Living With A Supercharger

[dandydons]

As some of you will know , I recently bought the supercharger kit that Chris - Aztec bandit had for sale after his unfortunate incident.

After gathering a couple more parts including new belt, water pump, timing belt, tensioner, new plugs, brake discs , pads etc I took the car down to Charlesworth Motors - about 280 miles away. Stopped the night had a few beers in nice local pub across the road and got to garage for them opening .

By 10.00am the bumper was off and brake discs/pads /oil change etc all done. Next up was the timing belt.It should have been the water pump but they did the belt then realised I wanted water pump fitted as well... should have heard the guy when he saw the box with the pump sitting unopened. He got that seen to though and obviously has to redo the timing belt. About this time Gord rolls up to keep me company so we go across the road and he was well ****** off when the bar across the road had no stella.... anyway , cheers for the company matey - would have been a long day hanging round if you never made it.

Back to garage to see progress on the charger fitting. - intercooler was on and the air induction kit fitted and also charger itself. Now for all the pipework.

Almost the last piece of jigsaw was wiring up the FCD. Even Stevie needed to have a quick look at the instructions for that.

Down off the ramps and the heavens opened just in time for test drive. Stevie drives - and all you can hear is the whine and the car dissappears down a hill. Seriously thought might not see it coming back in one piece due to the rain. Anyway , 5 long minutes later he appears with big smile , thumbs up all good then I get to test drive it on the 280 miles home...

The biggest thing to get used to is the whine off the charger rather than the performance difference. TBH wasnt too keen on the noise at first but kinda grown to like it . Even my wife describes it as ' sounds like a beast waiting to escape' . Over the last 1000 miles I have grown to like the charger better and better . The car also seems to have lost a slight hesitancy I thought it had on the way home - maybe just the ECU relearning ??

Anyway , long story I know. The main point I am making is that a big up for Stevie and the boys at charsleworth - was well worth the trip down. IMO dont let anybody fool you, the fitting of these kits is not as straightforward as you may have been LED to believe. I reckon well worth paying these guys for the reassurance they can give you and so far no problems at all.

Lastly - cheers Gord - hopefully stella back in stock next time mate.

Cheers Kev

[edeath]

Nice one fella - the pull from the charger will get better as the ECU learns it. I remember being oh so slightly dissapointed with the power increase and throttle response after I had had it fitted (well for the amount of money I had spent) - however the more I drove it the better it became.

[sparkystav]

congrats mate,

the lads at charlesworth are good blokes,

[Yeldarb]

Good job all round by the sounds of it.

[Marky1974]

What is the typical cost of charging an IS then, all in. I guess there must be some variations depending on who does the work and kit etc, but a ball park figure?

What sort of MPG does it leave you with (once you have gotten used to it and the right foot isn't so leaden :winky: )

Really interested to know what the perfomance is like after, would anyone be able to compare it say a IS300, and can anything be done to 300's for performance gains?

Marky

[sparkystav]

If you search about the charger kit theres loads of threads.

the kit is bolt on, one kit fits all is200;s.

[Yeldarb]

What is the typical cost of charging an IS then, all in. I guess there must be some variations depending on who does the work and kit etc, but a ball park figure?

What sort of MPG does it leave you with (once you have gotten used to it and the right foot isn't so leaden :winky: )

Really interested to know what the perfomance is like after, would anyone be able to compare it say a IS300, and can anything be done to 300's for performance gains?

Marky

Just buy a 300 and go from there.

[sparkystav]

can't get a 300 manual though

[dandydons]

Nice one fella - the pull from the charger will get better as the ECU learns it. I remember being oh so slightly dissapointed with the power increase and throttle response after I had had it fitted (well for the amount of money I had spent) - however the more I drove it the better it became.

Good to hear. My initial reaction was the same as yours - while not expecting miracles from the conversion it defo seems to be improving the more I drive it. Initially the throttle response seemed a bit slow - almost like a little turbo lag and also the acceleration seemed just a little stuttery but all now much improved.Also haven't measured the fuel consumption but if anything seems better than it was before.

How long does ECU take to fully adjust ?

[Asi]

good to hear you have the charger fitted mate. we should meet up some time.

[Gord]

As some of you will know , I recently bought the supercharger kit that Chris - Aztec bandit had for sale after his unfortunate incident.

After gathering a couple more parts including new belt, water pump, timing belt, tensioner, new plugs, brake discs , pads etc I took the car down to Charlesworth Motors - about 280 miles away. Stopped the night had a few beers in nice local pub across the road and got to garage for them opening .

By 10.00am the bumper was off and brake discs/pads /oil change etc all done. Next up was the timing belt.It should have been the water pump but they did the belt then realised I wanted water pump fitted as well... should have heard the guy when he saw the box with the pump sitting unopened. He got that seen to though and obviously has to redo the timing belt. About this time Gord rolls up to keep me company so we go across the road and he was well ****** off when the bar across the road had no stella.... anyway , cheers for the company matey - would have been a long day hanging round if you never made it.

Back to garage to see progress on the charger fitting. - intercooler was on and the air induction kit fitted and also charger itself. Now for all the pipework.

Almost the last piece of jigsaw was wiring up the FCD. Even Stevie needed to have a quick look at the instructions for that.

Down off the ramps and the heavens opened just in time for test drive. Stevie drives - and all you can hear is the whine and the car dissappears down a hill. Seriously thought might not see it coming back in one piece due to the rain. Anyway , 5 long minutes later he appears with big smile , thumbs up all good then I get to test drive it on the 280 miles home...

The biggest thing to get used to is the whine off the charger rather than the performance difference. TBH wasnt too keen on the noise at first but kinda grown to like it . Even my wife describes it as ' sounds like a beast waiting to escape' . Over the last 1000 miles I have grown to like the charger better and better . The car also seems to have lost a slight hesitancy I thought it had on the way home - maybe just the ECU relearning ??

Anyway , long story I know. The main point I am making is that a big up for Stevie and the boys at charsleworth - was well worth the trip down. IMO dont let anybody fool you, the fitting of these kits is not as straightforward as you may have been led to believe. I reckon well worth paying these guys for the reassurance they can give you and so far no problems at all.

Lastly - cheers Gord - hopefully stella back in stock next time mate.

Cheers Kev

Was nict to meet you to Kev :winky: