Several Vintage owners have or have had forced induction on their S2000s. S2kBilly and Mike <Raymo>, among others, bring their belching monsters to the meets and have their fun on the roads.


I've been running a Kraftwerks Rotrex C30 supercharger for several years, and have enjoyed the power band both on the track and on the highway. As some of you know, the car runs like stink! But the single belt pulley system driving the SC and the other 10 rotating pulleys is always a disaster waiting to happen.



I have had many problems over the last few years. The bearings on the tensioner frequently fail. And it is usually in the most infelicitous and unforeseen places.


I have had several of these disasters in a teapot, and have tried to upgrade the pulleys and bearings with the best components that I can find. But the required sizes limit the range of top end products available. So I have had to replace several of the fried pulleys. And I replaced the cheapo Dayco tensioner with a more substantial Gates tensioner that is better engineered and has a much better type spring in it.




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On my way across from Colorado to SF I had a major pulley bearing failure on the interstate, about 22miles from the nearest town. I had extra parts in the trunk, and the proper tools, so I removed and repaired the offending parts. But the expensive racing belt was also broken and totally shredded. Rackafrack! I managed to get a nice farmer to give me a ride into town, couldn't find a belt of the right length at the only parts store in town. So I finally got to the next town, which had an O'Reilly Auto store and they had a belt that fit well enough to get me going on the road again. It took most of a day, and by the time I got to Dave and Donna's house in Michigan the next day we noticed that there was a coolant fluid leak in his driveway from under my car. Rackafrack!

Well, anyway, I got to SF and then got home safely, but I was still ps$t about the appalling pesky pulley problem. I had been considering upgrading from the older KW system to the new one, because the new system has a different Rotrex blower AND a separate, cog drive belt system that does not drive the other pulleys on the OEM components. Looks like this with the supercharger pulley cog drive in front of and separate from the other serpentine belt system.


I have been speaking with the the distributor in CT, negotiating an acceptable price for the new system - sans injectors, recirculation valve, and redundant parts. Today he finally accepted my price offer, and I pulled the trigger. When it arrives I will have several days of hard work uninstalling the old and installing the new system. But fortunately it's on a Honda, so I will have some good fun putting it on. I already had a Hondata FlashPro software package for tuning the old system, and vvv a good local tuner; so I'm hoping this will fix my problem for the long haul.


I like this car, and I still plan to drive it for a long time.

 

Jim, I love this! No one reading this post would guess you are just a tad over 40.

Have fun with the install and hope you enjoy the new toys.

 

An interesting article in today's N.Y. Times about superchargers

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/au...ef=automobiles

 

Ur...ah.. that article was about turbochargers - significantly different in operation particularly in an S2000.

And Jim - you could have opted for one of the more proven SC designs you know.

I'm on year nine and only had to have the seals replaced once on the Novi 1000.I'll live with 35 HP less for that reliabilty.

 

Sorry about that. I thought it looked interesting.

 

But if you read further it does get into superchargers, and the pairing of turbochargers with superchargers, -- eventually. Interesting read, Rob.

 

Touche, Mike. I do have over 90,000 miles on my Rotrex system, and the perennial problem has been with the serpentine belt drive. So I usually carry spare pulley bearings and a spare belt in my tool kit.

 

Jim, you've found a clever way to relive the British sports car experience.

 

Yah, he left a hose clamp in my driveway after he left. One REALLY BIG difference. 400 HP at the rear wheels!!!

Jim, I hope you have a better experience with the new upgrade. I'm sure you've done your homework.

 

Didn't realize you had that little adventure on the way to SF. Sounds like your replacement is a winner. You know how to keep the car moving - and yourself, too!