After Market Supercharger Vs Sc

[Lucy Jane Sharpe]

Can someone tell me how these two cars differ?  Do you still get the Cam change step at 6,000?  Is there anything worth noting between the Lotus Supercharger and the Katana?

 

As far as we can see the aftermarket supercharged cars have higher output than the SCs, but are going for less money than the factory built SCs. 

[DeanB]

M@r]{ on here has a Hangar 111 aftermarket supercharger on his s2 Toyota Exige. It is a Komotec I think. He has had the car a couple of years now and done a good few track days in it and it has been reliable. It also goes like stink - really, really rapid.

It is probably as good as the factory kit but people will always prefer the safety net of a factory developed product I guess - hence the difference in price.

If you want more info I would suggest you ring Hangar 111 - they have always been very helpful with me and they know their stuff.

[pa28pilot]

The cam change is a feature of the "head" and valve-train design - and is controlled by the ECU. This is completely independent of the supercharger where fitted.

 

The factory fitted SC and official retrofit kit provide "safe" performance gains for the original engine design. An aftermarket SC, if done properly, will likely require other internal modification to the engine.

 

Views will vary as to the relative merits (and aftermarket values) of the official and third party options. If the car is within warranty, or you expect the car to be maintained within the official dealer network, then the choice may more obvious.

[generaljake]

IMO factory will always hold more value than aftermarket for many reasons, in any car.

 

Most other cars actually reduce in value modifying them with aftermarket.

 

That being said, I don't have much knowledge of lotus cars (yet) but It's my understanding that this still holds water with them to some extent.

 

I was on the market for one recently and considered a katana 111r but, it would have had to come in at least 2k-4k less than factory sc prices (my2004- 2006).

 

GL 

 

J

 

edit 

 

another thing to note is the residual value of the lotus elise, get a factory one now and as you learn more and think maybe aftermarket is the way to go you could always sell in march/april next year and get all your money back. It won't lose much, if any, if its an older model... just see

[Eric]

The Elise SC has a trick ECU that varies the rpm at which the cam change happens, depending on inputs from its various sensors.  It's a wonderful thing, and my Exige S240 has the same trick mapping (but obviously optimised for larger injectors and higher boost).

 

The SC also does without the complication of a charge cooler (aka intercooler) thanks to keeping the maximum boost quite low - hence "just" 217 bhp from the mighty 2ZZ.  But, the higher the boost, the higher the input charge temperature will become, and so pretty much any after-market S/C kit that aims to provide more than SC's 217 (for a 2ZZ that is) *will* require an intercooler.  Not that this is a bad thing, it just means that fitting a kit with an intercooler becomes a much bigger job that typically requires removal of the front clam, hence deep pockets required!!