I've heard adding extra power to an engine(such as a turbo or supercharger) decreases the life of the engine. Is there any truth to this statement? If so, what is a good way to bypass this, but still getting the power desired?

 

Might want to go to the FI section.

 

it all depends on how is the tune, how hard you drive etc.

Modifry's car was boosted for over 100k miles and still running until he sold the car (around 250k miles on the car) he does track his car. if you run turbo, it should run just fine until you start to play with the boost and increase it over stock boost. for most of the time, its over boosting that cause the motor to fail so quickly

 

pretty much anytime you increase the power significantly it's going to decrease the longevity of the engine compared to stock, the way to bypass it is to have $$ to buy a car with the stock level amount of hp you want so you dont have to mod it =]

 

anytime you add FI to any car you will decrease the engine life when compared to stock. however, with moderate goals, a good tune, and enough money, you should have no problems getting the desired life out of your engine.

 

more power = more stress on engine components.

there's no magical bypass button.

 

you can "bypass" it, but as a coworker of mine says; it costs to be cool.

while its true that more power = more stress, what that means to you is that some parts will be likely to break under the increased power. so you need 1/ a good tuner and 2/ a big bank account that you can empty. the reason is you need to replace every part that will break under the increased load. if you go to 300whp, you wont have to do much, but if you go to 400 whp you'll have some work to do.

as said before, you may want to ask in the FI forums. it would be good to get a [at XXX WHP replace this part] type list as a sticky.

mostly for the s2000 though you need to replace the rear end parts (like the diff) if you plan to launch it, and you need a 3mm head gasket to go past about 10psi unless you have a killer tuner. the stock clutch starts to slip at about 350 whp. a full I/H/E system is a big want/need as it maximizes the advantage of turbo. you need more flow than a NA s2k to get your full HP potential from FI--especially with turbochargers.

 

I don't believe like I/H/E will decrease the life of the motor at all. It's things like FI that can *potentially* decrease the life of the motor but that is heavily dependent on the tuner.

If you're boosted and running a conservative (rich) tune then I don't think there's any reason the motor wouldn't last as long as a stock one, provided you do all the required maintenance (fluid changes, valve adjustments, etc..)

 

Adding extra power DOES NOT, necessarily, decrease the life of an engine, but there are limits to how far you can go without starting to sacrifice reliability. Personally, I think it is always a mistake to make modifications without first fully understanding the downsides.

I wanted to retain the reliability of my car, so I went with the most conservative FI kit available. By using a centrifigual blower, the kit produces almost no boost below 4,500 RPM, and very little boost below 6,000 RPM; The small increase in torque between 4,500 RPM and 6,000 RPM no doubt adds a tiny bit more stress to the engine, but I suspect it is offset by the fact that you tend to shift a little sooner when you have a little more torque. While it's true that the engine makes around 300 WHP, it only makes that kind of power near redline. If you look at the torque curve produced by a centrifigual blower, you'll see that it slopes upward. CLEARLY, as redline is approached, the engine is making a lot more power and torque than a stock engine, and the added stresses are no doubt increasing engine wear, but unless you drive your car like you stole it, you're not normally reving to red line in normal day to day driving, and with the centrifigual blower, you'll be doing it even less. So the engine does see additional stresses, and wear, but not that often, and not for long periods of time. Sure, my engine might be just like Modifry's engine, and need an overhaul a little before 200,000 miles rather than a little after 200,000 miles, but the car will be as reliable as a stock car, until I wear it out, and I really can't see that as a major concern. It's going to take me a hell of a long time to wear out the engine in my S2000, with or without FI.

Of course the mods are only one factor; The driver also has a major effect on a car's reliability. Driving the car hard is fine, as long as you respect its limitations and use a little finesse. It is not how hard you drive the car that matters. It's how you drive the car hard that makes all the difference.

Just remember the old addage, "Speed cost money." The more power you make, the more fuel you use, the more your tires wear, the more brakes wear ... the more everything wears. If nothing else, things wear faster when you drive faster, becaue you cover more miles in less time. Speed always carries a cost, and the more you want, the more it cost. Speed plus reliability cost even more.

Stay conservative and the S2000 will retain stock reliability, even if the engine life is shortened by a small percentage. That has to be the case with a centrifigual blower, becaue it is only adding power a small percentage of the time.