ESS Supercharger review

Well I am sure this is the one mod we all dream about getting. And after much dreaming and saving I finally got one!

I purchased the kit through a group buy which saved me quite a bit of $. The price of these kits sure can do a lot of damage to the wallet. It did take quite a long time to get the kit. ESS was out of the polished blowers and I had to wait for about 2 weeks until they got more in. Then it took about a week to ship.

Me and a buddy started the install the same day the kit arrived. We worked on it for about 4-5 hours that night. The next morning I sent the ECU back to Norway to get reprogramed. Then again that night we put another 4-5 hours into it and finally finished the install late that night. Overall the install was not that difficult but I really think the instructions could have been better.

Now this was the worst feeling, having your baby outfitted with the mod of your dreams but no ECU. It took about a 8 days to get the ECU back.

Later that day I hooked everything up and went for a spin around the block. At first I was a little disappointed with the power. I was expecting a feeling of pure power but instead it felt almost the same as before. I gave it some time and sure enough the car became more and more powerful. After about 200 miles you can totally feel the difference.

When you run it through the gears it just keeps accelerating faster and faster. It was almost scary! You can reach 100mph in what seems like a blink of an eye. Before the SC the car used to bog down and not accelerate too fast past 90mph. Now it just keeps on going. I am sure all of you are firmilar with the way your car pulls in third, well image that kind of pull in forth and fifth. It is a monster!

The SC is almost completely silent at idle. There would be no way you could tell that this car is supercharged unless you lift the hood. At higher RPMs you can hear it a little but not that well.

Some may think that I am crazy but the other day I decided to test the top speed of the car. Well to my disappointment the car cut out at 137mph. So I called ESS and they are sending me a new chip to replace the one I have. For some reason they did not take off the top speed limiter. I know that I am not going to be hitting these kind of speeds every day but it is nice knowing that nothing is holding you back.

I have already had a chance to toast an E36 M3. I can't wait to take on my buddy's S4!

Now I guess a dyno test is in order.

I know JacobNJ also got a kit. If you have any more feedback I would love to hear it.

yet another

a little low

rear

front

brothers

OH SICK!!!!! Get me those dyno charts!!!! How much did everything cost??

working on the dyno - maybe another week or so

cost - way too much

they don't tell you about the customs tax when you buy this thing $170 just to get it into the country

the kit was about $5700 with the polished blower and painted tubing

but remember that I got this through a group buy, it would have been at least another $1K if not

awesome post. How hard was the install? Do you condider yourself really mechanically inclined? I always thought an SC would be about the only thing I would pay to have installed but it seems alot of you guys are doing it yourselves.

Great write up bro glad 2 see your happy with it....cars looks great by the way

Great post man....awesome to see some people get their SC's going and running good! Very Jealous

It was quite a pain to install. There really is not that much room in an E46 engine bay. The supercharger just bairly fits in there.

I did make a couple mistakes:
You are required to swap out the dipstick tube with the one they supply. The only thing is that they don't tell you that the old one has a rubber o-ring on it where it fits into the engine. You are supposed to put this on the new one. Well when I took the old one out I guess the o-ring had fallen into the oil pan because it was not on the tube. I had to get a replacement from the dealership. And the dealership sold me the wrong o-ring so I had to go back and get the right one.

Also, there is an oil feed line that goes into the top of the blower. Well I happened to overtighten a brass(very soft) bolt. It broke and I had to order a new one from Vortech - $35.

Am I mechanically inclined? Good question. I guess I am aside from those two incidences.

My friend who helpled me decided that after he worked with me on this he would buy a supercharger for his 2002 Yukon. The kit he got had instructions that put the ESS instructions to shame. If I could make one recomendation it would be to make a better instruction booklet.

good post man. i like the car and the blower looks so good polished like that.

Nice!!! Thanks for the write up. Can't wait to see those dyno graphs

Looks good. Make me want a SC for my ride.

sounds good bro! get those dyno sheets!

and if you get a chance, get us some 1/4 mile times at the track.

HATE U guys, JACOBNJ, VA Funkie, Included.... I can't wait to get mine, when I return to the USA, VA FUNKIE I will surely look you up, for the install location at the prosche Spot When I get back to VA Beach Area. My Ultimate Mod also.

Just curious, but right now, my car hits 130mpg and 6,000 (start of redline). Will the ESS make me run at a lower RPM at 130? Or will it just make me get there faster?

Just curious.

As I understand it, I don't think the SC will change your RPMs. That is directly related to your tire size and gear ratio. What it will do is raise your redline to a 6800RPM limit. So when the ECU decides to actually cut the fuel it won't do it until later, giving you a higher speed.

If you wanted to get to an even higher top speed you would have to change your gears. This would make you accelerate slower, which not many of us want.