Supercharger, Intakes, Exhausts

[harry516]

Hey guys, I have an '04 Pilot and I wanted to do some modifications to it. I found this supercharger called GTE 5 PSI Electic supercharger for $180. I would also like to install a short Ram intake and change the exhaust piping so it can be split into 4. I'm only doing this to increase the horsepower and pick up of it. Any ideas/suggestions before doing this? Specific types of companies and whatnot.

[macphanatic]

After looking at the video on that thing, I don't think that it will help much and could possibly have a negative impact on power when it's not running.

[phathom]

I'll try to write this without laughing at how ridiculous those things are, but do yourself a favor and don't get that electric "supercharger".
I forget exactly where, but I read an article and saw a video on those before from an independent shop who installed several aftermarket mods like that, and the results of were, really bad. It didn't increase horsepower or torque at all, worse yet, it actually netted A LOSS of around 8hp to the wheels and affected mpg negatively as well.

One "mod" that actually did work, out of all the ridiculous stuff they did, was a gas powered leaf blower, which gave about a 7hp gain IIRC, it did increase to about 25hp gain when they sprayed nitrous straight from the bottle into the leaf blower intake and then into the throttle body.

Believe me, they tried all sorts of homebrew performance add-ons, but things like the electric supercharger, and the tornado vortex things were the worst as they actually hurt performance.

As far as the intake, depending on the type, it can increase performance, changing out to a k&n style cone filter which has higher surface area and better flow than factory can help performance and mpg as the engine can breathe better.

For exhaust, I'm not sure what you mean splitting it into 4, do you mean 4 exhaust tips out the back? As far as how it would be split, being a V6 and all, if anything it would be 3-1x2 where you have 3 ports combined into one pipe and do that on both sides for a custom dual exhaust setup. How the exhaust is currently setup it goes 3-1-1 where both sides go into one and then meet up to come out one exhaust. Doing 4 exhaust tips would just be redundant, you don't have the type of back pressure needed for 4 tips, doing dual could get you some gains if done right, but even with high performance I6/V6 cars, they typically go 6-2 or 6-2-1, or 3-1-1, or 3-1x2 respectively.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by harry516

. . . I'm only doing this to increase the horsepower and pick up of it. Any ideas/suggestions before doing this? . . .

Start with a different truck, and a whole lot of money.

[A6Pilot]

Originally Posted by phathom

As far as the intake, depending on the type, it can increase performance, changing out to a k&n style cone filter which has higher surface area and better flow than factory can help performance and mpg as the engine can breathe better.

One of the great myths out there is that by improving airflow to the engine, your mpg will go up. While that was generally true on engines equipped with carbs, that philosophy does not hold true on engines equipped with computerized fuel injection. Regardless how how much air comes down the intake, the computer will adjust the fuel delivery to maintain the most economical air/fuel ratio. While a clogged air filter might lower peak horsepower, a clogged (or inefficient) air filter will not lower mpg.

Amazing world we live in.

BTW-
Keep in mind that installing a K&N filter has its own price:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm

[rocky]

I like the comments on this forum thread

GTE 5PSI Electric Supercharger Kit for 98' Camry? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

[mclairmo]

Hate to say it but this purported supercharger device is a joke. Please save your money and forget about this. As for a short ram, it may actually hurt power if it sucks in hot underhood air. You want cold air not hot. Also, it may not filter as well leading to increased cylinder wear. Also, as A6Pilot stated, with the modern computerized engine, it's hard to increase power by just throwing parts at an engine. You really need to match all of the parts, such as intake, exhaust, cam, etc. through careful testing and analysis and then have the computer reprogrammed and all of the fuel maps and ignition curves redone to optimize the new combination.

[rclark]

Originally Posted by harry516

Hey guys, I have an '04 Pilot and I wanted to do some modifications to it. I found this supercharger called GTE 5 PSI Electic supercharger for $180. I would also like to install a short Ram intake and change the exhaust piping so it can be split into 4. I'm only doing this to increase the horsepower and pick up of it. Any ideas/suggestions before doing this? Specific types of companies and whatnot.

If you want a car that you can mod and tinker with sell the Pilot and get a fox-body mustang. The Pilot is not a tuner and is meant to be driven stock.

[samc]

After looking at that video LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL doesn't even cover it.

Seriously it's just as bad as those guys who put a computer fan at their intake. And is it just me or was that demo video spining metal particules?

First off you can't just add a "super charger." You need a new ecu/ecu programming to adjust the air/fuel ratio and rev limiters and what not. In fact You'll probably do more damage by simply adding this thing to your intake. As said the pilot is not a tuner truck so if that's what you want sell it for something different, perhaps a 4runner?

[MacAttack]

Originally Posted by mclairmo

Hate to say it but this purported supercharger device is a joke. Please save your money and forget about this. As for a short ram, it may actually hurt power if it sucks in hot underhood air. You want cold air not hot. Also, it may not filter as well leading to increased cylinder wear. Also, as A6Pilot stated, with the modern computerized engine, it's hard to increase power by just throwing parts at an engine. You really need to match all of the parts, such as intake, exhaust, cam, etc. through careful testing and analysis and then have the computer reprogrammed and all of the fuel maps and ignition curves redone to optimize the new combination.

That very true went through all that with my last car a 2001 jetta, but one thing if you are looking for a place to start would be a cold air intake and have it placed by your grill or have a heat sheild with piping going to it from near your grill so fresh air is their instead of the hot air from under your hood.

[A6Pilot]

Originally Posted by MacAttack

That very true went through all that with my last car a 2001 jetta, but one thing if you are looking for a place to start would be a cold air intake and have it placed by your grill or have a heat sheild with piping going to it from near your grill so fresh air is their instead of the hot air from under your hood.

If you take a close look at your factory intake, you will notice that, in fact, it does draw intake air from outside of the engine compartment. Yes, Virginia, the Honda powertrain engineers spec out a CAI for the engine intake from the factory.

I've always wondered where the assumption started that intake air was being drawn from the engine compartment on the Pilot. It always amazes me that folks will buy a $200 (or more) intake system that draws heated air from the engine compartment, and passes that air over a filter that does a lousy job of filtering contaminants (and is also a royal pain to clean and re oil), and then delivers that intake charge through a metal pipe that could not have been better engineered to heat that air as much as possible.

Can you say, "K&N"?

[mclairmo]

I agree, modern vehicles leave much less room for improvement. With higher consumer demand for fuel economy and performance, modern car manufacturers have been forced to implement many of the high performance options we commonly think of adding, like tubular headers, cold air intakes, free flowing exhaust systems, cats and mufflers, tuned intake manifold runners, variable valve timing, lightweight alloy and composite engine components, dual overhead cams, etc. It's really hard to truly improve overall performance nowadays. You may increase WOT performance but you will hurt low speed performance and economy. Honda spent millions to R&D their vehicles. Is some small company that make short ram intakes that suck in hot dirty engine air going to beat that? Maybe, but not very likely.

[harry516]

Ah man, I dont know what I was thinking. This is all pointless. Even an exhaust system would not be effective though?

[94eg!]

Yes exhaust systems are effective. But it doesn't matter how many tips you have. The difference is in the muffler design, pipe diameter, and catalytic converter diameter.

The greater the diameter of your exhaust system, the less back pressure and the easier the exhaust will flow at higher rpm. Same goes for a straight through muffler, resonator and catalytic converter design. This all means you get an increase of torque in the higher rev range which translates into real horsepower gains. Probably not much (maybe 5%), and you probably won't be able to feel it except in your wallet, but it will certainly make the truck sound a lot louder.

If your not trying to race, don't bother with modifications. Unless you just like loud exhausts (like me).

[clahnof5]

I love tinkering around with my cars, and the Pilot is no exception. I modified the stock airbox on my other car, a Nissan Altima 3.5SR, so I decided to do the same on the Pilot. I took out my dremel and cut a big hole in the lower half of the airbox where the filter sits. My thinking was, "If I kept the OEM paper filter but just introduced a bunch more air to it, I should free up the breathing a bit. Besides, it worked great on the Altima, right?"

Wrong. The only thing it did was increase the noise. By a lot. My butt dyno actually told me that I was losing power, not just down low, but everywhere. (Not sure if it affected my mileage, but I did average 23.5 mpg (computer, not hand calculated) on a recent trip that included a lot of hilly, freeway driving.)

As soon as we got back, I promptly switched it back to a stock airbox that I had previously ordered "just in case" and threw the cut one away. With everything back to stock, I definitely feel that the power is back, especially down low when pulling away from a stop. Besides, I love the fact that it's quiet once again. (Am I getting that old, LOL...)

So it got me thinking... If the modified airbox didn't work on the Pilot, maybe it's not working on the Altima either? Maybe it's one of those "placebo effect" things that made me think the cut airbox in the Altima was an improvement. I swapped the cut box with a stock one I had on hand (just in case...) and right away, I noticed that the throttle response just wasn't as good with the stock box. I drove it around and it felt slower, less responsive... Needless to say, I installed the cut airbox back on the Altima. The engine doesn't even sound louder with the cut airbox installed. More responsive without the added noise. That's a win-win in my book.

I guess that just goes to show that not every engine will react the same, even with the same modification.