I've been working on and off to boost my 2004 S with the Kraftwerks Rotrex-based SC kit. Originally I purchased the High Boost kit, and got a really good deal on it. But I sat on it for a while. Then before I installed it, they completely revamped their kits and came out with the latest more powerful version. I worked out a deal with Group-A to trade in my old uninstalled, in the box, High-boost kit for the new Tuned kit. I think I received one of the first of the new kits, as it was missing parts, had the wrong belt and was a bit disorganized. I had to pay a good bit of money to upgrade, but the new kit promised a LOT more power...from 360ish to 400 whp. What's the difference you say? The main differences are a bigger intercooler, bigger injectors, bigger Rotrex and completely reworked configuration with a stand-alone ECU.
So after installing the kit (was not quite as 'bolt-on' as they might suggest, and the instructions could use some adjustments...but after banging my head against the wall a few times, getting Group-A to send parts that were missing from the kit...twice, other mishaps such as a bad alternator, killed starter and some blood, sweat and help from a couple friends on occasion, it got installed.
But before I could get it tuned Kraftwerks came out with an "update." Basiccally it's a recall. They were having belt failures due to poor pulley geometry. So guess what? I had to remove and replace most of the SC pulley and gear assembly. Fun! So now we seem close, right? Wrong! I realize (my fault) that I will have a very hard time passing emissions with this standalone, and my only good chance at passing is with a Hondata system. But the Hondata KPro 4 is the only ECM that will work with my 04, and in order for it to work I need to modify the engine and sensors to emulate the RSX. So the SC kit must come apart again! After reinstalling the SC pulley and gear assembly again..I've installed this three times now and still haven't had a chance to tune it and feel the power...ha. Anyhow...this is where we're at..I've cranked the car, and it seems to start up and idle just fine. Now a few final little bolts and pulleys, and hopefully she'll be ready to be tuned.
I did skip some parts in between some of this, like installing some gauges, installing a Mugen header and Mugen exhaust and going a bit overboard and getting a bunch of Titanium hardware...I'll write more later.. Read more »