GS Motorsports' Hemi Paxton Blower - Forcing The Issue

This is the complete setup for the 6.1.

An underhood view of the installed system illustrates the neat placement of components. Note the water-to-air aftercooler heat exchanger mounted forward of the engine, and the clean fit of the blower unit. It looks like it could have come that way from the factory.

Trucks are made for hauling, and with the benefits of forced induction, haul they do. Gains with the GSMotorsports truck kits match that of the 5.7 passenger car system, though the blower layout is different in the truck kits.

As with all GSMotorsports kits, the full truck system is available as a bolt-on kit. Figure about 10 hours for a do-it-yourself installation--not too bad for the power gains to be had.

Peering under the hood of this blown Hemi truck, the differences in the kit layout contrast with the passenger car system, with the blower mounted to the opposite side of the power plant. Differences to the two engine's front accessory layout, intake manifold, and chassis necessitated unique kits for these two applications of the 5.7.

A close examination of the blower system's induction routing shows the compact flow path of the induction air. The blower exits to a short elbow directing air to the aftercooler. From there, the heat exchanger ducts cool air directly towards the throttle body. Note the fittings providing for the circulation of cooling water into the aftercooler.

Bolted directly ahead of the throttle body is the auxiliary injection system that provides the fuel enrichment needed to run under boosted conditions. The enrichment fuel is supplied by two injectors that are controlled by an independent control system, which is programmable to optimize the installation.

To make room for the blower body, GSMotorsports replaces the original coolant reservoir with a custom aluminum unit designed for clearance.

Scanning the dyno graph, the supercharged 5.7 is a real stormer with real musclecar power. Torque comes on strong and peaks at 437 lb-ft, while power surges to 414 hp at the wheels. Those are numbers you'd be lucky to find from your built big-block street musclecar.