2008 Pontiac G8 GT Procharger HO Intercooled Supercharger System Install - Four Doors Of Fury

Intercooler time. ProCharger's 2-core air-to-air unit is prepped by installing its brackets first, before putting it in place on the car. FYI, the company offers a larger, 3-core intercooler as a $345 upgrade; we should note that slight trimming and modification to the vehicle is required for installation of the 3-core.

For the 2-core intercooler, fitting it to the front of the G8 requires no such extra hassles. It bolts up in the area between the A/C condenser and the bumper using factory holes, and the stock bolts are reused as well. The bumper is then bolted back on in front, there is at least an inch of clearance between it and the intercooler; therefore, airflow through the intercooler will not be obstructed.

The supercharger bracket, made from gorgeous polished billet aluminum, gets mocked up and preassembled before being put in place in the engine bay. Its bolts are not fully tightened for now. Also, the supercharger belt tensioner, while shown attached to the bracket at the moment, must be removed before the bracket goes onto the engine in order to access the bolt holes behind.

The top power steering bolt and the top alternator bolt now do double duty in holding the supercharger bracket, and in addition, other bolt holes are utilized in the driver side cylinder head (at least one of which originally was used in securing the power steering reservoir bracket). Aluminum spacers are used in certain locations behind the bracket, but all bolts holding the bracket on are the same length, which makes things easy. After this photo was taken, the supercharger belt tensioner was put back in place.

Filling the P-1SC-1 supercharger with oil is so important, the boys do it before even taking it out of its foam packing! The company sells the fluid in these small bottles, with only one being required per oil change. The recommended interval for draining and replacement is 6,000 miles, with the first change being necessary after 500-1,000. While one unfortunately must take the head unit out of its bracket to accomplish this, the self-contained oiling system ProCharger utilizes does mean there is no need for external oil lines or oil pan modification, reducing system complexity and chance for leakage.

ProCharger's P-1SC-1 head unit is a proven performer. Used across many of ProCharger's kit offerings, it's capable of providing up to 1,200cfm of airflow and 32psi of boost, with a maximum impeller rpm of 62,000. It's advertised as supporting up to 825-horsepower, but if that's not enough, an upgrade to the D-1SC head unit (available for $230 extra) will give up to 925-horses. (Photo courtesy of ProCharger)

The head unit is installed onto its bracket via six hexhead bolts. Dave and Josh advise me that although re-clocking of the unit may occasionally be required to get the angle of the discharge right, it was not an issue here.

The 6-rib supercharger drive belt goes on. Its tension is increased to ProCharger spec via the adjuster bolt shown being tightened here. Only after this is done can the bolt on the front of the tensioner be tightened completely. The guys also final-tighten the bolts holding the adjuster on the tensioner from behind the bracket at this point as well.

Two black, powdercoated steel tubes are needed to snake from the blower outlet to the inlet of the intercooler. They are put roughly in place, along with a final curved portion made out of rubber.

Once necessary adjustments are made, all clamps are tightened onto the tubes. The intercooler is final tightened on its brackets at this point as well. A note on the final piece of rubber hose connecting the outlet of the second steel tube to the inlet of the intercooler: it can't be fully round as it passes through a somewhat tricky area between the A/C condenser and frame, so a metal tube would be inappropriate here for the configuration of this kit. It is this area that must be notched to allow use of the optional 3-core intercooler. ProCharger's Jeff Lacina-also present during the install but hiding from being photographed-points out that the great thing about this kit (with its standard 2-core intercooler) is that it's easy to bolt right up to a stock car, with no permanent modifications needed.

Moving to the passenger side of the car, a 90 degree elbow is joined to the throttle body via a rubber coupler, and the MAF goes on the other end with another rubber coupler. The tube just upstream of the MAF snakes down in front of the fenderwell area and is a bit of a tight fit, but Dave gets it to go in OK with some finesse.

One final curved black pipe goes from the end of that tube to the intercooler outlet. As you can see, several clamps are needed along this route, and here you can see them hanging loose and ready to go. Once all pipes and couplers are connected, their alignment is adjusted everywhere between the intercooler and the throttle body, and all clamps are tightened up.