I just recently bought my S, so it's still pretty new to me. Overall I love the car. If it had just a little more power, it would be perfect IMO.

Forced induction has always intrigued me, but I've been very weary of all of the tales of people blowing up their motors and having constant problems keeping the car running. I'm a very busy person with my job (I have two) and I'm not someone who wants to be constantly tinkering with my car or having to worry about if my car is actually going to make it from point A to point B today.

Can someone propose a very mild forced induction setup for achieving 300-350whp on an AP2 while maintaining maximum reliability? My impression is that this would be a supercharger setup, not a turbo. Is that right?

On a related note, what sort of durability/reliability are you guys running mild setups (under 400hp) seeing? What sort of mileage are you able to put on your car? Is it unreasonable to expect near-stock durability and reliability from a 350HP S2000?

Thoughts and suggestions appreciated

 

SOS or Vortech kit with standalone EMS like Kpro or AEM
Run a 10psi pulley or less

 

Near stock reliability? Not going to happen. That's not to say you cant't get a good DD out of a turbo or SC setup, and the tinkering you mention isn't necessarily going to change your ability to get from point A to point B. The OEM motor has a brazillion hours of engineering put into its reliability, and even the best of FI kits can't come close to that. IMO, the real culprit is the addictive nature of boost. Could you get a used GReddy kit, keep stock exhaust, etc, and get a fun to drive DD with 275whp and 200 in torque? Sure - easy (300-350 is starting to leave the "mild" category). Will you live with that as your DD forever? Unlikely! Chances are you'll be back for more, and that's where the tales of blown motors start Whatever you do, invest the time and $ to get a quality installer and have it tuned properly. The good ones will understand you want to run it "in the green zone" and talk you off the cliff if they see you going there. Good luck!

 

For someone who wants minimum fuss, would a 300hp supercharger setup be the way to go? Aren't turbos a lot more involved with installation and tuning? What about reliability? I want to keep the engine internals stock.

And I'd be able to leave it alone once I got it to where I was happy. I currently have a 10 year old Celica GTS (180k miles, no problems) that is almost 100% stock. I guess it's spoiled me with how perfect it's been.

 

If you take care of your car, it will be reliable.
I have had my Greddy kit on for about 2 years now withno problems.
Granted, I don't drive too much.
I'd go turbo over supercharger for you just because it seems that noise might be an issue for you. Superchargers are a lot louder and it sounds like something is breaking . Turbos quiet the engine and exhaust down quite a bit.

 

This is an easy one.I see you are in Atlanta.Go see John Blake at Blake automotive.He put a KW high boost kit in my car and I couldn't be happier.Like you I was more concerned with reliability and easy maintenance and have no desire to up the power from what I have after 2 years of owning the kit..The KW kit has great power curve and stock maintenance.No belt adjustments to worry about since it uses the same automatic belt tensioning setup as stock.Mines been flawless for 2 years.John has the same kit on his car and I'm sure he would let you drive it.Give him a call you won't regret it.

http://www.blakeautomotive.com/

 

choose what you want, just be prepared to potentially have problems. your taking a car that was engineered to be reliable and adding a shit ton of power too it. of course things can go wrong.

im at 3 years 14k miles approx with very few issues. most i caused myself in search of even more power.

 

How are turbos with maintenance vs superchargers? Don't they have more pieces which can break, wear out, etc?

Noise isn't really an issue. I'm currently running a stock motor with tube style CAI and Invidia exhaust. It makes plenty of sound when I get on it - which isn't a bad thing.

 

just my opinion from all sorts of experience:

sinc you are new to it all, and you want a "boost" in power, go with a complete basline SC kit with out a standalone etc. the gains will be noticeable for sure and you will retain the reliability you wish for.

 

"The quest for more power has sunk many ships"