Advice please on Supercharging MkIV R32

[robbie]

Hey guys,

A friend of mine has secured a VF Engineering Stage 2 Supercharger kit for his MkIV R32. I understand there are many variables to cover with the FI route. Without being too specific, what tune do you recommend? Also, he would like to know what needs to be upgraded to avoid causing any damage to the major components of the car to maintain drivability and still be reliable. I will be the first to admit that superchargers tend to draw less power than turbochargers due to the nature of how the power is extracted. Is there plenty of support from tuning companies available? He understands it's also very labour intensive and by trial and error that will get him a reliable product from the get-go

I have seen photos of R32's on the back of trucks with coolant hoses out when the belt breaks, he would like to avoid that. The big one, tuning is what worries him. That was what plagued the HPA Turbo R32 downunder and gave it's bad reputation (unfortunately, he needs a guy to tune it properly for Australia's climate and fuels. Will he need to lower the engines compression ratio? A bit of bottom end work necessary I.E rod bearing at the very least? Head work? (cams), injectors, regulators and larger fuel pump etc.

Can you also recommend some companies or members on here who are worth speaking to?

Please feel free to share your experiences as there is certainly potential for an interesting discussion.

[Caffeine]

I am no mechanic and there will be other people here that can advise you better than i can but i will start by saying that the factory compression ration of 11.3:1 + forced induction are not a match made in heaven. Either low compression pistons or a decompression plate(thick head gasket) will lower compression to a more boost friendly level.

As far a "tuning" goes. I would be looking at using something like a Motech, Microtech or Haltech engine management computer in conjunction with the factory computer so you do not loos any of the factory features.
It has been a while since i change engine management on anything though so you might not need to piggy back it anymore.