Supercharger Performance and Engine Performance Parts

Posts Tagged ‘header’

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

Supercharger performance is proud to present the newly updated power calculator. The only calculator built for enthusiasts by enthusiasts…

Get your copy today !

Technorati Tags: boost, CFM, compressor map, header, Intercooler, N2O, Power Calculator, RPM, water injection

Check out this cool article on HondaTuning where Comptech performance superchargers and AEM come to the rescue of this enthusiast to get him out of a tight spot with his girlfriend. 

The car in question is a 2004 Acura TSX coupled with:

The comptech supecharger is fed by a Carbon Fiber Gruppe M intake.

• Gruppe M intake
• DC Sports 4-2-1 Header
• J’s Racing 60RS exhaust
• Comptech roots style supercharger
• pulley Boys High boost pulley kit
• AEM return fuel system
• AEM F/I Controller with a custom tune. 

With these modifications the engine now sings to the tune of 280 hp…. 

Find the complete article here:

2004 Acura TSX -- Street Level

Technorati Tags: Acura, AEM, carbon fiber, Comptech, header, roots

In the movie “The Matrix Reloaded” Cadillac set off to showcase its new CTS model line as an edgy, abusable, and robust sports sedan. Since its introduction the CTS has evolved to be more technology packed and more power hungry. The line grew to add the CTS-V which boasted faster acceleration and higher performance, and Cadillac even went circuit racing with their CTS-V.

The most recent CTS-V delivers its power from a 6.2 Liter supercharged V8 producing 556 horsepower.

Hennessey provides three supercharged upgrade stages for the CTS-V dubbed the V-series, they also provide a turbocharged power package as well.

V600

Engine Performance Parts include:

• K&N Air Filter Element
• Supercharger pulley Upgrade & Belt
• Engine Management Software Upgrade
• Supercharger Pulley (14 psi) & Snout Upgrade
• Available as a mail order kit and installed and dyno tuned at HPE

V650

Engine Performance Parts Include:

• 4 inch Cold Air Induction System
• Supercharger Pulley & Snout Upgrade
• Engine Management Software Upgrade
• Long Tube 1 7/8 inch Stainless Steel Headers
• 3 inch Stainless Mid Pipes
• 3 inch Stainless X-Pipe
• High Flow Catalytic Converters
• intercooler Heat Exchanger System Upgrade

Other modifications:

• Hennessey Embroidered Head Rests
• Serial Numbered Dash Plaque
• Serial Numbered Plaque in Engine Compartment
• Available as a mail order kit and installed and dyno tuned at HPE

V700

Engine Performance Parts include:

• 4 inch Cold Air Induction System
• Supercharger Pulley & Snout Upgrade
• Engine Management Software Upgrade
• Long Tube 1 7/8 inch Stainless Steel Headers
• 3 inch Stainless Mid Pipes
• High Flow Catalytic Converters
• Intercooler Heat Exchanger System Upgrade
• V700 camshaft Upgrade
• V700 High Flow Cylinder Heads

Other modifications:

• Hennessey Embroidered Head Rests
• Serial Numbered Dash Plaque
• Serial Numbered Plaque in Engine Compartment
• Available as a mail order kit and installed and dyno tuned at HPE

For more information:

Hennessey Performance

Technorati Tags: cams, header, Hennessey, Intercooler, supercharger performance, Tuners

I realize that I’ve spent a lot of time in the past two weeks talking about roots style positive displacement superchargers. Those are not the only types of superchargers out there. Centrifugal superchargers have a top end biased power curve that works perfectly for applications where there are traction limitations, in drag racing where most of the race is spent in the higher rpm range, or on big motors that already have plenty of torque.

Here are two examples of vortech centrifugally supercharged beasts:

1997 Pontiac Trans Am street car: Capable of 700hp 6.4 liter Big Block Vortech S-trim supercharger 1.75″ headers into 3” collector and 3” true dual exhaust	Supercharged 97 Trans Am.
1973 Purpose Built Drag Camaro Dynoed over 1400hp 8.4 liter Big Block!! Vortech YS1 supercharger 2.25″ headers into an open collector	1973 drag camaro

Find the complete articles here:

1997 Pontiac Trans Am – Blown Away

1973 Chevy Camaro – The Beauty Of Plan B

Technorati Tags: big block, header, v8, Vortech

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. This is the triple distilled guide on engine performance parts to help you make the most power with the least effort…..

Engine performance hinges on one of THREE general factors:

1-      raw power factors

2-      Efficiency factors

3-      Power boosters

2-      Efficiency factors:

Most of the bolt on performance parts available in the market are actually geared towards efficiency, to name a few : intakes, headers, exhausts, cams, cam gears, ignition systems, spacer plates and phenolic resin gaskets, PCV systems, catch cans, lightweight flywheels, clutches and pressure plates …etc

The focus of these parts is never really to INCREASE the performance of the engine above it’s possible potential. Rather, the focus of these parts is to be able to optimize the existing engine’s performance so that no power is wasted and every possible ounce of horsepower that can be made, is in fact made. Furthermore, we want every possible ounce of horsepower that is made, to reach the wheels rather than being ‘lost’ in friction, mistimed combustion or other problem areas.

My point is that although a lot of money is typically spent on this part of engine modifications because these parts are accessible and easy to install, it is usually the least effective modification for the money because as stated earlier the maximum potential gain of these systems is whatever efficiency the manufacturer decided to overlook when packaging the car. This typically leaves a good range of 10-20% to work with on older cars, but increasingly, and with better designed newer cars we find that an efficiency gap of 5-10% at most is not uncommon.

The reason for this trend of rising motor efficiency is that efficiency brings with it advantages of better mileage and lower displacement requirements to produce the same acceleration and user experience.

There are only 2 exceptions to what I’ve stated above in which it is worthwhile to invest money in improving the efficiency of your motor:

1-      If you have a vehicle where the car produces peak power at 5000 RPMs but the actual engine redline is at 7500 for example then the addition of 3 modifications: 

a.       A new intake manifold with the correct runner design

b.      A new camshaft with the correct duration

c.       A new exhaust manifold with the correct runner design

These three modifications can shift peak power from 5000 rpm’s to 75000 RPMs and this as we stated in Part 1 ( Raw Power) of this article can potentially boost power figures by the ratio of those two RPMs or 50% to be exact!

We have to be clear about what we are trying to achieve from our bolt on power parts. Are we trying to increase the efficiency of the motor using a more efficient intake and exhaust (and other parts) to gain a 5-10% power boost… or are we actually trying to shift our peak power rpm upwards to gain a significant increase in RAW POWER production… Most people don’t think about this and end up buying a mish mash of low rpm and high rpm optimized parts ending up with something that doesn’t perform to its best potential and becoming a big waste of money.

2-      Sometimes people spend a lot of money on bolt on parts but still end up with a poorly performing car, in this case it usually best to invest in the following:

a.       An air fuel ratio tuner

b.      An ignition timing controller

c.       A set of adjustable cam gears

When the car has been extensively modified but is still poorly performing it either has:

1-      A mix of parts that aren’t working together (ie are designed for different flow capacities and different rpm ranges… such as installing a stump pulling designed header that’s optimized for peak torque at the lowest possible rpm and a short straight runner intake manifold that’s designed for the highest rpm horsepower peak… in using those together we find that the when the engine is able to exhaust air efficiently it is unable to breathe air in efficiently to create exhaust gasses… so that exhaust manifold’s potential is wasted, at the same time, when we get up higher in the rpm ranges and the engine can breathe air in efficiently, that air is trapped from exiting through a poorly or miss-designed exhaust manifold which chokes the engine negating any effects the intake manifold could have created)….

2-      A bad tune that is incompatible with the car’s fuel, ignition, and cam timing requirements. Getting a performance tune can unlock the hidden potential of the performance parts already installed, and this tune becomes more and more important the more power you are trying to make …. It’s not uncommon for a turbocharged import to go into the dyno room with a 300 hp engine and come out making an extra 200 hp at the hands of a capable tuner.

So if I had to summarize part 2: efficiency factors:

                Before purchasing any efficiency modifications for your vehicle look and see if there is a big disparity between your current peak power RPM and your Redline, If so then know that you have the potential to gain a significant amount of power, if not, the know that no matter how much money you invest on bolt on engine auxiliary parts then the most you’re typically looking at is a gain of some 10-15%, which is fine, however people expect that every part they install is worth 3-7hp and that by installing 10 bolt ons they will have 30 to 70 more hp when in fact all they are doing is going from 85 to 90 to 99 to 99.99% efficiency of power potential limited by their displacement , RPM, stroke and last but not least forced induction which I will explain in part 3… stay tuned !

Technorati Tags: engine efficiency, header, RPM, Stroke, Tuners

A brief guide that explains how to pick the least engine performance parts to improve the performance of your supercharged car.

A lot of times we find ourselves seeking a supercharged car, not only because it has good power from the factory, but also because we expect that a car that has forced induction from the factory is:

1-      Better engineered or even over engineered with strengthened blocks, thicker rods, factory cast pistons, upgraded cooling capacity, additional engine oil and transmission oil coolers …etc.

2-      Has factory revised engine performance parts, such as a longer duration higher lift camshaft, a factory ported cylinder head, an extrude honed intake or exhaust manifold, more robust ignition system…etc

3-      More overall power potential, as manufacturers like to deliver cars that are easy to maintain and will last for a very long time, they usually ship the cars with very conservative boost settings, conservative air fuel ratios, and conservative timing figures to make sure that no matter what condition the car is used in (towing, sand duning, extreme heat, extreme cold ..etc) that under no possible extreme condition will the car lean out, over heat, or fail giving you a healthy margin of safety to work with to increase the car’s performance if you don’t live in an EXTREME climate. Which most of us don’t!

If you are interested in upgrading the performance of your supercharged car using engine performance parts, these are the modifications I would recommend:

 1-      Performance pulley:

A supercharger performance pulley is either a smaller supercharger snout pulley, or a larger crank pulley, or a kit that includes both. This may also be known as an ODPS (over drive pulley system) in case you need to google search for engine performance part manufacturers later.

The cheapest, most widely available and very effective upgrade for a supercharged car is the pulley upgrade. The pulley on the snout of your supercharger decides the mechanical gearing between your supercharger and your motor. Changing this gearing increases the maximum rpm that your supercharger will reach (which is a function of maximum engine rpm), and thus will increase the maximum amount of boost pressure that your engine will find available for it to create horsepower.

Typical supercharger systems will ship from the factory at a boost setting of 7 to 10psi, whereas the performance pulley will usually extend your supercharger’s working rpms to the maximum safe rpm bringing boost up between 13 and 15psi (depending on the exact setup of your vehicle).

Each psi of boost (from the same charger) is worth 4.5% of your factory horsepower so a jump from 7psi to 15psi can be an increase of 36% of your factory horsepower!

That is quite a horsepower gain for a part that typically costs 300-500 dollars and can be installed over the weekend with basic tools.

                Depending on the exact vehicle, a performance pulley may require some supporting modifications. In some cases it may be even sold in ‘kit’ form. These kits will typically include some or all of the following:

1-      One stage colder spark plugs, typically copper or iridium.

2-      A flash tune for your ECU, a fuel pressure regulator upgrade, or a different MAS/Injector combination.

Again this depends on your exact car specifications, and are needed when the factory ECU is unable to compensate on its own for the increased airflow and performance. This is not the case with about 75% of the cars out there, but it may be with yours so I’m letting you know right now.

 2-      Performance exhaust system:

Unlike turbochargers, where it is fairly straight forward to find a larger turbocharger in the same family or series of turbochargers that you have on your car, and perform a turbo upgrade; superchargers are typically packaged into the intake manifold of the engine, and have a unique snout and pulley system to connect the supercharger to its drive belt.

What this means is that once you have increased your supercharger gearing using the pulley upgrade system we mentioned earlier that you have run out of ‘boost’ need to find a different way to increase the performance of your motor.

Boost or pressure ratio is a ratio of how much air the supercharger is moving at that rpm divided by the amount of air the engine would breath normally at that rpm

Pressure ratio = Supercharger flow (CFM) / Engine natural aspiration (CFM).

If you look at a supercharger compressor map you will see that at any given supercharger rpm and for every given boost pressure (or pressure ratio) there is a range of flow that the supercharger can positively achieve.

This leads us to a performance opportunity that goes as follows:

“If my supercharger boost is maxed out, and I cannot upgrade to a larger unit like I would a turbocharger, then the only way for me to make more power, is to flow more air (CFM) at the same boost level!”

Here is where upgrading the exhaust system comes in. A typical factory exhaust system with a poorly designed header, a close coupled cat, crush bent small radius piping, a second cat converter, and several mufflers and pre-mufflers can have 5 to 7 psi of back pressure in the exhaust manifold.

In other words, if the exhaust back pressure is 3 psi and the supercharger boost pressure is 15psi, then the total engine boost pressure is only 15-3 = 12psi.

In essence we are making our charger work harder to maintain a psi level, and at that level it is not flowing the maximum amount of CFM that it can flow, because the entire system is choked off at the exhaust side.

Upgrading the complete exhaust system will relieve the engine and supercharger of some 3 to 5 psi of exhaust back pressure which will result in a 14% to 22% power increase. This system would include a well designed header or high flow manifold, a single high flow catalytic converter, a properly chosen pre-muffler resonator, and a single high flow exhaust muffler, all connected using adequate sized mandrel bent piping Having the least number of best producing and high flowing parts in the system will give minimal backpressure allowing the engine to breathe better.

With this, you will make more horse power and at the same time you will see your boost pressure drop somewhat here’s why:

Pressure ratio = Supercharger flow (CFM) / Engine natural aspiration (CFM).

New pressure ratio = Supercharger flow2 / Engine natural aspiration 2.

There is a doubly effect going on here:

1-      As the exhaust system is more free flowing, the engine is able to breathe more air now and produce more horsepower (even if there were no supercharger boosting it).

2-      This increase in natural aspiration (which is our denominator) makes the new pressure ratio lower because the supercharger is having to work less hard to move the same CFM, and it can’t increase the boost because it is mechanically locked to its gearing relative to the engine RPM.

3-      The decrease in boost pressure, moves the supercharger to a higher efficiency point on its compressor map where it can produce even more CFM of flow at the new lower boost pressure, and with less effort, giving us cooler denser air into the engine.

4-      The increase in supercharger flow (our numerator) means that the resultant boost pressure increases a bit, but usually is not as high as it was before.

From this sequence of events you can see how upgrading the exhaust system on a supercharged car (and similarly on a turbocharged car) has a double improvement effect on horsepower so long as the supercharger or turbocharger CFM (not boost pressure) portion of the compressor map has not already been maxed out.

Kamikaze headers are designed with 0.25" larger primaries, shorter primaries, and a 2.5" outlet collector for supercharged hondas.

One thing to keep in mind is that headers for supercharged engines would be different in design from a header for the same engine without a supercharger. So if you own a corvette for example, and install a supercharger package, then headers designed for a normally aspirated corvette will not be optimal for your car. Supercharged cars usually perform better with headers with shorter and larger primary tubes. Furthermore, since the supercharged car produces more horsepower (typically 50 to 100% more) then the collector outlet, and exhaust system should also be upsized to match the engine’s exhaust flow demands.

The combination of the two modifications mentioned here can be installed in a 3 day long weekend and can result in an overall gain of 58% horsepower over your stock power figure.

As I said earlier, there may be some supporting modifications needed depending on the exact setup of your car’s ECU and fuel system, however, if I wanted to invest in 20% of the modifications that would give me 80% of the gains, this is where I would put my money FIRST, then comes everything else. Actually, I am more of a high power / low boost junkie than a high power / high boost junkie, and so in that sense I personally would do these modifications the other way around. First I would upgrade my complete exhaust system, making the engine smoother and more efficient, and extending my power rpm range up higher closer to redline and I’d see if that much power increase was satisfactory for me. If not, then I’d go ahead and increase the boost pressure on an already efficient system.

The reason people go for the pulley upgrade first is that it is cheaper to do, and gives higher power gains so therefore it is a bigger bang for your buck quite literally. But I prefer things the other way around.

Technorati Tags: engine performance parts, header, pulley kit, supercharger performance