ProCharger Intercooled Supercharger – Supercharged!
What if we told you that you could add 50-plus ponies in just four hours?! With the new ProCharger Intercooled Centrifugal Supercharger for ’07-09 Softail models ($5,195) it can be done and we have dyno proof!
There are a few ways to achieve substantial horsepower and torque gains, but without doing any major engine modifications, a power adder like this is the only way you’re going to see big numbers from a stock 96ci engine. The ProCharger is a bolt-on kit that does not require any engine modifications. And with a product that won Performance Product of the Year in 2008 at the V-Twin Expo, we had to see if the system measured up.
Walt Sipp, V-twin product manager at ProCharger came to us with a ’08 Rocker that was begging to get blown. We went to Huntington Beach Hogs and Choppers in Huntington Beach, California, to do the install. After putting the ProCharger on the dyno we almost soiled our trousers when we saw the numbers!
Supercharger And intercooler Basics
In Volume 41 Number 3 of HOT BIKE, William Denish gave you the skinny on how superchargers and intercoolers work. Here’s a quick recap. This ProCharger model is an intercooled centrifugal belt-driven supercharger that is mechanically driven off of the crankshaft to pressurize the entire induction tract above 14.7 psi (normal atmospheric pressure). So essentially it increases the pressure differential between the manifold and cylinder to create what is called charged air (greater mass of air than atmospheric pressure alone that flows into the cylinder). Since the supercharger is driven off of the crankshaft, boost is immediate and simultaneously increases as rpm increases. Boost is pressure above 14.7psi. So for example if you add 10psi of boost to the engine’s induction system, the engine sees the sum of both for a total of 24.7psi.
An intercooler works to bring charged air (heated air) to a lower temperature when it enters the throttle body/carburetor. Cooler air is denser, contains more oxygen, and requires a lower level of fuel octane, which reduces the risk for potential detonation. Detonation is bad for your engine’s components. Basically, as your blower shoots air into the engine it is temporarily suspended in the intercooler assembly, passing through a series of passages, cooling the temperature before the air then flows into the throttle body and into the engine.