Whoosh!

Be considering an electric supercharger for my Dakota(the electrical system will handle it) yeah or nay?-Kevin

Unless you plan on beefing-up the main bearings and some other internal components, I would suggest that you avoid adding a supercharger to the engine.

What are you planning to do to the REST of the engine to be sure IT will handle it? I don’t need a crystal ball to foresee a shortened life for your Dakota’s engine.

Also note that some of the electric superchargers on the market are nothing more than fans that will not provide enough extra air to make much difference.

What criteria will you be using to differentiate between the many “scam” electric superchargers which are available all over the web, vs one that will actually provide you the boost you’re anticipating?

How will you know the difference before you buy?

Electric superchargers are scams. If they worked, don’t you think that the OEMs would use them at the factory? I have a Kenne Bell supercharger on my Mustang GT with stock internals. I run 6 pounds of boost, the stock crank/rods are good for 7 pounds, but since it’s my daily driver I’ll sacrifice some power for reliability.

I’m with FoDaddy on this one. Electric superchargers are junk. Beyond not being able to provide air in greater volume than your pistons are drawing it in and to do it at a great enough pressure to overcome intake restrictions, they can even add an impediment to the inflow of air. I’ve never seen an electric supercherger that worked.

Any real supercharger will increase cylinder pressures and might require beefier main bearings and rod bearings, and if it’s not combined with enhancing the ability of the engine to breath in and out (porting, a camshaft with higher lift amd/or greater duration…which then requires stronger valve springs and rocker arms, stuff like that) might even cost more HP to run than it adds to the output. Intake restrictions can result in the supercherger just using horsepower from the crank building up pressure in the intake manifold without the engine’s being able to get much use out of it.

Well thanks for the input,I dont think this series of engines will stand much( I’ve heard they wont stand a STS blower very long) the supercharger I was considering would give about 1Psi over atmospheric mean and draw about 70 amps while engaged,dont even know if 1psi is enough to even bother with anyway.What I have considered is swapping the the 3.7 for a Pentastar3.6 if something happened to the 3.7.the 3.6 is considerably more powerful then the 3.7 and almost 100 lbs lighter .so that would be a good tradeoff.Yep TSM you are right,you dont get something for nothing-Kevin

70 amps? Yeah, that would place a pretty good load on the alternator…and thus the crank. IMHO you wouldn’t gain and would likely lose.

70 amps? 70 amps? Are you sure?

70 amps at 12V is the equivalent of 7 amps at 120V, just over 1hp: about as much as a shop-vac.

I understand some of these designs store a big electrical charge, perhaps in a capacitor type device, and discharge a burst of current when needed. This isn’t a validation of how well they work, but it can explain how the alternator isn’t overtaxed during normal usage, and where the burst of current comes from when needed.

I think this came up a Dakota web page I lurked on when I had my 95 Dakota pickup. A search in the Archives for “electric supercharger” shows it was discussed back in 1999. There were a lot of knowledgeable people on the site. Personally, I thinks it a gimmick, but read the posts and make up your own mind.

http://www.dakota-truck.net/CGI-BIN/dmlwwwwais.cgi

Ed B.

I’m not familiar with electric superchargers, but I’d think a belt-driven would be the best, if your engine can handle it, or if you’re willing to beef it up. You might be better off and not spend much more cramming a small V8 in this truck if you really need to have performance in it. It came with an optional 360 V8 as I recall, which is an infinitely modifiable motor compared to your stock engine. There should be parts a-plenty for this mod, maybe even kits.

The best thing to do though, in my opinion, is keep this nice little truck for what it was meant for and get a muscle car if you want to go fast. If you make your truck go faster, you’ll want to beef up the brakes, anti-sway bars, shocks, and other components. Otherwise you’ll just have a fast-accelerating brick.

Good reasoning Oblivion-its just the “Hotrodder” in me, raising its head from time to time-Kevin