MmSadda

iTrader: (2)

I suppose I should start this off with a little backstory. I first picked up this car in Fall '06, for $950; I'd taken it to a small local mechanic and gotten a good compression test, but the car would buck like crazy below about 2500 rpm, and I figured it had some major fuel pressure issues at least. Here's what she looked like when I got her:

MmSadda

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Well, after getting the car to a Mazda dealership, and to Ken Carswell of Rotary Connection here in central Ohio, I found out the engine had shot an apex seal, in addition to needing an entirely new fuel system. I was disheartened, and thought about scrapping or selling the car. After a lot of deliberation, though, I ended up having Rotary Connection build a new, bone stock engine for me. I was completely broke at that point, so the car was spray painted in the interest of getting it to look a bit less junky.

MmSadda

iTrader: (2)

Well, by late '07, I'd saved up more funds to dump into the car, so she got some S5 tails, a proper coat of paint, and some decent if inexpensive wheels and tires. I also picked up a few little accessories, like a Racing Beat strut tower brace, and a cone air filter.
The car saw a few pulls on the drag strip, and ran mid-17s at best. (FYI, I don't particularly care about drag times, but at least it's something of a measuring stick of straight-line performance, for a car that's not built for that.)

MmSadda

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Well, around Summer '08, someone right turned on red right into the front passenger-side fender of the car. The car went back to the same body shop that did the first paint job. After completing the body work, they realized they couldn't match to the paint they had put on just a year ago. As a result, I ended up with a new (slightly darker and less brown) paint job, which I was REALLY pleased with I'd been toying with the idea of throwing on a spoiler, and had picked up a stock one and a Supra-style one (which I could never identify the brand of,) and with the car getting painted again, it was a perfect time to have a spoiler painted.

MmSadda

iTrader: (2)

Over the course of late '08, up 'til about '10, the car experienced intermittent severe driveability issues, because of ****-poor wiring to the O2 sensor and TPS, and possibly a bad ECU. I also dealt with some 3800rpm hesitation issues, though those were much less bothersome. At that point, though, I was considering selling/trading the car in the interest of getting a TurboII, MkIII Supra Turbo, or possibly even a Starion/Conquest or Mustang SVO. Basically, I had given up on making this the car I wanted it to be.

Early this year, though, I started getting the idea of a turbo swap, or a supercharger, back in my head. I'd actually convinced myself that I wanted to swap to a turbo engine and sell off this one, but figured I'd give it one last ditch effort to find a reasonably-priced supercharger; this had popped up for sale less than a week before: (and yes, that's a Paxton/Nelson SN-89 supercharger kit, including the optional goodies such as oil cooler and blow off valve, with all of 20k miles on it.)

MmSadda

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Well, I'd initially planned to run a SAFC-2, and do a pretty cheap build. I contacted Ken Carswell for his recommendations, and he referred me to his son, Logan, who runs Defined Autoworks. Logan strongly suggested using a Haltech ECU, and over the course of a few conversations with him and some other rotary-knowledgeable people (Glenn Price of Illicit Performance, out in California; Brian T / TitaniumTT of varoius rotary forums,) I'd concluded I needed to upgrade my fuel system substantially, and get at least a boost gauge and wideband in the car, to run safely. Having planned out all of the supporting mods (which ended up making things MUCH more expensive than originally planned,) I began the s/c install, which took all of two evenings with the help of a few friends.

Engine bay before pic:


All the supercharger kit parts on the garage floor:


A lot of stuff removed from the engine bay:


Me and my buddy with the supercharger:


After:

MmSadda

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I initially picked the car up with a street tune the day before Thanksgiving.

Here's a pic of the engine bay from then

MmSadda

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So, here's where I stand now:

My car went to the dyno this past Monday for tuning by Logan Carswell of Defined Autoworks. It was supposed to be tuned to 8 lbs of boost. I was told to expect around 220-230whp.

I got a call from Logan shortly before I was supposed to pick the car up, saying that the tune went really well, but the car was only making 4 lbs of boost, instead of the 8 it was supposed to.

After some drama, he agreed to give me a discount on a re-tune. I since discovered that I had some oddball 5" pulley on the thing, instead of the 3.75" pulley that's required to run 8 lbs of boost. With that, I made 175hp, well short of the expected 220. Since then, I was able to contact Craig Conley of Paradise Wheels (the company that supports the supercharger) and was able to score the last one of the original 3.75" pulley that he had in stock! I've now got that in hand, and will be ready to slap that on in a couple days.... before that, though, Logan and I need to sort out an issue with AFT (which is used to lubricate the supercharger) escaping/spraying out into the engine bay.



I'll end this post on the most positive note I have on the project so far: After picking up the car on Monday, and having to wait for two days for a dry enough day to take the car out, I managed to barely avoid getting pulled over my first time hitting boost getting on the freeway. I also managed to get in a few drives with my housemate (with him in his STi.) Even at 4 lbs, the car feels good. At 8 lbs, it should be a whole lot better. I should know for sure this Wednesday

texFCturboII

iTrader: (17)

Nice! I've never seen a supercharger installed on one of these before. I kinda like it, and have always been intrigued by them. Unfortunately for you, you have now exposed yourself to an impossibly incurable addiction called "boost" Welcome. I fully expect that supercharger to be gone in a year and a hybrid turbo to be in there. Hell you've already got the Haltech! If you think 8 lbs. of boost is fun, wait till you hit 14. (Not meaning to lecture here, I'm sure you knew this already...)

Truthfully though, looks great. Enjoy it!

MmSadda

iTrader: (2)

Thanks! I've only seen a few people run this setup before, and generally they've done it without going to a standalone setup. I also upgraded the fuel system, which I don't think I mentioned. I figured I'd be done with this car after getting 8 lbs of boost and 200+hp. However, I've always figured porting would be in my future someday. I also just discovered that there's an upgrade for the supercharger to up it from flowing 800cfm to 1400cfm, so I may well end up going for a fair bit more power a few years down the line.

The current setup is about on par with what a few of my friends are running, and they have plans to upgrade what they're doing in a couple years, so I'll look into porting the engine and upgrading the supercharger at that point.

I definitely do want a turbocharged car someday, but I plan to keep this one supercharged. I'll look into getting an FD, or maybe turbocharging a Corvette someday down the line.

Oh, and 14lbs of boost is a good number; my housemate has a new STi that runs 14.5 stock I believe. I love that boostball.

tuscanidream

iTrader: (6)

Beautiful car.

Panda86

iTrader: (1)

fuckyeah, loving this build

jackhild59

iTrader: (7)

Is there any intercooling on these kits? If not, could I suggest water-injection at about 6lb.+ boost? Nothing overly complicated, maybe a boost pressured passive system?

Seems that most of these kits have gone this progression:
Excitement with the boost,
Bragging and picture posting,
Cat-calls for a dyno from the cheap seats,
Disappointment with the results (as compared to Turbo installs),
Smaller pulley,
Extra boost but too much heat,
Popping the apex seals and/or selling the kit.

No one has had intercooling or water injection to my recollection; I might be wrong.

Do it different.

Good Luck!

beefhole

iTrader: (29)

Like the color... but that wing....

swilson@assetworks.com

iTrader: (13)

Glad that the SC worked out OK.
Sorry about the odd pulley, I always thought that the car it came off of was not working to it's capacity. Now I know why.

Regarding the comment on the lack of an IC.
The car that it came from had water injection.
It didn't have a boost gauge but it did have a air temp gauge.
Your car will be be fine this winter but you need to look into water or alc. injection when it gets hot in the summer. I had a boost triggers injection system with a manual override that I would use if I was stuck in traffic on a hot day.

SpikeDerailed

iTrader: (7)

On that last picture why are there only 2 or the 4 mounting nuts on the top of each strut?

MmSadda

iTrader: (2)

Thanks, guys!


There is not any intercooler setup for these. I can't think of a particular good way to run one, and it seems like it'd be inefficient with 8 lbs of boost to bother with a front mount... I may well look into a setup like the previous owner (who posted just below) ran; I wasn't aware that was how he had it set up. I'll consult Logan Carswell and see.

I can post my 4psi dyno, but it IS disappointing; I'm not satisfied with the car the way it is. When I get to 8 lbs, and run pretty even with a couple friends' cars, I'll be satisfied until they upgrade in a few years. At that point, I'll take it a different route; I haven't seen anyone run the upgraded 1400cfm supercharger with a ported engine. That plus meth/water/something injection will probably be the next step, but that'll be a couple years off.

Thanks. That's actually a stock color; it's code K8, which is Tornado Silver

Not that it'll matter, but the wing provides some actual downforce. Unfortunately, it makes the care a bit understeer-prone. The added power may help with that, but ultimately I want to add a front splitter to balance things out.
If you don't mind, I've love more information on the setup you were running; I may have to look into something like that.

I shipped a few parts to my mechanic, and those apparently got thrown out with the box I sent the parts in. I need to get some more

Snoopy240

iTrader: (19)

I would like to see the 4 psi dyno if you dont mind?

I was looking into one of these setups but never heard anything good about them...

swilson@assetworks.com

iTrader: (13)

The water injection system on the car was a simple kit like the one in this link -

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WATER-INJECT...item4ce43179c2

You can put one together yourself for less if you source a SURFlow pump from Northern tools

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too..._357081_357081

You will need an adjustable pressure switch, a 12V relay, an injector and the plumbing.
There is lots of info on the web if you search "DIY Water Injection".
Many have used the windshield washer tank as the fluid source.

If you want a more sophisticated system you can finds the info here on the forum under the Aux Injection section....

ArmAnirx7

iTrader: (24)

Beautiful car! One question though.. how much did all of this cost? I was considering SCing mine.

rotarygod

iTrader: (1)

If you ever decide to upgrade the supercharger, don't only concentrate on an airflow number in cfm. Your supercharger is actually capable of supplying air for much more power on a much larger engine. The problem is that on a rotary it is running near surge which is a horribly inefficient place to be. More flow isn't the cure if you aren't in a decent efficiency range. That takes us to another point, that old supercharger has low volumetric efficiency compared to many other units by a long shot.

That old supercharger has a friction drive system with is very inefficient compared to other superchargers, even newer Paxton units. It's amazing they were able to hit 220 hp on rotaries. A better option would be to properly size and then source another supercharger and adapt it to your setup. A Vortech V5G would be a nice option. You may find that a newer supercharger at the same boost level will make a very noticeable amount of power more so that could be something to look forward to if you decide you want more later on.

A water injection system would be a very good idea. You wouldn't always need it to run. Just set it up so it kicks in after 5 or 6 psi or so. Space would be a limiting factor in trying to figure out an intercooler setup.

AGreen

iTrader: (11)

http://www.turbomirage.com/water.html

Oh my. This opens a whole new world to me

I always knew about water injection, but this puts it in my reach now. I can even use my existing standalone as the pressure switch!

MmSadda

iTrader: (2)

The car is back, making 8 lbs of boost! (it says 9lbs momentarily right near redline on occasion.) I've been out driving, and I'm very very happy with how it turned out.

I will have that dyno here tomorrow! It won't be mind-blowing, or far out of line with the other Paxton setups on stock engines out there, but I'm pleased

Absolutely! For what it's worth, this setup would never run at 4psi with a stock pulley; I'm not sure how the pulley I had on there came to be on this supercharger, but it wasn't a proper setup for the thing.

I will post that dyno shortly! I should have my new dyno tomorrow.

I think the way I did it was the least expensive way to do it properly (read:without risking blowing the engine.) I spent basically $4k on ECU, fuel system, and tuning. The supercharger kit itself was $1k. I've got right around 5k in the project, not including the car. It's not the most power that can be made for the money, but I'm very satisfied with the outcome. I also care more about having that direct throttle response and no boost lag than most people do, for what it's worth.

Thanks for the advice! I'll refer back to this thread when I upgrade (probably a couple years down the line, at least.)

I'm really pleased with it the way it is, but who knowss what goals I'll have for the car in a couple years.

MmSadda

iTrader: (2)

After the initial tune:
178hp, 4 lbs of boost.

Osirus9

iTrader: (10)

nice numbers for only 4psi!

also, how is it to drive? good response? comparison to a stock/hybrid turbo?