To those of you who have a supercharged FC, I want to know a few things:
What supercharger are you running?
Do you need an intercooler in your setup?
What engine did you start with? (I'd assume 6-port n/a, but want to be sure) also, s4 or s5?
How much power are you putting out?
How is reliability effected?
and, did you need to swap to a tII, or higher-durability transmission, assuming you started with an n/a?

I'm considering the possibility of supercharging my s4 n/a, with a newly rebult s4 engine and relatively new transmission.. I'm interested, not because it's the smartest way to go about making more power, but because the potential of a supercharged FC interests me, and I like to be different. Plus, I am particularly attached to the car I'm working with. on top of that, I saw a rebuilt Paxton stage 1 kit for a little over a grand, and a used Nelson (i think) for about $1k, meaning it wouldn't be horribly expensive, unless there other great expenses I need to consider. So, gentlemen (and ladies), tell me all you know!

 

Also, I will search to find more info on this, but I would really like to hear individuals' personal experiences with supercharged FCs; so please don't flame.

 

hey I thought you were short on cash! what's all of this supercharger talk? I'm kidding man!

I don't have a supercharged FC but here's my 2 cents: it's one thing if you want to be different but I believe the turbo option would be cheaper in the end.. I don't know what other parts you'd need besides the kit. Either way, you'll definitely want a TII transmission. Have you seen this?

http://forum.teamfc3s.org/showthread.php?t=37694

Let's put it this way, there's a reason why you don't see too many supercharged FC's out there.

Have you considered nitrous oxide?

 

yeah basically you pay 3k+ for an extra 50hp supercharged
or you pay like 2k+ for for 150hp?? which one makes more sense to you?

 

The problem is there aren't any cheap decent blowers that work well on the 13B. I've tried about 6 different setups, and short of using a whipple (expensive), nothing was even close to being worth the investment. The 13B just works better with a turbo.

 

the only SC systems I've seen here do not make enough power to justify the cost. I know MAzda played around with some 13B engine designs and added a HUGE airpump that acted like a supercharger but they decided to NOT USE IT and went with the Turbo. I don't know about the majority here but I am not an engineer and I'll trust that the engineers that designed the 13B from the 12A and 13A KNEW what they were doing.

There are about 3 or 4 people on this forum that have successfully SCed their NAs ( i met one in person and he was complaining about it the whole time and how he should have done a TII swap). I don't know if it means much to you, especially since I do not HAVE a SC FC but you can wait and see if anyone WITH the swaps comes in and says otherwise.

 

yeah; this is more like wishful thinking, or researching for my project for next summer if I get ambitious
Thanks for the parts, btw, Sonorous7. got the strut bar installed yesterday, and going to give the carpet a bath along with other parts of my interior soon

 

say I was to find another rebuilt Paxton supercharger for $1k, and make an extra 50hp.
spending $2k to swap in a s5 tII engine would also only get me an extra 50hp.

knowing that I'm not trying to make big power, and that I'm just trying to have some fun with the car, does it make sense?

 

sorry, didn't see your post earlier. good to hear from someone who's done it. thanks for your input

 

oh, hey, I finally figured out how to quote properly. sweet!

Anyways, I figure I can afford to have my car out-of-commission for a week or two next summer; I will just have to steal my dad's Corvair (or my mom's Volvo station wagon, if I'm desparate.) to me, it would be well worth $1k to 1.5k for a blower, assuming I can still find one for that little money.

I suppose my real question, then, is what do I need other than the blower itself? if Sonorous7 is right, and I'm gonna need a tII tranny, that's another $1k or so, and I know the stock ECU can adjust to slightly higher power, but I don't know if it will be able to compensate for 40hp worth of blower attached to the engine. if anyone has any more input on those matters, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts

thanks for your responses, everyone

 

but what you're not thinking about is that after you get tired of your 50HP with the TII swap you CAN change the turbo and get another 100hp. IF you get tired of your SC and the HP what would your options be? a better SC??? that will cost you another 2K-4K.

in the end it's your car, if you want to be dumb and say "I'm GOING TO DO IT" without researching it further than you aren't using your head. Come on guy, Sonic is the perfect example!!! HE has tried several setups and HE STILL IS TELLING YOU IT'S NOT COST EFFECTIVE!! The only thing left is to slap you with the SC itself!

seriously though, it's your money and your car and if you want to waste both then great, no skin off my back. I did my part by telling you what I have seen and what my opinions on this are.

BTW: as I stated earlier MAzda tried a SC setup (TISC according to pg. 246 of the Yamaguchi book) that used an airpump to pump more air into the motor via another set of ports ( which later became the 5th and 6th ports) but the engine never left the Prototype stages ( yes, it helped develop the VDI systems but it wasn't used for a reason). In the search for more power they used another form of forced induction.

Enjoy.