Chance EG

I've been doing a tonne of research for months now, and am still in the process of altering my build plans before I start modifying my powerplant. I'm starting with basic body/interior/suspension/brake work, so I have plenty of time for considerations before moving onto the meat and potatoes.

Anyway, my biggest goal with this car is FUN and RELIABILITY. Car will be daily driven on the street, in traffic, with occasional weekend warrior drives and auto-x/course driving. I want to be able to drive the car for 20K-30K miles at a time doing only routine, basic maintenance and not having to constantly wrench on knick-knack **** to fix. I want to be able to drive my car for 10 hours across state lines on road trips if needed.

I've heard some horror stories about Kraftwerks rotrex kits having issues breaking when hitting the rev limiter, but don't know how much a "soft limiter" may help. Also heard issues about the belt tensioner and belt slip/break, but don't know if an adjustable pulley would help with that. 150-05-1330B - Sport Compact - Supercharger Systems - KraftWerks USA

I've heard TTS shaft drive kit for the FN2 is more reliable on the belt/tension side of things, but would likely still be susceptible to blowing the rotrex on the redline. Also, based on the location of the charger and pulley in this setup, I'm not sure if I could get hood clearance in an EG civic even with hood risers: Rotrex Superchargers | Car Superchargers and Motorbike Supercharger Ki

Mer Racing TVS kit. This is an Eaton TVS type charger, so a bit different than the other two. Once again, not sure about fitment here as I still intend to run AC on the K swap (I think I should still have room, but it may be a bit tight). TVS1900 Supercharger Kit | MercRacing Supercharger Products

Anyway, I'm looking mostly for personal experience/testimonies from people that have owned and driven these kits for DISTANCE and daily driving. I want reliability here. If all of these kits are suspect to common issues/breakdowns then I'd rather keep it simple and just go with a K24/K20 street all motor build.

LightningTeg

No where have you stated a power goal, which will greatly influence the decision.

Chance EG

If I'm going through the hassle of installing a supercharger, I want at least 400+whp. Any of those three kits should be able to meet that I believe, the TVS in a different manner though.

Also not even sure if the extra power over N/a is really even practical unless I'm at the strip. The car will mostly be daily driven on 225 summer tires, wheel spin (especially with the low end of the TVS) may just make the extra power pointless.

Schister66

Paging @D-Rob - he has tuned a number of badass k20/24 SC setups

LightningTeg

Yeah but its hard to beat the whine and low end of a roots blower. The linear powerband is alot easier to manage with throttle input then a turbo would be.

Chance EG

The TVS would likely be my choice if it fits under the EG hood with room up front for an AC compressor (which I actually think it should, I seem to recall another EG running an Eaton supercharger with a full length radiator. AC comp/fan would take up about the same space).

Edit: I'm pretty sure the TTS Rotrex kit I linked to above would have clearance issues with the EG hood on a K swap. I think choices are pretty much between the KW Rotrex kit and the TVS.

JRCivic1

The Kraftwerks kit would mount in the same place as the A/C compressor... so if you wanted to keep A/C, that is not going to work. You would have to use one of the top mount kits ('06-14 Civic Si) and modify it to fit as far as the intercooler plumbing is concerned... and I am not sure it would clear the hood in an EG chassis... especially if you have a K24. My suspicion is that the Merc Racing products are going to be the best option for clearing the hood.

Chance EG

Their new kits allow you to retain AC/PS: 150-05-1330B - Sport Compact - Supercharger Systems - KraftWerks USA

There are also videos online of both EG and EKs that have fit this kit under their hood. You make a good point about the K24 though, the added deck height may make it more of a challenge. I'd keep it simple with straight K20.

I'm honestly really starting to consider the Kraftwerks kit:
Easy to install
If I'm in a pinch I can just cut the belt for the SC since it runs independently of accessories.

And if I ever just decide I want to get rid of it entirely:
I can re-use my cylinder head if I ever decide to just go N/A, even the same header/cams
Could re-use the built transmission, just change to a shorter FD
Could even still use the same K20 block with decent results while I built a K24 on the side.

I think the potential for success far outweighs the risks I'll actually be taking, now that I think about it. I wouldn't be SOL even if the entire kit failed me.

JRCivic1

Ok, just so you are clear on what you are trying to achieve here...

The kit part number that you referenced is for a '06-11 Civic Si. That car does NOT have a conventional P/S pump... it utilizes an electric P/S system, so the supercharger actually takes up the real estate on the engine that would normally be occupied by a conventional P/S pump. It IS driven by the single belt serpentine belt system, so a belt failure would in fact create a challenging driving condition. Lastly, you mentioned eclipsing the 400 wheel HP mark... this kit comes with the 30-94 Rotrex supercharger head unit, so reaching that HP goal is unlikely. You would have to fit a 38 series supercharger up top to break the 400 wheel HP barrier which will be challenging AND reduce hood clearance... or use the "Race" style kit which mounts the supercharger down where the A/C compressor is... which means you would lose that too. Lastly, the intercooler and charge piping is totally different for the newer 8G civic compared to the EG (5G) civic, so all of this would have to be modified to make it work on your car. If you don't have a K20Z3 engine, there will also be water pump housing and idler bracket changes needed to mount the supercharger bracket system... additional costs you must factor in. Hood clearance... there is a LOT more of that under the 8G hood than there is under that low 5G hood... I haven't done one myself, but I fear that you will truly have trouble on that front.

Chance EG

Thanks for all the info man, I appreciate it. Definitely trying to make all the important considerations now while I still have time.

I'm planning on running a Karcepts EHPS conversion kit (uses a Toyota MR2 electric pump for electric power steering), so that could be preserved. I also already knew the intercooler and pipes would have to be custom fabricated; I've had to do this before on a turbo S2K so that shouldn't be too much of a headache.

The K20Z3 housing and bracket differences I hadn't taken into consideration... May need to look into that more. I haven't done my K swap yet though, so I may consider just doing a Z3 drop rather than an A2/Z1.

Hood clearance will be tight, but there's two videos on youtube (from a father/son) who each run a 500WHP EG and EK civic from Kraftwerks, so I'm assuming that they found a way to fit a 38 Rotrex under there. I'll have to look into that more and maybe get in touch either with them directly or just Kraftwerks to see what they did.

Thanks for all the input guys!

Edit: It looks like those guys running 400+WHP on the Rotrex units (including the two I mentioned) are using the bottom mount kit like you mentioned. So yeah, this probably won't work out with my plans:


If you look around 1:19 it has a brief shot of his engine bay and you can see a Karcepts AC/PS delete bracket where the charger pulley would normally be on the 06-11 Kraftwerks kit.