The Goods: ProCharger Installation On 2019-20 GM Trucks/SUVs

Superchargers are the keys to a better vehicle, pure and simple. Inasmuch as they’re incredible for the amount of power they help produce, they’re also exhilarating purely on an auditory level. Few things are as awesome as hearing a supercharger spool up, all the while the RPM getting higher and higher.

Case in point, ProCharger recently came out with more applications for their world-renowned superchargers, and this news is sure to bring a lot of smiles to truck and SUV enthusiasts. New for the 2019-20 Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe, and Yukon is ProCharger’s P-1SC-1 supercharger. You may recall we covered the installation and testing ProCharger did on a brand-new Gladiator a few weeks ago. This time, it’s all about the Bowties.

“This system is the first complete supercharger system hitting the market for this amazing new 6.2-liter and 5.3-liter truck,” said ProCharger’s Erik Radzins. “Now, although GM didn’t change the horsepower output of these trucks, they did shed around 300 pounds off. Combining that weight savings with an extra 180 horsepower and 175 pound-feet of torque, you have a very potent upgrade that you can bolt on in your garage. Plus, our centrifugal superchargers work especially well with GM’s 10-speed automatic. It keeps the engine in the power band, where the supercharger works best.”

Let’s dive into the installation to see what it takes, and later on, we’ll talk dyno results as well.

Installation

To start, undo the negative battery terminal, which will prevent an accidental electric discharge. From there, the air inlet tube needs to come out, along with the air box bracket, oil dipstick tube, and plastic radiator shroud.

Now that there’s access to the radiator, the radiator supports come next. These are on either side of the radiator, with four running toward the top and two running toward the bottom. The horn assembly is removed as well, along with the air box inlet tube. The latter can be thrown away, as it won’t be reinstalled. Lastly, removing the radiator shroud between the radiator and A/C condenser gives a clearer view into the front of the engine bay.

Looking into the engine bay, more obstacles remain, like the fuse box. With it removed, the cooling fan comes next. ProCharger suggests removing the upper radiator hose to make extracting the fan easier, but it’s not necessary. After removing bolts to the cooler fan and lines, the cooling fan should be unplugged.

The project starts with removals of radiator shrouds and support brackets.

Underneath the truck is a skidplate, which needs to be extracted. It’s held in with four 13mm bolts. Once it’s out of the way, all hoses and electrical harnesses need to be released from the fan. The fan can come out at this point, and give access to the crankshaft. It’s a good idea to remove the flexplate cover on the transmission, as this will allow you to hold the flexplate in place while removing the crankshaft pulley bolt.

This ProCharger pulley gets installed onto the crankshaft pulley.

ProCharger’s supplied pulley is now installed on top of the harmonic balancer. Once it’s in place, the next steps are to reinstall the fan assembly, plug the cooling fans back in, and re-attach all hoses and electrical harnesses to the fan shroud. Reinstalling the fuse box is on the to-dos as well.

Next comes the main bracket. First, it needs a support bracket mounted to the passenger side cylinder head. Once that’s in place, the partially disassembled main bracket gets installed into the engine bay. What comes after are the idler pulley assemblies and spring tensioner, which get mounted onto the bracket.

The bracket goes in, followed by the supercharger and routing the serpentine belt.

The supercharger is almost ready to bolt in. First, however, it needs six ounces of the provided oil, and a drain line mounted on its bottom. Once the supercharger is mounted up, it’s time to route the serpentine belt, which is shown in a diagram in ProCharger’s installation manual.

This diagram from the instruction manual shows how to route the serpentine belt.

Installing the intercooler.

Now it’s time for the intercooler. You can pre-assemble the intercooler by bolting on the upper brackets to the top of the intercooler, and then install the lower brackets onto the lower radiator support. Once the intercooler is centered inside the grille, go ahead and tighten all hardware.

At this point, tubing is assembled. This will connect all of the intake system together, from the airbox to the supercharger to the intercooler and finally the throttle body. The Bullet blowoff valve is installed as well, and makes use of a provided vacuum manifold to keep the airflow optimized inside the engine.

Installing the tubing and surge system.

The P-1SC-1 is now totally installed. Final steps include reinstalling the horn, putting the skidplate back in place, and trimming the radiator shroud to accommodate the new tubing. The system looks fantastic, and if all went well, it took less than a day to get everything taken care of.

Now it’s time to check out the fruits of this labor. Dyno results will show us just how much power came from installing the P-1SC-1, and give you an idea of what to expect on your own rig.

The peak numbers show the stock engine made 338.3 horsepower and 349.9 lb-ft of torque. However, the P-1SC-1 blew those numbers out of the water: 517.2 horsepower and 523.6 lb-ft of torque. Simply incredible!

Looking deeper at the dyno graphs, Radzins raised some good points. “GM rates this truck at 420 horsepower at the crank, which resulted in 338 at the wheels on our dyno, making for a 19.52-percent loss in the drivetrain,” he said. “That’s pretty typical for a truck with a big rearend, wheels, tires, and a transfer case. So, with it cranking out 517 horsepower to the wheels after being supercharged, that means this thing is making almost 620 horsepower at the crank!”

If you’re in the market to get your late-model GM truck or SUV boosted, ProCharger should be your number one provider. Be sure to check out more about this and other offerings on ProCharger’s website, and don’t forget to follow them on Facebook.

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David Chick

David Chick comes to us ready for adventure. With passions that span clean and fast Corvettes all the way to down and dirty off-road vehicles (just ask him about his dream Jurassic Park Explorer), David's eclectic tastes lend well to his multiple automotive writing passions.
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