Sennin

Any advise would be appreciated

I drive a 2006 Mazda 3 sedan (1.6) and wants to install an electric supercharger, was thinking of using a e-force or force flow unit.

The sites:
http://www.electricsupercharger.co.za/e-RAM.htm
http://www.forceflow.co.za/ff_4.asp

The questions that i have is :

1. The units produce 800CFM's at 1 PSI boost and requires 60 Amps to operate, my concern is the 60 Amps, since this unit connects directly to the battery, does anybody know how this will affect the battery life? I was thinking about installing a 1 or 2 Farad cap, but isn't sure if this will help in any way, since the caps is mainly used in audio setups where you get spikes in energy consumption (amps having to pull speakers and SUB's) and the electric supercharger will require a constant supply.

2. Where would be the best place to install the unit ( I want my engine bay to look as stock as possible) I was thinking of installing it in the air intake box behind the left front headlight.

TNX

Roddimus Prime

1psi on a 1.6L engine = 4hp MAYBE.

Save your money and buy a real performance upgrade.

Electric superchargers are rip-offs and produce no real power.

kargoboy

^^What he said^^

Sennin

Roddimus,

TNX, for the input, i really appreciate it.

To me a gain of 3 to 6 HP will be more than enough for my car, the reason being as follows:

1. A Mazda 1.6L S.V.V.T. delivers 102 HP (nothing to write home about but adequate for normal driving)

2. The problem that i have encountered is that since the car adjusts the power and torque curve according to the load it carries, my fuel consumption is much worse when i am unloaded as when i am fully load and the aircon is used. Unloaded my consumption is 13km/l (30,7 MPG) and loaded 15.2km/l (36.15 MPG).

3. According to calculations and by reviewing the ECU setup of my car, i have come to the conclusion that the easiest way to force my car not to "detune" its engine is by changing the readings that the mass flow sensor generates, this can either be done by changing the resistance value of the sensor, or by mechanically inducing more flow over the sensor.

If there is any other way that you can think of that would help me with this problem i would be delighted to hear it. TNX

P.S. Changing the ECU code doesn't work, Mazda has incorporated something that will reset any coding to the factory setting after a while (and an upgrade chip for my car isn't available in this lovely country of mine)

dabears2k

an electric supercharger is vaporware, a myth. Not even worth teh price of admission. Get a CAI, lighter wheels, etc, they will all give you a better impact

Roddimus Prime

Sennin, I think you're a little confused about how engine ecu's work. Also, flashing the ECU would work as you'd be replacing the original map with another standard mazda map. The vehicle just thinks it's a different model. It doesn't know any changes have been made.

Dabears is correct. You would have much better gains in perfromance and fuel economy if you would reduce as much weight as possible from your vehicle. Some of the best ways to do this are to reduce the weight of your stock wheels and flywheel. Also, removing any oversized stereo equipment and other useless weight from the car will help.

There is a very simple formula to help you figure out your vehicles performance ability.

1. Take your vehicle weights (let's assume 2500lbs)

2. Divide your engines brake horsepower (or wheel horsepower if you have a current dyno) into the engine weight. Let's assume 102bhp.

3. The remainder (24.51lbs/hp) is the amount of weight each horsepower has to move. For every 25lbs of weight you save you actually GAIN 1hp. Drop 100lbs of weight from the car would have the effect of gaining 4hp.


Suppose your wheels weigh in at a respectable 25lbs each and you're able to replace them with wheels that weigh only 16lbs each you would save 36lbs of weight off your car OR you would gain the equivilant of 1.5hp

I know this doesn't sound like much but it adds up and every bit of weight you shave will lower your power/weight ratio that is SO important.

The Lotus Elise isn't so fast because it makes 500hp. It's fast because it's light. Being light also shows it's benefits in braking, cornering, tire wear, etc.

Sennin

Good morning folks,

I know exactly how to increase my power to weight ratio, tnx for the recap ;-)

I have remapped my ECU 2 times already, and a week later the code would be back to stock. (getting tired of stripping the engine bay to remove ECU)

Did a simulated run last week, using an RC model cars electric engine (15 000 RPM's) and a fan from a hairdryer (estimated 400 CFM's delivered by setup) 0.5 PSI boost, and the results were as excpected.

The thing is that i just want to better my MPG figure when i'm driving unloaded, if I want to create a racing mazda 3 its no use using a 1.6 single overhead cam engine, would do much better by replacing it with the Mazda 2L or 2.3 that has Double overhead cam.

dentinger

hmmm... and just so ya know, removing 1 lb of wheel wieght was like removing 10lbs of vehicle weight....
making light wheels a very good upgrade.... they can also get VERY pricey tho....

Sennin

Tnx for the info guys, i really appreciate it, even though it is starting to go a bit off topic ;-)

Another way to increase the performance is to reduce the Drag coefficient of the car or by inducing turbulent flow behind the car. (This effects however will only be noticeable at high speeds)

KrayzieFox

Hmm .. back on topic.

I say don't do it. If you're looking for an extra 5-10 HP invest in a nice intake and exhaust of your choice. It will dress up your engine & underbody a little bit and give you the performance boost you're looking for. You're also not putting your ECU at risk by doing this, as you're simply increasing airflow and nothing else. It's safer, cleaner, just as efficient (if not more) and gets ya where you wanna be.

That's my $.02

Sennin

I was thinking of upgrading the intake when i install the supercharger, but my main concern is still how to improve my economy when my car is unloaded ( i dont want to play around with the weight sensors since the ABS and EBD uses these values)

At least i wont install an electric supercharger ( you all have convinced me )