Supercharger possible project Questions! ??

[AlexTatar]

Hi all,

I've been thinking of adding a small supercharger to my car, however I don't know lots about superchargers as i've never worked on one! I understand how they work but I can't work out in my head if what I'm thinking has any flaws! So i'll lay it out;

I want to add a super charger to my engine that would be side mounted, so not directly connected to the air intake system but instead connected by piping. I'm not sure this would work because of the increase of pressure as the air is compressed through the charger, would need some strong metal piping?

The other issue is remapping the Ecu for the change, if i put the air flow meter after the supercharger, will the Ecu automatically calculate that it needs to compensate for the change?

Not definitely going ahead with this, I just wanted some feedback and advice to work out if it is a good idea or not!

Thanks - Alex

[Richyvrlimited]

AlexTatar said:

I want to add a super charger to my engine that would be side mounted, so not directly connected to the air intake system but instead connected by piping. I'm not sure this would work because of the increase of pressure as the air is compressed through the charger, would need some strong metal piping?

MX5 'hotside' kits are fitted in exactly this way.

you'll need something relatively strong, doesn't need to be metal though. Some MX5 kits come with a plastic crossover tube

Image pulled from google - http://s230.photobucket.com/user/mr_mazda329/media...

AlexTatar said:

The other issue is remapping the Ecu for the change, if i put the air flow meter after the supercharger, will the Ecu automatically calculate that it needs to compensate for the change?

Definately not if it's an AFM. Highly unlikely, if it's a MAF. To add the AFM/MAF should stay pre supercharger, the mass of air will still be the same pre/post supercharger, post the density will increase.

[AlexTatar]

Ah okay well if it's been done before thats a good sign!
I've been looking at the chargers off of the mercedes 1.8/2L 'kompressor' models to fit to a Mercedes 3.2 engine, I'm not looking for massive gains because I don't think the internals can take a massive increase.

It only has a Air flow sensor from what I can see and what I've read, I guess I'll get the system set up but disconnected until I can afford the Remap too! cheers for the advice!

[Richyvrlimited]

You're assuming that your current stock ECU can detect air pressures greater than atmospheric. Generally stock ECU's can't, or don't have enough resolution in the MAF to account for the increased air being ingested.

Chances are the ECU will need to be replaced with an aftermarket unit.

What car are you proposing to add a supercharger to?

[MKnight702]

A supercharger is just an air pump, you can mount it how you wish and plumb it in with whatever works. Be aware though, compressing the air heats it up and makes the fuel/air charge more susceptible to pre ignition which can destroy an engine remarkably quickly.

If you are able, I recommend fitting an intercooler to cool the air again before it gets a fuel charge. The reason most traditional supercharger setups don't run an intercooler is that the fuel is added by a carburettor upstream of the supercharger (that and the supercharger is normally bolted to the inlet manifold).

I did experiment with a supercharger on my XI but took it off again as it didn't make enough difference to justify the problems I needed to sort out. Had I had enough time and money to throw at it I'm sure it would have been a blast.

[AlexTatar]

Ah this is true, and it will start getting expensive and complicated when I have to start switching over the ECU.
The car is Mercedes CLK320, I was planning on selling it but the problem is that the car has depreciated so much in the past 5 months that won't be getting a much better car without having to put a lot more money in!
Hence why I was thinking of charging it but at the cost and effort I'd be better off getting another car or a different CLK.