ESS S54 CFR Series Prototype Photos!

[Asbjorn@ESS]

Here are some pictures of our upcoming CFR line of S54 supercharger systems. This is a protoype kit, final versions of the kit might vary slightly.

The lineup will consist of :

CFR-550 (stock engine internals) 470RWHP @ 7PSI
CFR-700 (ESS FI cams, 9000RPM valve springs, lowered compression forged pistons -9.5:1 CR, engine bearing kit) 600RWHP @ 13PSI

Both kits use the same basic hardware and the 550HP kit is fully upgradeable to the 700HP version.

All power numbers are rated on 93 octane pump fuel.

[xjunmoonx]

700 ponies??? are u kidingme??

[GodSendsDeath]

Yeah come one how do you think we wont bash if there isnt any dynos of the 700hp kit. Seriously come on lets see a dyno.

[ice330ci05]

WOW!!!! :excited:

damn those m3's!!!!!!!

[Asbjorn@ESS]

Yeah come one how do you think we wont bash if there isnt any dynos of the 700hp kit. Seriously come on lets see a dyno.

CFR-700 is still in software development. We normally do not release official dynos until a product is completely developed.

I will however try to sneak you guys a few R&D dynos of the CFR-700..:4ngie:

[05SCM3]

I sent you an Email!:excited:

[phrozen06]

7 :yikes: :yikes: horsepower.

[GodSendsDeath]

LOL didn't mean to bash you guys, but you know it was comming and Taz will be here soon. So yeah show us some Dynos or sneak peeks.


To other reads I hope you see what Iam trying to do here.

[Mike Benvo]

LOL didn't mean to bash you guys, but you know it was comming and Taz will be here soon. So yeah show us some Dynos or sneak peeks.


To other reads I hope you see what Iam trying to do here.

What are you trying to do here?

[Rider Ryuga]

600 RWHP sounds so nice :D

[TaZaM3]

All good, nice pics!

Ash did you guys ditch the liquid cooling?

It would be nice to see some proof of the 600rwhp better yet some of these kits in the area (soon i hope).

[aggieE46]

Yay, more M3 kits....

[GodSendsDeath]

All good, nice pics!

Ash did you guys ditch the liquid cooling?

It would be nice to see some proof of the 600rwhp better yet some of these kits in the area (soon i hope).


:hi: ah right there.

[silvscorp]

sick!!!! how much is the 550 going to cost? is clutch upgrade an absolute requirement?

[ice330ci05]

i hope u guys hook up the 330 with crazy power like the m3.....:excited:

[MachRc]

w0w those are great numbers!
the kit just doubled the power of the m3.



dayam. I want to ditch the 3.0 now.

[Boosted_ZHP]

What are you trying to do here?

What are you trying to do here?

[GodSendsDeath]

What are you trying to do here?

HAHAHAHAHA try to get them to show some dyno sheets of the 700hp like me.:4ngie:

[CA AUTOMOTIVE UK]

just to say that CA Automotive have been appointed joint exclusive distributors for ESS products for the UK.

We have already installed 3 of their systems with great success :

- Twin Screw system E46 330
- Centrifugal system on M3 CSL ( as per 7 page feature in latest edition of BMW Car magazine)

Their quality of engineering and attention to detail has hugely impressed us. All three cars have come very close to or exceeded ESS's claimed power outputs.

We will taking advance orders for the CFR kits as of next week and will be building a UK demo M3 car shortly that will be available to prospective customers to test drive.

thank you

[rmatt8748]

wow wow woo

sick

[eurotekm3]

nice kits!!!!!....but WHY IN HELL would u s/c a CSL ?

its like buying a GT3 and installing twin turbos ....just buy a 997TT ?

[MarvelPhx]

Because unlike the Porsche, BMW doesn't offer a FI'd or even higher HP version of the CSL! :pimpin:

[GodSendsDeath]

Because unlike the Porsche, BMW doesn't offer a FI'd or even higher HP version of the CSL! :pimpin:

There is nothing this man don't know that has BMW in it. Like I said my hero. :bow:

[a_Y]

wow.. i wonder how much these will be...

[CA AUTOMOTIVE UK]

nice kits!!!!!....but WHY IN HELL would u s/c a CSL ?

its like buying a GT3 and installing twin turbos ....just buy a 997TT ?

hi

well yes we see your point, and you are not alone in that opinion, from a purist view is does seem somehwhat sacriligeous. Then again there is the argument for individuality and "doing something different" and being individual,if only because you can :)

[Mliner]

I'm lovin' that ASA.

[silver///M3]

Looks nice, can't wait to see it in action.

[aggieE46]

Yes, because that was privelaged information.

There is nothing this man don't know that has BMW in it. Like I said my hero. :bow:

[MachRc]

I'm lovin' that ASA.

How is your ASA kit coming along Mliner?\

[CA AUTOMOTIVE UK]

I'm lovin' that ASA.

ASA chargers are very good indeed ( hence why big tuners like Alpina use them) and in our experience VERY reliable, we have not seen one single failure yet in some 5 years.

The other advantage they have is the large diameter pulley that provides plenty of grip on the drive belt, so no slippage, and thus no need for wider rib pulleys etc.

[OCswedishM3]

Here are some pictures of our upcoming CFR line of S54 supercharger systems. This is a protoype kit, final versions of the kit might vary slightly.

The lineup will consist of :

CFR-550 (stock engine internals) 470RWHP @ 7PSI
CFR-700 (ESS FI cams, 9000RPM valve springs, lowered compression forged pistons -9.5:1 CR, engine bearing kit) 600RWHP @ 13PSI

Both kits use the same basic hardware and the 550HP kit is fully upgradeable to the 700HP version.

All power numbers are rated on 93 octane pump fuel.


Looks good, bit why did you change the design of your intake manifold?? The one thing i loved about your old kits was the weld job and the looks that came along with your old manifold.

[M3_POWER]

Looks good, bit why did you change the design of your intake manifold?? The one thing i loved about your old kits was the weld job and the looks that came along with your old manifold.

I agree. I don't like the looks of the new manifold. I loved the old ones!

[Mliner]

How is your ASA kit coming along Mliner?\

It's going great. Hopefully I can have it by Thursday.

[MarvelPhx]

Looks good, bit why did you change the design of your intake manifold?? The one thing i loved about your old kits was the weld job and the looks that came along with your old manifold.

While I agree the older Vortech large welded manifold was nice and solid looking, I would think this one actually performs better in many ways. Cast vs. welded, lighter, stronger, smaller in overall size but with more internal volume, easier to produce in large numbers reducing cost of the kit to customers, better airflow (no A/W exchanger inside), and something tells me the production piece will look better aka logo, name, final shape, etc.

This is a prototype. Too early to get critical about fine details. :)

[TaZaM3]

So now it looks like air/air unlike their previous setup.

[05SCM3]

Why air to air now? And how do we prevent heat soak in the Valley of the Sun?

[Tyler@UniqueDesign]

Why air to air now? And how do we prevent heat soak in the Valley of the Sun?

Water Alcohol (even though ESS hates it).

Chemical inter-coolers are helpful where air/air leaves off (or where water/air leaves off).

[MarvelPhx]

There is no cooling solution that can completely eliminate heat soak for no cost in performance. You can even heat soak a naturally aspirated car. It is simply part of the performance game we all play.

Here in the Valley, there are tons of FI cars modded and stock. And even stock, a decently efficient air/air IC or air/water system can reduce intake temperatures below pre-ignition safety threshold by a large margin if the boost requires it. While that is generally considered about 200 or so degrees on 91 pump, even bringing the intake temp down close to higher ambient summer temps here (say 110) is well within safe limits and not much different than driving without FI. Regardless of FI or not, unfortunately, good ole AZ heat does not help horsepower production.

As for WI (water injection), and I can't answer for ESS, but my personal take on it is four-fold:
1. It is something extra you have to pay for, install, and maintain. More complex a kit is, the more can go wrong.
2. It is something you have to fill or check regularly, because like Murphy says, it will run out when you need it most. Not to mention added weight = enemy.
3. You are injecting water into your engine where only fuel and air should be. It is taking up combustion mixture space and one jet failure away from possible hydrolock. No thanks.
4. WI, to me, is a bandaid for too inefficient a SC, IC/HE, or fuel. Lowered ignition timing has the same result without the added monetary cost. The cost then is power.

I could be wrong, but I believe ESS went air/air for cost savings. People love big HP and small cost, so why not.

[M3_Jaydee]

^^werd

[TaZaM3]

As for WI (water injection), and I can't answer for ESS, but my personal take on it is four-fold:
1. It is something extra you have to pay for, install, and maintain. More complex a kit is, the more can go wrong.
2. It is something you have to fill or check regularly, because like Murphy says, it will run out when you need it most. Not to mention added weight = enemy.
3. You are injecting water into your engine where only fuel and air should be. It is taking up combustion mixture space and one jet failure away from possible hydrolock. No thanks.
4. WI, to me, is a bandaid for too inefficient a SC, IC/HE, or fuel. Lowered ignition timing has the same result without the added monetary cost. The cost then is power.

I could be wrong, but I believe ESS went air/air for cost savings. People love big HP and small cost, so why not.

As a guy that used W/A injection for 3 years i'd like to chime in.

1. You can get them pretty cheap, a very good system for 400 dollars. Install is easy.

2. They take awhile to run out and its such an easy thing to fill. Keep a bottle in the car or at home to fill it up, less often then gas. If you dont drive hard it wont even run out.

3. Ive used w/a and w/meth with no issues. Actually the car loved it.

4. Why not run good power with injection rather less power without?

Thats my experience on the subject. As far as ESS moving onto air/air, i actually like it.

[Tyler@UniqueDesign]

There is no cooling solution that can completely eliminate heat soak for no cost in performance. You can even heat soak a naturally aspirated car. It is simply part of the performance game we all play.

Here in the Valley, there are tons of FI cars modded and stock. And even stock, a decently efficient air/air IC or air/water system can reduce intake temperatures below pre-ignition safety threshold by a large margin if the boost requires it. While that is generally considered about 200 or so degrees on 91 pump, even bringing the intake temp down close to higher ambient summer temps here (say 110) is well within safe limits and not much different than driving without FI. Regardless of FI or not, unfortunately, good ole AZ heat does not help horsepower production.

As for WI (water injection), and I can't answer for ESS, but my personal take on it is four-fold:
1. It is something extra you have to pay for, install, and maintain. More complex a kit is, the more can go wrong.If you wanted to argue keeping things simple you would argue that all boost is a bad idea and people should be doing 13:1 and better CR engine builds and making the power NA, but you aren't - yes its another system, no its not critical and yes it makes things safer, if it breaks the car is still fine, if it doesn't (never heard of it breaking) the car runs even better....win win situation in my eyes.
2. It is something you have to fill or check regularly, because like Murphy says, it will run out when you need it most. Not to mention added weight = enemy.
3. You are injecting water into your engine where only fuel and air should be. It is taking up combustion mixture space and one jet failure away from possible hydrolock. No thanks.This is the point I'd really like to address because I know you know thats not true.

The water is completely vaporized upon injection (the point of it) and its heat of state change is what lowers the ambient temperature of the intake air so dramatically. Its just slightly more relative humidity in the air, and the temperature is so high that the engine will never notice it. It will however notice the denser and thus larger volume of combustible oxygen making its way into the engine.

And hydro lock is hardly possible from driving through a puddle, much less from spraying a VERY small amount of water (or methonal) into the engine to cool the intake charge.
4. WI, to me, is a bandaid for too inefficient a SC, IC/HE, or fuel. Lowered ignition timing has the same result without the added monetary cost. The cost then is power.

I could be wrong, but I believe ESS went air/air for cost savings. People love big HP and small cost, so why not.

You are twisting facts that you know about to make the use of W/A look like a bad idea, it isn't, its an additional precaution that can be made against heat soak.

I have nothing against ESS, AA, VF, Dinan....whoever, but I am tired of this fighting - and this is obviously an attempt at misinforming others about W/A.

Need I mention I know not a single turboed E36 M3 locally that doesn't have it - and there are a ton of them in FL.

[Golden1]

Um...the only turboed E36 M3 there is in Gainesville doesn't have W/A injection....neither does the 318ti with the turboed M3 motorswap.

[Tyler@UniqueDesign]

Um...the only turboed E36 M3 there is in Gainesville doesn't have W/A injection....neither does the 318ti with the turboed M3 motorswap.

I was referring to Orlando.

Ray's car is having issues and he had W/A on it with the M44.

Keiths car had W/A and put down 600 hp on it - there are plenty around, just have to look.

The TT 350Z and G35 here in Gainesville however don't have it.

[Golden1]

Ray's car didn't have a turbo with the M42, and his issues right now are unrelated to overheating or heatsoak.

Brad, the other turboed M3 here built his own turbo kit from the ground up without any W/A injection and has been running problem free.

[Tyler@UniqueDesign]

Ray's car didn't have a turbo with the M42, and his issues right now are unrelated to overheating or heatsoak.

Brad, the other turboed M3 here built his own turbo kit from the ground up without any W/A injection and has been running problem free.

Ken, did I say that you had to have W/A to run with boost.

Read my post, I said that W/A was an additional system that could be used to prevent heat soak and other than cost and minor weight addition had no real negative side effects. Brad was having tuning issues last I'd heard, but thats neither here nor their.

I'm aware that Ray had a DASC with 11+ psi of boost and used the methanol injection as a chemical intercooler and had NO cooling. I'm also aware of the cause of the oil issue on his S50.

I just don't like seeing good technologies being discredited.

Ex...Garrett's car doesn't need W/A but with the amount of time that he sees on track with it for extended periods the added safety was a worthwhile investment. Its like adding an oil cooler, not necessary but often wise.

I'm done responding - you are just trying to instigate something.

[Golden1]

Todd (MarvelPhx) has a little bit more experience and credibility than you do. Your statement, "Need I mention I know not a single turboed E36 M3 locally that doesn't have it - and there are a ton of them in FL." is also misleading and completely incorrect.

[MarvelPhx]

If you wanted to argue keeping things simple you would argue that all boost is a bad idea and people should be doing 13:1 and better CR engine builds and making the power NA, but you aren't - yes its another system, no its not critical and yes it makes things safer, if it breaks the car is still fine, if it doesn't (never heard of it breaking) the car runs even better....win win situation in my eyes.

Missed the point. People bring up heat soak all the time as if it only happens with FI. I was making the point that it occurs in every car. And I never quoted a price (Taz mentioned $400 for WA), but every penny counts in this market. My point is that if you have a good IC, fuel, and compressor, do you really need WA? If JD is really pushing 700hp without WA, and the CFR(550?) in another thread made 474rwhp doesn't use it either, nor does the huge HP of the HPF-T, I wonder if it is really necessary to reach that power?

This is the point I'd really like to address because I know you know thats not true.

The water is completely vaporized upon injection (the point of it) and its heat of state change is what lowers the ambient temperature of the intake air so dramatically. Its just slightly more relative humidity in the air, and the temperature is so high that the engine will never notice it. It will however notice the denser and thus larger volume of combustible oxygen making its way into the engine.

And hydro lock is hardly possible from driving through a puddle, much less from spraying a VERY small amount of water (or methonal) into the engine to cool the intake charge.

Driving through a puddle and possibly aspirating water and continuously spraying water directly into your intake are vastly different things. I am well aware of the evaporative qualities of water and alcohol/meth mixtures and why they are in use in WA. No lessons needed. To vaporize is not to eliminate. That water is still going into your engine in some form, vapor, liquid, etc. You open a post-WA air duct and guess what you will find... water. Even a film, residue, or in bad cases, pooling. This is especially evident after short bursts of use when the airflow is constantly stalling and/or bypassing from snap throttle. The water ends up in your combustion chambers in one form or another. I never argued against the fact that it works, but if you can get the same result from timing, fuel, compressor, and IC/HE, why use the water at all?

You are twisting facts that you know about to make the use of W/A look like a bad idea, it isn't, its an additional precaution that can be made against heat soak.

I have nothing against ESS, AA, VF, Dinan....whoever, but I am tired of this fighting - and this is obviously an attempt at misinforming others about W/A.

Need I mention I know not a single turboed E36 M3 locally that doesn't have it - and there are a ton of them in FL.

I nary twist a fact, look it all up if you want. People can make their own decisions about WA, I stated my PERSONAL opinion which you chose to argue with me. You can't argue my opinion, but you are welcome to have one of your own.

And with that, let's please get ourselves back on topic and see a dyno!

[Golden1]

Well said Todd.

[Tyler@UniqueDesign]

Driving through a puddle and possibly aspirating water and continuously spraying water directly into your intake are vastly different things. I am well aware of the evaporative qualities of water and alcohol/meth mixtures and why they are in use in WA. No lessons needed. To vaporize is not to eliminate. That water is still going into your engine in some form, vapor, liquid, etc. You open a post-WA air duct and guess what you will find... water. Even a film, residue, or in bad cases, pooling. This is especially evident after short bursts of use when the airflow is constantly stalling and/or bypassing from snap throttle. The water ends up in your combustion chambers in one form or another. I never argued against the fact that it works, but if you can get the same result from timing, fuel, compressor, and IC/HE, why use the water at all?
Water as a vapor isn't going to hydrolock was my point completely - as a vapor it is compressible - I'm sure you understand that hydrolocking occurs when more water enters the combustion chamber than the volume of the chamber at TDC.

As far as cost, you said expensive, I would say closer to $800 installed if you wanted to have it done, but people get more expensive clutches to help hold the power, and this just lets you run your car hard for longer, so its kindof the same idea.

I'm not arguing its necessary to use W/A to make power, I think its just an additional heatsoak precaution you can take. Its the same idea as Water/air not being as susceptible to heat soak (but not being quite as good as Air/Air when cold). There is not "better" intercooling device between those two options, but there is a reason to run either of them, same with the W/A. There is a time and a place that it becomes a good option.

I too would love to see some dyno's. The numbers are very promising.

[CA AUTOMOTIVE UK]

At the end of the day there is no perfect cooling solution to suit all cases, all you can do is try to make your particular set up as efficient and safe as possible.

Water injection is one of the tools you can use, it can usually allow you to run higher boost pressures without pre-detonation than would normally be possible, after you have made the engine run as efficiently and cool as possible using normal mechanical and mapping means. Therefore more power. It also helps deley the onset of heat soak so you maintain maximum power for longer periods during hard use or very hot ambient temps.

As for water vapour in the fuel / air mixture this is not really a problem in a well set up system because :
a. the ratio of water vapour to charge mixture is so small ( but enough to be effective)
b. for evey gallon of petrol you burn the combustion process produces between half to one pint of water vapor anyway....

As to charge cooler VS air - to -air IC, time and again we have real- time measured lower intake ait temps. using air to air than chargecooled systems.

To our mind this ESS kit seems to encompass all the good points that such a supercharger system should, whist eliminating as many of the bad points as feasible that other kits on the market have suffered from. ESS have not been afraid to implement the required changes learnt from their own and other tuner's kits previous design downsides.

Having tried most of the other big name supercharger kits on the market we are impressed with ESS's attention to design detail, engineering and mapping. Let's not forget that despite common misconception, ESS were the first company to produce an off the shelf, fully workable supercharger system for the M3. It should also be noted that their software is developed totally in house, not sub contracted out as with so many tuners. We include ourselves in this later category, we sub contract software development for some of our projects as we believe in geting experts in to do an expert's field job.

[CA AUTOMOTIVE UK]

one more thing...:eeps: we must agree that water injection, if correctly set up, can never lead to hydrolock.

The only way this could happen is if a system does not have some form of anti siphon valving and for some reason water capillates while the car is parked ( usually on reverse gradient) for a long time... and water drips in and finds its way into the cylinders and fills them up.

Then when the owner starts the car in the morning .....disaster.

[maros]

any progress? When are you guys planning on releasing the kit?

[Asbjorn@ESS]

any progress? When are you guys planning on releasing the kit?

When R&D is completed. We expect it to be later this summer/fall but it might take longer depending on the durability test results.

We are currently experimenting with a different impeller in the TM1-20 to get even better top end HP without sacrificing the CFR's outstanding torque.

[Mike Benvo]

AJ :hi: Looking to put in the CFR kit very soon. I sent you an email. Thanks.

[positive]

Hi,

I was wondering if the kit can be installed in an Z4M or does it need to be modified? If it is different are there any chances you'd release a Z4M version in the near future? I am very interested and willing to come to Norway with my car to have it installed.

Thanks.

[Asbjorn@ESS]

Hi,

I was wondering if the kit can be installed in an Z4M or does it need to be modified? If it is different are there any chances you'd release a Z4M version in the near future? I am very interested and willing to come to Norway with my car to have it installed.

Thanks.

The E46 CFR kit will not fit on the Z4M. Please contact us directly as we might have a development tester deal on the Z4M CFR version if you can bring the car to our Norwegian R&D facility.

[playboi]

where do i send the check?

[AZx330iZHP]

where do i send the check?

LOL I dont think it will fit on your Toyota Supra...:read: :4ngie: :craig:

[playboi]

hahaha it's like a bad ex-gf, i can't let go!

/wrist

[AZx330iZHP]

hahaha it's like a bad ex-gf, i can't let go!

/wrist

You need to drop that ***** like you drop all them other hoes... Besides your ///M is so much more fun than the Supra...... :str8pimpi

[Asbjorn@ESS]

CFR @ 600hp.

3rd gear..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLqf66l_jn4

[playboi]

holy bratwurst!

send me a kit now..

k.thx

[positive]

The E46 CFR kit will not fit on the Z4M. Please contact us directly as we might have a development tester deal on the Z4M CFR version if you can bring the car to our Norwegian R&D facility.

Hey Asbjorn,

I tried contacting you immediately after your reply but haven't yet received a reply. I was wondering if you got my email? Please get back to me here or by PM.

Thanks.

[dru]

any release date on the 2nd stage yet?

[Lemonsqr]

hahaha, I love that video...what a way to use a supercharger as a smokescreen!!!

[steelgrey330ci]

don't u need to dyno in 4th gear

[mdsonicTT]

any 40-120 or 0-60 videos?

[Asbjorn@ESS]

any 40-120 or 0-60 videos?

More videos and material will be released as we approach release of the kit.

[///M3-QTR]

Any updates :D ?

[thebigsadler]

did i miss the posts about estimated price tags for the two kits?

PM me?

[CA AUTOMOTIVE UK]

the CFR 550 kit will retail in USA etc at $10,900.00 usd

hope this helps :)

[STARSKI]

so this is different than the vt2 kit on the ess website? if so what are the differences? sorry i don't really know much about this..

[CA AUTOMOTIVE UK]

correct, it is a different kit