Techco 3.0L Supercharger Review
June 29, 2009 | Reviews
Techco International has just released their 3.0L twin screw supercharger kit for the S197 Mustangs. Being comprised of several of the engineers that brought us the Saleen blower, Techco has the talent to deliver a powerful blower. How does it measure up?
Our test car is a 2006 Mustang GT (Auto) previously equipped with the Saleen supercharger kit, as sold by JDM Engineering. Prior to the Techco installation our test car was put back to stock minus American Racing 1 5/8” headers, catted X-pipe, Zoomer’s axleback, and GT500 fuel pumps. The installation of the Techco blower follows very closely with the other twin screw kits, so our review will concentrate on the differences of the install, and the performance of the blower.
The Kit
Techco manufactures and assembles the blower kit in house. It is 100% built in the US. The kit has a few differences that set it apart from the other twin screws that are currently available.
- Ford Racing 39#/hr fuel injectors come pre-installed in high flow billet fuel rails
- Billet adjustable bypass valve
- Twin intercoolers (one per bank)
- Forward facing low restriction inlet
- Separate 8-rib supercharger drive system
Shown above is the twin intercooler setup.
Our kit arrived via truck freight on a pallet. One box contained the blower itself; the other contained all the nuts and bolts of the kit. The blower itself was packaged very well to ensure no damage was done during shipping. The box containing the rest of the kit was also organized and packaged very well. All the bits of the kit are organized and packaged individually and marked with a section number. During the installation this comes in handy, as you can grab one bag of parts instead of shuffling through an entire box. Of the blower kits we have installed, this one takes the prize for being organized.
Installation of the Techco Supercharger kit follows very closely to that of the Saleen kit, as it fits in much the same way. The main difference is the installation of the brackets for supporting the blower snout, alternator, and the secondary belt drive system shown below.
As you can see in the above photo, an adapter is bolted to the harmonic balancer. This is what the lower pulleys are bolted two. The lower pulleys are what must be changed in order to raise or lower the boost level. The upper pulley is setup for maximum belt wrap. One of the good things about this setup is that you do not have to pull the alternator off everytime you want to change your pulley / belt. Changing boost is very easy.
On the electrical side of things, Techco makes life simple by including extension harnesses for the things that are relocated. No hokey butt connectors needed. You don’t even have to solder anything. The alternator, MAF, TPS and IAT sensor wiring are all must be extended. This attention to detail makes blower installation much easier for customers that choose to install the blower at home instead of paying for an install.
Our blower was thoroughly tested before being shipped. The noise level was checked, fuel rails were checked for leaks, as well as the intercooler. Our blower was strapped onto a test engine and ran to double check for any possible issues. There was still some coolant in the intercooler when we unpacked the blower. No detail was overlooked.
Similar to other blower installs, a heat exchanger is mounted to the front bumper. A Bosch pump does the duty of circulating the coolant through the heat exchange and the intercoolers inside the blower. This is a proven formula for keeping air temps cool, and allows more power to be made on pump gas.
Blower Performance
So just how does this blower perform? Our first test was with the blower pullied at 6 psi. We used the Techco supplied Diablosport tune and pulled 394 rear wheel horsepower SAE. We were unable to lock the car in drive, with the convertor locked for accurate dyno testing, but these numbers are pretty close to average, and on par with what 6 psi should make.
Our next step was to custom tune the car. The Techco tune worked well for a canned supercharger tune. It is designed for 91 octane, and is conservative as any canned tuned should be.
After a few short pulls to dial in the tune, our final number for 6 psi yielded 417 rear wheel horsepower and 393 ft. lbs. of torque using DynoJet’s SAE correction factor. Definitely good power for the large blower spinning as such low RPM.
Not wanting to stop at 6psi, we decided to raise the boost up to 10 psi. A quick call to Techco, and we had the upgrade kit, which included a new lower pulley and the correctly sized belt. A few dyno pulls later, we ended up with 452 rear wheel horsepower, and 444 ft. lbs. of torque (SAE).
Inlet Air Temps
One question many have about any blower’s performance is “How hot are the air temps?” During our dyno pulls we were shocked to see an abnormal rise in air temps. On several of our pulls, we saw a 50 degree increase in air temps, over the short period of one dyno pull. One pull for example, was started with the air temps at 96 degrees F and ended at 146 degrees F. Though the air temp rose drastically, the blower did not heat soak. Between dyno pulls, the blower would cool off rapidly.
You can see in the above graph a sharp rise in air temperature. The yellow line represents throttle position, the blue line represents RPM, and the redline is the air temperature rise.
After seeing these increases, we were almost positive that there must be air in the intercooler causing the fluid not to circulate properly. We checked and rechecked the coolant and everything was flowing normally. A quick call to Ken Bjonnes of Modular Depot revealed that he too is seeing large increases in air temperature, so we knew then it was common for this blower, but the question remains. WHY?
After speaking with John Spruill, an engineer at Techco, the answer is simple; the location of the air temp sensor. The engineers placed the sensor in the hottest location to get the most accurate reading. We were told that if the sensor was moved to the front, like other blower kits, the temps would be roughly 40-50 degrees cooler. That answer is feasible, but because of the confusion Techco is going to start making provisions so that the air temp sensor can be moved to the front if needed.
Conclusion
All in all the Techco is a very well engineered kit. It comes complete and has a lot of positional. The blower is large enough that you will not likely outgrow it as with other blowers on the market. Price wise it is a little more expensive compared to other kits on the market, but it also comes with more out of the box (billet fuel rails, billet bypass valve, 8 rib kit).
Discuss this article on our forums here - http://www.modularfords.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1395775
Eric Brooks
Brooks Speed, Inc.
www.brooksspeed.com
All tests were performed on our DynoJet 224x dynamometer.