SEMA 2008 Tuesday Coverage

[mark@lsxtv]

Today was the first official day of SEMA. Crowds of dealers waited patiently outside the doors for the 9 A.M. entry. We covered some of the hot new products from the show, and will continue all week long.

You can fast forward to coverage of the show each day here:

• Tuesday New Products & SEMA Cars - Click here
• Wednesday New Products & SEMA Cars - Click Here
• Thursday New Products & SEMA Cars - Click Here
• Friday New Products & SEMA Cars - Click Here

Monday:

• GM - 2010 LS7 Camaro Unveiled
• GM - 2010 Dale Jr. Camaro Unveiled
• GM - 2010 Camaro V6 "Black" Unveiled
• GM - 2010 Camaro GS Unveiled

Tuesday:

• Energy Suspension - F-Body Mounts
• Moser Engineering - Economy Disc Brakes
• SCT - Touch Screen Extreme
• GMPP LSX 454 & 367 Crate Engines
• GMPP LSX Crate Engine Swap in a 1969 & 2010 Camaro

Vortech to debut Twin-screw VL-series Superchargers

You heard it right. Vortech has teamed up with Lysholm in Sweden to develop new, positive displacement, twin-screw supercharger kits. Lysholm originally developed this blower seen in the photo above for the late-model Ford GT super car. This is a major change for the company, as it has concentrated exclusively on centrifugal compressors.
The blower's twin-screw design pulls the air in from the top of the compression screws, actually compresses it, and discharges out the bottom. “A lot of people have been asking for a supercharger that creates bottom end torque. Truck owners care more about bottom end then they do on the top end”, says Director of Sales, Gil Cormaci.

***** Watch the full video on the Vortech VL-series Twin Screw

The twin-screw design means Vortech will be building intake manifolds for the VL-series. This is a whole new thing for Vortech. The parts on their vehicles display were the first made prototypes. Vortech feels that their reputation will lead people to believe in their new twin-screw blowers.

The kits will come with bypass valve, air/water cooler, and Diablosport tuner with a custom Vortech tune. These superchargers will be capable of producing over 20 PSI. The LS based kit will ship the first quarter of 2009, offered in 2.3L and 3.3L kits, with the tuner kits possibly shipping a little earlier. The GT500 direct replacement blowers will be available around the same time.

Visit www.vortechsuperchargers.com for more information

[mark@lsxtv]

Unless you buy a function built external tank, it is hard to have a stable fuel system. Fuel sloshing from side to side can starve the fuel pump on a sump fuel system. Aeromotive has come out with a new weld on sump kit they call the "Stealth".

Inside the sump includes your choice of a A1000 or Eliminator fuel pump. Also inside is a pre-filter and a cam lock cover that allows you to service the pre-filter without draining your fuel tank.



The pick up for the pump sits a fraction of an inch from the bottom of the sump, which only requires only a half-gallon of fuel to operate properly. The fuel return is opposite of the pick up to keep the warm fuel from being pumped back into the motor. For Fox body applications, Aeromotive includes everything from the fuel cell to the rails, with all fittings and lines.



Visit http://www.aeromotiveinc.com/ for more information

[mark@lsxtv]

Fuel pumps need 12 volts to work properly. Most people over-fuel their fueling system with hopes of improvement. What that means for large pumps, is that you can cycle your fuel cell in three minutes. Constantly heating up your fuel as you drive will lead to vapor lock.

To control the fuel pump flow, Aeromotive came out with a fuel pump controller that will help limit your fuel flow on low load by turning your pump into a solenoid by pulsing the current to it. The new controller is half the size and allows for ramping versus the older step style. You can tune the trigger off the stall or RPM to transition to the full ramp.



Visit www.aeromotiveinc.com for more information

[mark@lsxtv]

Comp Cams Pro Magnum steel rocker design is a quarter century old. Comp realized this and came out with a modern design. The new Ultra Pro started with a clean sheet of paper.

***** VIDEO: New COMP Cams Ultra Pro Rocker Arms & Valvetrain ***

The CAD designed rocker, moves all the weight to the center, reducing the amount rotating weight. Also the rockers are stronger, making them more stable at higher RPM. Ratios vary from 1.52 to 1.7. Not only do they look trick, but they'll rev at the higher RPM with a lower "effective" weight on the valve.

Visit www.compcams.com for more information.

[mark@lsxtv]

We recently covered an EFI system from Professional Products, the Powerjection 3, which makes Carb conversions easy and simple. FAST now has entered the game with their EZ-EFI. FAST has a new budget EFI system, called the EZ-EFI Self Tuning Fuel Injection System. The kit is designed after the 4150 and will even accept the stock linkage. This is a nearly plug-and-play system for those wanting to swap from carb to fuel injection.

**** VIDEO: FAST EZ-EFI System **

The display asks a few simple things, such as desired idle speed, cam size, and cubic inches. The EFI system does the rest with an integrated wide band 02 sensor. This is a non-tunable kit that will support up to 550 horsepower for naturally aspirated combinations. It takes a four-wire connection to get this new system up and running.

Visit www.fuelairspark.com for more info

[Chris DeMorro]

SEMA is a spectacular place for new upstart companies to display innovative products that have the potential to revolutionize the automotive industry. ABACO Performance is one such company, and their new DBX Mass Air Meter, the only digital meter on the market today. They say that this meter offers unparalleled ease of use and configurability.

The ABACO Digital Mass Air had been available for Ford vehicles all during 2008, but now the GM offerings are also available.



ABACO says, thanks to the DBX’s unique design these meters can better filter out camshaft reversion and pressure surge, providing a much more accurate air reading and sending the right calibrations to the computer. But it is the plug and play capability of the DBX meters which ABACO says set them apart from other MAF meters on the market today. While other meters need to be re-calibrated by the manufacturer, ABACO claims the DBX can hold up to ten different calibrations at any one time.

If ten calibrations isn’t enough, you can use the free software to download and set any calibration you might need. Even if you don’t have a DBX yet, you can go on to their website at www.abacoperformance.com and play with the software for free and check out all of the available calibrations. Currently ABACO is making the DBX for multiple GM and Mustang applications.

Visit www.abacoperformance.com for more information

[Chris DeMorro]

Driveshafts are an important but oft-overlooked part of any high performance vehicles, but when they fail the results can be both spectacular and catastrophic. To this end The Driveshaft Shop came to SEMA with a slew of driveshafts and axles to keep your high horsepower reigned in.

The C5/C6 Corvette is a popular platform for big power builders but while the engines and transmissions are capable of making and holding 1000+ horsepower the axles don’t come close. So The Driveshaft Shop started by replacing the C.V.’s on each end with Porsche style 108mm C.V.’s. They also developed an aluminum driveshaft with billet ends rated for 1000 horsepower.



Visit www.driveshaftshop.com to see all their available axles and driveshafts.

[Chris DeMorro]

Tuning a car used to be as simple as turning a screw, but with the advent of electronic fuel injection the name of the game changed. Now it takes a computer to tune a computer, and the variables involved are many and complicated. But tuning doesn’t have to be a daunting task anymore, as long as you ask the guys at EFILive, a logging and tuning tool that in the right hands can pull impressive amounts of power from otherwise stock cars.

Based out of New Zealand, the EFILive tool works with any 98+ GM OBDII engines including the diesel Duramax models. For most cars there are between 600-800 different tuning parameters and variables can be anything from transmission shift points to freeing up errant horsepower from overusing your fan. For example there are 693 different tuning options for a 2001 C5 Corvette, and just from tuning alone EFILive was able to free up about 22 horsepower. On Duramax diesels, horsepower can be doubled (as long as the stock transmission is beefed up) without adding any other modification according to Guy Trip of SoCal Diesels.

For more information, check them out at www.efilive.com

[Tom@LSXTV]

Crane Cams had some great new products for the show this year. With new products for both GM LS engines and Ford Modular engines this year, the Crane Cams booth was full of slick looking cams and plenty of rockers to go along with them. With plenty of options for any application Crane Cams has a cam to fit your build.

Pro-Series L92/LS3 Stud Mount Rocker Arm Kits



The L92 and LS3 engine are quickly becoming one the most popular engine choices for GM power. These mikronite enhanced rockers are a bolt in kit that supplies valve train stiffness that is needed in high horsepower engines.

With Crane Cam’s Quick Lift Technology they claim that by opening the valves quicker you see improvements in torque, horsepower, and throttle response. No matter what you believe these rockers use a special tapered needle bearing in fulcrum assemblies to ensure quite operation and longevity. Add to that the fact that they are fully adjustable and CNC machined makes this a potent use for everything from street to race built engines.

LS Series Big Inch Wide Separation Angle Hydraulic Roller Camshafts



With a little bit of tuning the use of this cam is one that would help make huge numbers for any LS powered drag or even auto cross car. Using Crane’s Rapid Ramp lobes not only helps you to produce the maximum amount of horsepower but also promotes ease of tuning for the best drivability. Featuring 5150 induction hardening and gun drilled for weight reduction these cams also include premium performance cores to make them a effective choice you anyone building a LS engine.

For more information, visit www.cranecams.com

[poweradmin]

The B&M Stealth Pro Ratchet Shifter is a new take on a popular design, featuring the magnum grip handle, carbon fiber inserts and a black anodized cover. This ratcheting shifter is available for most 3 and 4 speed transmissions and well as Powerglides transmissions.

For more information visit www.bmracing.com