To boost or not to boost...

[randomthoughts]

Originally Posted by bfrank1972

Just one perspective - people initially always worry about catastrophic failure. Add a turbo or supercharger and kaboom. In reality, while that is a risk, much more common headaches occur. Boost leaks, bad tunes, snapped pulleys, failed supercharger units, failed BOV's etc. etc. "Small" headaches. If you're not prepared to deal with that, then don't add boost of any kind. Or if you do, make sure a very competent installer and tuner do the work on your car to minimize potential headaches.

I agree. One needs to always be paying attention to your car. With that being said it was the best thing I ever did to my BRZ!

[diluzio91]

Didn't see it stated, but with Edelbrock if you have it installed by a certified installer then they assume the powertrain warranty for the 3y/36k miles.

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by jakebrz

i would never suggest boosting stock engine. i boosted my brz and ran fuel flex + e85 on 9psi and i blew it in a week at 5K rpm. i was probably above 300whp but either way there is no reliability.
on the other side of things, now that im 20K into a full build i drive all day long with a smile.
so....
risk/reward

Any base/stock/carb kit would likely not change the life of the motor. Add E85 and you have the protection, but you also have the extra power. I'm guessing you were turbo, so you were probably pushing decent torque, and if you were hitting that peak boost early in the rpms and holding it to redline then that was definitely a recipe for a disaster.

I'm running e85 with a Harrop kit with a peak boost of 13 psi. No issues so far. I hoon around all the time too.

[jflogerzi]

You need to ask yourself what type of power curve you want. Without E85 your power goals are right in line with I would consider safeish on pump gas.(upper limits) SCs are going to be safer but if your looking for that shove of a turbo charger, SC might feel boring. If your state laws are not carb style like CA here is what I would do.

1) find a shop you can trust with proven track record. Talk to them to see what kits they have experience with and what they prefer.

2) get a good tuner! Besides proper install, sub par or bad tunes are the other major factor that will cause your motor to pop.

3) don't skip on cheap parts. Factor buget for supporting mods.. cooling, brakes, tires, etc..

4) prepare for worse. If you can't afford to drop another engine when it pops I would not do it. Stick to a header and tune and call it a day.

This is just my 2 cents.. take it with a grain a salt. Personally I would not boost it. 30k ish for PP and another 7-8k for boosted setup puts you into used Porche terrority...

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[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by jflogerzi

You need to ask yourself what type of power curve you want. Without E85 your power goals are right in line with I would consider safeish on pump gas.(upper limits) SCs are going to be safer but if your looking for that shove of a turbo charger, SC might feel boring. If your state laws are not carb style like CA here is what I would do.

1) find a shop you can trust with proven track record. Talk to them to see what kits they have experience with and what they prefer.

2) get a good tuner! Besides proper install, sub par or bad tunes are the other major factor that will cause your motor to pop.

3) don't skip on cheap parts. Factor buget for supporting mods.. cooling, brakes, tires, etc..

4) prepare for worse. If you can't afford to drop another engine when it pops I would not do it. Stick to a header and tune and call it a day.

This is just my 2 cents.. take it with a grain a salt. Personally I would not boost it. 30k ish for PP and another 7-8k for boosted setup puts you into used Porche terrority...

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

All this ^
ANY changes to the engine elevate risk of failure. The bigger the changes the greater the risk. By doing things right (as above) you can mitigate that risk to some extent but it still remains elevated. There is nothing saying you ever will have a problem and contrary to popular belief there is no hard and fast cut off point that is "safe" to modify to so the whole thing just comes down to managing the risk at a level that each individual is comfortable with.

[weederr33]

I feel like running boost without proper mods or a spare engine is kinda like Health Insurance or basic physical fitness. Sure you don't need either, but it's better to have them then not need them. Because when something bad does happen, you're cursing the world.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by weederr33

I feel like running boost without proper mods or a spare engine is kinda like Health Insurance or basic physical fitness. Sure you don't need either, but it's better to have them then not need them. Because when something bad does happen, you're cursing the world.

And mad when you get denied warranty.

[paiceyfan]

I live in south town with an Edelbrock, Delicious-tuned 2014 BRZ. I am completely useless when it comes to mechanical stuff...so when I had the same question, after much research, I went with the Edelbrock and traveled to see Neal at The Racer's Line in Concord, CA. It's debatable, but I think Neal has installed more superchargers than anyone else and is incredibly detailed in his work. I have had the supercharger for 3 years now, daily drive the car and have had very little in the way of issues and none of them mechanical. So, my advice is if you do decide to do it, get it installed by someone you trust and expect niggling issues, but nothing that you cannot easily remedy and enjoy it.

[8RZ]

Trade it in for the new Poopra.

[Sapphireho]

I better start looking for a spare motor.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

I better start looking for a spare motor.

Meh. You have like 26 spare cars so if you have to wait a while it is fine.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by paiceyfan

I live in south town with an Edelbrock, Delicious-tuned 2014 BRZ. I am completely useless when it comes to mechanical stuff...so when I had the same question, after much research, I went with the Edelbrock and traveled to see Neal at The Racer's Line in Concord, CA. It's debatable, but I think Neal has installed more superchargers than anyone else and is incredibly detailed in his work. I have had the supercharger for 3 years now, daily drive the car and have had very little in the way of issues and none of them mechanical. So, my advice is if you do decide to do it, get it installed by someone you trust and expect niggling issues, but nothing that you cannot easily remedy and enjoy it.

THIS ^

[wbradley]

Id say Edelbrock or Jackson Racing for reliability. My preference would be JRSC simply due it looking a lot less intrusive in the engine bay.

[paiceyfan]

Neal's got a used kit right now and could install and tune...just saying...

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