NOVI1000 to HKS GT Supercharger. Worth it?
 

Before the debate starts, I understand that a lot of similar talks have already taken place on this forum in regards to which SC makes most power, and which one has been reliable on the track, etc. To make this straight to the point, I'll tell you what I have now and then list of things I hope to achieve with HKS SC.

Current Setup:
Hardware: Novi1000 with 3" Pulley and SOS Large racing Heat Exchange.
Software: Stock ECU with Greddy Ultimate piggyback tuned by Giles for countless hours to achieve best driving experience under partial and full throttle. Runs, starts and acts like stock.
Power: 360HP 245TQ (VTEC set at 4K RPM)

Complaints:
1) AIT skyrocket through each pull, larger SOS HE didn't do the trick or the COBRA water pump. No kinks. I really wouldn't feel comfortable to track or push this car for extended periods of time.
2) I NEED IT TO BE MORE CONSISTENT. Power delivery is drastically different depending on the ambient temps. Tired of 400HP feel one day and 300HP feel during 80F summer days.
3) Even with AIT sensor in the aftercooler, she bogs and super unhappy in hot temps. This has ALWAYS been the case with all size pulleys.

My Goal with HKS GT SC & AEM Infinity ECU:
1) CONSISTENT on power delivery and AIT temps more in check no matter how many pulls I am doing
2) Lighter weight, so no water and blower that weighs less
3) Better weight displacement with SC behind front axle as oppose to in front of it like with CT, SOS, etc
4) 380WHP to 400WHP application.
5) Reliable

Question:
Am I expecting too much from this kit? Will it give me more stable AITs, more consistent power in various temps, and better balance with added reliability?

I am not interesting in turbo chargers. I have a Turbo car for that. S2000 should stick to its roots and gradual power delivery.

the hks is great kit. Prob the top 3 with kraftswerks and SOS. BUT it is very overpriced and doesn't make enough power compared to kraftswerks and kraftswerks is 1k cheaper I think. But hks has a huge problem with their tensioners. Their tensioner suck. They always break and they do not produce enough tension on the belt to keep it on there. This kit suffers from belt slip and belt snaps. Iv seen this happen over 3x on track with all three different kinds of s2ks. All these owner went to a different SC. The best bank for buck and reliability kit is the kraftswerks kit. My buddies all have every single kind of SC kit and the most hp produced was by the Kraftswerks kit at 500whp. But second place was 400hp with the vortech kit. And I ask the hks eqiped buddy and he said he spent more than 8k to get his car to only 380whp on 100 octane. And the kraftswerks guy basically bolted his kit on and got a tune for e85. Therefore imo kraftswerks is the way to go.

No.

Add a water/meth injection kit to your current set up if you want to get more consistent cooler iat. If you want to step up to compete with the best blowers available in power delivery and reliability do the SOS novi 1200 upgrade kit. Includes the 1200 blower and mount plate to retrofit to your existing Comptech kit. You wont get a more reliable set up with power capable of over 500whp with water/meth and a good exhaust system. It was my exact set up along with your Emanage and ID1000 injectors, so totally possible with a good tuner. Or run it at lower pressures at 9-10psi and make what you are now power wise but spinning blower a lot slower so less heat/iat. Water/meth will improve things regardless. But it is another system to have to keep tabs on. pros/cons.

360whp with a 3" pulley on a NV1000 is pretty low numbers. Like 50-60whp low based on a average reading dynojet and my experience. I made 375whp at 11psi/3.4" pulley with your set up, but with the stock small size heat exchanger. I was using a water/meth kit though. that gives you some idea of the potential difference though with/without. Your definitely still battling something there out of norm with current set up. Heat is a killer for sure. But tune has a huge impact as well, and we just dont know where your at there so its not really worth diving into if your set on modifying your set up in some regard.

The new KW kits with the cogged belt system have gone through a lot of teething problems for people as you will easily find with threads on this forum. It would have to earn my trust for a lot of miles without issues before I trusted one at the track. Same goes for the HKS, which looks like a more convoluted design. Having the blower/intake sitting on top of a hot exhaust system doesn't make a lot of sense to me, especially if your worried about a high IAT and consistent power delivery.

yup the KW kit has the teething problem still but I would choose it over hks and pricing wise over the sos kits. Water meth is a good option but not if ur car is a street car. U would rather do flex fuel.

For your ait problem I would swap for a intercooler. You will loose a bit of boost but will gain that power back when it hot.

Better have a 350 stable power instead of a 400 and 300 fluctuation.

The other thing is the emanage. Since it is modifying the stock map , it rely on the factory ait modification and makes it hard to keep the feeling to its full potential all the time.

I went from the emanage to a standalone ( haltech) and the difference is remarkable is a lot of ways !! Consistency, throttle response , part throttle, well ... everywhere.

The emanage is a capable unit no doubt about it. It can do pretty much everything, junky proved it !! But in the end it is a hack to the stock ecu and from my own experience , every hack as it's flaw.

Since your are already looking to swap ecu I would start with that. And a fmic. That's what I run. When my novi1000 comes to its final miles I will update to the 1200.

Thanks guys, this is very helpful and will probably save me money in the long run. I spoke with Nate from CT-E and he can get me the NOVI1200 conversion for a reasonable price. My only concern here now is passing emissions if I go the AEM Infinity route.

Maybe I should just give AEM Infinity a go as a first step? Get it tuned up on my current setup and see how drivability is?

if u tune it professionally on any AEM ecu ur car will run and drive great. It will b Reliable too. Also the aem infinity has many fail save options like if senses knock it automatically corrects itself to eliminate the knock. It has many cool features like that. Aem ecus r one of the best imo. This is of course for 05 and under s2ks. 06 up u can just go with hondata. About the emissions, I really can't help u there. I don't drive my race car on the streets. Maybe u can swap ecus and have a dummy blower for the time being. Pretty sure the tune would off and maybe bad for motor. Never tried this.

ofcourse. The standalone is far superior. How did u like the haltech? Where do u reside? I wanted to try haltech but in north California no one knows that much about them. Tuners I mean.

I'm not sure where you're located, but here in NC we have state emissions inspections where they plug into your OBD2 port (no exhaust sniffer). I would always just swap back to OEM injectors, ECU, MAP sensor, and remove the SC belt, drive it for a day to clear the readiness codes, and go get inspected. It was only about an hour of work to go "OEM" and an hour to go back to SC. No big deal for once-a-year emissions checks. If your emissions checks are like ours, I wouldn't let them sway your decision too much when its this easy to pass.

I like it alot. I had the aem v2 a few years ago when I was N/A and I think the haltech is easier to use ( at least for me who ain't a tuner )
I live in Montreal Canada.

As for tuner. There is a lot of e-tuners that can help you get a great tune. Maybe not able to squeeze here last hp but still do a great job.

I had a local tuner do my tune via internet while I was driving and it was pretty close to what he did after on is dyno.