure adjustment, not some internal puck you have to change out to hopefully get a ballpark fuel tune, and again no need to run a new oil return location. I don't know why the guys at vortech are so retarded.

RolanTHUNDER

That seems to have been the cause then. Who are we to argue with them lol. We are completely capable of pointing out that THEY should have made the oil return a super easy, replace your sump plug bolt with this supplied adapter and connect the oil drain to it, done and dusted!
I so wish I had a V3 supercharger instead of the V2 that way I could just change out the specific Vortech oil/fluid every 7500 miles or whatever their drainage interval is. Self lubed unit eliminates the need for feed and return. Simple! Oh well... gotta take what you can get these days since boost is damn expensive...

Let us know how the tapping of the pan works out and what your blower comes back like.