Hello,

I wanted to get a boost of power and was thinking that there are 2 options

1. nitrous
2. electric supercharger

has anybody tried either on their 240, i have a 81 240 with k-jet.
sugestions?
i know that are both hurting reliablitity but want to pich the least destructive if i could.
thanks for the help

chargerucd

I would look for a 85 240Ti do some upgrades, look at turbobricks.com..
--
john,, 1985, 245:Ti, 265k mi..so.california,,,1974, 145, 230k mi. ..

The "electric supercharger" being sold by the hundreds on Ebay, is a hoax. It's bogus. If it worked, every car would have one. Real turbos and supercharger work because they consume SIGNIFICANT energy to force air into an engine.

Those things are boat bilge vent blower motors with a hose kit. No free lunch there. No magic bullets. Likely power increase? Probably less than removing your big mechanical fan and converting to an electric fan...

As for nitrous, yeah ok. The rest of the engine is probably tough enough to handle it a few times. But on the other hand, it's a pretty tired 20-something year old STOCK car engine. It'll make some more power but likely at the cost of killing the engine.

If you want more power, you'd be money ahead to sell your car and buy a 740 or 760 turbo. 160HP out of the box, and a car that's built for it. The late 80's cars regularly trade for less than $1000.

If you insist on upgrading that car, look for a junk 240 Turbo for parts. There are TONS of rusted out cars with good engines. Everything swaps into your 81, as a direct bolt in. With an intercooler kit, you have 160HP too. More like 125-130 with a non-IC, but I can tell you, they are fun and responsive too. Our 82 245T with a 4spd+OD is a blast.

It's up to you, but I would be realistic about it. Another option would be to upgrade the cam to the IPD cam, maybe a header too, and spend a bit on Turbo or IPD sway bars. Maybe some 240 T or 740 T wheels too?
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: Roterande Fläkt Och Drivremmar!

What are you looking to do with this car?

There aren't many short-term solutions. The ways to effectively increase power in these cars come from more permanent solutions, the most common being the turbo.

Drop in a B21FT turbo engine from a similar-year 240 and tweak it as needed. Compared to some cars, it's relatively easy to break 200 or even 300 hp if you know what you're doing.

There's someone on TurboBricks who has supercharged his Volvo. I'm not sure if he has the original Volvo engine or if he's done a swap, but I understand it's a fast car (it actually might be for sale at the moment). I don't think this job is an easy one, but it's been done.

You'd be wasting money with the nitrous--how much extra power do you expect to get out of a stock engine that only puts out around 110 hp? Installing a turbo would be a much better investment.
--
'89 244 GL -- 111,005 miles (see profile for info on car)

Nitrous is easier by far. Of course, it may fry your pistons, but brick engines are not expensive to replace.

I've never heard of an electric supercharger. Installation of any supercharger and getting it work involves dramatic changes to your intake system and fuel injection, and you have to know what you are doing. There were recently some pictures posted of a supercharged brick engine. I don't recall where I saw them, but it was probably here on the brickboard.

It would probably be simpler and easier to install a small block chevy engine as many others have done.

The easiest way to get a quick boost in power with no engine mods is to buy a can of model airplane fuel and pour it in the windshield washer reservoir. Then unplug the hoses from your windshield washers, cap one and and plug the other onto a centrally-located vacuum hose port. Find some open road, floor the gas, and hit the windshield washer button.

A friend did this to his Corvair back in 1968. It worked several times before the engine blew up. It was fun while it lasted.