Help me please!!Superchargers dilema

S

spun

Member
 spain
Hi guys, i have some problems this month with choose a supercharger for my Z 3.0i. Like we know the dollar is expensive than euro day by day, the Vf engineering supercharger cost about 4500$, last year the price to europe should be 3800eur+tax+ ship(+500eur total 4300eur) .The power will be 330hp gains, with a vortech blower v3(700hpmax power).
Since last week this supercharger are more expensive day by day with final price over 4800 euros.
I´m looking for the Gpower supercharger, but now this kit runs with ASA T3-313 http://asasc.com/superchargers/t3-313 with and the max power for the kit is 306hp but the real problem with this kit is the max power of the blower, it´s only 300hp. I ask to you if you know, if i install, headers ,cams... to more hp gain, the blower can handle this extra power, or you think it broke in less time?' I´m very convused at all. Please help me.
I saw a few superchargers on second hand, but the tune is expensive, and if the blower are damage :cry: :cry:

Thanks a lot to all, and sorry for my best english :headbang:
 
Hello

Firstly there's a couple here who have supercharged so have a search.

Secondly, updated cams and headers will not strain the supercharger. The only time it's under more stress is if you increase boost.
The stress will be on your engine itself.
A stage 1 supercharger will not initially require any strengthened components but once you go beyond and start looking at 300bhp+ then yes upgrading engine internals is a good idea, but a costly one.

I don't have much if any experience with superchargers but you should be having this chat with a good tuning garage, regardless of how much work you intend to do yourself.

Like I said there's a few on the forum who have done this and have documented things very well so have a search and reach out to them directly if you don't get a response.
Thanks and good luck
 
if you talk to VF engineering the will help you with the tax, mine only cost just over £100 in tax. :thumbsup: The kit is extremely good from VF the only downside was the instructions aren't 100% accurate but if you are installing it yourself like i did them you shouldn't have a problem. Make sure you get the data cable as they will email you the software and you send them your file which they will alter and send back within 24 hrs. The VF support was excellent.
I don't know about ESS or Gpower but others on here have installed them.
 
surely better to just upgrade to an M? you will have an M virtually powerwise but without all the M benefits , ie suspension , steering , brakes etc , so will need to either upgrade everything else too at great expense then add insurance for forced induction plus loads of mods, to still end up with not quite an M. probably dearer in the long run and worth less when you come to sell.Not a good route to go imho. :o
 
From what I've read on z-post is that support at VF is crap. But I have no first hand experience
And support is everything. All kits available have some niggles, and when you install them yourself, you will call/email them at some point on how to do something specific. At that point you need aswers, otherwise your car won't run. There are a lot of frustrated VF users on z-post about that. You may want to read up on that. That may be on specific problems, but the general opinion there is pretty much the same, where people are left with their problems, and searching for different companies to retune.
It may differ from kit to kit how much support you'll need/how difficult it is to install.
I needed support for my ESS TS2 install and I'm a fairly competent mechanic. Some things are just not clear, or you get the wrong parts (and wonder why it doesn't fit properly....). Although the ESS ts2 kit is probably the most difficult kit to install....(differnt intake manifold, adapting fuel rail etc etc, it complicates things..) I got parts for the e46 and it took me a while to realise that it wasn't me that didn't know how to fit the parts....
These things happen, and good help on the phone solves everything.

As for the low power supercharger kits: They don't come with larger injectors and cooling, so upgrading is no option imho.
And seeing that you live in spain (hot climate), I'd never install a supercharger kit without some sort of cooling. Especially if you want to go that bit further.

I don't know if G-power has their sk1 kit for the m54b30 still available (that's a 350hp kit with injectors, cooling etc), but when I was shopping around (early 2011), it was pretty expensive and did not offer a self install (only installed in germany). Probably due to the (custom) ecu programming. But g-power has nice hardware, although I don't like that their superchargers (on the smaller kits anyway) are lubricated by engine oil. The small G-power kits are popular in the netherlands, but I know of more than 1 kit that needed a rebuild over time. Also tapping into the oil system riscs changing the oil pressure that engine bearings recieve, which can shorten the engine life. And there is no way to check that. So I'm not a fan of that kind of engineering... a seperate oil circuit is better imho.

The engine internals are no concern, they're good to beyond 400HP and 500Nm.

A technique tuning turbo might also be interesting. Not cheap but a lot of power. I don't know if they do a z4 version though. The z4 has a different ecu than the e46, so if you find a e46 kit, it's not certain if it can be adapted to z4. The z4 ecu is very tricky to tune (much trickier than the e46 ecu), and is probably the most difficult things about these kits.
My ESS TS2 tune also didn't ran good (only on high altitude.....a problem ess also hadn't seen before, and it even wasn't clear if it was the tune or something in the engine...) and when I upgraded to ts2+ (different tune, cams etc) things were solved (so it was the tune).
Above around 300hp a lot of safety mappings have to be adjusted in the ecu, and you're then completely dependent on the company that sold you the kit.
That's when the importance of support comes into play (that company must want to spend time on this although they already recieved your money ;))
 
with all supercharger kits you will need to upgrade the suspension, brakes, clutch and engine mounts so its not as straight forward as you think.
 
I still use the same clutch with 380bhp/317 lb-ft.
If I need a new clutch I probably install a sachs performance one, but for 3 supercharged years I used the stock one.
Also upgrading the suspension / brakes/etc I did because I felt that it would suit my driving style, not necessarily because of the extra power.
 
The VF engineering kit states that the warranty is only valid if you have uprated the brakes, suspension, engine mounts and clutch.
 
Are they gonna warrant the whole car?
Otherwise I see no reason.
I don't know the exact warranty disclaimer for VF, but mostly these kind of disclaimers state that it only is for the kit itself.

And uprated with what? Uprated is a pretty non specific word.

edit:
I looked at the VF warranty from their site, and couldn't find such thing, but maybe I misread.

I drove almost 2 years with the standard brakes (driving hard from time to time, in the alps), and obviously a bbk can handle more heat, but it's not that the stock brakes makes it an unsafe car. The bbk is necessary if you brake hard over&over again, and then still want to brake more...

The only thing I advise is an LSD, as you then can use that extra power more effectively in a number of situations (it doesn't make any difference on the highway, but it does in tight corners in the lower gears etc).
 
I agree with you, GuidoK.

The biggest part of the warranty is the supercharger, which is through Vortech and not VF. I wouldn't place much faith in VF's warranty anyway, and there's not much that can break. The kit has been installed on many M54 engines, and if your car has a failure after the kit has been installed, there was either an underlying issue or a improper install. You would have a very hard time proving it was the kit.

The car really doesn't need anything for a VF kit. Clutch is only necessary if it starts to slip. This is dependent on how the car has been driven, and is a wear item. The additional torque is not that much on a centrifugal kit, because torque increases with boost, and boost increases to redline where torque would normally be falling off. An ESS kit is another story, but GuidoK's car is a testament to the capacity of the stock clutch, as he has not had issues. So... if he's been ok for two+ years, you should be fine too. I'd budget for a clutch, but only pull the trigger if you need it.

Brakes are only needed if you run out of capacity. If someone needed uprated brakes for street driving, they're living on borrowed time and will soon kill themselves due to reckless driving. Track driving is a different story, with repeated hard stops.

A limited slip diff is awesome, but not necessary. Do it if you have the money, but if you don't, then don't let it affect your purchase decision. The VF kit doesn't generate much more than stock power until you get in the higher rpm, after the weight has been able to transfer to the rear and provide more traction. Good tires and warm temperatures go a long way. I'm running a 3.64 final drive and would love a limited slip, but I never feel disappointed after a drive... I only see it as an area to improve, the next stage if you will.
 
Ok thanks to all for answers.
First, upgrade brakes is not neccesary to me, i bought Bilstein B12 to upgrade suspension to my way to drive .I´m not thinking about tracks my car,
Buy an M it´s not an option because the prices are too high day by day, and i´m not planning going to sell the car in the future.Yes, i know than a car with supercharger is not the best thing to sell, but not a problem
. One problem from supercharger like ESS to me, is that in Spain is illegal to drive a car with 20% more power to stock and the intercooler is not an option to me, why? because is obvious under the hoof. With only the supercharger like the VF for example, looks like OEM and probably pass the anual inspection without issues, and my options will be or Gpower (+-3700euros) or Vf (+-4400 euros ). I think than two kits offers really about 310hp but looks better to me the Vf kit. I haven´t got much information about the new kit by g power with asa t3-313.
Problems with insurance or another kind of problems it´s not a problem because life is a problem and have a little supercharger hidden into my engine is only one little point more in the ecuation
 
ok just checked where i saw it and it looks like a "strongly recommended" statement

page 2 number 2

http://www.muga-uk.co.uk/z4/e85-z4-3.0-instructions-ver1.pdf
 
I would treat that like the Viagra disclaimer, to seek medical attention for an erection lasting more than four hours. It's both a CYA and a subtle advertisement as to the effectiveness of the product. In reality, very few consumers are going to fall into that category.
 
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