G-Power vs ESS dilema

[aswy6]

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to ask for an opinion from you guys. I have a very close friend of mine who is selling his G-Power SKII Supercharger in brand new condition (never mounted on the car and not even unboxed). The kit is suppose to have 8psi of boost and 600hp and 417lb/ft of torque. But on the other hand there is a vt-650 supercharger kit from ESS which produces 650hp and same torque but is capable of producing 775hp as they claim it. My question is, which one would you suggest to get, and is it possible to safely increase the boost on the G-Power? I am planning to tune the car to run on E85 when i get supercharger and i am taking my M3 on the track sometimes. How would you also evaluate a reliability of the s65 engine under ESS Supercharger if used on the track?

I also should add another question. Is running a standalone ecu considered to be a reasonable move for S65 engine?

Thanks a lot

[SYT_Shadow]

ESS is by far the biggest name in supercharged E9x M3s. They are definitely what I would choose.

Without opening the engine, the most any kit produces is 650. To go higher you need engine work

The issue with superchargers and the track isn't the engine exploding but instead simply overheating. You'll have this issue with any supercharger which is why you don't see many on track cars

[schnell1982]

Originally Posted by aswy6

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to ask for an opinion from you guys. I have a very close friend of mine who is selling his G-Power SKII Supercharger in brand new condition (never mounted on the car and not even unboxed). The kit is suppose to have 8psi of boost and 600hp and 417lb/ft of torque. But on the other hand there is a vt-650 supercharger kit from ESS which produces 650hp and same torque but is capable of producing 775hp as they claim it. My question is, which one would you suggest to get, and is it possible to safely increase the boost on the G-Power? I am planning to tune the car to run on E85 when i get supercharger and i am taking my M3 on the track sometimes. How would you also evaluate a reliability of the s65 engine under ESS Supercharger if used on the track?

I also should add another question. Is running a standalone ecu considered to be a reasonable move for S65 engine?

Thanks a lot

Reach out to Mike @ BPM tuning.
He is very knowledgeable of supercharger kits on this platform. He used to work for ESS and he installs many supercharger kits at his shop. Think he says Harrop is the best but you may want to ask him specific questions.
He is honest and gives great advice. He would be my go-to for questions

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by schnell1982

Reach out to Mike @ BPM tuning.
He is very knowledgeable of supercharger kits on this platform. He used to work for ESS and he installs many supercharger kits at his shop. Think he says Harrop is the best but you may want to ask him specific questions.
He is honest and gives great advice. He would be my go-to for questions

Did Mike really work for ESS? I've never seen that mentioned before.

Obviously he would say Harrop is the best, that's what he sells. Depending on what you're looking for (low end torque), Harrop may in fact be the best but also the most pricey.

[Lucrecio84]

I believe they G power is european based which in my opinion, would make things difficult in case of any trouble shooting. Go with a company which has a kit where you can have everything installed and tuned on site. If you do a little research, you will not find many people in the US running that kit. Also, anything more than 600 wheel hp is pushing the limit on stock internals. Regardless of the type of gas you're tuned on so unless you're gonna build the motor, I wouldn't push it much more than what is recommended. Good luck

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by Iyzmi

Did Mike really work for ESS? I've never seen that mentioned before.

Obviously he would say Harrop is the best, that's what he sells. Depending on what you're looking for (low end torque), Harrop may in fact be the best but also the most pricey.

I hadn't heard that before either, although the truth is that the behind the scenes stuff of the tuning world is likely quite interesting!

As mentioned, Mike sells the Harrop so I'm not sure how objective he or anyone in that position can be. That said, the Harrop is the most oem-looking of all kits which is nice

[whats77inaname]

Originally Posted by Lucrecio84

I believe they G power is european based which in my opinion, would make things difficult in case of any trouble shooting. Go with a company which has a kit where you can have everything installed and tuned on site. If you do a little research, you will not find many people in the US running that kit. Also, anything more than 600 wheel hp is pushing the limit on stock internals. Regardless of the type of gas you're tuned on so unless you're gonna build the motor, I wouldn't push it much more than what is recommended. Good luck

User Cidle has a G-power kit IIRC, and he's in Canada. He's been running it for about 5 yrs now w/no issue, so I don't think that kit has a problem w/reliability. I don't think the number of kits stateside has much to do with the kit itself as much as the availability of ESS kits.

Aswy6, you might want to hit him up and get his impressions.

[ASBSECU E93]

As an owner of a ESS kit - I'd steer you to Harrop.

[SflBimmer8484]

Op,

We have a level 2 and Level 3 kit available that should fit the bill. Feel free to compare the low end power and smoothness of our kits to others on the market. If you have any questions please let me know.

Level 2



level 3

[kchu221]

mike never worked at ESS, i believe they were beefin not too long ago

[Patrón]

what's your budget and main purpose of the build? ie daily street car with some hwy/track/ .5 mile fun?

all out hp goal with mostly track and weekend fun?

edited: i read your post again an you mentioned the e85 route. if you can get your friend's kit at a reasonable price, i'd buy it and get the e85 kit from advanced fuel dynamics etc...since the kit was new/uninstalled it should include the tune.

[BPM]

There is no need to run a standalone ECU since the stock ECU does the job without any issues.

We recommend the Harrop kit due to OE fitment, the use of the stock airbox, is the only positive displacement supercharger for the E9X M3, and makes full boost at low-RPM's. The low-end torque is sublime!

We have customers running the E85 controller, both supercharged and N/A.

[aswy6]

Originally Posted by Patrón

what's your budget and main purpose of the build? ie daily street car with some hwy/track/ .5 mile fun?

all out hp goal with mostly track and weekend fun?

edited: i read your post again an you mentioned the e85 route. if you can get your friend's kit at a reasonable price, i'd buy it and get the e85 kit from advanced fuel dynamics etc...since the kit was new/uninstalled it should include the tune.

So the purpose of my M3 is track/city driving. I will be getting an M5 E60 soon for a daily drive though) So the car will see a lot of track miles starting this summer.

[aswy6]

Originally Posted by Andrew@ActiveAutowerke

Op,

We have a level 2 and Level 3 kit available that should fit the bill. Feel free to compare the low end power and smoothness of our kits to others on the market. If you have any questions please let me know.

Level 2



level 3

I really like that straight torque line! Will definitely look into it

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by aswy6

So the purpose of my M3 is track/city driving. I will be getting an M5 E60 soon for a daily drive though) So the car will see a lot of track miles starting this summer.

For the track you should not supercharge it at all, regardless of the kit

[SflBimmer8484]

Originally Posted by aswy6

I really like that straight torque line! Will definitely look into it

Try to get a ride in one in your area. You will be very impressed immediate torque from our rotrex blower.

[Titan_br]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

ESS is by far the biggest name in supercharged E9x M3s. They are definitely what I would choose.

Without opening the engine, the most any kit produces is 650. To go higher you need engine work

The issue with superchargers and the track isn't the engine exploding but instead simply overheating. You'll have this issue with any supercharger which is why you don't see many on track cars

I hope I could listen to this before monting a track car. with SC I only can give two fast lap.

[8k4]

Buy a used kit, doesn't matter what it is, then have Roshan at powerhaus tune it. IM for details, you'll save a lot

[GabeS]

Originally Posted by Titan_br

I hope I could listen to this before monting a track car. with SC I only can give two fast lap.

There gotta be a way to cool down this engine with a supercharger, oil cooler/Larger FMIC+Meth inj + aftermarket radiator.... something

[Patrón]

Originally Posted by GabeS

There gotta be a way to cool down this engine with a supercharger, oil cooler/Larger FMIC+Meth inj + aftermarket radiator.... something

i think two heat exchangers some where else besides in front of the oil cooler and a small, plastic water tank would help greatly. by relocating the front heat exchanger, then a larger oil cooler could be installed. i'd also install a larger dct heat exchanger if you have a dct transmission.

remember that the M4/m3 turbos are utilizing many heat exchangers not just one cheap one in a horrible location like the ess.

it is one of my only dislikes about the ESS kit.

[Dave07997S]

First off going back to the OPs question, of the 2 I would go with ESS as another member stated that GPower is euro based. Mike is a standup guy, he has quite a bit of experience dealing with kits other than Harrop, he will give you an honest answer. I am not into S/Cing but if I did it would be a Harrop, love the OEM look and the way the powerband feels.

Dave

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

ESS is by far the biggest name in supercharged E9x M3s. They are definitely what I would choose.

Without opening the engine, the most any kit produces is 650. To go higher you need engine work

The issue with superchargers and the track isn't the engine exploding but instead simply overheating. You'll have this issue with any supercharger which is why you don't see many on track cars

Pretty much sums it up. Proven performance that just works every time, ESS has sold more supercharger systems than any other tuner on the market.



aswy6 feel free to contact me of any of our staff directly if you have any questions.