Ming Blues

From: Tony Ricci [SMTP:tonyr@sprintmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 01, 1998 6:22 PM
To: a4org@metrics.com
Subject: PES Supercharge Update

Hi,

We are very excited to announce the completion of the PES 30V supercharger system! Thanks to everyone who has waited so patiently.
Many of you who have been on our e-mail list since day one, have heard me say many times that I will not release a system that's not perfect.
One with no excuses or band aid fixes (such as an add-on injectors).Accomplishing this goal has taken longer than we thought, but has paid
off big with a system that runs as perfectly as it does from Audi.

If you look at the contents of most supercharger systems, you get the supercharger, brackets, pulleys, a belt, hardware, and a rising rate fuel pressure regulator, without software. Using a high pressure rising rate unit attempts to accomplish mechanically what only a handful can do electronically, through ECU tuning. By raising the pressure in the fuel rails, the injectors can be forced to flow more fuel. When a supercharger or turbocharger is added to an engine, it needs much more fuel at full boost and/or full throttle. A small rise in pressure is OK, as in the stock configuration. The regulators included in many systems raise the pressure to a dangerous level, in order to squeeze every drop of fuel they can from the stock injectors. At high pressure the
injectors can go "static" and stick either open or closed. If they stick closed, the engine will go lean, and a blown motor may be the result.
This is not a risk we were willing to take with your motor!! The ONLY reason most SC systems on the market today utilize such a device, is because the manufacturers do not have the technology to completely re-engineer and re-map the ECU as described below.

We chose to do it the hard way by utilizing larger injectors. Physically changing the injectors is easy. The reason I say it is very hard, is because ALL of the fuel maps would now be ridiculously rich, since the ECU has no way of knowing that the engine has larger injectors. We then carried out the task of re-engineering the ECU's fuel maps so that the air/fuel ratio would be perfect from idle to full throttle. This is the way it would be done by Audi and Bosch. The fuel issue is only a small part of what is needed to be done with the software, to make the car run PERFECTLY--- an emissions clean car without OBDII fault codes which would produce a "check engine" light.

In approximately 4 weeks, we will travel to Los Angeles to install the first production system on a famous actors new A4 Avant ( I can't mention the name yet). The car will be featured "Turbo", "Import Tuner", and "Road & Track" magazines.

The response to our system on the A4.Org site has been overwhelming and we expect an even greater response once the magazines are printed.
Since we started this project on A4.Org, we thought it would only be fair to offer the system to customers who have submitted their names to us through our page on A4.Org, before officially releasing the system to the general public. To further show our appreciation, we will offer the system to A4.Org customers for $4,500+ shipping (A $500 DISCOUNT). This price will only be good until November 30th. When the system goes on sale to the general public, it will have a suggested retail of $4,999 + shipping. For those of you with a Tiptronic, we offer a re-mapped transmission chip for an additional $400. If you would like to secure a system, we require a 1/3 ($1500) deposit with the balance due upon shipping. Production has begun and we expect to start shipping in early December. I know that many of you will have some technical questions, so Mike Nuskey (our engineer/prototype maker) and I will be taking your calls personally. Please be patient and leave your name and phone number if you have trouble getting through, or send us an e-mail with your
phone number and the best time to reach you. We will call you back promptly. Below is our TOLL FREE number as well as a parts listing. We are very proud of our product and look forward to speaking with you about it!

Best Regards,
Tony Ricci

TOLL FREE : 877-697-1688 (USA) 908-806-8426 (OUTSIDE USA)
E-MAIL : tonyr@sprintmail.com


SYSTEM INCLUDES (MAJOR PARTS LISTED ONLY)...

EATON M62 SUPERCHARGER
K & N AIR FILTER
CUSTOM PES SUPERCHARGER SOFTWARE
SERPENTINE BELT
HIGH VOLUME FUEL INJECTORS
CNC MACHINED RACING TYPE BLOW OFF VALVE
ALUMINUM MANDREL BENT TUBING
SILICON TURBO HOSES
CNC MACHINED ALUMINUM BRACKETS
HEAVY DUTY CLAMPS
CNC MACHINED ALUMINUM PULLEYS
CNC MACHINED ALUMINUM PCV PORT
PCV FILTER

ALL INSTALLATION HARDWARE INCLUDED THOROUGH INSTRUCTIONS

*ALL ALLUMINUM PARTS ARE HARD COAT ANODIZED FOR APPEARANCE AND DURABILITY

mister dr

My wife and I found out about the PES kit before we bought the car (1998.5 A4 Avant 2.8), and the PES kit was actually one of the main reasons we bought that car. We were trying to get hold of an S4 Avant to at least test drive, but our local dealer said they almost never get them used, and they never got a new one. So when "Pearl" came up for sale on the lot, first thing we did (before even test driving it) was check under the hood to be sure the car had the 5V engine (so we could put the s/c on it).

We looked at the price of the car, added $5k, and figured that was a good deal for a supercharged 2.8 A4, so we bought it. The warranty lasted 6 more months after we bought it, and as soon as the warranty ended, we got the s/c and Tip chip installed. My mechanic has installed all kinds of turbos, superchargers, and nitrous kits on all kinds of cars (Porche, Audi, BMW, DSM, Honda, VW, etc.) and he said the PES s/c kit was, hands down, the most complete, straightforward, and well-thought-out kit he's ever seen.

I posted a few reviews of the s/c on AW (A4 forum) a year or two ago. Basically, it just totally rocks. The car hasn't had the slightest peep of trouble, from either the engine or the transmission. The engine runs simply butter-smooth with the s/c, and the only complaint is that the fuel/air is a little on the rich side, so that when you go to WOT under load, there's often a puff of black smoke that comes out the exhaust. Also, at altitude here, the car can sometimes idle so low and so rich that it has trouble and sometimes even stalls right after you start it (usually just in really hot weather) so we've learned to let it warm up with a little bit of throttle when it's over 100 degrees and the car's been outside. Our local mechanic says he can tune the fuel/air mixture in real time using a wide-band something-or-other, which has been on order for the past 3 months. We'll see. If he can fix that one little detail, then the car will be perfect.

The engine without the supercharger was nice, but not fun, and definitely not really fast or powerful. One of its biggest problems was the weak low-end torque (especially at our elevation of ~6k feet). Unfortunately, as you can imagine, the s/c did little to help out the lack of low end torque. But what it did was turn the car into a powerful little freight train. The torque curve, at least the curve you can feel in the seat of your pants, has a constant upward slope. The car just pulls harder and harder, all the way to redline. It's an interesting feeling. Completely different from the 1.8t. Very different even from the 4.2 in our S8. With the supercharger, you can really feel the engine getting happier and happier as the revs climb.

The S8 feels like its torque is mostly flat, but it does feel like it has a slight peak around 3k RPM, and then you can feel it starting to drop after 6k RPM. Because of this, I think that a supercharger kit--a well thought-out and properly engineered kit--would be exactly what the 4.2 motor "needs". If the 4.2 torque curve changed the same way the 2.8 torque curve changed after adding the s/c, I'd easily pay $7k for such a kit.

I did ask the guys at PES if they were planning to produce a kit for the 4.2, and they basically said, "keep your eyes peeled--we're working on it". But I've never seen anything on their website.

I don't have any photos during the install. If there's anything you really want to see regarding the s/c mounting, hoses, wires, etc., let me know and I'll take detailed photos.

JörgenK

A (good) positive displacement supercharger works as a 'torque flattener' The boost will be higher where the engines flow isn't as good and this extend the rpm range in both directions.