Stay far away from Kraftwerks. LHT does quality work, and is very good at marketing, but Kraftwerks is total shit. Just yesterday 2 guys in the KW group posted failures of the hub bolt that connects the pulley to the charger; both kits were installed by LHT, one of them had a video segment done on it. One of the guys just had the kit done last year, and the car was in the shop for about 6 months out of that with issues, all related to the KW kit.

 

So one last suggestion...maybe try not to be in too much of a hurry and simply wait until you can find someone with a turboed S2000 and one with a supercharged S2000 to take a ride in and perhaps drive to experience both and make the judgment for yourself. Yes this may take longer but at least you will have a better understanding of each setup's characteristics before purchasing one. Just my $0.02.

 

For power band, a Roots supercharger or screw compressor (Whipple) will have the flattest torque curve. They can make boost starting just off idle and will hold it flat to redline. In normal driving, outside of VTEC operation, the Roots/Whipple will feel like you have a V8 under the hood. These normally aren't going to make more than 1 bar of boost for a Roots type or 1.5 bar of boost for a screw type, so they will never be the power champions in terms of peak power.

A centrifugal compressor makes peak boost at redline and boost is linear before then. They are normally way down on torque compared with a Roots or Screw, but will make a lot more peak power. In VTEC, the centrifugals become very compelling, but they often don't feel fast when daily driven because you're not getting into boost until high rpm. The same characteristics make them much easier on engines, clutches, differentials, heat exchangers, transmissions, etc. If reliability is your #1 concern, the SOS SC kit seems to be unparalleled in the S2000. It's like stock but better. The simple nature of the way these make boost also means that lower power/lower boost setups can use very simple engine management or rising rate fuel pressure regulators rather than a full standalone EMS.

Turbo S2000's tend to have the most failures for a variety of reasons. Some of these can be mitigated, some are inherent to turbo design on the S2000.

1. S2000 engines vibrate like crazy. Turbo manifolds hang a 15# weight in the air on a welded manifold that then heat cycles repeatedly. Heat cycles kill welds. Vibration kills welds. Pair the two and you can have a world of pain.
2. Boost is a drug. The more you have the more you want. With a turbo, more boost = turning a knob/switch/typing in a number in a cell.
3. Turbo manifolds often aren't properly back purged, welded, supported, designed, etc.
4. More torque = more load on the engine, clutch, transmission, differential, cooling system, etc. More sudden torque spikes when a turbo comes on full boost also add stress.
5. Tons of underwood heat can melt the battery, fuse box, wiring, and anything else close to it.
6. Proper engine management requires a standalone. Tuning is critically important.

A large turbo will make the most power, but the more power you make the more lag you will have. With a really big turbo, you're slower than a minivan and then you gain 400 hp in 300 rpm... Something like a GT3076R, G30-660, G30-770, BW257, EFR7670, etc. with a PTuning kit or Full Race Pro-street is the best of both worlds. Small enough for fast response, but large enough to make 400+ whp all day long. These will have a very wide power band that puts most other types of boost to shame. A roots/screw will outshine them down low, a centrifugal will outshine them at redline, but they're going to have more torque over the majority of the power band.
Here's an example of a relatively large but by no means giant turbo on a S2000. IMO, this is a medium frame size turbo on a S2000. It's one frame size larger than those mentioned above, but still spools pretty well- more like a GT35R in most cases, but a GT30R in the best cases. Arrival of boost is based on time and load. In low gears, boost won't arrive until you're well into VTEC. In high gears, you can have full boost by 4000 rpm.




Here's another example of Roots vs. turbo. This is a relatively small GT3076R (1st gen) S2000 vs. a 100% stock CTS-V LSA with a TVS1900 supercharger. This does a very good job showing how the power bands of something with a PD supercharger vs. a small, relatively fast responding turbo compare. The GT3076R is a bit laggier in this dyno than normal because it was a Dynojet, at high elevation, and with low compression. I have other dyno charts from a load bearing Superflow dyno from the exact same day showing 1000 rpm faster spool... On these charts, the GT3076R power was falling off due to boost tapering from 16 psig at the torque peak to 10 psig by redline. This was due to maxed out injector duty cycle.

 

^^^

 

First of all, I’m surprise this post is so current. Secondly, I was in the same boat. I have a 06 with 70k miles. I live in CA so really the only thing that prevented me from going FI was the smog. But now, I think having FI in the s2000 is something I have to experience.

I also was very very interested in the KW supercharger kit, especially with what LHT does with them. But after doing a lot of reading and even contacting LHT, I decided to go with the SOS SC kit.

Long story short, it’s been ordered, along with many upgrades and I can’t wait for the install!!! SOS guys are great!! Shout out to Chris and Wade!!!

(Tuner/Stage 2 with Novi1200, race heat exchanger, getting new clutch, plugs, upgraded radiator, gauges, and test pipe). I’m so excited and can’t wait!!!

 

Was there a determining factor, why you didn’t go with the SOS turbo kit??
Since you even spoke with the guys at SOS

 

keep us updated! here's a quick turbo vs sc video lol



On a more serious note, the drivetrain is prone to failure with either sc or turbo. It really depends on your driving style. I have a buddy who's comptech sc and he's gone through two differentials in a year. On a daily basis, I tend to ride the clutch a little more with smoother shifts which seems to save the rest of the drivetrain. I'm on stock trans, stock diff, with 500whp for 3 years now on turbo so far so good. Several hickups towards the beginning of the build but been smooth sailling now for the last 2 years.

 

I did go with the SOS.

 

Anyone buying a KW Kit in 2020 is an idiot. More than enough info out there now. Many of us were guinea pigs for you guys. The kit is garbage. Next time sometimes breaks on my kit, I am ripping out, throwing it in the garbage, and going SOS.

 

SOS very nice kit