Supercharger Performance and Engine Performance Parts

Posts Tagged ‘exhaust’

I’ve always been a fan of Yamaha motorcycles and Yamaha design. Yamaha, although they are a high performance motorcycle manufacturer, are notoriously known for designing beautiful bikes. This goes beyond simply putting a pretty body on a performance bike… Yamaha will actually go through the trouble of re-engineering a part (such as their under seat exhaust for example) to make it perform as required while maintaining the designer’s original concept and vision; whereas most other manufacturers would simply scrap the design and go for function over form.

Within the range of Yamaha motorcycles, the pinnacle of performance comes from the beloved YZF-R1 with its cross plane crankshaft (starting in MY2009) design which delivers torque pulses to the drive train every 90* of crankshaft rotation, giving a smoother acceleration, and tighter control over torque delivery. Although an accurate description, it is quite unfair to say this, but the Yamaha R1 is a ‘watered down’ version of the YZR-M1 motorcycle competing in MotoGP (the highest form of motorcycle racing), making it a stellar performer out of the box, with intoxicating sound, crisp response, and nimble handling…

(Embedded Video: If you are reading this on facebook, please visit the main blog to see the complete article).

For many enthusiasts owning a factory Super Sport motorcycle is more than enough infamy, excitement, performance, and exhilaration. However, for the few who like to push the limits of infamy, excitement, performance, and exhilaration: then even the R1 can be customized. The story I bring you today comes from the marriage of Race Proven Japanese Performance coupled with German edgy design.

The German tuner RF Biketech has produced a grungy Terminator style homoglogation based on the sleek, sexy, and refined R1. The modification is based on 2006 model year bikes (which come sans a cross plane crank, but with a 1 liter engine with the signature 5 valves per cylinder Yamaha heads, and a 12.4:1 factory static compression ratio). The factory-spec engine already pumps out 180hp (with ram air, and a 172 without) at a rev happy 12,5000 rpms due to the short 53.6mm stroke.

Although this is not new news by any means, there are still many of these bikes exchanging hands on the second hand market, and winding up in the hands of enthusiasts looking for project bikes (which is a different market segment from people looking to buy a brand new super sport bike and thus less likely to modify it).

It is a common saying that there is no replacement for displacement, but in fact, the four main contributors to power delivery are: Displacement, rpm, Compression, and boost. And with the bike already running high compression, and a high rpm redline, then the obvious choice for further power maximization would come from the other two power contributors: namely dispalcement or boost pressure.

Leaving the bottom end on the R1 engine untouched, and retaining the factory displacement of 998cc, RF Biketech have gone ahead and supercharged the motorcycle. By designing a custom take off adapter that connects a rotating pulley assembly to the crank of the R1, they are now able to drive positive pressure into the engine’s combustion chamber via an eaton roots style supercharger. Working within the original design concept of the R1 with its linear and predictable power delivery, and fairly low RPM redline (compared to other screamer bikes that build power to 18000 rpms) then the choice of the positive displacement Eaton makes a great match for this motor. The Eaton boosts power linearly in all RPM ranges and raises peak power while retaining the tractability of its delivery.

Boost pressure is set at a conservative 0.3 bar (or 4.5psi) of boost which increases power to 230hp @12,500 rpms. [According to the power calculator, a slight reduction of static compression down to 11.7:1 and a 1 step colder spark plug would be ideal for this conversion]. The modifications by RF-Tech also include a custom modified air box with a differently placed ram air scoop, as well as a pre-tuned power commander engine management system for fuel and timing adjustments. A new cat-back exhaust system (with EU emissions approval) rounds out the power modifications and includes a new set of midpipes and rear silencers.

Now that the 1-liter bike performs more like a 1300cc monster, the tuners turn their attention to the integrity and reliability of the drive-train. To increase traction under hard acceleration, the bike has been modified with a 12″ rear rim in place of the factory 10.5″. This allows you to install a wider 360mm tire (up from a 280mm factory tire) for a wider contact patch with the pavement.

In order to fit this size rim on the back of the bike, a new cog spacer is also fabricated, as well as a wider and extended swing arm. The new swing arm has an adjustable mounting position for the rear axle allowing the owner to alter or ‘tune’ the length of the bike for best compromise between traction (with a longer wheel base) and cornering agility (from a shorter bike with more rapid transitions) and is also available as a single sided wing-arm option (for improved appearance and reduced weight) To keep the bike neutral in handling after the rear tire upgrade, the front tire has also been upgraded with a 5.5″ rim capable of mounting tires up to 180mm wide.

Some may criticize these modifications as affecting the overall agility of the very refined R1. In this case, the tuner has offered all of these modifications as individual packages allowing you to upgrade the power of your R1 without changing the dimensions, the footprint, or the factory handling dynamics of the bike. However, considering that it is now virtually performing as a 1300cc bike in a 1000cc chassis, then you might want to at least consider some stickier tires and a wider rear chain to hold the power. A change in rear gear ratios may also be a good idea to find the best match between torque delivery, traction, and top end acceleration.

The last thing I want to mention here, is that I did model this conversion using the power calculator. While looking at the results, and based on the short stroke of this engine, the calculator suggests that redline can be safely increased on this bike from 12500 up to a healthy 13647 rpms. Now depending on what is involved in raising the redline on this specific applications (including engine management upgrades and or minor mechanical upgrades for cams or valve springs…etc), then going to this new elevated redline and retuning the bike using the already supplied power commander offers a power boost up from 230hp to 247hp. These last 17 horses may not be that hard to get at (if it is possible to raise redline simply by adjusting the power commander, and if the stock cams are already capable of flowing well into 13500 rpms and the valve springs are already stiff enough to prevent valve float at those levels). So depending on weather or not this is easily doable, the same bike can deliver close to 250hp (which is rapidly nearing motoGP power levels with 280hp coming from this season’s Yamaha M1 (the R1’s techno-advanced brother)) with not much more investment or effort!

Like I said earlier.. displacement, boost, compression, and redline…. some are easier on some applications, but all four apply when you are looking for more power. Until next time, thanks for reading superchargerperformance.com and please share this article with your friends…

Technorati Tags: eaton, exhaust, Motorcycle Superchargers, roots, Yamaha

Technorati Tags: exhaust, header, Lysholm, Mazda, Renesis, RX8

Alternative auto tech announces their new supercharger kit for the 2010 Camaro.

The kit is based on the eaton TVS (twin vortex system) with the new 4 lobe rotors and 160* lobe twist.

AAT hasn’t released much detailed info on what’s included in the kit… but we do know is that it does include the following:

• Eaton TVS 2300 supercharger top
• AAT custom short-ram style air intake with high flow cone air filter and heat shield
• Optional Borla Cat-Back Exhaust system

The combination boost engine performance by increase horsepower from 426 horsepower @ 5,900 rpm and 420 lb.-ft. @ 4,600 rpm up to 501 rear wheel horsepower and 455 wheel ft.lbs of torque.

Assuming a 17% drive train loss this gives us an estimated 600 crank hp and a calculated approximate 6psi of boost which is a very modest boost level for the Eaton TVS and does not warrant an intercooler for this application.

For people interested in even more power increases… Borla offers a complete exhaust solution including after-market high flow headers, an x-piped midsection as well as the cat-back exhaust.

All of these parts are available as an ‘installed’ turn-key 500whp package through AAT or as standalone parts for a ‘DIY’ install.

Find out more info here:

Alternative Auto Tech

Borla

Technorati Tags: Camaro, Eaton TVS, exhaust, v8

The Nissan GT-R is designed to be a Porsche killer. Being the flagship of all Nissan (and currently all Japanese Supercars), it has claimed that it runs a Nurgurg Lap faster than a standard porsche 911.

To add insult to this injury, tuning camp “Power Enterprise” has embraced this new beast and twincharged it. Wait! I stand corrected … They have successfuly QUAD CHARGED it.

I really feel like i’m no longer talking about cars, maybe I’m really writing about Intel quad core xeon processors.

The core of the twincharger kit is a pair of Rotrex C30-94 Superchargers which are EACH rated for 44 psi peak and a peak of 600cfm (400hp) when injesting ‘free air’. The thing is, these chargers here are installed inline, with the factory IHI turbochargers feeding the inlets of the Rotrex Superchargers.

To do this, the kit comes with a new intake plumbing kit including proper T-bolt clamps to make sure everything is secure in the engine bay under pressure. New high flow air filters feed uncompressed air to the factory IHI turbochargers, then the air is routed out to the 2.40″ inducer of the Rotrex C30-94 where it is compressed even more. The highly volatile and doubly -- compressed mixture is then routed to a pair of front V-mounted intercoolers and then directed to the intake manifold.

The whole setup also utilizes a power enterprise Kevlar accessory belt to prevent belt slip and belt stretch at higher rpms, which maintains full boost and full efficiency from the Rotrex Superchargers.

Keeping the entire mix under control is a new piggy back style ECU called the P-Map which over-rides factory ignition timing and fuel delivery, but also has the capability for more advanced features such as nitrous additional injection maps, and launch control settings.

Once the mixture is consumed by the monsterous engine, it is expelled through a 100% Titanium with an 89mm (3.5″) mid section feeding into dual 70mm (2.75″) outlets.

The result of this mix is a power hike from around ~500 crank hp to a dyno proven 640+ WHEEL hp which is a healthy gain of over 200 hp on an already insanely fast car.

Technorati Tags: exhaust, GTR, Nissan, Power Enterprise, Rotrex, Tuners, twincharging

I’m going to talk about my own car for a bit here… I’ve been in the performance scene for a long time and have helped a lot of people fix, repair and build up their cars from being a stock neglected and abused second hand car into being a gem of a dual purpose daily driver and weekend racer.

One of the things that I’ve learned through experience, is that unless you have the ultimate in tenability on your car, with a control system that is able to compensate for barometric changes, varying load conditions, rapid temperature swings…etc then it is best to get a car that is very close in stock form to your desired power levels and use the minimal number of power modifications required to reach your ultimate power goals.

This path of 20/80 *using the 20% of the modifications that will give you 80% of the results* usually leaves you with a very reliable car, with proven power potential; a car that you don’t need to give your mother a pre-race briefing on how to drive it before she borrows it to go to the grocery store, and a car that you will never be reluctant to take on a long weekend road trip out of town. After all, the point of having an enjoyable car is being able to spend as much time enjoying it, rather than working on it and having it break down. This is especially true on a dual purpose car that spends a lot of time serving you in your battle against the daily grind of school, college or work.

So, in looking a car to buy as my daily driver after college back in 2005, I was looking for a car that was already supercharged (taking away the headache of finding a reliable supercharger kit and an intelligent engine management system that I could rely on). I also wanted a car that had potential to be slightly modified to make it more engaging and that had good handling from the get go.

In doing my research I landed on the 2005 Mercedes C200 Kompressor equipped with the M271 engine. The m271 engine is an impressive factory engine equipped with a lot of things that we usually upgrade on factory supercharged cars. The car utilizes a 4^th generation eaton MP45 supercharger utilizing Teflon coated rotors for higher thermal efficiency and an increased maximum rpm range of 16000 rpms and a peak power capability of 240hp or ~360cfm. Even in a low boost package of 4psi on the C180 and 6psi on the C200, the car is still factory equipped with a front mount air to air intercooler to cool the air charge down. On the intake side, the car is equipped with a generously sized air-box with a cold air duct to the front grill.

The engine itself is equipped with dual variable valve timing on the intake and exhaust cam for optimized power delivery, better emissions. The ignition system is factory fortified with a coil over plug setup but with generic Bosch platinum spark plugs.

As far as tuning goes, the car is equipped with an MAS air flow sensor and a MAP pressure sensor, as well as a transmission slip and wheel spin sensor. The combination of all these sensors is that the factory computer can very accurately distinguish between boost pressure and load by comparing actual acceleration with the acceleration demand. This load sensitive ECU also uses dual knock sensors equipped on the block to detect individual cylinder knock. The result of these factors is an ignition timing optimized for each cylinder based on boost / rpm / load and air flow with individual cylinder timing retard to keep as much timing in the engine as possible for peak power delivery, while retarding timing in the offending cylinder to prevent the engine from detonating itself to pieces in case of a bad fill of gas or a clogged injector..etc

Over all the car is an impressive factory package. However, a 1.8 liter engine in a heavy chassis with 10 factory air bags, fully adjustable front seats, xenon lighting, a sunroof, and other heavy Mercedes amenities leaves the car slightly underpowered and requiring modification.

Below is a list of minimal modifications that have proven power potential as follows:

1. Carlsson CK20 kit
2. Remus 60mm Catback exhaust system
3. ported factory throttle body

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: eaton, exhaust, HKS, intake, M271, Mercedes, MP45, Ported throttle body

We are excited to release the third in our series of How-To videos on using the horsepowercalculator.

In this edition:

Calculating the right dimensions for your exhaust system and more specifically for a Y-Pipe exhaust.

The application today is a 5.7 litre chevrolet Camaro supercharged to 530 hp.

Technorati Tags: Calculator, Camaro, Chevrolet, exhaust, LS1, Supercharger, supercharger tuning

Building on the beautiful high revving v8 powerplant, MTM motorsports upgrades the performance, looks, styling, and handling of the 4.2 Audi RS4.

The heart of the upgrade package is a Lysholm twin screw compressor elevating intake pressures to a modest 6 psi. This fairly low boost pressure means that the engine’s static compression ration can be left untouched and that the supercharger package can be a true ‘bolt on’ affair. Following through with this ‘bolt on’ strategy, MTM have coupled the supercharger with an integrated top mount intake manifold with integrated air to water intercooler courtesy of Laminova intercoolers. Also in the mix is an MTM bolt-on cat-back exhaust system exiting in an exotic dual dual (that’s four outlets) 3″ tips.

The car is further enhanced with suspension modifications, lowering, lightweight body parts rounding off the performance package.  The result of all of this work is shifting power up from 420 hp @ 7800 rpms to 540 hp @ 8220 rpms. Torque is amplified from an original 317 ft lb , 430 Nm @ 6000 rpm to a new 412 ft lbs, 560 Nm @ 3700 rpms.

The attention to sound engineering design in this kit (using a twin screw supercharger, coupled with an integrated manifold and integrated intercooler) resulting in short intake path lengths, means that the whole package is both still highly throttle responsive as well as having more power delivery on the top end. Not only is it impressive that the car gains over 120 hp with this modification, but more impressive is that the power band growns from 1800 rpms on the stock high-revving V8 to a very meaty 4500 rpms between peak torque and peak power. This not only makes the car faster in a straight line, but makes it much more versatile on exiting corners and carrying its hefty weight and the weight of the AWD Quattro system in the lower rev range.

See the car in action

Find out more directly from MTM motorsports

Technorati Tags: Audi, exhaust, Intercooler, Lysholm, MTM, PSI, RPM, v8, VAG

This is the triple distilled guide on engine performance parts to help you make the most power with the least effort. There’s an abundance of bolt on and custom application engine performance parts available for any vehicle, and the internet is full of advice, trials, and feedback from enthusiasts, brand promoters, magazine editors, and even racers about which performance parts are best for your car. 

Engine performance hinges on one of THREE general factors:

1-      raw power factors

2-      efficiency factors

3-      Power boosters

3-      Power Boosters:

Typically called forced induction, power boosters include serious modifications to your engine that can result in a 30 to 400% power increase while maintaining the same raw power and efficiency figures (i.e. at the same peak rpm and with the same displacement).

Because of this serious increase in power, power boosters are the great equalizer that allows smaller engines to simulate and exceed the performance of a much larger engine. Originally these technologies were developed for conditions where more power was needed with a limitation on the physical dimensions of the engine. A prime example for this would be requiring more horsepower for a plane that would see most of its usage in high altitude thin air. The engine for this type of aircraft faces the difficulty of having to carry its weight and still maneuver with high performance and accuracy, which places maximum weight and size requirements on the engine and complete aircraft. Furthermore, the engine would have to operate efficiently and produce power in thin air which is less dense and thus less oxygen rich making it have less power potential.

After time these technologies moved into automotive racing and from there into aftermarket modifications and finally into production automobiles.

There are three types of Power boosters I want to mention here:

Engine Compression ratios:

Some may argue that this is an efficiency modification, but since this modification actually ADDS more horsepower rather than freeing up system inefficiencies I have chosen to set it apart here.

The addition of 1 compression point typically results in a 4% power increase and reduced fuel consumption. Bumping up a car’s compression ratio from a typical 9:1 compression ratio to a more performance oriented 15:1 for example is a potential power increase of 24%. I don’t think this kind of power increase can be considered an ‘efficiency’ upgrade but rather a legit power boost.

Let me disclaim here that increasing the motor’s compression ratio , as well as using all the other power booster modifications in this section, significantly increases the final combustion pressure produced inside the motor (especially when using more than one power booster in tandem), and thus there is definitely a need for:

1-      Higher octane fuel requirements to prevent preigntion detonation and reduce the speed of the flame front for normal ignition events.

2-      Heat management, through increased head cooling, using aluminum heads, colder spark plugs, and upgraded cooling system capacity to be able to cope with a significant increase in power (and its co product which is heat).

3-      A more conservative retune to a richer air fuel ratio that helps maintain stable exhaust gas temperatures that indicate a sustainable combustion process rather than an explosion occurring inside the engine

4-      A more conservative retune to for ignition timing and cam overlap that helps maintain stable exhaust gas temperatures that indicate a sustainable combustion process rather than an explosion occurring inside the engine.

Chargers (weather they are turbochargers or superchargers)

Turbochargers and superchargers intercept air in the intake system before it reaches the engine and compress it making it denser leaving more oxygen per volume of air. If the air is compressed to half its size for example then we will be able to fill a 2.0 Liter engine with 4.0 Liters of air per revolution. If we also make available double the fuel injection coupled with proper tuning, then we can successfully produce double the horsepower because there is literally twice as big a combustion occurring inside the engine.

Of course under normal conditions the engine would never breathe 4.0 Liters of air on its own, and thus charger works as a pump that keeps the engine pressurized by overfeeding or force feeding it with more air than it would have ingested under normal conditions.

The term boost or ‘psi’ (pounds per square inch) is a measure of how much pressure is placed on the motor and thus boost is highly related to how much more air is ingested into the motor. Every 1psi of boost is equivalent to a power increase of 7% over what the engine would make without a turbocharger, so increasing the pressure of an engine by just a few psi can show a significant increase in power and torque.

With 93 octane gasoline and proper tuning, boosting an engine to 15 to 18psi is pretty safe and thus increasing an engine’s power by 120% is not uncommon with a ‘street’ friendly turbo system. More power increases can be seen with race setups and higher octane availability.

One of the advantages of turbochargers and superchargers is that since the air is compressed (for example to half its original size at 14psi) then  a conservatively sized 45mm throttle body looks to like a 63mm throttle body from the point of view of the compressed air. In this way, turbochargers and superchargers can overcome inefficiencies in the design of the engine’s intake path because compressing the air makes it occupy a smaller volume (for the same oxygen content) which makes the intake system seem like less of a flow restriction.

This also makes some of the efficiency modifications (namely those between the charger and the intake valve) less in need of being modified as they are less of a power restriction.

Nitrous Oxide Injection

Nitrous oxide injection is similar to turbochargers and superchargers in that it delivers more oxygen to the fire in the same volume of air and thus in the same engine displacement. Nitrous oxide does this in two ways:

1-      Rather than compressing air to a smaller volume to increase oxygen density, nitrous oxide is composed of two nitrogen molecules and 1 oxygen molecule. This composition makes nitrous oxide 33% oxygen rich by volume compared with normal air which is around 16% oxygen by volume. What this means quite literally is that if we had an engine breathing pure nitrous oxide flowing at room temperatures and atmospheric pressure then the horsepower output would simply be doubled.

2-      However nitrous oxide is delivered to the engine in compressed form (as it is compressed to 1000psi when it is packaged into the bottle). Using the same formula for pressure and volume that we used for turbochargers, a 1000 psi pressurized bottle is compressed 70 times or to 1/70^th its original volume. This  means that feeding an engine purely with nitrous oxide at the temperature and pressure at which it comes out of the nitrous bottle, we could potentially produce 140 times more horsepower from that engine than we could having it breathe normal air! How is that for a replacement for displacement?

Practically speaking, nitrous oxide is usually used for a power boost of 50 to 100% depending on how prepared the engine (and the user is) for the power boost, and depending on the style of nitrous delivery (for example progressive direct port nitrous injection is the most reliable type of injection for 100% or more nitrous power boosts).

So in summary of the whole article…. Here’s what I recommend:

1-      Figure out how much horsepower you want to achieve

2-      As stated in part 1, figure out the engine combination with the highest potential that is allowable for you in the rule books.

3-      Look at how much boost you will need if any with that engine combination to reach your power goals

4-      Depending on weather you need a 20% power boost or a 200% power boost, pick your power adder (from a small compression increase, to a small nitrous shot, to a larger supercharger or turbocharger setup, to a combination of power boosters) that will allow you to reach your goals.

5-      Last (and not first), plan out the supporting and efficiency modifications that are required for that engine and power adder combination (from part two of this article). Basically you want to install the efficiency parts that will allow you to flow the amount of exhaust gas that you need at your peak power level, and optimize your entire engine package around your target peak PRM, anything else would be a waste of money.

6-      Understanding that upgrading engine efficiency is limited to a 10-20% power increase over stock as well as performing modifications planning in the sequence that I have just described, may save you TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars from being wasted upgrading a motor that just frankly doesn’t have the raw power potential (in terms of displacement, RPM or stroke) to meet your power requirements, or requires an unrealistic power boost combination (such as a 400% power hike using an exotic turbo setup) to reach the power goal requirements that you have.

I know that most of the advertising and development in performance modifications spent on things like intakes and exhausts (covered in part two of this article), but that is easily explainable:

1-      Those parts although they don’t add much horsepower to your car, are exactly what 80% of the people are willing to install on their cars because they sound cool, are cheap, may require no tuning at all, and are fairly easy to install.

2-      Those parts are also a gateway modification to more power modifications in the future, and so come at a smaller entry price and smaller install complication to get you willing to work on your car and purchase parts (basically a marketing ploy). If everyone were chucking their stock engines for a larger big block grabbed from the junkyard then all the shallow aftermarket performance companies (producing only efficiency parts) would go out of business leaving only the companies that have the depth of experience and science to build crate engines and power adder kits. So for these companies to stay profitable they need to keep you invested in your stock engine which allows them to secure their place in the industry, weather that wins you races or not.

However if you are serious about modifications, you will use my 3 piece guide to start your modifications plan with the end in mind. If you really want 700hp then you are much better off with a 500hp engine running a measly 6psi of boost than you are trying to boost a 150hp 4 cylinder to 54psi or trying to feed it 550 horsepower worth of nitrous.

Technorati Tags: compression ratio, Displacement, engine performance parts, exhaust, intake, N2O, Supercharger, turbocharger