Superchargers - United Bimmer Community

**komodo** · 04-20-2005, 08:20 PM

Quick question... what kind of gains can you expect out of a supercharger for my car? Turbos claim they'd put me around 300...

And s/c'ers are better for the car and your engine will last longer, right? Do you need to reinforce any internals, or is it just popping it on and you're done?

What about tuning... you always hear about turbo tuning, but I don't think I've ever heard of tuning for an s/c....

Thanks.

**///M Power** · 04-20-2005, 08:56 PM

Gains all depends on the amount of boost. Boost high enough and you will absolutely need to reinforce the internals. A supercharger does nto necessarily mean you engine will last longer at all, but rather actually puts MORE stress on your engine. Just look at how a supercharger works and what it works onversus what a turbo works on and you will understand.

Although, a supercharger will be a single unit instead of the plethora of pieces involved in a turbocharger. The mroe pieces you have the harder it may be to locate a problem. A single S/C unit is easier to maintain for that specific reason.

**dwrx04** · 04-21-2005, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ///M Power

Gains all depends on the amount of boost. Boost high enough and you will absolutely need to reinforce the internals. A supercharger does nto necessarily mean you engine will last longer at all, but rather actually puts MORE stress on your engine. Just look at how a supercharger works and what it works onversus what a turbo works on and you will understand.

Although, a supercharger will be a single unit instead of the plethora of pieces involved in a turbocharger. The mroe pieces you have the harder it may be to locate a problem. A single S/C unit is easier to maintain for that specific reason.

Superchargers are known for there reliability. While your logic is correct, a supercharger puts no more load on your car then an ac pump. There is an external pulley that spins a step up gear inside the sc which acts as a tranfer case and spins the impeller at higher rpms and substantially faster than the external pulley.

As to komodo's question, superchargers normally boost between 6-9psi over atmospheric pressure(at sea level is about 14.7) The only tuning you will need in most cases is a boost timing retard chip that retards the engine's ignition timing under certain conditions to prevent detonation. With some kits, detonation is not a concern, in which case the kit will not include. A concern some people have when using a supercharger is that they think it will increase the engine's compression to the point that it will cause detonation that is the purpose of the chip. The only other thing you have to watch is you A/F ratio. You will prolly make around 300hp to the crank which is the best bang for your buck IMO.

**Addicted?** · 04-21-2005, 02:28 PM

with a supercharger you dont always need to do some interals... they cant hurt but i have heard not always neccassary. AA tuning has put there supercharger on a stock motor with 150 thousand miles with no internals and it ran fine.

As for a turbo claiming 300hp on your motor, that is very possible, it is also possible for it to make 350 400 500hp etc "throwing" a turbo on your car doesnt just give you X amount of HP, the bigger the turbo, better tuning, reinforced internals etc can all help how much boost you run meaning more HP, even the higher octane gas will make you run more hp. You have to remember with turbos you wont always be running 300hp, When you go to a track you could say put boost to 15 psi and run 100 octane gas... but when you leave to drive home you will probably run 7-9 psi on regular gas, which will lower you hp reading... as we have said before turbos are pretty complex specially on cars that dont come turboed....

Are there exceptions? yes you see those honda civics driving around town with there HUGE front mount and a loud ass BOV? yeah they are running 4psi and my 325 can still walk on them, they spend maybe 3500 on a "kit"

the aa supercharger says it puts out about 322 hp (to the crank) and its only 5700 bucks... i would defintaly go with something along this lines whether it be aa or not. after i swap my m3 motor ill eventually look into F/I a turbo would be nice, but i think ill end up going with some sort of s/c and have over 300hp and be happy

David

EDIT just saw the rest of your question...

adding any kind of f/i technically isnt great for your engine... but the car will die one day anyways so who cares... also you can always get it rebuilt and built back up etc.. .Dado is getting his whole moto rebuilt right now.

As for tuning a supercharger yes you can do it, i think aa might send some stuff to make the s/c run right... when i go with a supercharger ill probably have some other mods to my car, and will want my air/fuel map pretty smooth, granted tuning is a SHIT load of money im going to spend the thousands of dollars to get my car tuned to all my mods/all the extra air for the S/C

**komodo** · 04-21-2005, 03:03 PM

Cool, that actually helped a lot... I didn't know all that.

Other than AA Tuning, what are some other s/c's out there? AA Tuning and Dinan are the only ones I know about.

witeshark · 04-21-2005, 10:21 PM

IMO Adding boost without reinforcing main bearings is risky unless you drive super careful

**xsperf** · 04-21-2005, 10:38 PM

btw, even though this is not related to superchargers, did you consider cams? liek m3 cams or something, b/ci heard those r nice too, and those dont put any stress on ur engine

**komodo** · 04-21-2005, 10:52 PM

Hum, but don't cams cause a rough idle?

**ChrisWorrell** · 04-21-2005, 11:09 PM

depends on the cam lope, you can get mild cams where it wont shake the car alot

**xsperf** · 04-21-2005, 11:27 PM

maybe if u get aftermarket cams, but m3 cams, im almost posative, althought i havent tried them

**Addicted?** · 04-22-2005, 02:17 AM

i personally love the rough idle some cams give to cars... with exhuast there isnt a better sound out there... anyways they are a pretty good alternative... spendy either way

David

**B_w.** · 04-22-2005, 12:46 PM

if you upgrade to m3 cams and the software to run the cams there should not be rough idle.

can you super charge or turbo charge an m52 with m3 cams? is it just a question of getting software to run it properly?

**xsperf** · 04-22-2005, 03:14 PM

^^ im pretty sure u can.. and seconldy komodo, jrhaile did it, i dont think he has rough idle, as seen from his videos, the only other reason u may have rough idle is if you havent done ur timing correctly

**Addicted?** · 04-22-2005, 05:03 PM

m3 cams dont really give your a car a rough idle.. i believe the shrick might..but they are aftermarket parts.. i dont have much information on cams but i beleive it has to do with the degree of the cam etc that makes your car idle rough (which isnt a bad thing, and as i said before, with exhuast sounds awesome haha) anyways im sure you can run a supercharger with cams.... just a matter of getting it tuned...

That would be a kick in the arse since cams will kick in in the higher rpms and the supercharger going all the way through.... can you say vroom vroom

David

**///95M3** · 04-22-2005, 06:22 PM

not on a bimmer. I have ridden in many M3's with Schrick cams and injectors and the only difference is the slower, deeper rumbling of the engine. It sounds better and feels better, not at all rough. If I were you I would consider some exhaust. Your car sounded awsome from the front but alittle shakey and rattlie from the back.

jrhaile · 04-22-2005, 07:43 PM

Speaking from first hand experience, S52 cams in a m50/m52 engine don't cause rough idle, it's more like a bumpy idle :P Kind of a cool in my opinion. feels like sitting in a big old v8 and it has a rumble to it. But there is a definite difference in idle. It's not bad at all though...No one has said anything about it while in my car. Cams are a badass upgrade. I've had so many people go "do you have a turbo or supercharger" when they ride in my car. As long as your vanos system is working properly, it's badass man.

**xsperf** · 04-22-2005, 08:38 PM

^^ sorry to go off topic, but speaking of VANOS, how do you know if its not working?

and secondly, could u describe this "bumpy" idle.. is it just the difference in sound? or does the engine actually shake more?

jrhaile · 04-22-2005, 08:42 PM

engine shake's more and causes a little vibration throughout the car. Does your car really pickup after 4k rpms? if it does, more then likely your vanos is working good.

**///95M3** · 04-22-2005, 09:54 PM

my 95 vibrate's like crazy(stock) compared to 96 and ups and iiiiiii love it. A 95 with cams feels the same just with some extra rumble under the hood.

**larryglover@gulfviewllc.c** · 12-27-2007, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by witeshark

IMO Adding boost without reinforcing main bearings is risky unless you drive super careful

Actually, this is not the case with M50, S50, S52 series motors. These motors have been proven to handle well over 500 hp without internal modifications. The first part to give are the rods. I know of one BMW running 740 hp without any internal mods.