[radz28]

Quick background: I live in the Communist State of California, so the biggest reason I went with this blower is for CARB-purposes (which are still pending). So I had to get the complete kit, including Magnuson's canned tune. Second - I didn't want to cut my car up. I also wanted to get the most bald eagles I could out of the OEM-fuel system. High reliability, simplicity of installation, and driveability were also at the top of my list of considerations/requirements.

I'm not a roll-racer or a stop-light fighter. I do LOVE going to the strip on test-and-tune nights and collecting trophies and just having fun with my car doing whatever I am in the mood to do. It sounds lame, but I'm just not into taking the kind of chances that will land me in jail or leave me without my dream car.

The quality of the kit seemed as good as I would imagine and expect from OEM. What I liked a lot was there weren't many special connectors, adapters, hoses, etc. in the kit that you couldn't find elsewhere, relatively easily. Serviceability is a big deal to me, and there wasn't much I can think of that I couldn't fix down the road, if I needed to. Even the intercooler plumbing hoses were pretty simple, and should be easy to replace down the road when necessary. If there was part of the kit that I didn't like (which isn't really the case), it might be the coil relocation. I didn't mind cutting the valve covers, and that was a TINY PITA, but the relocation of the coils is not something I really like (I obviously understand why it was like this, and it was worth it for the cooling, I just don't necessarily like having it like this). The parts provided in the kit are completely fine, and I have nothing against them. I think spending money on some aftermarket valve covers might be a better solution. I am a little worried about heat from the exhaust on the coils, but I can wrap them in heat barrier if it really bugs me. Otherwise, there is a nice fuel line that has to be used, and was completely plug-and-play. That might be the only specialty item that might be a little challenge to fine, if it ever needs replacing. There are some new hoses with the kit, with specific fittings, but a lot of those hoses can be replaced, and the existing kit-adapters can be reused.

Installation went pretty well. I did deviate from Magnuson's instructions in that I re-routed the wire harness from above the inlet to below, and the intercooler return (I think it's the return) line, from where it runs under the pulley/snout, to above, right next to the other intercooler line. This caused a self-inflicted headache because I purchased a different Y-pipe (a narrower angle) [this "Y" is to merge the right and left intercooler lines into one, where it connects to the OEM-single hose] thinking this would create better angles, with no/or less pinching of the hose to the new route I preferred. I ended-up hacking the OEM single-hose to the point to where I just started all over with that part of the connection, and bought a hose with the angles I wanted from my Autozone. Then, I found myself re-clocking all those hose clamps so they wouldn't rub on other rubber hoses, electrical stuffs, or anything that shouldn't be rubbed on. The Magnuson solution probably (I only say probably because I didn't try; it most likely would've been no trouble at all) would've been a lot less trouble, but I liked this look better, so it was worth the extra time and effort for me.

The only other comment about installation I would offer is making sure to route the part of the OEM wire harness that runs from the passenger's side to the driver's side, in front of the blower, carefully, and as you drop the blower onto the engine. I missed how to run that harness when dropping the blower down onto the heads, and ended-up making another small headache for myself. Pictures in the manual, and later steps show where the harness needed to go, but the step of mounting the blower, and routing the harness together didn't really make it that clear to me. The harness needs to be "pinched" (not literally, but I mean placed in between) between the OEM oil separator and front edge of the blower case. I ran it IN FRONT of the separator, and it didn't leave enough slack for the harness to reach all of the ignition coils on the driver's side. Once I re-routed the harness to Magnuson's instructions, everything was fine. The way GM put all the plugs and connections in front of the driver's side cylinder head makes for a big mess of stuff right in that area, but Magnuson does well at making the changes they need to, to get it all to work - and it does.

All-in-all, I am VERY happy and pleased with how it turned out. My 12-YO son even wanted to help, so I waited for him to be home to do this. He even enjoyed the experience and it was something he and I, I believe, will remember forever. What's left is a test-drive soon to see what another nearly-hundred bald eagles feels like. I'd recommend this kit for anyone who had similar constraints to me, and goals that I do. There's a little gear noise from the new bigger blower (because it has bigger gears and such), and it's cool to hear. It's not like a Procharger, but it makes a little bit of cool noise - I like it. Maybe down the road, I'll put the standard-RF CAI on it with the LT5-TB, with a corresponding tune, but I want to keep the CARB-police off my back, so the OEM will have to do, HA. There's just a little more to button-up, and he'll be ready for the first test drive.

*** UPDATE: 05/19/2020 ***
After a couple false starts, and couple test drives around the neighborhood, I'm still pleased, and even more eager to get out on the highway for some good pulls.

In a post or two, I mentioned some tuning things I was encountering. I think those are resolving themselves with more driving. I was getting some "Permanent" codes, and through some guidance and research, they seem to be working themselves out, as I was told they would (I corresponded with Magnuson and HPTuners). There were no driveablity issues or anything like that. AFRs and such were never a problem or in question with the CARB-tune. While that's not completely resolved yet, that is because I haven't driven a whole lot yet. That will change as the weather improves around here.

Driving around the neighborhood is fun. Magnuson's ex-CEO mentioned he felt like the 2650 might be a touch-less responsive as the OEM 1740, but I have to say I don't notice it. That could be because of a couple factors, but suffice to say that I don't think it is any less responsive as it had been before. It's whine is a little louder to me than stock, but it doesn't bug me. I don't like how Prochargers grind-away at idle, and there is a touch of that sound, as I've said before, but it's not annoying in the slightest. I haven't gotten onto it much yet as I was still double-checking my work and tidy'ing-up some stuff I had left un-done. It seems safe to get on the freeway to get more aggressive. I want to finish this tank of fuel, and add some fresh fuel before getting on it much more, but so far, there is nothing bad I have to report. Everything seems as good as I had been hoping for thus far.

*** Update: 05/28/2020 ***
I finally made time to get out of the neighborhood and take my little test drive cycle around my area. It was about 105* and just nasty outside. It was in rush hour, so it was a short ride and there wasn't much room to have a lot of fun, but WOW... BTW - MIL has been off since I last posted and while I haven't, yet, connected to see if the permanent codes are there, Onstar's monthly check-up just advised me there are no codes anywhere for anything, so that's promising.

After getting the engine oil up to temperature, rolling into the throttle (Sport with TC off) nearly as aggressively as I could be, the tires were starting to spin and I could feel the throttle closing (from the hit) below 60-MPH and in any gear less than 3rd. My PDR showed I pretty much never went WOT (I honestly didn't get much above 70 - lame, I know), HAHAHA, and the tires (stock GYs with 800-miles on them) were trying to spin. The car was great, in fact, never trying to perform a tank-slapper or missing a beat. I didn't bring the laptop to capture data, but aside from the additional power, there was nothing strange - no high coolant or oil temperatures. I didn't hear any pinging (A/C was off the whole drive and windows down), or any other anomalies either visually or audibly. It was just another drive, with a lot more power.

Bottom line in this update: The car is starting to scare me now, which is exactly what I wanted. It is in CARB-legal state (certification is still pending as far as I can see on CARB's website), and on Magnuson's canned tune. My wideband doesn't show anything weird, and though I haven't captured much data yet, I have no reason to think I'm going to find too much out of whack. After the warranty, maybe I'll add an LT5 TB and fine tune the tune, but I don't need much more power. I need and will keep it CARB-appearing and won't be changing much from where it is now (I'll probably add a catch can if I find Magnuson doesn't really care, knowing GM will). I don't know that I could be happier at this point with this kit/product. It is meeting and exceeding my hopes and expectations, and it seems like is putting me right in the window of making the power to scare me just a bit, without diminishing my confidence in myself to drive the car, and the car to assist me in keeping it on the road, safe. I'll add that I'm getting a little more idle-whine after putting some miles on it, and it's great. I'm not a fan of the crazy Procharger-type whine at idle, but this is just enough to remind me of what lurks beneath the bonnet, and the resulting fun that awaits.

*** 05.12.2021 - Update *** (post #32)
Tune-wise: No problems or anything. I'll add that I'm probably not getting the full potential of this hardware set-up.

I've been trying to learn a lot more about the Gen V system (I've had some experience and some success with Gen III stuff), and have learned a lot, but KNOW there is a lot more.

I'm seeing there seems to be a fair amount of protection left in the canned tune. I'm not suggesting Magnuson wasn't thorough. I think it was probably to help save the car and drivetrain more than anything. Looking back, I could feel the power being pulled a WOT under some circumstances, and after monitoring for almost a year now (I've put probably 700-miles on the car, monitoring), I could actually see what I'm positive is the torque system pulling back power some. I can see throttle closing, mostly, and it seems to correlate to when I had felt it in the past - it's almost a near-dead spot when it happens, and I could pretty much repeat it at will. Timing can change and taper-off at times I wouldn't think it should need to, and that will pull power. That's all well and good, though, because I'd rather the car protect itself than break.

It's not because of the 91-octane (I've used some race-gas concentrate to bring octane to about 93 - I'm not getting spark knock or ignition activity that results in timing being pulled). Timing seems to be pulled mostly right before and after shifts, which make sense. Sometimes it seems to trail off slow after a shift, and I feel like I can feel that sometimes, but if it's for protection, while I have any warranty coverage, I think I can deal with it.

Fueling is good, and I'm pretty safe, running around 5-5.5ms of IPW. Low-side pressure is starting to fall (at the top of the RPM-range) to upper 60s, but high side is staying at commanded (I might address this down the road, but I'm trying to figure out if I can do a low-side and keep it stealthy or if I should only do a booster). I shouldn't need much more, so I might stay with a booster, but I think I'll wait until I get to the strip and see how fueling looks.

What I have learned is that a lot of this can be optimized for performance. I thin there is a good amount of performance left on the table. That might mean sacrificing warranty and such, but it seems like these cars can take it without much of an issue. I've also got emissions (because of CARB) in the back of my mind constantly, but this torque system seems to be the key.

I know the tranny can't be tuned, but know there can be small improvements through using some of the older A8 methods. These might be considered "raping", but there is a little than can be done for these A10s. I'm not looking for much anyways, because I haven't enjoyed any other transmission as much as I have this one.

I know there are several torque tables that can be optimized. I have another car where Driver Demand, Virtual Torque, Virtual Volumetric Efficiency, and many others can be manipulated, but pretty much all of them have to be optimized and then balanced. If you change/optimize one, you have to start shifting many of the others. I think this is probably the key in what I'm feeling from the car and what I'm seeing in the logs. I've seen some logs from other Members and even gotten tuning information from a good tuner that is showing me where a lot of this stuff can improve the calibration, and optimize the set-up. So - there's enough meat on the bone past the canned CARB-tune that it's probably worth dyno-street tuning. Cam, ignition, torque tables all correlate and you should address all of them, IMO. I think that would be my biggest suggestion - tune it for your set-up if you want to get the most out of it. And only get it tuned by someone that knows what they're doing. Some say VVE isn't important, and some of those people are WAY MORE skilled at tuning than I, but with the A10, I can't see that tuning doing more harm than good. It might take longer to balance everything else out, but if you're of a mindset similar to me, I'd rather spend the fuel and beat the car than just leave it for convenience. Some guys report problems, with trying to tune everything, but I have a pretty simple build compared to them, so I wouldn't likely face a lot of those issues.

Hardware or otherwise:
I don't have much to comment on. I can tell you the whine is louder, but not Hellcat-level. If you can open-up the air box (or replace the OEM one with an open-box-type [e.g. Rotofab), it's even louder (and probably still not quite HC-level).

If I have to have a criticism, it would be the way the dipstick mounts. You have to raise it the thickness of the coil relocation bracket mount (essentially). Thus far - I haven't found or noted any leaking or weeping from the tube hole or anything. Oil level indications don't have seem to changed anything notable or, in my estimation, worth worrying about. I might try to protect the coils from manifold heat down the road, but haven't noticed an issue yet.

I've added a couple adel clamps for some of the kits' hoses, here and there. Part of it was symmetry but the other was just piece of my mind. I had deviated harness and hose routing a little from the instructions (mostly based -off of my visual preference), so some of that has to do with the clamp additions.

I added a catch can (which is not CARB-compliant) but don't care. There was a little oil film in the OEM blower when I removed it. I can say that the can is catching oil and there are traces of residue in the blower snout (behind the catch can port), it is nothing close to similar to not having the can. I've seen as much as 16-psi (and a couple spikes of 19 in extreme cold air) pretty regularly, and am going to control the oil vapor as much as I think is reasonable. I'd definitely recommend a catch can.

Consider getting as much air to the blower as you can. If you really want the most out of this blower, in any case, I think having as much air as possible is best. There are excellent Calibrators here that will say you only need a 95 or that might not even be worth it, but from everything I'm seeing, and stuff I see on the web (I know...), it seems it is very likely to be worth the trouble. I can see around 2-plus-inches of vacuum in the snout, and that's very likely power that's left on the table, even with my 95 TB. If I could get a 103 on there, I would, but it's not stock appearing, so I don't think it's worth the trouble for me. I bet that's probably about 10-15 I'm leaving on the bone right there, but I'll probably never feel/appreciate that for what I do.

This whole experience has been almost as much fun as getting my dream car itself. I don't know that I could offer constructive feedback for this kit much more than what I've touched on here. For the needs I have, and the expectations I came in with, I couldn't be happier, really. I mean - I always want more power, and I very much perseverate on optimization, and while I recognize there stuff that seems can be, I also recognize it's in the interest of keeping the car from destroying itself that some of the meat remain on the bone. I'll probably end up correcting that, but this is probably going to be the last of the big mods' for me. I have a set of ZLE cradle bushings that will go in, but my car is about perfect now. I haven't been able to get to the track yet (thanks COVID and California...), but am eager to see what waste-time on street tires I'll have and what my drag pack will get me. I never got a chance to do a stock pass, but we all know about what to expect. I'll probably report back after that, unless there are other comments or questions.

I'm very grateful and blessed.

Another update soon...

*** 07/23/2021 Update ***
For those who might be interested (maybe more so for California residents than anything), here's another update:

There's another car I'm aware of almost identical to mine (minus a RFBG and 95mm TB) because they have the same intent I do on keeping it visually copacetic at this point, for now. So I'll share what I noticed from that combination, since it would (most likely) be the same for me if I kept optimizing.

Tuning for the other car improved with having more traction available. You could get into the pedal a lot earlier, and stay in it more. On the stock tires (before changing to the DRs), you could roll into WOT in the middle of 2nd-gear and have enough traction as the 2-3-shift approached, and just keep the pedal down. You could feel the car try to spin the tires, and it was on the verge, but was just under the threshold of losing grip.

The DRs went on, and street tuning continued, and is pretty much done. Now - with the DRs, the car will try spinning the tires, from a roll in 3rd, from about 40-or-so, all the way to the 3-4-shift at around 80-MPH. The torque transformation is nearly completely different. This tuning was done recently, in 80-plus* conditions around sea level, on clean asphalt. There was no burn-out or effort made to heat the tires (FULL weight, 20-psi cold tire pressure, no cool down or anything), other than a casual 10-mile warm-up prior to really getting on the gas (this comment was added just for reference for conditions). Rolling into the pedal around 2000-RPMs yielded spinning rear tires moments later (between 7-10-MPH difference in speed to the front tires was logged in the Scanner) through the shift into 4th-gear. I don't know if the owner would say the Driver Demand/Virtual Torque/VVE-tables were necessarily optimized to each other, but they would say there was 100% throttle opening when commanded and zero Torque Management retard. A calibrator might say the tune looks bad, but everything lines-up and there is no limiting. The car's on a blend of Racegas concentrate (orange can) and full tank of 91-octane (trying to get to about 93-octane safely), and seeing around 21* of timing at WOT with no knock (MATs are pulling almost a couple degrees because of temperatures). The standard Maggie tune is about 17*, if I recall, but I think that's based on 91 (and MATs would pull the same timing for the same temps). But the car's an animal now, and rips to redline. It feels altogether faster than my car. No dyno or anything to actually prove an improvement, but there was all manor of throttle and timing adjustments with the Maggie tune (again - as said before - probably protections to the powertrain, like GM does). The differences in mods' should show power, too, but, back to my car:

I still haven't gotten to the track. COVID farked that up until recently and as soon as that kinda' was less of a deal, then it got hot. I don't race when it's more than 90*, so I probably won't be at the track for a couple more months, after it starts cooling off. IATs/MATs all start coming down quickly under WOT, so the intercooling is great. When there is no airflow demand, and at low speeds, there just isn't much a PD-blower can do to cool the air until the throttle opens, and air actually starts moving through the system.
It's cool to see the temperatures start falling almost immediately though. It justifies not sticking to the OEM blower. Anyways - I'll see what the differences are between my car and the other one with the tuning. They feel different, but there are no numbers to show yet. I can see differences (throttle/TMA) in the logs between the cars, and mine's definitely limiting power. Magnuson is advertising different power numbers for this kit now in a way, but I'm not that concerned. It sounds like they're within a couple months of CARB-certification, so that's good for a person like me, with the margins I'm trying to stay within. Depending on what the other car does, maybe down the road I'll relax my constraints on tuning a bit, but I paid for a CARB-tune, and will need it down the road, so who knows? With the mods'

There might not be much left to report for this little project. It's not interesting to anyone else who's not a CA-resident interested in staying legal. I'm not sponsored in ANY way by anyone affiliated with Magnuson. No one asked me to share any of this. I think I wanted to try to offer hope to someone who might be interested or has to deal with similar circumstances. All hope is not lost on us Californians. For a person like me who is keeping this car probably past when there is gas available to drive it, I don't have a mentality of doing whatever I want to the car, hoping I don't get cited for illegal mods' until I just trade it in when smog is due. This is a permanent mod' for a keeper car. As always, I hope my honesty and transparency might be at least a little helpful to anyone thinking about this. There are a lot more exciting and complete builds than this one. I've always said I just wanted between about 600-650 to the tires, and I think my build puts me comfortably in that area.