[turbomma]

Can someone with technical knowledge and experience with supercharging M3's explain why its not dangerous to supercharge a E9x M3 engine which was designed to be only normally aspirated?

I’m sure during the design process by BMW engineers, all forms of stress and reliability test did not include circumstances where the engine was supercharged or turbo charged.So, given the additional stress and load on the engine parts, how can we safely assume the engine will be able to take on this new stress level. For arguments sake, if the engine was design to last 500,000 miles, how much reduced mileage will a supercharged engine last? 300,000 miles, or 400, 000 miles?

With most packages offering increase in performance in excess of 150hp above the stock motor, Will it not be mandatory to change the pistons to forged piston and alter compression ratios?

If we look at the way Alpina supercharges a BMW engine, or increasing boost in a turbo charged engine, it always includes high performance pistons, reinforced cyclinder heads and lower compression ratios. Even Mercedes AMG, who took their original M113 5.4 lit engine, increase the hp by almost 100hp by supercharging it. Engine internals and compression ratios were changed accordingly.

Are we taking the cheaper and easier way out by not doing the above?