Electric Supercharger?!?!, Anyone tired this? Options

[king_wsk]

I've been thinking about the concept for some time. Boost like NOS w/o the wear on the engine. I did some research and I found two products that could work. First is E-RAM. $300 for 1psi, 831watt motor for WOT only powered from the standard electrical system, only 4-6% boost.

The other product is http://www.boosthead.com 's ESC electric supercharger which generates 5-6psi... $1700, not including lots of needed parts. Its a centrifugal blower powered by an 8hp electric motor that runs off a seperate electrical system (2 deep draw style batteries). They say you shouldn't run the boost more than 15 sec unless you have special cooling for the electric motor. They estimate you'll get about 10 min of max boost on a full charge (spread out into a few days of 15sec bursts here and there).

I really like the concept and for the extra 50-80hp with no lag, I'm really considering it. Its just more money than I want to spend. And being that we are FWD, that no lag = spinning tires, especially since I still have my stock 15" 205's. So I'm thinking about designing a similar system that wouldn't require an ECU or extra injectors and wouldn't cost more than $500-750 total and maybe product 2-4psi. I've been looking at some centrifugal blowers, most of the high CFM + pressure run on 230VAC and in the 5amp+ range. This would require a heavy duty inverter, so this is probably out of the question.

What I'm really looking for is a mechanically driven centrifugal blower that I could attach my own 12v electric motor to power it. Any ideas?

Or should I just forget about FI entirely and focus on other things first? I'm thinking that a programmable ECU/boost controller might be a good investment as I might be able to get hp just running NA and then still reuse it after I decided to go FI.

I really do like the concept of having a "turbo" button... but not the dangerous side-effects of NOS.

[king_wsk]

IMO there are two things wrong with doing a 5s-fte. One is the amount of down time required. I only have one car. #2 Cost. I spent $3,500 getting the car and $2,000 in fix-ups / extras. I don't really want to spend too much more on it, mostly because it is FWD and I'm running 15" / 205. I'd certainly need to get some bigger tires to actually use the added HP... more $$$. Don't get me wrong, I love the body design and how it handles and with my intake and exhaust it sounds wonderful and has great responce. But Its FWD and I'm thinking about getting something RWD or AWD and then spending the big bucks on it.



If I could turbo it for under $2,000 (total, including new tires), then I'd probably do it. I'd probably have to get a bike or something.... my work is 4.7 miles so I could probably just bike it. The other thing is that I don't have access to a shop with the right tools I'd need, let alone have the experience to do such a major mod.

If I do end up keeping the car when I get something new, I'll probably want to turbo it then and money probably won't be an issue. So with the knowledge that I might possibly turbo it... maybe if I started buy parts that I could use now to increase performance, yet could still use when I do go all the way.

I'm really thinking about a boost controller. Could I actually take advange of that now and then still re-use it later?


ohh and to answer your question about Nitrious, I don't like the idea of having to purchase it and keep on recharging the tank.

[phattyduck]

I don't really want to spend too much more on it, mostly because it is FWD and I'm running 15" / 205.

There are plenty of FWD cars with 15"/205 tires that have over 200hp with no problems, just keep that in mind. (my Camry has 270hp and 16"/205 summer tires without serious traction issues)

We are all telling you that you will disappointed with the performance of any electric-based forced induction.

You can do a low-boost 5s-fte for less than $2k if you know what you are doing. You can do a small nitrous kit for $600 or less...

It is all up to you though - we have given our opinions.

-Charlie