ESS G1 Supercharger Summary
- 579 WHP @ 8,338 RPM
- 383 WTQ @ 7,442 RPM
- 93 octane (E17 ethanol mixture)
- No more S/C fluid seepage under high Gs
- ~10-20 ft/lb gain in torque from VT2/Vortech based systems
- Very usable power on street without unwanted torque punch
- Intercooler bracket/placement allows clearance for aggressive tire setups
Why Supercharge?
I never really had a
fast car. I mean I have a stripped E46 M3 dedicated track car that's fast on the track, but I mean like a high horsepower-fast car. I drove my cousin's F10 M5 just recently and I was blown away at the power that car has. Street driving became fun again and it felt like the first time when I drove an M3. That's when I decided I'm going to supercharge my E92. Because...life is short.
I went with the ESS G1 kit because it's the newest kit on the market. They ditched the Vortech supercharger and went with their own blower. While being lighter, the kit was making more power than their older VT2-based blowers. I get most of my work done at
European Auto Source in Anaheim, CA so that's where I bought the kit and got it installed.
Unboxing
Out of the box, I got to check out the hardware in detail. I picked up the plenum and blower+bracket and honestly it wasn't as heavy as I thought. I'm not worried about weight too much and it wasn't enough to think about changing spring rates up front. What a lot of people don't realize or think about when buying S/C kits is the use for larger wheel fitment/clearance up front. If you're running an intercooled setup you'll notice the pipe routing and intake gets really close to the wheel wheel area, on the driver side especially, and a benefit of running the ESS G1 intercooler bracket is that it allows for more clearance to fit wider tires. My plan? 285/30/18 square.
The pulleys! The kit comes with 2 pulleys: 91 octane and 93 octane. I chose the 93 pulley for the initial install because I wanted to see what max power is. I'm here in CA so we don't have 93 octane, but I mixed 91 octane and some E85 ethanol. On a 16.1 gallon tank it's about 1.5 gallons of E85 on a full tank. Also equates to about E17 blend.
Installation
Installation took a few hours, but it was pretty straight forward and 100% bolt on.
Dyno Testing & Results
- 579 WHP @ 8,338 RPM
- 383 WTQ @ 7,442 RPM
- 93 octane (E17 ethanol mixture)
- 82.61°F ambient air temp
- 34.51% Humidity
So after I strapped on and did a few pulls, my car went into limp mode. Turns out one of my throttle actuators went bad! Super unfortunate timing, but I'm glad it happened at the shop. I had to get them replaced on the spot and I pretty much had not choice, but to replace both. The plenum we just installed had to come back out. Thanks to EAS for squeezing in time to take care of this after all the work already done!
Summary
Life is short. Have (responsible) fun.
