Supercharger

[Robbomaz]

Hi folks!
Don't have a VX, unfortunately the cute little critters have never been available Downunder - do they even come in RHD? I have a Jackaroo (Trooper) chassis wearing a four door P'up body........
Anyway, I noticed some interest in supercharging - those with 3.5s heads up! I have made contact with the South Africans responsible for the Alpine Sports supercharger kits - they stopped making them because the exchange rates made the SC's themselves uneconomical. They have offered tech assistance and manufacture of small parts What is spurring this is this: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....m=170322053311

We are looking at making parts to suit this SC on the 6VE1. I am hesitant to call them 'kits' per se, as you will need to have some DIY skills & input, but we are looking at supplying all the machined parts required, and support, so that someone who knows how to use a spanner will be able to do this.
We are doing this on 3 6VE1 vehicles here, and can make as many parts as there are people interested.
If interested reply here or PM me :bwgr:
Rob

[Petos]

Rob:

I can tell you one thing - depending on the price of the equipment, you can count on AT LEAST 3 orders from Russia, and, if the price is right, this number will be significantly higher. We can arrange shipping, we've done that before

Please keep us posted as soon as you have more detail!

thanks
Petr

p.s. FYI - the split between RHD and LHD Vehicrosses in Russia is approx. 50/50, and we used the same alpine kit to supercharge both 3.5L LHD and 3.2L LHD

[Robbomaz]

Rob:

I can tell you one thing - depending on the price of the equipment, you can count on AT LEAST 3 orders from Russia, and, if the price is right, this number will be significantly higher. We can arrange shipping, we've done that before

Please keep us posted as soon as you have more detail!

thanks
Petr

p.s. FYI - the split between RHD and LHD Vehicrosses in Russia is approx. 50/50, and we used the same alpine kit to supercharge both 3.5L LHD and 3.2L LHD

Petr
First let me point out that we are not doing this for profit as such, it is a sideline project of 3 Soozoo driving workshop owners
Here is where we are so far.
We have bought 4 superchargers from the EBay sale (link in previous). We have 3 6VE1's to do here - one is for a Range Rover.
We are currently negotiating the price of the manifold. Alpine in SA want to make the manifolds for us, but want a minimum run of 10. Cost around AUD 600 each - but we don't have enough $ to buy 10 and hope they sell.
I have an Australian vendor that does not have a minimum run who is quoting, I think it will be around the AUD1000 mark. If I can get 10 serious deposits, that is 7 more, we will go for the SA solution.
We are not planning on supplying the supercharger, although we can help people get them. The manifold is designed around the generic M90/MP90 unit, which is an amazing bargain on Ebay at the moment!
Manifold & SC are the biggest $ value.

We will be sourcing/making bracketry, fuel rails and all other pieces over the course of the next few months. Most of this stuff falls into the AUD$ 100-300 range

We were not thinking of marketing a kit at this early stage, more doing this in the 'accumulation of parts' way: Getting the manifold, getting the SC, mounting the SC, working out the ancilliaries & making them as we go. Anyone who joins us we simply make an extra part for as we manufacture.

I envisage the cost WITHOUT the SC to be around AUD $2000-2500, add that USD275 SC and you have a bargain basement price installation!

Will keep everyone posted

Rob

[Petos]

Rob:
Thanks for the detailed explanation. Here in Russia, we had several attempts to do similar projects, but manifold has always been a hitch!

i will disseminate the news among Russian Vehicross / Isuzu enthusiasts and will come back to you with the result..

Thanks
Petr

[johnnyapollo]

The SC that shipped from Alpine was an MP62. I'm not sure about the differences but I can tell from the photo in the eBay ad that the drive (*nose) is considerably longer. I have one of the earlier cast drives (later units shipped with a billet aluminum drive) and the bearings are shot - I'm looking to get it rebuilt now. I know from some threads on here that the Alpine configuration on the drive is less than ideal - you might want to research it a bit as several have had their units rebuilt.

I'm thinking about porting the manifold before putting it back on - the whole kit has been sitting in a box since the middle of last year - fortunatly I had an extra complete manifold (from a Trooper) that I used to swap out so I didn't have to deal with the o-rings and fuel rails - just left them on the kit manifold.

-- John

[Robbomaz]

The SC that shipped from Alpine was an MP92. I'm not sure about the differences but I can tell from the photo in the eBay ad that the drive (*nose) is considerably longer. I have one of the earlier cast drives (later units shipped with a billet aluminum drive) and the bearings are shot - I'm looking to get it rebuilt now. I know from some threads on here that the Alpine configuration on the drive is less than ideal - you might want to research it a bit as several have had their units rebuilt.

I'm thinking about porting the manifold before putting it back on - the whole kit has been sitting in a box since the middle of last year - fortunatly I had an extra complete manifold (from a Trooper) that I used to swap out so I didn't have to deal with the o-rings and fuel rails - just left them on the kit manifold.

-- John

Thanks for that John. Good to hear of problems with the Alpine system. Keep the complaints coming folks

Agreed good snout support is vital for longevity of the drive
We are looking at how the V8 boys support the snout on the big blowers, and the sort of maintenance they get, and I am talking to a firm here in OZ that uses MP90 on Isuzu 3.5's in aircraft. Can't just pull over if you have a failure.....
The vehicles we are doing here are taking us to very remote locations on so very rough roads so reliability is paramount - last year one guy made an 1100 mile round trip to civilisation & back when a wheel bearing on a vehicle failed on the Canning Stock Route The driver of the broken car got to camp in Nowhere, AUS for a week - possible to get a VERY long way from anything at all in this place!
Rob

[Robbomaz]

I should probably provide some background - we are a fully equipped mechanical workshop with fabrication gear and a rolling road dyno.
Started out bring in JDM cars and getting them licenced and road worthy for Australia but moved into service & tuning as the government progressively made it harder to import cars
We have a Jackaroo (Trooper) bare chassis as a 'test mule' which will get the first installation. This old nail has over 400000 kms on the odo, but still managed 134 hp at the wheels as it came from the auction. This is the baseline

Heres the SC on our chassis. Note the high tech plywood manifold!


Rob

[Petos]

Actually, the original set was supplied with Eaton M62 S/C... it was 1st generation too...
The immediate reaction of my supercharged friend in Russia is that M90 and 4th generation will destroy original pistons / rods unless you get a wrought replacement...
it says on eBay that M90 is 4.0-5.7L engines... isn't that too tough for our 10-years old 6VE1 3.5L?

[Robbomaz]

Yeah I noticed that. MP90 catalogue says 3.5 litre & upwards
To give an idea Holden here fitted 62s on their 3.8 litre V6 - then went to a 90 in later models, the boost came down but the power went up.
The Isuzu engine is more efficient so can swallow more air.
4th gen has greater helix on the rotors, which make the discharge smoother & cooler. Boost is a product of pulley size

The standard engine is strong - 5-6 psi will not be a problem. I think the 90 will be underdriven to give this. No need for forged pistons at that boost, and the rest of the bottom end is massive! Either way we will know - we are going to boost our 400000 km test engine with no internal work. It will get a service & plug change and be rolled onto the dyno!

Once we have got everything kosher at 5-6 psi we are going to throw on a Haltech computer and see how far we can boost the unopened motor.
As to what may be possible, I know of a twin turbo 3.2 with all the good gear inside making 580 kW at the wheels and it is used every day as a delivery truck
Rob

[kodiak]

It’s great to hear that you guys are doing this. I have a felling in the near future a lot of the after market preference part that are purchased by the VX and the Isuzu community are going to come from Australia. From what I understand the 6VE1 is fairly common down there and now that Isuzu has left the USA it look’s like Australia will be the best option for just about everything Isuzu.

[nfpgasmask]

And just FYI, there are VXes in Oz. We actually have 2 or 3 active members from Australia on regularly.

Bart

[johnnyapollo]

Sorry I meant MP62 and bungled it.

-- John

[Ldub]

Heres the SC on our chassis. Note the high tech plywood manifold!


Rob

Your sweet plywood intake reminded me...

I'm just throwi'n this out there as food for "you know what"...

I haven't looked at my stock intake plenum in years, but remember the top & bottom halves come apart...

Would it be possible to utilize the bottom half of the stock intake, to connect to the intake ports on the heads, & fabricate/machine a flat plate to seal the top, that the S/C would be attached to? I was thinking 1/2" aluminium plate.

Like i said, it's been years, so I've probably overlooked a detail or two, but I always thought that this might be an improvement over the cast iron intake lump that I originally received from Alpine.

[SaltLakeVehi]

I am definately interested Robbomaz

[johnny010]

Interested in turn key