Electrical Supercharger

[Steve Meade]

> From: LotusM50 at aol.com
> To: diy_efi at coulomb.eng.ohio-state.edu
> Subject: Re: Electrical Supercharger
> Date: Friday, May 09, 1997 9:30 PM
> 
> In a message dated 97-05-09 21:04:21 EDT, smeade at deltanet.com (Steve
Meade)
> writes:
> 
> << 1. Doesn't change engine rom at all!
>  	2. Relies on knock sensor to "save their butts -- Land Shark" and
doesn't
>  retard timing by itself.
>  	3. Uses an adjustable rising rate fuel pressure regulator for extra
fuel.
>  
>  	These are serious technical flaws, in a Dinan Supercharger ($$$) one
gets
>  the following:
>  
>  	1. New higher rate fuel injectors
>  	2. Custom made and dynoed engine fuel map and timing for the kit
>  	3. Recalibrated mass air flow sensor. >>
> 
> 1) worth about $300

	Yup, that sounds about right.

> 2) worth, what is the software worth?

	The correct software is practically priceless if it has been dyno-tested
and tuned. Just ask Land Shark about his wonderful forays into the Bosch
Motronic engine management system. It is so complicated and time consuming
that Sebring just ignores it. On Miatas, with manual timing this isn't a
problem. I'd say that the Dinan software with all of its R&D time and
limited production run is worth at least $500. The efficiency gained by
actually remapping the ignition and fuel must be amazing in comparison to
putting in a new fuel pressure regulator. 

> 3) worth $150 max
> 
> Can these three things be worth an extra $3000???
> 
	I also failed to mention that all fabricated parts are of at least 2x the
quality and everything fits together very well. All in all, as a package, I
would consider the Dinan package well worth the money. 

> The Sebring kits may be flawed but idf they get you 90% of the way there
for
> $2000, that's not a bad deal.  You have to think long and hard about an
extra
> $200- 3000 foethat extra 10%
> 
	Well, I'd say the difference between them is more like 30%. The problem is
that many BMW owners are meticulous-perfectionist-freaks, myself included.
Just knowing that the Sebring kit is a weakly engineered system with major
flaws in design would keep me awake at night if it was on my car. I
couldn't bear to have such a cheezeball setup. In Miatas it is a little
different since the engine management is not nearly as complex is Motronic
4.x w/knock. 

> It must be that Dinan knows that BMW owner have deep pockets....

	Many do, many don't. But, most owners don't like stuff that's half-a**.
I'm not saying the Sebring kit is the aforementioned colorful metaphor but
I do think the quality of the Dinan setup is more synonymous with the car
than that of the Sebring kit. Dinan knows that most owners are this way and
are willing to pay more for the perfect kit. Steve Dinan himself is a
weirdo-perfectionist-freak. A friend on the BMW list had a 2.8L stroker
engine built and installed up at the Dinan facility. He had paid up and
when Steve Dinan walked by the work bay with the engine running he said
that he didn't like the sound of the engine so the Dinan shop removed the
entire engien and took it apart remeasuring everything and put it back
together again. One piston clip was slightly irregular. Nothing that would
cause a problem but just made a sound. Of course the guy wasn't charged
anything extra. Steve Dinan even paid for the extra week at the hotel and
offered him a loaner M5 for the duration. While Dinan stuff tends to be
expensive, (even for BMW stuff) in the end it amounts to really good stuff
with some actual R&D behind it. Like everything in life, there's more than
one way to do anything but some ways are better in design than others. 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Steve Meade
smeade at deltanet.com