Hardly a day passes that we don't receive at least one phone call ore-mail from a reader hoping to have his/her car featured in themagazine. John Svoboda went several steps further and provided us with afull-length feature article on his supercharged '98 coupe, complete withprint-quality digital photography. We were sufficiently impressed thatwe decided to reproduce John's efforts below.--Editor Heath
Have you ever wondered how it would feel to flatten the gas pedal inyour C5 and roar off into the countryside, leaving everybody elsebehind? These days you'd be hard-pressed to locate a late-model-Vetteowner who hasn't. After all, these domestic dream machines have enoughponies to shut down just about any other stock vehicle on the road.
When it comes to vanquishing the more-seriously tricked-out streetrides, though, you'll have to look to the aftermarket for help. Andwhile performance-improving modifications for the C5 are easy enough tofind, how can you be sure everything you buy will work togetherharmoniously toward the goal of enhanced straight-line speed?
You could always follow the example of John Svoboda. John is no strangerto performance cars, having previously owned several modified C3s. Thesedays, though, his real passion is his Torch Red '98 coupe, which, forreasons that soon will become clear, he has dubbed "Super 98."
John and his wife, Debbie, bought the coupe in 2002 from Park'sChevrolet, in Kernersville, North Carolina. At the time of purchase, theVette was bone stock and showed only 18,000 miles on the odometer. Thiswas important to John, who, in his words, wanted to "start with a cleanslate."
Before beginning his quest for more power, John took the car to achassis dyno to obtain baseline horsepower and torque figures. The dynoread 291 hp and 244 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels--about average foran auto-trans C5.
John's goal was to build a dependable, reasonably civilized street carthat made over 600 hp at the crank using 93-octane pump gas. With thisin mind, he knew either turbocharging or supercharging was the way togo. After discussing both options with fellow Corvette Forum members, itbecame clear that a ProCharger head unit, coupled with A&A CorvettePerformance's C5 supercharger kit, provided the optimum combination ofdependability and bang for the buck.
Once he had settled on a basic system, John traveled to A&A's facilityin Oxnard, California, to discuss his specific application with shopowner Andy Green. Andy suggested a ProCharger P-1SC head unit, a singlelarge intercooler, and A&A's own custom bracket system. Andy said thelatter piece would virtually eliminate belt slippage, a potentialproblem with any high-hp centrifugal supercharger system.
Once back home in North Carolina, John selected G&M Auto in West End toperform the installation. G&M's Greg Munn handled the job, while EdWright at Fast Chip provided a custom PCM tune. "Greg was great and hada lot of good ideas to squeeze every ounce of power out of the systemwhile making sure it was reliable," John tells us. A post-install dynopull showed 457 hp and 444 lb-ft at the rollers, a roughly 55 percentincrease over stock.
The first thing Greg told John when he picked up the car was that thestock automatic transmission would not last long with all that extrapower. This prediction was borne out on the way home, when both Thirdand Fourth gears started slipping badly at full throttle. It probablydidn't help that John sampled the Vette's newfound power a dozen or sotimes on the 80-mile trip. "It was scary fast the first few times I goton the throttle," he says.