This might just be the answer the unloved N/A s80Turbo owners have been looking for:

http://www.turbomagazine.com/tech/04..._supercharger/

It's called the Thomas Knight Turbo Electric Supercharger. And this isn't one of those ricer intake deals that supposedly add a small amount of "1.5" boost to the car. This looks like a serious piece. If it checks out, I'm going to look into this further for my car.

Obviously, it's universal, but I actually bumped into the article by accident while looking up something else on google.

What does anybody think? An actual performance piece or another wanna be go fast part? It looks pretty serious, and it looks to have actually been engineered for cars where there isn't an aftermarket turbo or supercharger setup for them.

But still, what about the whole ECM/throttle deal?

 

The guy that made it does have a website though: and he does sell it. He has quite an extensive FAQ about it as well.

http://www.boosthead.com/home.php

from his FAQ:

Why should I get an ESCâ„¢ when there are already production turbo/supercharger kits for my car?
We understand that the ESC-400â„¢ is not for everyone. For vehicles with a readily available, high quality turbo or supercharger kit the ESC may not be the most practical choice. But for cars with no other kits available, the instant boost and refill-free power makes our ESC-400â„¢ Electric Supercharger an excellent alternative to Nitrous or custom turbo/SC kits. A complete system is far easier to install and can be put together for less.


How do you control boost?
We use battery voltage to limit boost. A pressure relief valve (BOV) can be added as a safety measure, but is not required to control boost. We do not recommend boosting more than 5-6 psi on a stock engine. [/align]

 

Sorry but this is just another gimic. It wont do crap.

 

This is what I want you to do.

1. Go to a dyno and have your car dynoed the way it is now. Also get A/F ratios when you get this dyno done.

2. Buy this SC and install it and have your car dynoed again Also with A/F ratios.

I want to see the actual gain on the dyno from this SC.

 

Again, all speculation:

But he has a calculator for how much his ESC will add to your car with 5 pounds of boost for a stock engine. I put in the stock hp rating of 197, and looked at it. It says it'll push out 264 hp, almost stock numbers for a T6 car. But if you add the option of cold air intake, custom made headers/intake manifold...you're looking at close to 314 hp according to his calculator. Again....this is bench racing at best.

But I'm pretty much convinced. If people don't believe me, check out this guy's info on the unit itself. He even has dyno sheets from tests on other vehicles & track vids of cars with the unit installed to show it's nota joke. http://www.boosthead.com/product.php?id=18

I'm going to take the plunge and give it a shot. I'm going to have a baseline dyno done locally with A/F ratios and I'll post it on here. Then, I'm going to call this guy up next week and get some info on it. It's going to be a little while before I order this because of the fact that I'm still going to school and paying my own way, but I do think I'll buy this unit and try it out when I'm back at home for the summer and not being quite so financially constrained.

I mean, at $1,690.00 USD, this has to be something good. If all goes well, I'll have a boosted car that'll 2-step with an STI or an evo. Woohoo! I'm actually somewhat surprised that this unit is only that much. I mean...the alternative is a custom fabbed turbo setup with standalone management and I'd be well into the 8,000 mark...and even then I'd probably have to go into the bottom end of the engine to have it prepped properly. That's way out of my budget, this I could do and I think I'd be happy with for the ocasional run at the track.

Now I did read that this unit only has a 15 second duration for the power it'll apply. However it says that with a non-parasitic battery...it only takes 7 minutes to recharge. This actually makes better sense to me, because then it will discourage me from trying to push the car in everyday driving. Any racing I do is at the drag strip or the race track, I completely disapprove of illegal street racing.

I have a buddy who runs a local import tuning garage. He's going to help me with the install. Look here on and off in the next few months, this should be very interesting!

 

At $1690 it doesn't mean it is good. I believe it is a total waste of time and damn good money. I mean for that much you can seriously start thinking of turboing your car. Heck sell your NA and get a turbocharged Volvo already and use the extra cash to buy performance parts that actually work. I mean if you double that $1690 you can do a decent +T to your NA.

 

Possible. As I said, I'm not there yet. I'll look into the possibilities more when I get there.

The reason why I kinda want to turbo/modify a N/A is I'm not limited to the factory turbo setup and it's setup I guess.Like I said, I have a friend who builds turbo kits for a living and he told me you're kind of limiting yourself to what you can do with a factory setup. Besides, the T6 models I've been finding here in Calihave been run hard and into the ground. Most have 150k plus miles on them (we do a lot of driving around here) and I worry with an engine with that many miles trying to up the boost. And I shudder at the idea of rebuilding one of these engines. The small parts we complain about that go bad almost require selling your body parts just to finance them as is.

The reason why I picked the N/A I have right now was because it has all the service records from the dealer when new. So I know the matenience on the engine has been done regularly, including by myself so the engine despite the mileage would stand up to a mild turbo'ing. And even with 135k miles, the guy I bought it from used it ONLY as his commuter car to work. All the miles on since new were highway miles. He had another car for around town errands. That eliminated a lot of strain on the engine right there. It only had to stay at a constant speed and rpm.

Dunno, I guess I just worry also about the bottom end of a turbo engine and the "quality" of the twin turbo setup on the T6. These cars just weren't made for a lot of miles, and I think I'd rather work with an aftermarket turbo unit/units that are made to withstand more.

But I like volvos, I don't want to switch over to a honda or a Nissan...even though logically they're far cheaper to turbo. And even some models like the 240sx have rear wheel drive.

 

I suggest you sell your NA and not get an s80T6. Get an 850 Turbo, T5R, R. Or an s70 Turbo, T5, or get a c70 LPT or HPT.

 

NA's are veyr limited period. And adding a turbo or SC to the NA on the newer models is just not worth it.

That is why I press for you to sell the NA and get an already turbocharged Volvo other then the T6 model.

 

I looked at the T6 that I was talking about Sat; it had alot of wear and tear on the exterior and interior. What I will say that was good was the engine and brakes (it was def alot more powerful). Otherwise my current car still had it beat in every category (miles, care, year, etc).

At this point I am considering getting an Eclipse or other tuner car to keep for off road (and backup use).

As for the supercharger.......the main thing you have to overcome is the engine's throttle management safety checks (it's something Volvo does to control how often you go to full throttle). That's the main reason I wasn't able to install the other supercharger I got because they couldn't guarantee when I hit the pedal to the floor that I was at true full throttle and not 2/3 or something.

 

screw it.

I've decided as of today after going to a friend's turbo shop it isn't worth my time to do anything this car. It's a nice cruiser but that's it. I'm not going to try and waste money on a nice, but fat heavy luxury car.

I'm going to be selling my s80. Getting out of Volvos for a Lexus SC300 or 400.

Peace

 

If you buy the right Volvo you can have tons of fun. Just an NA is pointless to mod engine wise. Suspension and interior and exterior mods are great for the NA's, but other then that not worth it.

Get an 850 turbo, t5r, r.

or an s70 turbo, t5

v70 turbo, t5, r

or a c70 LPT or HPT.

Those you can mod engine wise and nicely I might add.

 

Yeah the truth hurts huh? Guess the only thing we S80-ers can mode is a subwoofer, maybe some shocks/struts/srpings/sway bars......and maybe a low shot of nitrous......

sigh....[:@]

 

Guys you can mod a s80 2.9L NA. It will just take a lot of money, time and tuning. Which most people don't have.

An s80T6 can be modded with the available aftermarket parts and become fairly fast.

 

I'll prob just lay low for now.....besides the sub and the underlights I am contemplating I prob won't do much else (the nitrous is still up in the air sadly)....oh yeah still gotta get my K&N air filter done next time I'm by the shop (I got an oil change coming up)......

Yeah I did my hw there called IPD...guy said they sell an ECU upgrade/mod that would push it from 268 hp to close to 300hp easily.....I'm also debating an S60R down the road when the time comes....we'll see.....