if someone ordered a rmm kit from them, could it be tuned to the specs of mr.johnson's gs400 from swift racing. Could it be done fairly close? i know its a differnet unit, but curious if pulleys could be changed, or something tuned better? I mean paying 4500 bucks plus install is a decent price for the performance gain, but for a little more, could there be extra tq and hp pulled out.

 

I think it could but it wouldn't be a "slam dunk" aka "easy" but I don't think it would be too hard for someone that knows what they are doing.

You'll have to figure out ECU tuning (Be nice to have something more granular than the S-AFC), intercooler pressure losses (vis-a-vis pulley sizes) and making sure you enough fuel(injectors and/or pump)

Go for it!

 

I'm with Mr. Johnson on this....it would be possible to achieve the same numbers, but it's doubtful you will find those numbers out of the box.

Pulleys would not be interchangeable because the pulley size has to go in conjuction with the crank pulley size. In other words, unless both crank pulley are identical...the charger pulley size(s) would be different. Also, I believe the head piece of the SRT kit is totally different than the Vortech V2 piece the RMM kit has. As he also stated, you probably have to have some kind of management to get the most out and tuning that management is both individual and crucial.

Honestly, even the RMM kit is going to require some tuning out of the box (unless you're extremely lucky). You are going to have to commit yourself to the fact that the S/C kit is NOT going to be the only thing you will need to make the system work to it's full potential. Install should be something you plan for too. It can get very expensive depending on the experience of the shop. IMO, you shouldn't use any ol shop to do this. If you go with either AFC or E-manage, it's going to require time on the dyno to tune it properly. That too doesn't come cheap. You will also need a TC also if you don't already have one. It will go a long way towards future problems.

This kind of project is not for the faint of heart. You have to research as much as you possibly can and always plan on misfortunes. You don't want to start the project and not be able to finish because it will be just another expensive part on your car. Take it from me, once tuned properly....S/C on a 400 is like nothing else. You really have to drive it to believe it.

 

i love my car, and its come a long way. curious if high miles will kill me on a upgrade.
if external parts should be changed if i have high miles. No problems with my car at all. timing belts are changed royal purple gear and oil all in the car. Never gives me problems. T/C is a hopefull item on the group buy for xmas maybe. in the spring i will be looking for a rmm kit. but curious about new gs as well. curious if a used m5 (sorry) would be the way to go as far as speed comfort and overall performance othre than price. I pay for my car, and don't want a higher payment with a m5. people are looking into purchasing my car, should i keep and mod, and just play with it forever. I know i am had no matter what, whatever i get it must not stay stock. Local guys run a speed shop here, they have a dyno, seem to work on nice cars. i asked and he said prob 500-600 to install and tune a s/c kit with dyno time. emanage or s-afc which is the best? thanks and sorry for the long wind.

 

Ok, you're all over the place here. Are you selling your car? Are you thinking about S/C'ing the car and then selling it? What are you trying to do?

If you are simply wanting more power, then S/C or turbo is the way to go. Nitrous is another option, but you can't use nitrous except in bursts and you are at the mercy of how full the bottle is. It is cheaper though. Let's stick to the S/C or turbo route. First of all, I want the number to the shop that is going to charge you only 5-600 dollars. That is an extremely low number to do a full S/C install. How experienced are they? Have they done high performance work on Lexus before? The amount of work required to do the job correctly is big. You have to remove the entire bumper and possibly even part of the front clip to install the piping. You have to install the injectors and new harness. You have to replace crank pulleys and install the tensioner. You have to route the piping and cut a hole in the fender to fit it thru. You have run oil lines to and from. You have to reposition the power steering reservoir up against the fender. And on and on. This is not a two or three hour job. Maybe with 6 people on it at the same time, but no other way. It's honestly a 10-12 hour job for someone who has done it before. Substantially more if they get stuck on anything. This doesn't take into account shop supplies, gauge installs, etc. You could easily be looking at a bill over $1000.

As for management, the AFCII is going to be the least expensive and easier to program. The E-manage is more expensive, but has more user selectable programming. It's more advanced. It also has very useful tuning features not available on the AFC. I personally opted to go with the AFCII. I've used the AFC before and it's easier to play with. I was told by my tuner that the E-manage was better though. I guess it depends on your liking then. If I had to do over again, I probably would have gone with the E-manage. Not that I'm not happy with the AFC, just that I like to have room to grow. The AFC is the AFC and that's it. From what I know of the E-manage, it has far more capabilities than the AFC.

 

excellent response. I saw very few people know of the extreme work involved in a s/c kit for the lex. A stang is another story i suppose. I asked some guys in the shop and they told me around that number, but would prob change some. there website is www.horsepowerhouse.com. There not my favorite, but about the only one around here. One other shop www.streetsports.com, have not checked with them yet. e-manage would be prob 400 bucks more too huh? I take it you have a blower now? What would you compare it to in regards to your feelings of it lasting, comparing it to other cars. just overall as you drive

 

Thank you for the affirmation.

Now, I'm not getting the warm and fuzzies about this shop already. "Around that number"? $1000 is double $500. That's not "around", that's in a different neighborhood all together. The shop should be able to do a little research and find out how long approx. the job will take and give you a much closer estimate of labor. If they quote you $500 and then give you a bill for $550 and it's justified, then THAT is "around" $500. If they do the install and you think you're only gonna pay $500 but then they hand you a $1000 bill, that's bait and switch. The bad part is that once the charger is installed and you look at it and get excited....you'll pay them their inflated price to take your baby home. BE VERY CAREFUL selecting your shop. You may not have many apparent choices right now, but I would keep researching and I'm sure you'll find one that answers all your questions directly and with confidence because they've done the job before. The amount of work involved is substantial and not for a novice to do. Besides, you don't ever want a rookie working on your car even just changing tires.

As for the E-manage....$400 is probably a starting point. As I mentioned, the E-manage has more capabilities than the AFC, but requires additional sensors to reach those capabilities. This as you know means what???.....more money. All the sensors needed to make it do everything it's capable of are ADDITIONAL. They don't come standard. The unit by itself w/o any sensors is about as good as the AFC by itself, except the AFC is cheaper and looks better. Realistically, if you want to really get the most out of the E-manage, you're probably looking at a few hundred more than the basic price. How many hundreds depends on where you get it from. I've noticed that were it is advertised they always add the verbage "call for pricing" which is ALWAYS a bad sign if you're looking to save money. It is still a good unit, from what I've read on paper. I just had a guy in Cali that sold me the AFCII at a reasonable price shipped. So I took it. My car is not going to be a race car anyway, so the AFCII is plenty capable for my needs.

As for longevity, the blower is a Vortech V2 head piece and that is one of the blowers that has a rep of lasting. The blower is capable of 20 psi of boost using the same piece. The Lex won't ever hold that, but this V2 is capable of that. Since I'm only pushing 5-6 psi right now, the blower is on the lower end of it's overall capabilities. If I do preventive maintainance as I should (change the oil more regularly, keep belts tight, etc.) then I see no reason why it should not last a long time. I have friends with different cars using the older V1 blower to this day. They have used them boosting over 10psi of boost for over 3 years. They are still running. Eventually the thing that will probably go bad is the bearing or a seal inside the blower itself. Vortech I'm sure can rebuild that, and you're back up and running. Hopefully I'll never get to that point.