Question for anyone with a Sprintex supercharger
 

So, the time has come to pull the trigger and either go with a 4.7 stroker kit or a Sprintex supercharger.

I'm strongly leaning towards the supercharger for a few reasons:

1) Boost is always more fun
2) A supercharger should be cheaper in the end than a stroker kit

I've explored my options as far as boost goes and I don't want to dump the money into a turbo kit. I've owned tons of cars in the past in which I installed aftermarket supercharger kits and I've always been happy. I'm not the guy who is looking to get turbocharger type power out of a supercharger. I'm merely looking for something that will be good for an extra 50-100hp depending and I feel that is a very realistic expectation from a supercharger.

Anyhow, I like the Eaton kit a lot of guys on here are using but I refuse to cut a hole in my hood, I just don't like that look. That being said, I have found a Sprintex kit I am about to order. I have read all about the Sprintex kit and what I need in order to get it running properly. The only question I have left before I place my order is this:

Is this Sprintex supercharger loud?

I can't seem to find the answer to that anywhere but it's an important question. Back in the day I had a Vortech V1 blower on one of my previous cars and that thing whined so loud it was seriously annoying as hell to drive. I don't want to be that guy with the obnoxious car. I like the supercharger whine under full throttle but I do not like the annoying whine at idle and just cruising around town.

I'm hoping someone on here with a Sprintex kit can shed some light on this. If it's one of those obnoxious kits I'll skip it altogether because that will just annoy the piss out of me!

Thanks in advance guys!

$4k for that supercharger. I don't think the stroker would even come close to that price point. Hell, you could swap in a v8 for that price plus more.

4k? It's $2700 brand new and that price is coming directly from Sprintex USA themselves.

All the places I found were 4k. Link?

There is no link, just get ahold of Sprintex USA and they will tell you it's $2700 for the kit. I talked to them just a few days ago personally.

Oh nice that's pretty good. I just saw it was like 4k on their site too.

They used to be 4k but they lowered the prices substantially to get rid of remaining stock. The XJ kit was never actually a full on production kit as it was only intended as a prototype kit. From my understanding they found that after making X amount of prototype kits there simply wasn't as much interest with XJ owners as they thought there would have been.

That being said, once they get rid of all the remaining kits that will be the last of them from what I hear.

For $2700 I think that it's a pretty good deal. A bit cheaper than a stroker (at least from what I have priced out) and for the most part it's a bolt on affair.

The sprintex has a slight whine at idle. To the 'enthusiests ear' you will hear it. Definately not obnoxious loud.

For that $2700, there is no tune included. You will be on your own for that.

For that price, I have a side mount Eaton kit complete with a Split Second 7th injector controller all preprogrammed and ready to go.

I didn't know there was a side mount Eaton kit. Any advantage to the Eaton over the Sprintex?

Eaton Side mount M62 Supercharger Kit

http://jeepm62superchargerkit.blogsp...mount-kit.html

Very cool! I'm still not sure about the Eaton vs the Sprintex though. I've done tons of research and haven't been able to find anything about an Eaton vs Sprintex charger. As far as I know they're both positive displacement superchargers but I thought I read somewhere (can't remember where) that the Sprintex unit is slightly better at boost delivery.

Also, maybe you would know but is the Sprintex unit a twin screw type supercharger or not?

I have both the Sprintex 210 and the Eaton M62.
The Sprintex is a twin screw and the eaton is a twisted roots.
The Sprintex is a bit more efficent and with a slightly lower discharge temps.
They are both nearly the same size, 57 cubic in air per rev vs. 62.
Sprintex is newer design, more expensive.
Sprintex will put out more boost vs. the Eaton M62.
The Sprintex has some very elegant manifolds.

You might want to wander over to the Mini Cooper forum (northamericanmotoring) and take a look at the threads on Sprintex experience there. Not very good and there were reports that there were problems with the Sprintex on Jeep 4.0.

I've read a lot but it seems that Marty has had good luck with his unit and it's held up quite well for a while now.

I suppose just like anything else mechanical it's all about how you maintain it and take care of it.

We have over 30,000 miles on our Sprintex SC. In fact I don't know anyone with problems with the Sprintex SC kit for the 4.0. The only issues is there was no tuning available from Sprintex and I had to develop the Split Second Box and get it to work with the 7th injector. Those with issues, are having tuning problems. The M62 kit uses the same SS control box. I find it comical that the mini cooper forum, who I am sure no one there has a Sprintex 4.0 SC, can make comments about something they have NO experience with. I guess they are sore losers to a Jeep 4.0 with a supercharger which will and has spanked the pants off their minis. :grin:

The Sprintex SC kit is a good unit, it just does not have any tuning solution included and you are on your own for the tuning.

Thanks for your input Marty, I always value your thoughts and advice.

Question for you since you own a Sprintex. Are these units easy to rebuild? I've owned several Vortech blowers in the past and those things are so easy to get parts for and rebuild. One of the things I look for when purchasing something aftermarket like this is the ability to rebuild it myself and obtain rebuild parts fairly easily.

Rebuild, interesting question as we are getting close to wanting to look into it. We have changed the oil with Redline. I am not so sure about the seals and bearings but I think that ? JBond superchargers can rebuild them. IDK how much but probably around $600. I don't think that there is a big deal to do it but sourcing the parts might be the challange.

Yes, I knew that JBond rebuilds them, however, I would think that if he can get the parts to rebuild them that people like you and I should be able to as well. Perhaps it's something I'd have to contact Sprintex and ask them about. Maybe they sell the parts / rebuild kits separately.

I only ask because easy and availability of parts for rebuilds is important. I owned a Rotrex blower yet which are fantastic in regards to their design. However, Rotrex themselves says that their superchargers can not be rebuilt and they do NOT sell parts to rebuild them either. So, once they go bad you're essential screwed. Some people have attempted to rebuild them with guess work (in terms of guessing what parts you need, torque specs, etc.) but that's been a real hit or miss.

Now an Eaton on the other hand, I know that those things are probably easy as hell to get parts / rebuild kits for I would assume.

The Eaton rebuild parts are all over Ebay.
As for the Sprintex, I have never asked them if the rebuild parts are available. Maybe even JBond would sell the necessary rebuild pieces.

I sent an email to Sprintex USA and asked them if they sell rebuild parts. I'll report back when the respond! Ease and availability of rebuild parts is a huge selling point for me.

Spoke to Sprintex USA today and they told me that they prefer to rebuild their chargers themselves due to the super tight tolerances (makes sense with a twin screw setup). That's fine with me, as long as I know they are actually willing to rebuild them unlike certain companies such as Rotrex who will sell you a supercharger and then tell you even they themselves will not rebuild them.

Did they give a price?

They told me $600 is the typical cost. That is of course assuming that you don't have some serious issue with the unit which makes sense. I didn't ask but I assume that covers new bearings, seals, etc.

For that price, I would rather send it to JBond. I wouldn't be surprised if that is what they do. lol.

Yep, who knows, you very well might be right. Although, I don't know who JBond is or what his reputation is... Makes me kind of weary sending an expensive supercharger to just some guy.

I'm all about making power, but I'm sorry guys...putting that kind of money in a 242" motor to make maybe 250whp seems silly. I look at strokers the same way. you could damn near do an atlas swap for the same cost, but get 300+hp, virtually unlimited tuning ability, and almost twice the fuel mileage.


kudos for keeping the 4.0 aftermarket alive. out of curiosity, I'd like to see a turbo 4.0 with the best head money can buy. I have no idea what the factory internals can handle in terms of power. assuming the rings/ringlands are solid, I'd guess quite a bit given the inherent design.

An Atlas or LS1 swap- that's too easy, where's the fun. :grin:

Comparing and Atlas swap to a supercharger is like apples and oranges. I understand your point is that there is better things to spend the money on, however, money well spent is completely relative to the person spending it.

I like the idea of retaining the stock motor (it is pretty much bullet proof after all) and being able to get a little more power out of it. The stock motor in these cars in my opinion is just a bit underpowered. I just wanted a bit more passing power on the highway and some more torque which is something a supercharger and provide without breaking the bank.

Not to mention that in all honesty $2700 for a supercharger kit is very reasonable. Try purchasing a supercharger kit for a BMW (or something along those lines) and the markup is so insane it will make your jaw drop. Back when I had my E46 M3 you'd have to drop at least 7k for a good supercharger kit. Yes, I know that's all markup because people who own BMWs will typically be willing to pay more, but still, it just proves that $2700 for a Jeep kit is much better of a deal.

the kits are (and should be) cheap because they don't make any power. there is little to no way of managing the setups outside of something like megasquirt. IMHO doing all of this work completely takes away from these engines. they're awesome bc of simplicity and reliability. you've compromised both of those aspects immensely for a little more passing power on the highway? just say you're doing it because you want to, not because any of it makes sense. because it makes none.

edit: I had a 6 lb non inter cooled power dyne setup on a m6 lt1 fbody. it picked up over 100 whp with headers and a pretty ****ty tune. it cost less than $2700 over 10 years ago.

Yeah 35-40% HP and TQ increase that's all.
And don't need a MS to make them work, hell very few can even get the MS to work.

Everyone has their opinion. Your sense is someone else's nonsense. To each his own.

Yep, that's exactly right. What might make sense to one person might not make sense to another. There are TONS of ways to waste money on cars and trucks. None of them will add to the value of the vehicle (since Cherokees aren't exactly an investment) and therefore when you put it into perspective every single thing you do to these cars is a waste of money.

I am not sure if what you are saying is good or not? Did that make sense back then?

To put it into perspective, It picked up 100HP on an engine that already put out ? 300-350hp. That is a 30% increase. But it also required headers which are not cheap, ? $500.

That $2700 supercharger + $500 headers 10 years ago, adjusted for inflation, today is well worth over $5000+.
So Today, a supercharger that also adds 30-40% more HP and TQ and costs half of what you spent in today's dollars, is a pretty good deal, the way I see it.

But then again, we all look thru different eyes when we evaluate value.

Moving on... Boost is fun and addicting!

I was commenting on his statement regarding the kit's cost for jeeps vs other vehicles, is all. a stock lt1 makes 285 crank hp if it's lucky. boy you guys get fired up when someone says anything other than "that's awesome!" about modding these engines, eh?


edit: when did inflation on aftermarket parts get to 92%? the entire kit, headers, and tune on that car was less than $2700. yeah, it made sense back then. at that point there were very few cars out on the weekends that trapped over 115. and LT1s don't have the world's greatest flowing stock heads on them either, I had less in a blower setup than a head/cam/intake swap would've cost. not to mention, the car drove like stock and still maintained 20+ mpg.

Made sense back then, makes sense now.:cheers:

I would love to supercharge my jeep but its probably not practical for a 4.5 lift with 33s as a daily driver huh?

My son's XJ (BPas328xi) is just that, 4.5" and 32 MTRs with 3.55 gears and he DDs it. Has put well over 30k on the supercharger. Next is built it more, long arms, Notch flares, 35s, 4.56 gears, and still DD it with the supercharger.

Superchargers are always practical. :head: