Magnuson Magnum TVS2650 Hot Rod LT1/LT4 supercharger kit — Camaro drive

What $6,895 actually buys

The supercharger, the manifold it sits on, the intercooler inside it, the bypass and a 90 mm inlet. That is a complete air path from the throttle to the ports and it is the expensive, hard part of supercharging an LT.

It is not a complete installation, and the gap is wider on this kit than on most. Budget for it before you order rather than after the crate turns up — the list below is not upselling, it is the set of things without which the engine does not run.

• A drive pulley. 57-05 8-rib, 80–110 mm. Nothing turns the blower without one and the diameter is what sets your boost
• A cooling circuit for the intercooler. Magnuson’s universal system is $1,495
• Coil relocation. This is not optional on an LT — the coils are in the way. Magnuson’s kit is $220
• A longer flexible fuel feed line. The factory line will not reach
• A calibration. None ships with the kit

Why the 2650 instead of the 2300

Displacement. The TVS2650 moves 2.65 litres per revolution against the 2300’s 2.3, so it reaches a given boost level turning slower, and it keeps making air further up the rev range instead of running out of rotor. On a Gen V LT that is the difference between a supercharger that flatters a stock engine and one that is still the right part after you have built it.

Magnuson rates the Magnum to support up to 1,500 horsepower on an engine assembled for it. On an otherwise stock sixth-generation Camaro they publish 120 horsepower and 120 lb-ft with nothing else changed — which is the honest end of the same range, and the one most people will actually see.

The intercooler is the reason this works on pump fuel

A roots blower heats the air it compresses, and hot air is what makes an engine detonate. This one carries a dual charge-air cooler inside the manifold, with ¾-inch water ports, so the charge is cooled after the rotors and immediately before the port rather than somewhere out in front of the car.

That cooling circuit is the part people under-build. A heat exchanger that is too small turns a well-calibrated car into a car that pulls timing on the second pull, and no tune fixes it — which is why Magnuson sells a matched system and why we would rather you bought one than improvised.

A supercharger without a calibration is a liability

Nothing in this box knows anything about your engine. Fuelling, spark, torque management, cam timing and boost behaviour all have to be developed for the combination you have built, and on a blown Gen V LT the consequences of getting it wrong arrive quickly and expensively.

We calibrate Magnuson-blown engines on our hub dyno, watching knock, intake air temperature and lambda on every pass, and you leave with the sheet. That is $1,899.99 and includes the DEFI RTD4 so later revisions do not need another appointment. Shop labour is $265 an hour if we are fitting the kit as well, quoted against your car.