I installed the same one and had almost the exact same experience trying to improvise some parts over 2-3 days the first time. Now I could probably do the job in less than an hour. I did the same thing you did with the jb weld for the intake elbow initially. I eventually found an silicone elbow with a 1" tee from an e36 bmw that fit. I think you have the correct bolt on your tensioner. Mine came with a stud/nut. It's tight but you can gain access to it by removing your headlight and grill to be able to tighten/tension the belt. Good luck with the install.
This is the Z-Engineering charger (I think it's a Z-3 model) which was the original charger sold by VF Engineering, and is now sold by RUF Germany. It got a grey metallic paint job following its recent rebuild. Can't speak to the belt slip just yet, as I'm still in the install process... have been going down the rabbit hole with many repair jobs that have needed to be taken care of along the way. I'm hoping to have it functional this weekend. Nowadays VF Engineering sells Vortech superchargers, fyi. Those are made in the USA, not far from VF Engineering, which makes servicing them much easier.
@@CliffjumperCars Just ordered mine. It will be polished and will have to wait 2-3 months for that. My install should be easier. No carbon can, no isv, no maf. All out. My question is, can i use my existing intake elbow instead of theirs? The one from the throttle body. What do you think?
Hello Brendan, Wow great progress on this supercharger build so far it's a shame they didn't give you that 80 mm bolt to give you that full adjustment you're looking for, for the supercharger. But that's how things go sometimes working on a 29-year-old plus car. This dawned on me in regards to your maf wire instead of cutting it perhaps just trace the wire back to see if there is a plug that you can disconnect from along the fire wall area and simply just use a pigtail adapter and reconnect it from there. Or simply just extend 3 extra feet by the airbox. How much horsepower does this supercharger add on to your 204 HP you already have?
The MAF wiring is straight from the main wiring harness out of the giant 30 pin connector, so no joy there. No choice but to cut and extend, as I've had zero luck finding one of the old extended harness wiring looms with the connectors on both ends. A friend created one with a pigtail cut from a parts car and a hacked up broken MAF, and if I could source both then I could do likewise. But the local junkyards see very few OBD1 VR6 cars come through. So... for the sake of getting this rolling in the next couple of weeks, I've already started making an extended wiring loom which I'll splice in. The kit supposedly is good for 60-80hp. Back in the day I saw dyno plots showing right around 260whp, 250wtq. Sounds about right. If it gets more than that I'd be surprised. I'm not aiming for big numbers, just some period correct cool factor, pleasing noises and a little more vroom vroom.
@@CliffjumperCars Well hey it was the thought that counts LOL, at least you did your research and found that it goes straight to the fuse box at this point it's better definitely extending it by the strut Tower area. Wow 60 to 80 horsepower gain still if you could easily add on 60 HP horsepower that would be a nice 264 horsepower roughly which would be absolutely exhilarating! After a nice mod like this I would definitely upgrade to LSD limited slip differential Quaffe brand! Zoom! Congrats on the build 🏁🏆
@@Eurospec73 I have a built O2m six speed gearbox waiting to go in. I am assuming that the O1m transmission that is currently in there will finally succumb to the abuse it will experience with the supercharger installed and I'll have a good excuse to install the new transmission. Still need to get custom axles made for the transmission swap, but I've got almost everything else I need for that job.
Why drill the coupler when you can have it made out of metal with some silicone couplers instead. I doubt that plastic weld will hold 7 PSI. Also, install the intake coupler with the supercharger at the same time. Just a suggestion.
A mechanical engineer friend used JB weld to repair an intake manifold on a supercharged 400ci motor that he built for a mid engine RWD custom 944. Thing ran 10's in the 1/4 mile while shifting slowly and letting off the throttle to coast through the traps, so he didn't get kicked off the track for being too fast (not having all the required NHRA gear for that speed class). I think it can handle 6psi, given that it won't be having to handle that pressure constantly. BUT that is a good idea to fabricate the coupler out of metal to ensure no boost leaks. I think once I've got all the plumbing fitted, I can take measurements and have it all made from fewer parts, for the same purpose. Fewer possibilities of boost leaks.
Did you choose the Z-Eng kit just because you found one? I've never been a fan of that supercharger, would rather have a Vortech, you can still get parts for them and they're totally rebuildable. At some point I wouldn't mind adding a kit to my car but you're running into all the issues of grabbing a used kit. BTDT unfortunately. Best way to get a kit is to see it running on the donor car and then pull everything off. Course that's practically impossible to do unless you're buying it from a buddy
Went looking for one. Had the option to get a Vortech kit. I like that the Z-Engineering is self-oiling and not prone to internal leaks that foul MAFs and spark plugs, unlike the Vortech. I like not having to drill and tap the oil pan and run a separate oil supply. I like that it's weird and rare. And with Nic at VF, there's some support available. But... given that it could go horribly wrong, I'm not opposed to switching to a Vortech based kit at some point in time, should the need arise.
I installed the same one and had almost the exact same experience trying to improvise some parts over 2-3 days the first time. Now I could probably do the job in less than an hour. I did the same thing you did with the jb weld for the intake elbow initially. I eventually found an silicone elbow with a 1" tee from an e36 bmw that fit. I think you have the correct bolt on your tensioner. Mine came with a stud/nut. It's tight but you can gain access to it by removing your headlight and grill to be able to tighten/tension the belt. Good luck with the install.
Don’t apologize for the car you want to build
Good advice!
I noticed your CF fan cover. Is that a wrap?
Nice!!! Youre on CCC FB. I want to get one this year. This is the V3? It comes polished or thats a silver powder coat? Any belt slip?
This is the Z-Engineering charger (I think it's a Z-3 model) which was the original charger sold by VF Engineering, and is now sold by RUF Germany. It got a grey metallic paint job following its recent rebuild. Can't speak to the belt slip just yet, as I'm still in the install process... have been going down the rabbit hole with many repair jobs that have needed to be taken care of along the way. I'm hoping to have it functional this weekend.
Nowadays VF Engineering sells Vortech superchargers, fyi. Those are made in the USA, not far from VF Engineering, which makes servicing them much easier.
@@CliffjumperCars Just ordered mine. It will be polished and will have to wait 2-3 months for that. My install should be easier. No carbon can, no isv, no maf. All out. My question is, can i use my existing intake elbow instead of theirs? The one from the throttle body. What do you think?
Hello Brendan,
Wow great progress on this supercharger build so far it's a shame they didn't give you that 80 mm bolt to give you that full adjustment you're looking for, for the supercharger. But that's how things go sometimes working on a 29-year-old plus car. This dawned on me in regards to your maf wire instead of cutting it perhaps just trace the wire back to see if there is a plug that you can disconnect from along the fire wall area and simply just use a pigtail adapter and reconnect it from there. Or simply just extend 3 extra feet by the airbox. How much horsepower does this supercharger add on to your 204 HP you already have?
The MAF wiring is straight from the main wiring harness out of the giant 30 pin connector, so no joy there. No choice but to cut and extend, as I've had zero luck finding one of the old extended harness wiring looms with the connectors on both ends. A friend created one with a pigtail cut from a parts car and a hacked up broken MAF, and if I could source both then I could do likewise. But the local junkyards see very few OBD1 VR6 cars come through. So... for the sake of getting this rolling in the next couple of weeks, I've already started making an extended wiring loom which I'll splice in.
The kit supposedly is good for 60-80hp. Back in the day I saw dyno plots showing right around 260whp, 250wtq. Sounds about right. If it gets more than that I'd be surprised. I'm not aiming for big numbers, just some period correct cool factor, pleasing noises and a little more vroom vroom.
@@CliffjumperCars Well hey it was the thought that counts LOL, at least you did your research and found that it goes straight to the fuse box at this point it's better definitely extending it by the strut Tower area.
Wow 60 to 80 horsepower gain still if you could easily add on 60 HP horsepower that would be a nice 264 horsepower roughly which would be absolutely exhilarating!
After a nice mod like this I would definitely upgrade to LSD limited slip differential Quaffe brand! Zoom! Congrats on the build 🏁🏆
@@Eurospec73 I have a built O2m six speed gearbox waiting to go in. I am assuming that the O1m transmission that is currently in there will finally succumb to the abuse it will experience with the supercharger installed and I'll have a good excuse to install the new transmission. Still need to get custom axles made for the transmission swap, but I've got almost everything else I need for that job.
🚗💨💨💨💨💨💨
Why drill the coupler when you can have it made out of metal with some silicone couplers instead. I doubt that plastic weld will hold 7 PSI. Also, install the intake coupler with the supercharger at the same time. Just a suggestion.
A mechanical engineer friend used JB weld to repair an intake manifold on a supercharged 400ci motor that he built for a mid engine RWD custom 944. Thing ran 10's in the 1/4 mile while shifting slowly and letting off the throttle to coast through the traps, so he didn't get kicked off the track for being too fast (not having all the required NHRA gear for that speed class). I think it can handle 6psi, given that it won't be having to handle that pressure constantly.
BUT that is a good idea to fabricate the coupler out of metal to ensure no boost leaks. I think once I've got all the plumbing fitted, I can take measurements and have it all made from fewer parts, for the same purpose. Fewer possibilities of boost leaks.
Did you choose the Z-Eng kit just because you found one? I've never been a fan of that supercharger, would rather have a Vortech, you can still get parts for them and they're totally rebuildable. At some point I wouldn't mind adding a kit to my car but you're running into all the issues of grabbing a used kit. BTDT unfortunately. Best way to get a kit is to see it running on the donor car and then pull everything off. Course that's practically impossible to do unless you're buying it from a buddy
Went looking for one. Had the option to get a Vortech kit. I like that the Z-Engineering is self-oiling and not prone to internal leaks that foul MAFs and spark plugs, unlike the Vortech. I like not having to drill and tap the oil pan and run a separate oil supply. I like that it's weird and rare. And with Nic at VF, there's some support available. But... given that it could go horribly wrong, I'm not opposed to switching to a Vortech based kit at some point in time, should the need arise.
@@CliffjumperCars the vortech V3 blower has a self contained oil supply as well. No need to tap the oil pan or any of that other stuff
@@docwyte Good to know! Thanks!
Invest in head studs
Engine is built with ARP hardware, but I'm not going for a giant numbers build here. Just a moderate boost level around 6psi.