[Harrie]

The whole thing started when my friend called up from chennai saying he found some queer looking thing called a "Supercharger" in Pudupet market in chennai. He went on to say there were two availabel there. One was a small one that looked like a alternator and another slightly bigger one which had a electromagnetic clutch!

Now wierd ideas started cropping up. With a electromagnetic clutch the supercharger will be free wheeling all the time. It will not be drawing up power from the engine ( negligible ? ). But when needed the relay had to be grounded and the EM clutch engages. The supercharger starts running and provides boost!

This is off a toyota lucida van. The SC in the Lucida is running at 10psi. But with whatever pulley combo I can find I dont know how much boost it'll be running in the esteem... Need to check this out first. Now what I want to know is

1. The esteem is running a RD Race ECU already. So timing and fuel should be ok. Is it possible to somehow trigger the relay at a particular point - say 75% throttle conditions, rpm above 4000? This should be something similar to the NOS controllers right?

2. I will be overhauling the SC before installing it. But can the SC be operated continuosly like say on the track? i am a bit sceptical becase in the Lucidas and I guess the MR2s this SC would run only briefly for a short period of time.

3. Most people use a divertor valve with SC instead of a BOV. Why is this so? Can i use a plumbing just like in a turbo and get away with it?

To accomodate the SC we are ready to chop the bonnet and make a scoop. Also we are planning to run a front mount IC. Anything else we need to take care of?

[shreyasma]

wow man! if you get everuthing right in place, then you will have one awesome engine.

By the way how much did the RD race ecu cost you?

[Harrie]

The ECU costs 30k odd - not too sure about it.

[nitrous]

You can get a WOT(Wide Open throttle) switch and connect it to the EM clutch.

[Harrie]

A WOT switch might not work because I want the SC to be rnning only above a particular rpm. Had actually thought of capturing the TPS and RPM using a micro controller and A to D convertor and then switching on the EM clutch through a relay NO relay.

My main concerns are regarding how long I can drive the SC...

Originally Posted by Harrie

My main concerns are regarding how long I can drive the SC...

I dont understand...
due to mechanical stress on the engine and drivetrain/ increased cooling requirements, that kind of thing?

Great project!
Would be nice if someone could tell me why manufacturers dont come out with this option(supercharger with clutch) more often.

[esteem_lover]

Would there be enough space in the esteem engine bay to plonk this ?

[pawan]

you could use a rpm switch (relay) like the ones used in those shift lights that operate at a set rpm, msd has a rpm switch which looks pretty easy to setup and change frequently.

for the inter cooler why not use a air to water since i am guessing you might not be seeing really high temps.

[Ziggy]

Hey Harrie,

I too have the Sc14 toyota supercharger of from a MR2 , its 1400 cc super charger kicks in at 3000 rpm , powers a 2000cc Sohc engine namely
1AGZE to a max boost of 10psi .I have Been contemplating on shoehorning it to my Mpfi E-zen , which has a race cam, modded head and the works. Keep me posted.

Looking at the pics i cannot judge if what you have is a SC12 or a SC14, they look the same .. the SC14 is bigger. How i wish i had the SC12 instead of the 14.

[ananthkamath]

If you have the RD race ECU why bother with external switches....use an output from the ECU to trigger an external relay based on RPM/MAP, such as the one that would otherwise trigger a VTEC solenoid.

[speed0mania]

Nice find! never knew such a breed of SCs existed! damm exciting project will be watching progress keep us updated!
Are you going for forged internals right away or are you going to go for low boost with stock internals first?

[Harrie]

@ananth will check that out. Should make things a lot easier.

Do you know of anyone running these scs on a daily driven car? My concern is that the sc might not be designed for continuous operation unlike other scs.

[doomsday]

Originally Posted by ananthkamath

If you have the RD race ECU why bother with external switches....use an output from the ECU to trigger an external relay based on RPM/MAP, such as the one that would otherwise trigger a VTEC solenoid.

Yes, I think that is quite possible. IIRC the RD ECU has two aux outputs for triggering stuff like nitrous/water injection. So it should be able to get the job done. Not too sure if both are MAP or RPM based.

[ananthkamath]

i dont think toyota would spend the money and install a S/C, only to run it at ridiculously low duty cycles. So if you control the itch to underdrive it and spin it at ludicrous RPMs, you should be fine on a daily or even track car.

[techn0l0gist]

Originally Posted by ananthkamath

If you have the RD race ECU why bother with external switches....use an output from the ECU to trigger an external relay based on RPM/MAP, such as the one that would otherwise trigger a VTEC solenoid.

The RD ECU has spare outputs to program ? cool feature ! I thought only MS did that !