General Supercharger Thread

I'm really curious about the heat soak on that airbox since it's metal. Mainly because I've never run into another closed box intake made from metal. Always plastic molds. Anyone put a laser on it and take its temp? And if it does retain any amount of heat, would heat tape help at all? Or is this really a non issue and I'm overthinking it?

I've got an E46 M3 and fighting engine temps is kinda a normal thing...lol

 

I have not tested the temps but I considered shielding it and the intake....still researching.

 

Waiting on a reply to see if Stillen would sell the front grill portion separately to play around with mocking it up to a prospeed if I go that way

And if not, Stillen is still only $410, so would be worth trying to just mock up a larger diameter tube between box and throttle body. Save a little bit of money

 

Researching about SABM last night it read to me the stock hole would create a vacuum with the stock box on supercharged applications.

I'm guess since the ProSpeed airbox isn't sealed it would pull engine bay air into the box if the stock hole became a constraint. Probably a good reason to do the SABM

 

I thought of this also. Keep us posted if they’re willing to sell it separately.

 

If you watch the first minute or so of @ViktorG 's 5inch intake video he said just driving around with the filter so close to the grille would create boost and seemed to cause some issues.

I don't think that would be the case with the Stillen piping since any pressure build up would have relief through the other openings of the box. I'm just hesitant to cut a hole in the airbox only to find out there is a problem if not this specific one.

Their water intrusion prevention is to block air flow from passing through the front intake.

 

True, it was probably just needed for more cooler air, I don't remember their reasoning

 

In my opinion you guys who have Magnusons with the magnuson intake already have the best setup there is aside from maybe adding an SABM and an AFE dryflow filter to it. Viktor said he didn’t exceed the 4” magnuson MAF voltage ceiling until he was pushing over 10psi. It’s the truest “cold air” intake you’re going to get and is what I’ll be upgrading to when the time comes for my harrop, maybe paired with an RCF TB. DAP’s testing had 40 degree higher IATs with the Prospeed intake. DAP, Matt from SDHQ, and Viktor all seem to agree on these points. Just trying to save you some $.

 

Probably a bit of both. I'm looking at the airbox now more from the safer operating conditions than as a performance component.

 

I'll have to look up that vid. But ya I think you're right in that the Stillen has two openings and it wouldn't build up any pressure, just lower the air temp quicker, according to Stillen.

Tell y'all what. I'm gonna go ahead and buy the Stillen intake since I have to piece together a fit kit for the maggy anyways. I can run the stillen until I get the rest of the parts for the maggy. Probably place the order next week. And hopefully have the rest of the fit kit parts by end of year and I can start playing around with the second half this

 

You may be able to make your own. That other piece is just one of the deflectors with a cut out.

 

Keep in mind that if you’re going to run the magnuson provided tune to start, it was designed around MAF scaling with a 4” intake that comes with the magnuson kit. If you’re doing custom tuning right off the bat that’s fine since it should be accounted for, but the stillen is still going to be the stock N/A 3.5” diameter MAF/intake tube since it was designed for non supercharged trucks. I’m also not sure how it will line up/bolt up to your magnuson without modifications, unless you were counting on that.

 

It's all up in the air. I only have the main s/c assembly right now, so I either buy the fit kit all at once and use those components, or piece it together slowly. I would definitely need to replace/mod/fab the intake tube though if I go Stillen. But I'm thinking that shouldn't be too hard...Either way I'll be using a custom tune straight off, from OTT.

 

Also, FYI you can buy the complete magnuson intake from superchargersonline for half the price of the Prospeed intake.

 

If I may clarify, what he was saying was that at the end of a drag trip run, he would throw it into neutral and air was being forced into his custom intake in a sorta "ram air" effect. With the MAF being so close to the filter, it was picking up additional air flow being forced into the pipe due to moving through the atmosphere. Maybe I'm just spitting hairs though.

@nobodyintexas My boost gauge indicates much the same as @snivilous's, only I'm most often at 8000ft. I can just about merge onto the interstate without seeing boost, but I frequently seem to find a reason to "panic". I think that his truck and mine are set up more alike than not, outside of his tires/gears.

 

I don't think your comment is splitting hairs.

Looking at the leading surface area of Viktor's set up and looking at the cut out of the Stillen it is unlikely you'll get the same effect even coasting at high speeds. Viktor's set up has one entry point while the Stillen is pulling air from two openings.

 

Agreed. Also, Viktor's MAP was mere inches from the filter, and the filter itself was about as close to the grill as I've ever seen. The intake from Stillen retains the MAF in the stock location much further down the line and "protected" by several changes of direction of the air flow and far less likely to see water ingestion, I would suppose.

 

Great points.

 

Ok....this relates to the intake stuff.

I am running about ~55 degrees over ambient at any given time. Harrop sensor vs dash temp. (once I've heat soaked) I am stock intake - Wix filter.

3pm driving home @ 97 degree ambient - I was running 151 intake temp at cruise.

4am driving into work @ 82degrees I was running 132 degrees intake temp at cruise
@nags
@Saltyhero13 and others with Harrop...I'd like to see the temp difference the fancy intake box makes*.

will it hold to the ~50 degree increase? does it lower or raise the intake delta?

I'm assuming y'all have a ~50 degree increase as well.


*I realize the intake is providing a larger intake diameter to allow more air, but let's look at the temp diff.

 

my point is:

even if the prospeed pulls in more heat, look at the hp gain @Saltyhero13 has over me with minimal equip diff.

what is it ~70hp? similar Tq. I'm 477/518

and I'm assuming it's a tight, safe tune.

seems like all this heat talk is for naught.

that's just me....

 

The thing is you really can’t compare Saltys dyno with yours especially running different tunes. There’s too many variables. Dynos all read so differently, it should really be nothing but a tool to measure your delta in HP and torque. DAPs dyno for example consistently reads 15-18% lower than other dynos on the same truck. Another big difference is ambient temp during the run. Saltys tuning shop someone said was air conditioned, and I thought you said it was hot as hell the day you did your runs. If his truck was making more power if tested the same day on the same dyno, I’d bet that if it were associated with anything it’s the larger TB and tune and not the intake. His intake might move more air, but based on what I’ve read it’s probably not colder.

All of that aside, no two trucks with identical mods will make the same power anyway. Every now and then DAP would have a truck come through that was a freak compared to others and made more power than usual.

As for the Harrop intake temps, Mine is always 35-38 degrees above ambient even towing in 90 degree weather. My only difference to your intake is I have an AFE Dryflow filter at the recommendation of many. I also have yellow non Toyota coolant (Ford coolant) in my supercharger loop, but we won’t attribute Ford with doing anything better than Toyota in that department. I’m sure it’s thermal properties are similar.

 

Agreed. tunes & stuff differ.

given the performance of that install.....is the prospeed heat issue really an issue?

The 4.5" intake is clearly providing a material gain...even given any perceived heat issues.

which is why I'd like to see the intake heat delta compared to mine...which is very similar up to the intake.

tunes aside....what's the heat delta.

I'll reckon it's about the same....



which means I need the 4.5" intake.....

 

I’d say there is a difference between being an issue and being optimal. If optimal doesn’t matter, then the heat doesn’t matter I guess.

 

you said it better than I could.

 

I think you should be our test bed. since @Saltyhero13 went right from stage 1 to stage 2 with the PS intake and the RCF TB, you could do the upgrades as well and give us a real delta on what going from the stage 2 with a stock intake to the upgraded intake and TB can do. You know you want to!

 

So far I'm at or below ~40 degrees over ambient most of the time but my trips are about 30miles/40mins each way. We'll see how it fares in hotter and colder weather.

Comparing your 82 degree trip I ran between 109 to 122 for my trip. On the way back temps were hotter after sitting in the sun all day pushing it into the 40degree threshold or slightly higher; I think I hit 133 in high 80s. (traffic was bad so I couldn't look at my gauges as much).

Bear in mind I have different weather conditions than you and my baseline observations prior to the ProSpeed airbox may have been screwed up.

Holdener's video on intake diameters convinced me it was worth the upgrade on a supercharged vehicle. Is the ProSpeed the best solution? I don't know but not many options outside of Macgyvering(fabricating) your own.

I do think the box deserves some of the criticisms it receives; price being one of them. I can't go as far as call them "design flaws" without monitoring and testing. With that said I will eventually do the SABM cutout in the fender wall and experiment with insulating the airbox and shielding the intake.

I don't look at the box as purely a performance part by providing more air; cooler air helps the engine run more efficiently and effectively by keeping the ECU happy.

As far as overall engine temps in the hotter part of the day I was below 200 (max 198) scooting all the way home; 200 seems to be the optimal operating temp.

 

Just an aside on temps, genuine cooling just added a 20 row setrab trans cooler, an upgrade from the 15 row they also offer. I upgraded my order, hopefully getting it in next month as they've been on backorder

 

A few things I will say about the CAI @nobodyintexas is:

1. Wheel hop is real - you have caltracs and more suitable tires, may not guarantee you can put the extra power to the ground if you do upgrade. Still worth it for towing/hauling however.
   
2. Given your great MPG numbers I don't think you are running with a lot of inefficiencies in normal operation; under boost may be different but it would be hard to tell without logging boosted runs. The larger intake seems to be a bigger factor for operating on the higher end of the RPM; doesn't mean you wont see gains. Cooler air means happier ECU; bigger safety margins.
   
3. ProSpeed CAI: Besides price (unless you fab your own) If there are truly issues with the box I think they can be mitigated by some minor improvements IMO

 

Just to clarify, caltracs help with keep the wheels planted AND towing? I haven't looked into them a whole lot but they are on my list since I'll be towing in the mountains. Have the sos 2/4" drop, TRD Sway bars, and helper bags all sitting in the garage. Will be adding the coach builder shackles to it also.