Supercharger vs. Turbocharger

yt35 · 04-08-2007, 03:49 PM

Hey all,

I have a 1998 Z3 2.8. I am looking for some extra ponies. I am trying to decide with some research and some feed back what is better. I would love to get some feedback from the group here as to what you have and how it works for you.

Also, Included in that would be price point and technical difficulty.

Thanks for your time,

rw

JMW · 04-08-2007, 05:23 PM

just buy my supercharged 97 m3...with 112,000 km

$27,000
moving to england ...need to sell it

330DTM · 04-08-2007, 05:42 PM

Essentially you want to decide what your budget is and what your power gain goal will be. Is this going to be mainly used for street driving or will it frequently see the track/autocross? Do you do a lot of spirited driving or are you looking for more power to give your car the 'umph' when driving around the city?

I would assume that you want a FI system that's not too aggressive, but gives reasonable gains as how you said "some extra ponies." In this case, I'd opt to go the supercharged route via the vortech blowers (VFE Engineering, RMS, ESS Tuning) or twin-screw (AutoActivewerks or Eurosport).

I honestly love the TC setups, as you have to ability to adjust boost on the fly via electronic boost controller or a manual one, and there's quite a lot of flexibility if you want to increase the power in the long-run (i.e. larger turbos, bigger intercoolers,etc).

However, TC setups are usually more costly compared to a S/C setup, and personally I think require more maintenance especially if you're running a higher psi setup.

I think it's easier for us to give you some suggestions if you can answer some of the questions I first mentioned

yt35 · 04-08-2007, 06:38 PM

TY for your reply. Well budget is always a factor. I am willing to spend anywhere in the area of 5000 plus or minus a little.

My goal HP is just under 300 HP. The vehilce sites at under 200 now. I am looking for at SC and TC for this much HP. And any other nessesary upgrades.

As for drive style I do like to drive it like i stole it. I headout late at night and hit the twisties around that GTA.

330DTM · 04-09-2007, 11:55 AM

Cool, I wanted to see if you were going to track your car often, cause if that's the case, you'd want a setup that'll minimize heat soak and will take up the abuse at the track.

I'm a bit lazy now (I should be studying for exams now :p), but I found this article a pretty good start to give you an idea of what your options are for the price ranges they stated, which are in USD. Have a look and if you've any questions, shoot them back here:

http://www.eurotuner.com/techarticle...gineering.html

330DTM · 04-09-2007, 06:53 PM

Oh FYI, if you're interested in the results of a Twin Screw Supercharger by Eurosport, here are some numbers you may see. It's off a 328ic (convertible) with m3 cams: 2.8l, 9 PSI, 332whp, 277 wtq, 91 oct. This is by Uli from BFC.

yt35 · 04-09-2007, 10:35 PM

Thanks for the info i will give a read tonight. Much appreciated.

JazzM · 04-10-2007, 10:06 AM

Ok, first of all, you will need to check the engine to see which one your car came with.

The 97 and early 98 Z3 came with the single-vanos M52 B28 where later 98 Z3 came with the B28TU (technical update) that features the dual-vanos and different intake manifold.

The TU engines are more difficult to tune and thus there are fewer kits/upgrades available.

If you have a non-TU engine then the 3.2 (m3) and 2.8 (328) kits will work on your car (with the exception of some piping that may need to be customized)

There are numerous tuners of FI kits:
- Active autowerke
- Dinan
- ESS tunning
- RMS
- VF engineering
etc..

First thing is first, like I said find out which engine you have on your car.

T.

notjoe · 04-10-2007, 10:08 AM

I would say Uli's dyno is on the high side. i dyno'd less on a 3.2l with about 210,000km on the meter.

If you do go with the eurosport kit expect to wait a while for it.

330DTM · 04-10-2007, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notjoe

I would say Uli's dyno is on the high side. i dyno'd less on a 3.2l with about 210,000km on the meter.

If you do go with the eurosport kit expect to wait a while for it.

Was this before your engine blew? I heard through word of mouth that your motor was leaking oil and one of your cylinders had a low compression. That's going to affect your dyno results.

There definitely will be some variances on everyone's dyno numbers using the same kit. You have variables like current day's ambient temperature, type of dyno used (dynojet in Uli's case so higher than if you used a Mustang dyno), and condition of engine. I'd use dynos more of a relative measure.

notjoe · 04-10-2007, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 328DTM

Was this before your engine blew? I heard through word of mouth that your motor was leaking oil and one of your cylinders had a low compression. That's going to affect your dyno results.

There definitely will be some variances on everyone's dyno numbers using the same kit. You have variables like current day's ambient temperature, type of dyno used (dynojet in Uli's case so higher than if you used a Mustang dyno), and condition of engine. I'd use dynos more of a relative measure.

I didnt bother to have a compression test done. It wouldnt leak oil but it sure did like to drink it. I was just using the dyno numbers i got for a base reference as to what one might expect with that many km on a motor.