boost or supercharger?

[bertondhisbimmer]

i own a 2004 bmw 330i zhp! i love it1 shes my baby ! shes currently in my dads body shop getting new paint . shes sporting a vis carbon hook and rims are powder coated black, all the lights are also professionally smoked. she is extremely clean inside and out! i take care of her like no other. i am a rn at the hospital here in colorado springs and im only 19 yrs old. i was raised around performance cars. and remember my first show was with my dad when i was 4. so now im in the process of building my dream e46! but i need some input on the question ?supercharge or boost? i know theres cons and pros to both but what are ur opinions? i will post pics of her as soon as shes out of the shop

[mikeyb74]

I am more familiar with supercharging the e46.

[az3579]

If you're going to preserve some fuel economy, I would think the turbo would be best, one that spools a bit higher than highway cruising rpm. If I didn't care about that, I would do the supercharger! Instant power!





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[Marcus-SanDiego]

Welcome.

[Hermes]

Not sure what you can do out in CO but if I could (and money was no issue) Horse Power Freaks - as high a Stage as you can go. Unfortunately it's gonna have terrible mpg if you do that but it will have a ridiculous amount of power to the wheels

[tripod06]

HPF makes a badass upgrade! hands down! welcome buddy!! oh and...

:worthless

[johnrando]

Welcome! More details on your car... what color, trans, etc? Also, pics please. Finally, not scientific by any means but it seems to me that more E46s are SC'd than turbo charged. John

[danewilson77]

Welcome.

s/c

[Gheybe]

Boost = supercharger or turbo.

Welcome!

Supercharger would be my choice. ESS and AA make kickass products.

[mimalmo]

Not sure what you can do out in CO but if I could (and money was no issue) Horse Power Freaks - as high a Stage as you can go. Unfortunately it's gonna have terrible mpg if you do that but it will have a ridiculous amount of power to the wheels

HPF doesn't make a kit for the non-M E46.

Technique Tuning makes the only kit that I know of.

[Hermes]

HPF doesn't make a kit for the non-M E46.

Technique Tuning makes the only kit that I know of.

I must have been thinking of the M3 kit. don't listen to me...

[jreyes19]

welcome

I am partial to a turbo spool :)
but i hear there isn't a very good one for the e46, or at least one that can compete with the performance and the reliability
of hpf ess and others

[mimalmo]

http://www.techniquetuning.com/

Nick G. is very well respected in the E36 community and makes the only kit I know of for the E46 non-M.

[MsRN]

FWIW, in the eight days I've owned an ESS-supercharged ZHP, my mileage (60% hwy, 40% city) is 31.8 mpg, if the OBC is to be believed (in my last car, it read about 1 mpg high). I'll update once I refill, but that's at least 5mpg higher than I got with my normally-aspirated 5AT. The only annoyance I'm having is that when cold, the throttle is jerky and hesitates below 2,500 rpm in first and second (that mostly clears up once the engine has warmed up a little). Until I change the valve cover gasket (known small leak) and VANOS gasket, I'm not going to suspect the S/C as the culprit.

Summary: unless you drive the S/C hard all the time, fuel economy probably isn't an issue. Red and blue flashing lights, on the other hand... ;)

[static667]

Supercharger FTW!

Welcome to the Mafia. :hi

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[Taliben]

Turbo ftw. Way more potential than a s/c

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[Audi 0000]

Welcome.- no boost- go all motor. :biggrin

[UdubBadger]

Welcome.- no boost- go all motor. :biggrin

S54 swap would be my 1st choice for all motor but its $$$$$$

[Gheybe]

S54 swap would be my 1st choice for all motor but its $$$$$$

It's actually about the same price as an AA/ESS kit.

[UdubBadger]

Ehhh, with the research I've done on it I would probably say that there is a significant gap in price when you take into account the amount of parts you need to make the S54 function properly in the car (like upgrading the trans, diff and all of those components) and the labor it would take to put it all in.

Seems like a lightly used S/C kit can be had for about $2500 and then a lot less in labor to get it installed.


Now if you're a gear head and could tackle either job yourself, then maybe it because a little closer price wise.

[Hermes]

HPF doesn't make a kit for the non-M E46.

This is what I was thinking of, just forgot it was M only

http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/images/products/HPF/Stage4.gif

647hp, 480ft/lbs with regular gas
916hp, 679ft/lbs with race+methanol

[danewilson77]

Ehhh, with the research I've done on it I would probably say that there is a significant gap in price when you take into account the amount of parts you need to make the S54 function properly in the car (like upgrading the trans, diff and all of those components) and the labor it would take to put it all in.

Seems like a lightly used S/C kit can be had for about $2500 and then a lot less in labor to get it installed.


Now if you're a gear head and could tackle either job yourself, then maybe it because a little closer price wise.

Yeah...I think it's closer to $10k when it's all said and done for S54

[UdubBadger]

if you do it right, yeah.

[Johal E32]

welcome.

s/c is better for daily driving. (I think)

EDIT:

If the car was a grage queen I would probably go w/ the turbo

[imola red zhp]

Welcome!I recommend S/C