When it comes to the debate between power-adders, one thing that superchargers have always had to contend with, is that they require a mechanical connection between the crankshaft and the supercharger. That connection is usually made by a ribbed belt, relying on the friction generated between the belt and pulley, generated by belt tension, to drive the supercharger pulley.

This is usually not a big deal, as the invention of high-grip, severe-duty belts, and reliable belt tensioner systems have made belt traction almost a non-issue. That is until you start getting into an area of the Venn diagram with three overlapping components — A serpentine belt drive, a big blower, and a crankshaft snout known to not handle those previous two factors very well.

Unfortunately for the Blue Oval faithful, the Coyote is just one of those engines. Between the strain of running a big race blower with a serpentine drive and making the resultant big power, the factory crankshaft is a possible weak spot. Or should I say, WAS…

The kit is a deceptively simple affair. While easy to install, that only comes thanks to the significant amount of research and development ProCharger has put into crank support (and drive) systems in the past two decades.

Tackling The Problem

Since fixing this kind of thing falls right into the wheelhouse of ProCharger’s R&D team, they took on the challenge of creating a support system for the Coyote crank. “Thanks to making crank supports for about 20 years, the engineers already had a bunch of proven parts to grab off the shelves (dating back since Pro 5.0 days),” says ProCharger’s Erik Radzins. Then it was just a matter of adapting a front plate to mate to the Coyote front cover.” Looking at the finished product, it appears deceptively simple, belying just how much effort went into this product and its true effectiveness.

The assembly consists of a heavy-duty aluminum bracket assembly that anchors into the block at four points for an incredibly solid platform. In the middle of the bracket is a bearing, which supports a precisely machined mandrel which bolts onto the damper, providing additional support to the crank snout. The bearing is an extremely robust unit, proven over years of use in street and race applications. While serviceable and replaceable, it’s not likely to need it. “I ran a crank support for years on a 351w-powered street car, and we have yet to determine what the life expectancy should be.  They really are a very robust unit.” Radzins says.

Designed to work with an SFI-approved damper from either ATI or Innovator’s West, the crank support mandrel bolts to the damper to provide additional support for the front of the crankshaft.

While it is incredibly straightforward, there are a few caveats with the crankshaft support system. The first, and probably biggest limitation, is that this support won’t work on Gen-1 (2011-’14) Coyote engines due to the crank damper location (it sits farther away from the engine block than the Gen-2 and Gen-3 variants). The second requirement is that you run an aftermarket ATI Performance or Innovator’s West damper, as the crank support mandrel was designed to bolt to the provisions available in those two units.

Thirdly, you’ll need to be running a ProCharger Stage 2 drive system in either an 8-rib or 10-rib configuration. Not an expensive upgrade by any means, and realistically, if you’re pushing your combo hard enough to need a crank snout brace, why wouldn’t you be running an upgraded drive system in the first place? While the kit will work with all of the OEM drive accessories, there is a point of interference with the stock front swaybar.

Big Blower, Big Power

With a multitude of supercharger options available, the Coyote engine can be configured in a multitude of ways. However, one way that has traditionally not been recommended was running the bad-boy F-1X supercharger with a belt drive on the Coyote. That is partially due to the fact that the smaller F-1A-94 is the ideally sized supercharger for a Coyote and part of it is that the Coyote’s crank wasn’t up to the challenge of an F-1X

At least now, if you are absolutely dead-set on ignoring sizing and efficiency recommendations, you could run an F-1X with a belt-drive, and not have to worry about developing a sudden case two-piece crank syndrome. So whether the ProCharger hanging off of your Coyote is from the P-1, D-1, or F-1 family, this new crank support system will give you added peace of mind, no matter how much power you’re making.

Even though this engine isn’t configured exactly the same as an OEM powerplant, all of the original accessories work without modification. However, the kit currently only works with Gen-2 and Gen-3 Coyotes, and requires minor interference with the OEM front swaybar to be addressed.