There's a company I've found on eBay who sells both Vortech and Procharger superchargers for under $6k and offers financing options. This seems really appealing to me because after buying my Z, I knew I wanted to jump into using forced induction for the car. I really was interested in a turbo setup, but I was curious what everyone's opinion was and what advantages/disadvantages I could expect from a supercharger vs. a (twin) turbocharger setup.

Also, what about brands. I have seen that HKS makes a 350Z supercharger, but how does that compare to the Vortech and ATI Procharger models?

Which would you choose... if you could go with turbo or super, which one, and what brand, and why? Thanks a lot for the help!

 

As far as the Vortech and the ATI , Both are nice and will make more power than thhe HKS . You can get them both much cheaper than $6 g's . $4300 for the Vortech kit....There is one for sale in the classifides right now ...both ATI and Vortech for around $3000

 

www.superchargersonline.com and www.superchargers4less.com bot sell the Vortech kit for around $4300 + shipping. I was going to go with a Vortech until I saw the new Turbonetics single turbo setup. This kit is supposed to be good for up to 650 hp. Since it was just released last week (I think), there are no dyno numbers for the kit. Turbonetics claims 385 RWHP out of the box. There are 3 threads about this kit on the F/I forum. I believe this kit is going to run around $4k-4500 but Im not sure.

Zach

 

Interesting... is that single turbo setup more efficient and higher in (expected) numbers than some of these TT kits like Greddy and APS's?

 

HKS.

 

All depends on your goals. Here is what you need to consider:

First and foremost......Are you willing to upgrade and strengthen the internals? If not, it will limit your reliable power. My opinion is not to go over 360-370 rwhp on stock internals at the absolute maximum. Even at that power level, you will be worrying a little about your engine.

How much power do you want?...for really high power, turbo is definitely the way to go. Keep in mind that for a street car, a really high powered rwd vehicle is harder to control. I am of the opinion, and I know many others on this forum will differ, that there is such a thing as "too powerful for the street" in that you have to be so careful and so gentle so much of the time that some of the fun is diminished.

How much tuning do you want to do?

How important is reversibility of installation...SC will be much easier than turbo.

Overall, my opinion is that if you don't want to build the internals, go with a conservative SC set up and run no more than 350rwhp. If you are willing to build the motor, get the APS turbo. All the systems will have their quirks and tuning glitches, but most work pretty well in the end. I am running the HKS SC and I dyno'd at 327 rwhp, which equates to 397 crank hp. I find this plenty fast . I can easily cut the back end loose in the first 3 gears, and even a chirp going into 4th at full throttle. More hp than this becomes much harder to control in anything but a straight line.

Finally, don't FI this car unless you have the financial reserve to deal with things going seriously wrong (i.e. blown engine)

Anyway, others will have their opinions, this is mine.

 

Thanks a lot Speedracer for taking the time to explain for me. I really appreciate the effort!