LS2 Supercharger Upgrade Guide

Chevy/GM first brought out the LS2 engine in the 2005 Chevrolet C6 Corvette, SSR, and Pontiac GTO. It also made its way into various other GMC/Chevy/Pontiac vehicles, like the G8, Trailblazer SS, and Sierra/Yukon. From the factory, the LS2 engine produced between 300-400 horsepower and 360-400 lb-ft of torque, depending on the vehicle. However, if you really want to make your LS2 come to life, getting an LS2 supercharger is the way to go.

This guide will cover the top options for upgrading your LS2 superchargers. We’ll take a look at the most well-reviewed and well-respected LS2 superchargers within the GM/Chevy community, and analyze them by cost, performance, and craftsmanship. Regardless of the LS2 equipped or swapped vehicle you own, there is a supercharger system for you.

LS2 Engine Basics for Supercharger

Previously, we’ve looked in-depth at the LS2 engine before, so we’ll just go over some of the basics here. The GM/Chevy Gen IV small-block LS2 is based on its Gen III small-block predecessor, the LS1. It has a relatively simple pushrod OHV, 2 valve per cylinder design, featuring an aluminum block and head.

The LS2 has a bore and stroke of 4.000″× 3.622″. This results in a total displacement of 6.0 L, an increase over the 5.7 L LS1. The LS2 retains the six-bolt main caps, 4.40″ center bore, and deep-skirt case from the LS1. Both had steel crankshafts and sequential multi-port fuel injection, with the LS2 having 34 lb/hr flowing injectors.

In the Corvettes, the LS2’s aluminum block weighs 15 lbs less than the LS1 block. This weight reduction is courtesy of a thinner-walled exhaust manifold, smaller water pump, and a smaller oil pan. It might sound alarming that the oil pan requires a full quart less oil than the LS1, but it’s not. The pan has completely redesigned baffles to keep oil flowing through the pickup and is wingless instead of “gull-wing” design. Again, this revised oil pan was just for the Corvette version of the LS2.

The biggest thing to know about the LS2 when it comes to modding is the cylinder head. The LS2 used GM’s LS cathedral porthead, which is relatively undesirable. Compared with the rectangular port head used on engines like the LS7, the cathedral ports do not flow as well and perform worse at higher RPMs, though they are arguably slightly better for low-end torque.

LS2 Supercharging Basics

Now that we know a little about the LS2 V8 engine, let’s talk about supercharging. There is a lot to consider about a supercharged LS2 besides just picking out a blower. Even that is not quite as cut and dry as it might seem. In these next few sections, we will cover the pertinent things on any successful LS2 supercharger build list.

Supercharged LS2 Supporting Mods and Tuning

While superchargers are fun upgrades, they are not the only aspect of a successful build. Not only do you need to consider internal upgrades to make your engine withstand the power, but you also need to think about other bolt-on mods and tuning to get the most out of your supercharger kit.

You can supercharge a completely stock engine with the stock exhaust, but that will limit your gains. For a good build, you will want at least a few other supporting bolt-on mods. These include upgraded intake, headers, throttle body, camshaft, and of course proper tuning. Most of these will add about 10-20 horsepower individually, but they really help superchargers work more efficiently.

At a minimum, if you are considering a supercharger you will also want long-tube headers. Things like intakes and throttle bodies are also pretty much necessary mods. However, they are supercharger-dependent, so keep that in mind before purchasing.

Previously, we looked at the Top 5 LS2 Mods, as well as an LS2 Header Upgrade Guide. Make sure you take a look at both of those before planning your build.

While you don’t need any bolt-ons when supercharging, there are a few fueling upgrades that do need to be made. This includes larger fuel injectors and a bigger fuel pump. Most kits will include these, but if not you’ll need something larger than stock to keep the fueling on par with the increased airflow.

Tuning

Tuning is going to the most important supporting mod for a supercharged LS2. Proper ECU tuning will make sure that your engine is safely running whatever boost your kit runs. Without good tuning, your engine is very liable to explode in short order with forced induction. Tuning will also help you get all of the usable power out of your LS2 supercharger upgrade, too.

Internals and Block Power Limits

It’s widely considered that the LS2 has stronger internals than the LS1, which is already pretty stout itself. It is capable of taking more than 800+ wheel-horsepower on the stock block without any issues. There have been many stock LS2 blocks that have pushed into the 900+ wheel-horsepower territory without issues, but that’s a little risky if you ask us.

There are quite a few LS2 supercharger kits that fall between the 500-750 wheel-horsepower range. For builds in this range, at a minimum, you will want aftermarket forged pistons, forged connecting rods, and head studs.

Other good upgrades are a high-pressure oil pump (Melling is popular), timing chain dampener, Trunion rocker arm upgrade kit, 6 or 8-rib belt conversion, and stronger pushrods. Fueling-wise, you will need larger injectors and a larger fuel pump.

The Different Kinds of LS2 Superchargers

Now let’s talk about the different kinds of superchargers available for the LS2 engine. There are three different options; centrifugal superchargers, roots superchargers, and twin-screw superchargers. Each of them has their advantages and disadvantages, but all are good options.

You can think of centrifugal superchargers as belt-operated turbochargers. The mechanism is pretty much the same as a turbo, but a belt runs the compressor instead of exhaust gasses. Centrifugal blowers will offer the highest peak power, but at the expense of low end torque. Usually, these sit in front of the engine rather than on top of it.

Roots superchargers are the most common type of blowers available from the factory on stock cars. They are the simplest and cheapest type of supercharger. Roots blowers offer lots of low-end torque, but can’t match centrifugals for peak RPM power. Roots superchargers, importantly, don’t actually compress any air. Rather, they act like a large air pump, pumping air into the engine where it gets compressed during the compression stroke.

Twin-screw superchargers are the type of superchargers used on cars like the SRT Hellcat and Demon. Twin-screw superchargers look similar to roots-style, but they compress the air before sending it into the engine. They are great for low end torque, like roots-style, but provide less peak RPM power than centrifugals.

Both roots and twin-screw blowers are known as positive displacement superchargers, while centrifugal superchargers are known as variable displacement. The difference is, roots and twin-screws will deliver a consistent amount of boost, whereas centrifugals vary the amount of boost they run. This allows centrifugals to reach higher levels of boost than either roots or twin-screws.

Top LS2 Supercharger Kits

Now that we have talked about what it takes to supercharger your LS2, let’s get into the recommendations. We have broken it up into two sections, C6 Corvette supercharger kits and all other LS equipped vehicle superchargers. We know that most LS2 owners looking to supercharger are ‘Vette buyers, so we made it a separate section. Let’s get started.

Top LS2 Superchargers C6 Corvette

• A&A Superchargers
• East Coast Supercharging
• Edelbrock E-Force

Top LS2 GTO, Trailblazer SS, and Truck/SUV Superchargers

• Edelbrock
• Magnuson Superchargers
• ProCharger
• Vortech

LS2 Supercharger Upgrade Summary

The LS2 V8 makes decent power from the factory, but adding a supercharger can really wake it up to its full potential. Bolt-on mods are definitely good places to start when building your LS2, but they don’t hold a candle to forced induction. Smiles per gallon will surely increase with a nice big blower mounted on your GM/Chevy 6.0 L.

We went over quite a bit in this article, including LS2 supercharging basics, to what your engine needs depending on your build, to some solid recommendations to look over. No matter what LS2 powered vehicle you have, if it’s a C6 Corvette, GTO, Trailblazer SS, or Sierra/Yukon, there is a supercharger out there for you.

What’s your experience with supercharging the LS2 V8 engine? Are you considering purchasing one?

Drop a comment and let us know!