TPC SuperCharger

[Topless]

pk2 is a good source for info on this. He has been running a 2.5L with SC for 4-5 years now and is very well versed on the pros and cons. It is the only 2.5L SC car I know that is still running. Yoke his strength.

[The Radium King]

i've posted lots of info on this topic on this forum in the past. the sc is an eaton blower. eaton doesn't sell direct to consumer, however, so a company called magnusson buys them in bulk, adds some improvements and resells to kit makers.

the 'trick' tpc uses to run rich in order to keep temps down is as old as the hills and not attributable to tpc. typically used in super high boost applications, where the increase in boost more than offsets the inefficiencies of running outside the best air/fuel ratio, this approach is a power suck in the low-boost, high compression boxster application.

tpc made this kit before tuners had broken the boxster ecu. in order to ensure proper fuel delivery in an application where the volume of air supplied was well outside the ability of the ecu to adapt, tpc ran a piggyback. piggybacks, if used properly, have the ability to interact with and intercept a great many of the ecu functions. unfortunately, when used by tpc, all they did was intercept the rpm signal and use high rpm as a trigger to open a 7th fuel injector added to the intake as part of the kit. not tuning at it's best; efficient/effective fuel distribution is compromised, you depend on the knock sensors way too much, ability of the ecu to adjust timing is ushed to the limit, etc.

the original tpc kit was designed for a 2.5, and only shoehorned into a 2.7/2.9/3.2. to make it fit piping diameters are compromised and you ahve to use a 2.5 exhaust. brad roberts also advises that the orientation of the sc in the tpc install starves the sc bearings of oil resulting in increased maintenance. also, the sc is located right by the exhaust; poor choice in an install where heat management is already such a big issue (no intercooler on the tpc sc kits; those only got introduced when porsche added the third radiator - again, however, third radiator is there to keep the bigger engines cool, yet tpc repurposes it as an air/water intercooler).

original tpc sc kits reattach the aos to before the sc. good idea in that vacuum is maintained, bad idea in that all that oil and crap is passing through the sc. later tpc kits just vent the aos to a catch can - bad for crankcase vacuum, bad for the track when it overflows.

i think you can do forced induction with these engines, you just have to do it properly. unfortunately, a bunch of hack kits quick to the market, and resultant engine failures, have established the internet myth that you can't do fi on these engines. check out turbokraft - they seem to be building a really solid turbo kit.

[Bruce Wayne]

Thanks guys.

A big consideration point for me is that i am on the wrong side of the Atlantic, the eastern side of the pond has, aside from you guys, a wealth of knowledge and expertise, way beyond the average enthusiast and tech knowledge is severely limited to those who want to sell you very, very expensive options.. think over double, what you guys guy pay then add some..

my thought process has been that i am considering dropping the engine doing a clutch, IMS, RMS, stainless manifolds (headers) of course being in the UK the bolt heads will be corroded to **** so will probably end up needing to machined out and if I'm going to drop the engine then while its out i may well look at doing something 'special'.

of course it goes without saying that i don't want to hand grenade the engine, so obviously with the scare stories i revert back to options like a 74mm throttle body and plenum chamber, but the supercharged idea still nags away at me.

[tranceatlantic]

I purchased a used TPC SC kit from ebay. The problem was it did not come with the piggy back computer and TPC no longer supplies them. I contacted a few Porsche tuners such as FabSpeed but nobody I talked to had a solution. My local tuner (deals with mostly Honda's and Mitsu's) could not/would not help.

If anyone has any ideas on a good way to get around not having the 7th injector controller I'd be all ears. I originally thought I could no without this controller and just adjust the pulse to the 6 injector to get more fuel in and have the flashed ECU have full control but I've yet to find anyone to take on the job. I'd be interested also in knowing if there is a better 7th injector piggyback that can interface with the stock ECU.

[pk2]

Originally Posted by tranceatlantic

...If anyone has any ideas on a good way to get around not having the 7th injector controller I'd be all ears. I originally thought I could no without this controller and just adjust the pulse to the 6 injector to get more fuel in and have the flashed ECU have full control but I've yet to find anyone to take on the job. I'd be interested also in knowing if there is a better 7th injector piggyback that can interface with the stock ECU.

There a re a number of (piggy back) boxes out there that will work fine if not far better. The original didn't really do a 'elluva lot. It just read a handful of sensors ( 0 - 5v) did some rudimentary load calculations and pulsed the 7th injector accordingly.

A newer box can do much more and do it much better. I was told you can install larger injectors, skip the #7, and drive them all with the right piggy back. It can also retard the timing, drive methanol/h2o injection (inter-cooling). you can also add more inputs for even better control.

There used to be an outfit around that had a twin turbo kit. They re-flashed the original ECU and installed bigger injectors among other things.

there's really nothing to much different in tuning one of these as opposed to a Subaru or Honda. The theory and practice is all the same. Nobody really has to touch the engine, it's all in software.

Regards, PK

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by pk2

There a re a number of (piggy back) boxes out there that will work fine if not far better. The original didn't really do a 'elluva lot. It just read a handful of sensors ( 0 - 5v) did some rudimentary load calculations and pulsed the 7th injector accordingly.

A newer box can do much more and do it much better. I was told you can install larger injectors, skip the #7, and drive them all with the right piggy back. It can also retard the timing, drive methanol/h2o injection (inter-cooling). you can also add more inputs for even better control.

Regards, PK

How hard would be to adapt a Mega Squirt to properly work with a FI P engine?
Can you find the base maps to get you started..?

.

[The Radium King]

did you try softronic? they do the tpc turbo tune and state in their propoganda that they do FI tunes. also, they'll be able to tell you if you need the larger injectors or not. other FI tuners that have developed their own tunes are turbokraft and ima motorsports.

[sgt brad]

Originally Posted by Gilles

How hard would be to adapt a Mega Squirt to properly work with a FI P engine?
Can you find the base maps to get you started..?

.

megasquirt has an autotune feature that gets you in the ballpark.

[pk2]

Originally Posted by Gilles

How hard would be to adapt a Mega Squirt to properly work with a FI P engine?
Can you find the base maps to get you started..?

.

I can't imagine any problem with it. The last time i looked at it though, I thought it had kind of a crappy interface. I picked up a thing called SMT6, a little outdated but it's plenty powerful. O.K interface to. Plan to swap it in soon. All the thing has to do is read 2 or 3 (however many you want) 0-5v signals with some accuracy and spit out at least one 0-5.0v signal (more if you want). It doesn't matter really what it's all blowing into.

As far as the mapping, I'm going to data log with the little box that came with the sc and use it as a starting point to set up the smt6 (gode me into doing it and I'll share). I think the SMT6 will drive 6 injectors but I'm not going to bother now. Conceptually it's not a huge trick to tune from scratch though, get EGT and wideband O2 sensors, should be good to go.

The earlly TPC boxes were crude, semi analogue (at best). Pretty hard to not beat.

Regards, PK