The superchargers were able to transform the normally high revving small displacement
Hondas into torque monsters that could operate at lower frequencies and provide tremendous
satisfaction both on the street and at the track. To be quite honest, our eyes were
immediately opened by the effectiveness of the blown engines. It’s interesting that
the turbos are going away as we speak. It’s also interesting to note that when
describing the new Garrett components, people still refer to the units as half a
turbocharger, when in reality they are simply hydraulically driven centrifugal
superchargers. These units will in fact be the future of forced induction due to their
efficiency.
During my Honda fascination, a lot of people wanted components that we made or modified
and, for many, we were able to deliver. However our attempt to successfully market the
systems we designed were hampered by the inability to obtain the components necessary, and
also the quality of components we were able to source.
Quality is something that we hold dear at ENDYN. We have incorporated a money back
guarantee for everything we produce or sell and that policy dates back to the days of
building kart engines for the late King Hussein in the early to mid sixties. We have had
two returns since then which is a record that we are simply not willing to tarnish. There
have been numerous occasions where one of our customers could have won with a
"new" product, but we simply had partial test time on the components and,
therefore, did not release the parts. This policy has certainly become a negative issue,
but it’s not nearly the problem that could occur should the system break before the
competition is over. Our testing standards are as complete as technology will allow, and
since the early ‘ 70’s, people have claimed that if "it" breaks, GOD
caused it.
Several things became clear during the attempt to provide blower systems to the market.
One was the fact that, if we were going to sell the package, there were a lot of customers
who would run hard enough to destroy their engines. This is interesting because (the
market) universally wanted blowers that could compete with or beat turbochargers. I do not
believe that there were any potential customers who didn’t know that turbo chargers
could or would blow their engines, but they wanted a blower that would out perform the
turbos and not injure the engine at the same time. We attempted to address the possible
problem by incorporating an electronics package that would "look after" the
engine when the driver didn’t. The package also had stock components such as traction
control and boost regulation from the driver’s seat. Combine all that with radically
"different" manifolding, air induction systems, pumps, injectors, TB’s, and
a header and the box gets very heavy. That was not a problem, but the amount of
re-machining necessary to fit each blower with the lightweight rotors became a real
problem.
The amount of work was actually more than if we’d started from scratch. Combine
that with the fact that, since the blowers were of a generic configuration, the TB
location and manifolding to the head were efficient on some packages and not so efficient
on others.
This is where the notion of doing the entire enchilada began to look like a viable
solution to several problems. Perhaps each Honda application could use the same
displacement, but the blower case could be cast differently for each engine. This would
allow the exit into a newly designed (high efficiency) manifold would be perfect and the
entry could also be placed correctly for the application as well.
Will the individual cases cost more? No, as the numeric machine center is programmed to
handle every model case with no tooling changes.
Will the manifolding cost more? Slightly, but the efficiency gain will more than offset
the price increase.
Will the quality be as good? We hold a *much* higher tolerance (of clearance and error
margin) compare to production Eaton units. Each blower’s dynoed output will be the
same with no exceptions.
How about power steering, etc? We have been making electric pumps for the PS so we can
remove the belt driven unit, which allows us to move the alternator to move up front. We
had nothing to do with the fact that Honda is doing the same thing on production
cars…it simply works.
How much boost? Over 24 PSI and, yes, you can blow the crap out of an engine if you
don’t treat it sensibly. We are currently working on a device that will roll back
boost automatically in the upper gears where the engine is working hardest and hopefully
we’ll be able to keep the cylinder bores round without expensive block work.
Will it be hard to install? We are making every effort to make it installer friendly
and we encourage owners to do the install themselves as a learning experience.
Will it be street legal? It will not be sold if it’s not legal.
Will there be a racing version? There will be some add-on components that will allow
maximum performance for track only applications. Most pieces will be electronic in nature.
What Honda applications will be covered? All 1989 and up D16’s, all B16’s,
and both H and F applications. The D and B series will be the first to market.
When will it be available? Good question. After the last episode, we are not going to
discuss the release date prior to having systems in boxes and ready to ship. There will
also be no instances where we will get involved in adding to the system every time someone
wants something different. Once the configuration is "frozen", the production
and sales will begin.
There will be no deposits and the availability will be announced when we are ready to
ship.
It’s safe to say that there will be nothing for several months yet, but ENDYN is
not placing the blower program second to our other work this time around.
What other components should one buy? The same that we have previously preached. Invest
in suspension up grades, a good LSD, a efficient 2.75" to 3.0" catalyst and
exhaust system and a good clutch with an aluminum flywheel (no dangerous lightened stock
components).
What if there are more questions? We will attempt to formulate answers that will
address as many questions as possible and we will update information and specifications as
needed.
- The Old One, March 1999
