Pizza4Everyone

i don't know how many miles you guys run your car per day, but is it safe to drive it 20~35miles everyday after installing the blower?

lifetimeofwar

I dont have one, but from what I've read, as long as your not in the high RPM ranges the car wont be affected by the blower. So I say keep it under 3.5k rpm for a daily drive and you should be fine.

mmcv6

its safe. I hit max rpm each day, I run it so hard it will make you cry... No problems for me.
buy one today.

k6biv

I agree.

I have had my SC on since March, 2007. Best upgrade so far.

This is my "daily driver".

No problems. Just make sure it is installed properly.

Enjoy,

Tim

ACTROS

iTrader: (7)

A word of advice, since you had to ask, you should stay away from the blower, it is very unsafe!

ililillilillilil

just curious, how is it unsafe?

Pizza4Everyone

yeah you should have stated the fact that why it's unsafe.

csmeance

are you using the comptech tuning piggy back thing or the hondata reflash? If not you should not be driving it at all, otherwise it's fine. Just to save gas, I;d stay under 3.5K RPM so the blower does not force too much air in for more gas.

Bearcat94

RED TYPE indicates sarcasm and/or a joke.

This bit of info was in the forum rules packet you recieved when you signed up. It came in the same package as the AcuraZine license plate bracket and window stickers.

Allout

Blower is not activated via RPM. You could cruise AT 5k RPM and the blower be in bypass, It uses intake vacume as one of the triggers. Once you start leaning into the throttle, you'll use more gas.

I drive mine 50-60 miles a day and I think it makes a great daily driver. It makes the commute so much more fun

type-s09

i dont think they would sell many for $5k if they werent reliable

dan.....k

iTrader: (1)

I drive mine hard everyday. I have not had a single problem related to the blower. On another note, do any of you other guys feel like your car runs like shit in the summer?

ACCURATEin

Indeed. I feel like the motor is worthless and might as well be breathing natural aspirations rather than being force fed the super heated oxygen.

...i rarely hit boost during the sunlight hours because i feel like its torturing the engine.

As for reliability, i consider it extremely reliable thus far.

robbie82

So with the SC in on summer months it runs slower than on spring, fall and winter months....?

ACTROS

iTrader: (7)

Haha, I was just messing with you noobs there and I got you!

The blower is pretty much time and abuse proven, you should have learned that by now. All those threads about blowers went to waste!

The only problem is surging at low rpm and sluggishness in hot temps.

The surging is the result of a fuel issue we cannot correct, Hondata can and will soon from what I understand.

In summer month the blower ingests a lot of hot air, compresses it and force feeds the engine with a hotter air still. That's why the car feels sluggish. The hot air similarly affects the naturally aspirated engine too but not as big of an effect and you don't feel much of a difference when driving.

So is the blower reliable in daily driving? YES
Is it enjoyable? HELL YES
Are there issues? YES

dan.....k

iTrader: (1)

^ Well said ATCROS. The blower sucks during the summer months. Surging is way worse and the car feels sooooo sluggish. Almost N/A.

Jrbn2g04AcuraTL

I havent been here for the longest time.... So, Hondata have a reflash now?

phidalgo

For those of us that drive our cars until the wheels fall off, will having a S/C decrease the longevity of the engine?

6spMike

Yes, it will decrease the longevity of the engine.
The engine still might last until the wheels fall off, though. That depends on a whole lot of stuff. It seems to me that what kills engines these days is overheating. How many threads are there on here about throwing a rod, or rod or main knock, or burning oil, or piston slap?

ililillilillilil

Originally Posted by Pizza4Everyone
yeah you should have stated the fact that why it's unsafe.


ACTROS

Haha, I was just messing with you noobs there and I got you!


ACTROS Pizza4Everyone
Join Date: Jul 2006 Join Date: Oct 2005

CobraGuy

To help with summer heat, figure out an effective intercooler. Alchohol injection under boost can be amazing. And of course, a VERY small shot of nitrous does amazing things in a boosted car. A 25hp shot of juice can easily give you twice that much under boost. NOS cools the charge so much you get the double whammy effect!

Atrain

Allout,

That is misinformation. The Eaton M62 which is part of your Comptech supercharger DOES NOT have a clutch. The supercharger therefore spins from idle to redline. The by-pass valve simply diverts the air flow. The blower is activated by rpm. The harder the engine spins, the faster the Eaton spins.

Due to the parasitic drag from the belt and blower friction, you actually are using more energy to drive the supercharger (EVEN IN BY-PASS) than if you were naturally aspirated. At WOT, it takes 30-50 HP to turn the supercharger depending on the blower rpm and boost pressure. My Eaton M90S took 45 HP to turn the supercharger with 10-psi of boost.

In fact, we had to raise the idle stategy in the EEC-V Ford PCM to compensate for the blower when the transmission went from Park/Neutral to Drive or 1st. Sometimes the idle speed would drop just low enough to stall the engine. This happened with many belt driven blower cars. The IAC values were easy to adjust inside the EEC.

As for your statement about using more gas when you lean into the throttle, yes this is true. Once vacuum turns to boost pressure you'll find something interesting in the A/F ratio. It goes very rich to protect the cats and cool off the combustion chambers. Also, in order to overcome boost pressure, fuel pressure must reach at least a 1:1 ratio. So if you have 40-psi of fuel pressure in the fuel rail (39.5 psi is what Ford injectors are rated at) and you have 10-psi of boost, you must have 50-psi of fuel pressure at the regulator and at least 50-psi to each injector.

That's if you have a return type fuel system and the proper tune. If you are using a FMU (fuel management unit) then you are spiking the fuel pressure by closing off the diaphram in the fuel pressure regulator. This raises the rail pressure dramatically.

With an Eaton M90S you might need a 5:1 gain rate on a 4.6L Ford engine. So for every 1 psi of boost you need 5-psi more of fuel pressure over the standard 40-psi.

8 PSI of boost X 5 psi of fuel pressure (5:1 gain ratio) = 40 psi

40 PSI of GAIN + 40 PSI of rail pressure = 80 PSI of total fuel pressure required.

80-psi causes the stock injectors to flow more fuel when they open. This allows you to achieve the correct A/F ratio. This is a cheaters way, but it works.

A-Train

Atrain

I don't care what you guys think...the supercharger itself does not hurt the engine.

The things that kill the engine is knock, ping, detonation, etc.

EVERY supercharged engine is KNOCK constrained. Period.

When you compress air you heat it, thermodynamics 101...you cannot get around this.

Hotter air is less dense so it carries less oxygen. There is also more resistance to spark so you need a hotter spark to ignite the A/F mixture. This is where things get tricky. If you knock under boosted conditions you will most likely crack a piston ring land, damage the piston rings or both.

Detonation under boosted conditions can cause the crankshaft to flex, lift the heads off the engine block, bend/shatter connecting rods, break connecting rod caps, shear bolts, break pistons, blow apart spark plugs, or worse.

I've seen all this before. I know of one 600 HP 4.6L engine with a whipplecharger that detonated at 15-psi of boost and 6,500 rpm. It lifted the ARP fastened cylinder heads off the engine block and pissed out engine coolant. It also flexed the cast iron crankshaft and wiped out the oil pump gears and oil pump.

If you have a heavy foot, the engine will not last as long as in naturally aspirated form. You guys have no idea what the limits are of the stock pistons and connecting rods. Will they survive 5-psi of boost? Most likely yes. Will they live survive with knock present? I doubt it.

All it takes is bad gasoline, a fauly fuel pump, a bad coil pack, etc.

A-Train

Allout

You're correct that the blower is constantly spinning and with related parasitic loss. There's also a less efficient airflow path with the SC when in bypass compared to stock.

If you read the quote I responded to closer:
Going above 3.5K RPM does not necessarily mean more air or cylinder pressure. The blower can be in bypass (airflow wise) above that RPM level as long as the throttle plate is opened at a rate that maintains vacume in the IM. That's the point that I was trying to make.

I don't think you or I have any difference in the understanding of the operation of the blower.