Forced Induction Opinions/Information

[Lewis's Friend]

Apologies if this has been covered before (I imagine it has).

Lately I have been looking at mx5's, and especially supercharged ones, with great interest. I recently was following one with roughly 190bhp which really took my fancy. I'm thinking especially of a mkI or possibly a mkII.

What do people think of them? Are there manufacturers/fitters to go for or avoid? Also, I have seen some turbo charger cars too, and although they didn't really do anything for me, I'd be interested to hear others thoughts?

Any info greatly appreciated.

[seany87]

Its personal choice as to whether you go for Turbo or Supercharged.

I prefer the linear delivery of a charger not to mention the whine noises over a whooshing, hissing turbo.

The MX5 engine for your info is very well suited to forced induction, it comes from a turbo 323 more or less and has always retained the benefits of that, such as oil squirters under the pistons, etc, IIRC the weakest part are the rods - but they are still good for up to 250hp

[Lazygraduate]

I'm insterested too - realistically, how much would it cost all inclusive to have someone fit a s/c to my MK2 1.6? Not looking for huge gains or massive mods, just a bit more power and torque - say 160-70bhp from the standard 115?

Thanks

[pewe]

My preference is for a supercharger as it provides instant power as soon as the throttle's cracked open rather than a turbo which requires a deal of engines revs before it starts producing.

When I looked at fitting a s/c to a Mk1 last year I reckoned it would cost between £1200- £1500 for the hardware.
That was however buying a second-hand Mini s/c, a fitting kit from TR Lane and then fitting it myself.
You then need to look at ECU and mapping on top of that.
Moss Europe used to offer a full kit but IIRC that was c.£3k for the kit alone.

In many ways it's cheaper to buy a sorted car and I was lucky enough to find one at the right price .

HTH.
Cheers, Pewe.

[Lewis's Friend]

Cheers for that. I think I am mainly interested in the supercharged route. I have seen a number come up for sale over the last 4 months or so, but know very little about them.

Is there a standard kit that most people would use/expect to see fitted, or do they tend to be mix and match?

[mneame]

Buy a known good one. It'll be much cheaper in the long run than getting over any teething issues etc.

[MX-5 Lazza]

A few years ago there was a good choice of kits and a few that were considered the top kits i.e. for 1.8 SC the BRP MP62, 1.6 SC the JR M45 and for turbo the FMII. There have always been a lot of other options but these were considered the top kits. The M45 is limited in how far it can be pushed but the MP62 is only limited by the strength of the engine.

For turbo there are still a good number of kits available but for SC the choice is a bit more limited now.
BRP became SOT which was sold to FM and that kit has been discontinued.
The JR kit was available from Moss who also did their own MP62 kit. Their website doesn't list either now though.

The only kit that I know of that is still available is the M45 mini SC from TR Lane which seems to be a pretty good kit lacking only in the looks department (though I'm sure it's better now that the last one I saw which was a very early one).

Fast Forward Superchargers in the states still do a cold-side kit (and I think they do a hot side if you ask them for it) but I don't think there is a UK supplier so import taxes might be quite high.

5-Speed are probably good guys to talk to to get an idea of what's available and what it would cost.

[Lewis's Friend]

To be honest, I'd try to buy a car with a SC already installed. Just from the point of view of costs (and hopefully any teething issues ironed out).

But looking in the adverts I was not sure what any of the kits mentioned were, so thanks for all the replies.