P38A Interesting supercharger kit

TallPaulB · Feb 7, 2019

Unfortunately I don't have £650 to spare, and can't take the risk of converting my transmission into a series of interestingly shaped pieces of scrap, but this caught my eye on ebay yesterday:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163357904357

Does anyone know anything about these things? Anyone seen one in the wild? From looking at the pictures I think you take the manifold off the top of your engine, replace it with the one included and then the main body of the superhcharger sits under the manifold in the valley.....is that right?

Would this bolt straight on or are there ECU considerations to take into account?

pwood999 · Feb 7, 2019

Don't do it . . . .

http://www.v8engines.com/engine-3.htm#warning

Grrrrrr · Feb 7, 2019

Reckon that v8 in the P38 is unreliable enough as it is without heating it up any further!

Grrrrrr · Feb 7, 2019

pwood999 said:
Don't do it . . . .

http://www.v8engines.com/engine-3.htm#warning

Great link. Cheers.

wammers · Feb 7, 2019

Quick way of stripping it down if you fit one of those to an old tired V8.

Henry_b · Feb 7, 2019

Henry_b · Feb 7, 2019

JE engineering also fitted superchargers to the Thor V8's in the late 90s to the early 2000s

power went from 215hp - 350hp and torque went up drastically..

Of course there were internal upgrades..

The ZF4hp24 is more than capable of handling more power..

But putting excess boost through an old stock v8 probably isn't a good idea

Moron · Feb 7, 2019

TallPaulB said:
Unfortunately I don't have £650 to spare, and can't take the risk of converting my transmission into a series of interestingly shaped pieces of scrap, but this caught my eye on ebay yesterday:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163357904357

Does anyone know anything about these things? Anyone seen one in the wild? From looking at the pictures I think you take the manifold off the top of your engine, replace it with the one included and then the main body of the superhcharger sits under the manifold in the valley.....is that right?

Would this bolt straight on or are there ECU considerations to take into account?

Its for a totally different engine ( Jaguar) to what you have in a P38 ( Rover) and wil not fit anyway

TallPaulB · Feb 7, 2019

Moron said:
Its for a totally different engine ( Jaguar) to what you have in a P38 ( Rover) and wil not fit anyway

It would only need a manifold to fit on the Rover V8t though I think? There's plenty of them about since people apparently bung them in race cars.

Again, I'm not buying one, just looking for more info for when the P38 gets retired from day to day duties and I can play with it

Good spot though, I misread the title as Rover V8 supercharger

ukadamwest · Feb 9, 2019

Supercharging a p38 onto the inlet isnt a good idea, te airflow out the supercharged is mainly inducted by the front 4 cup with the rear 4 starved and running rich. the forced air needs to be dispersed equally which would require inlet distribution which would result in a big hole in the bonnet

TallPaulB · Feb 9, 2019

There's a few people in a thread on 'another site' with supercharged P38s who say they run fine and the starved cylinder thing is a rumour put around by a certain company who sell expensive blocks / cylinder heads as an alternative to supercharging.

No idea if that's true, but does anyone have direct experience or is everyone just repeating the starved cylinder thing from the same source?

Here's one for example:

tarphenry · Feb 9, 2019

Surely, the inlet tract is designed to allow equal ammounts of air available to each cylinder. The supercharger merely pressurises that air supply

DanClarke · Feb 9, 2019

While its a nice idea, I'm not sure that trying to make a vehicle that has all the aerodynamic properties of two house-bricks in mating formation "more nippy" is really a viable proposition.
Something has to give. The ruddy thing is over 2 metric Tonnes. Its quick enough for me as it is.

tarphenry · Feb 9, 2019

I agree its just that people are quick to dismiss without explanation

TallPaulB · Feb 9, 2019

The L322 weighs more than the P38 and the supercharged version of that is fairly nippy. Not saying you could get the venerable Rover V8 to that level of performance without throwing stupid money at it, but I bet you could get better than stock with a bit of money

pete12345 · Feb 9, 2019

Also is the breaking system the same on the super charged l322 as the p38 or updated

norseman · Feb 9, 2019

pete12345 said:
Also is the breaking system the same on the super charged l322 as the p38 or updated

Many, (inc. insurance companies) will doubtless disagree with me but I'm not sure that this emphasis on upgrading brakes is wholly justified. Just because an owner seeks an improvement in power/torque doesn't mean they are going to drive the vehicle any faster or less safely. If the vehicle has an efficient system to start with …
I've had motors running all-round drum brakes that, properly adjusted, would stop the thing on a sixpence.

ukadamwest · Feb 9, 2019

TallPaulB said:
There's a few people in a thread on 'another site' with supercharged P38s who say they run fine and the starved cylinder thing is a rumour put around by a certain company who sell expensive blocks / cylinder heads as an alternative to supercharging.

No idea if that's true, but does anyone have direct experience or is everyone just repeating the starved cylinder thing from the same source?

Here's one for example:

that's the way to go. forced induction through the OEM intake will give the even distribution of forced induction. its when the supercharger goes on top of the inlet manifold there are problems as I understand. would love to have my P38 blown

ukadamwest · Feb 9, 2019

norseman said:
Many, (inc. insurance companies) will doubtless disagree with me but I'm not sure that this emphasis on upgrading brakes is wholly justified. Just because an owner seeks an improvement in power/torque doesn't mean they are going to drive the vehicle any faster or less safely. If the vehicle has an efficient system to start with …
I've had motors running all-round drum brakes that, properly adjusted, would stop the thing on a sixpence.

fair point.

upgraded brakes are going to be required if you are track daying the car. but a P38. on the road you still have the same speed limits modified or un modified. the P38 is never going to be dragster, but tweaks and tuning will make it run more efficiently for the performance and of course supercharging comes into its own at higher altitudes. factory tuning and cams are designed to give a wide band of performance as they go to many different regions cold, hot, high, low, so the manufacturer bases the widest use possible.

Datatek · Feb 10, 2019

ukadamwest said:
that's the way to go. forced induction through the OEM intake will give the even distribution of forced induction. its when the supercharger goes on top of the inlet manifold there are problems as I understand. would love to have my P38 blown

Half a pound of Semtex would blow your P38 just fine.

P38A Interesting supercharger kit

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