ess / 44O update
 

So a little update. A few months after I got my ESS Supercharger installed, I happened upon a 44O kit :) I had to go away for a month for some mil training, so I dropped the car and the 44O kit off at my shop. No Joy, when I got back, the kit was still in the boxes and not on my car. :( Apparently the kit won't fit with the intercooler below the bumper bar because it blocks the new horizontal oil cooler.

So I was sad for some time and thought about selling the 44O kit. Then I said, I'll give it a shot, because my engine cooling is already degraded because the factory oil cooler mounts behind the S/C intercooler and blocks air flow to it. So I nstalled the 44O kit in my garage.. Found that Magnuson had a heat exchanger that mounts higher than the ESS one, but they wouldn't sell it to me without buying their entire supercharger system (thanks guys!) So countless hours of intercooler/heat exchanger dimensions on the web and considering getting a custom one built later... I used a factory heat exchanger from a S/C Camaro to mount behind my bumper bar and connected it to my ESS system. Took a lot of work, but very happy with the result....https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...7448e3690c.jpg

It has a lot of surface area, but the core is not very thick, probably around 5/8-7/8 ". Figured it should give decent flow through compared to 1.5-2" ones!

Was there no room for the ESS HE to mount on the top part of the bumper bar (like the Magnuson builds and a few Weistecs)?

Asbjorn at ESS informed me that they had not tried this top mount position for the HE, but thought there should be plenty of room there (perhaps may need custom brackets).

It could possibly be done if you had a really good aluminum welder. I considered that for quite a while. The Issue i ran into is the ess one (although I know very effective) is 1.5 wide and very heavy and I didnt think it would let much air through as mentioned above. There is a minor clearance issue with the hood latch as well. Because of the weight and the fact you are not just kind of hanging it downward. It would need some sort of bottom and top support.

The ports on the ESS are angled down a little per the original hose routing and it is really tight as far as finding places to get the hoses through to the heat exchanger from the pump and to the intercooler. This setup let me keep (kind of) the original hose placement on the left and then the right side just needed a 90 degree piece after I turned the original outlet hose upward.

The HE I used was about $150, and has 4 mounting holes. The down side is that the sides of the core are plastic (like the factory radiator), not aluminum ( like EDS / aftermarket ones) so you cant weld mounting brackets to it, you have to work with the provided mounting holes. I ended up with 2 bolts through the bumper for the lower 2 mounts and used shock bushings to stand off the upper part of the HE from the factory radiator..

Max size that will fit behind the bumper bars with a tight fit is 1..5 wide, which is what the stock ESS one is, most aftermarket HE are 2'" and won't fit in the space.

Has anyone actually tracked the car and experienced increased oil temps after the ESS installation? Since people on this site have experience that problem with stock engines I would imagine it would also occur after the SC installation but am just curious. I have never tracked my car but in 115 degree Phoenix heat and in 1/4 mile runs the oil and water temps are exactly the same as the pre-ESS supercharger numbers. So at least if you don't track the car you won't have to worry about it!

I dont have the ess kit and mine's a torque converter car - which dont often have the overheating issues in stock form. I have no 440 kit. I've added a second trans cooler however and I can do about 5-8 laps depending on ambient condition balls out at motor sport ranch in fortworth / cresson texas before coolant and oil temps are waaaaayyyyy too high. The only solution is use manual mode and short shift. Not like im a good enough driver to need this much power and use it effectively. I don't think the 440 kit will be anywhere near enough cooling capacity for blower car. I had also swapped out the stage 2 pulley to the stage 1 to help cut temps down as well. drops like 30whp/30wtq hardly noticeable. I plan on swapping to the black series front end at some point and custom sizing more coolers and utilizing the left front for a cooler rather than a washer tank before trying to road course again.

Obviously 440 kit is going to be way better than stock setup by a long shot especially for a mct car, however i dont think it can handle the excess blower heat. But try it out and let us know!

I'm hoping to get it to the track soon. I'm still finishing up the 44O install underneath, just have to get the new shields on. It does look to really improve airflow to both the front oil cooler and secondary cooler. Somebody at MB needs to get them to do another run of 44O kits. I did add a weistec transmission pan for extra capacity and because it has the extra fittings for a aux trans cooler if required.