VF Engineering S'Charger

[LordNikon]

I have spoken to Roy at CA and they do the AA charger kit (which is awesome by the way) but upon researching on the internet have come across the VF Engineering unit in the states.

Does anyone have any info or experience of these kits ??? be it good or bad [hmm

[reaver]

VF Engineering also have a advert in pbmw , the sc kit seems good for the price , as it inc everything , software..ect. Im not sure anyone on here has a vf Sc kit though , but holla if you have ,as im just as intrested :)

[mnathan]

I`ve just fitted an ESS ASA Tx-1 (7psi) kit to my car . ESS used to sell the Vortech S/c for the TX-1 kit but the ASA is a more modern supercharger and is smaller.

Check out their website for M3 superchargers.

Lots of info about VF on the e46fanatics website.

Will be doing a write up about my adventures soon ...... :D

[LordNikon]

The kit is complete but it utilises a Air to Water charge cooler rather than the usual air to air intercooler. Similar power gains as you would expect and both systems seem to offer a complete and one stop bolt on upgrade. Just trying to uncover some more info on the kit over here. [hmm [hmm

[peppernick]

Remember that a S/C's performance is 80% install, 20% hardware. Various kits out there, all are good although I would opt for one with an intercooler.

If it was my car, I would want the S/C installed by someone who has done the same install plenty of times, and the brand I choose will ultimately be determined by this very important aspect. No matter how good an installer is, if he hasn't done enough installs of a particular kit, I can guarantee you that things will go wrong.

Good luck. We've been down the route before, research into the product, back up service and common faults is essential.

[marksg]

Totally agree with Nick on this one - before I had my supercharger installed, I wanted to know that other people who's opinion I trusted had the system and were happy with it, and the installers were totally familiar with the hardware. The consequences of a major failure were one of the major considerations - can't exactly take the car back to your local BMW dealer if it all goes pear shaped!

I can recommend Roy and CA Automotive - these guys are very familiar with s/c systems - if they can successful make 460 bhp M3s and 590 bhp M5s work, my system should be a piece of cake - I went for the ASA Infinitas SK Plus system - for the price, the SK Plus is very good value, and upgradable.

Good luck - it's a modification that should retain your interest in the car for some years to come.

One point - whatever system you go for, I would recommend a centrifugal clutch on the s/c if that option is available.

[LordNikon]

Thanks for the comments and info guys, much appreciated ! :)

I have spoken to Roy and he was an absolute gent, very informative and very honest about his products, cant ask for more imo [cool [cool

I am not intending to do the S/C until the end of May so was doing some more research and stumbled across the VFE one on E46fanatics. They give it some good feedback and was wondering if anyone on here had any first hand experience.

[mnathan]

I`ll hazard a guess that supercharging a M3 is more technically challenging than say a 330 ;)

So the guys are right when they say to get someone friendly and knowledgable such as Roy / CA [ok

I did hear of another company - regal-auto.co.uk who seem to be doing vortech s/c

Good luck

[LordNikon]

I have contacted VF Engineering direct and they do use Regal Autosport in the UK as a supplier for their kits. Its not finalised for their stage II kit yet but the guys at VF said they would come to the UK and fit it on my car if I wanted. Use it as kinda learning experience for their UK stuff. Cant see the guys that design and build the kit having fitting issues [hmm [hmm

[CA Automotive UK]

Hi guys ,

we actually do some business with REGAL ( the UK importer), the owners have always treated us well and seem to know their stuff , certainly when it comes to vauxhalls etc . I cannot comment on their experience with working on BMW s as we simply do not know; I am saying all this first so there are no misunderstandings...

We looked into the VF engineering thing quite a bit and here is our take :

- the owner Nick is a knowledgeable guy
- however ,they use Vortech superchargers , which are good but rather outdated and not as efficient as latest breeds ( eg asa , rotrex )
- the power claims seem on the face of it ,a little high based on our experience with all the cars we have now supercharged and the quality of kits we used . This is not to say the claims are false , but they are unproven and as I say , the maths does not quite seem to add up. we could be wrong
- we too were wondering about the intercooler issue .....

one thing in their favour is cost , which is reasonable when compared to other kits out there including our own

hope this helps

[alpina527]

I wouldn't be too happy with Regal using my car as a guinee pig for the S\c. I know Roy has spent many hours at Bruntingthorpe proving ground with his customers cars. His kit is already fine tuned, and all the faults ironed out. I wouldn'y mind betting his first installation had a few teething problems.

It might be a few more pennies to go the Ca route, but if it was my decision, I would go for a well sorted kit. [ok

[peppernick]

So that you are aware, my old 330 Clubsport with the non-M SSG gearbox was the guinea pig for testing a supercharger with the SSG gearbox. The man who invented the ASA S/Cs installed the kit himself and tested everything using their in-house computers. Still went pear shape eventually. So like I said, there's no substitute for experience and numbers, level 1 evidence we call it in what I do for a living ;) You don't want to take a different variant of the same drug unless you have solid evidence it will work, although side effects are not always preventable.

[LordNikon]

Dont get me wrong guys i am not trying to make out one is better than the other. Just trying to gather as much information as possible to make an informed decision.

On getting further information from VF they utilise a air to water or the other way around charge cooler built into the intake manifold. The Rad for this is then placed similarly to the IC on the AA unit. Not sure if this accounts for better cooling and maybe higher outputs or not, they wouldn't give me that information unfortunately.

Fair play to Roy though, as always giving honest and sound advice and information [cool [cool

[Tilly]

PMSL This is what you need... click (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cold-air-intake-turbo-supercharger-BMW-3-Series-E46_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ38634QQitemZ8039061 737QQrdZ1)

[lee330sport]

Going of some of the US guys installations and Dyno results ( on the 330's) The 7psi kit claims are way off, as much so, the the ASA Sk+ kits are putting out the same and often more power with 2psi less.

Not saying they are a bad kit as i was looking at purchasing one its just that i wouldnt go off the power claims.

[Regal]

hi guys,

this is allways an interesting discussion what with having so many kits on the market, all with thier own plus and minus points.

in response to some of the questions in this thread, all the vf kits we have fitted (be it on any of the 3 series models) have allways made the power we have anticipated.

we allways conduct a before and after dyno test with air/fuel and boost readouts so you can see exactly where your money is going!

my advice whenever thinking about having anyone install any item on your car is call them and make your own mind up :D

[benny boy]

Hello Paul, Karren Chris and Co and Ryan