Sorry, I meant to reply to the group but apparently had a senior moment and
just replied to Vance. Here is the original reply to Vance's earlier message:
-----Original Message-----
From: Foster, Stan
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 11:28 AM
To: 'Navarrette, Vance'
Subject: RE: [6pack] To supercharge or not to supercharge, that is the
question...
A couple of point and these are not all specifically in response to Vance's
comments below..
First, I'm not independently wealthy and my biological clock is ticking. I
figure if I'm lucky I may get to drive my TR for another 20 years and at some
point well before that my discretionary income is going to be dramatically
reduced. I figure I should try and get the bulk of the large expense over with
now so that I'm essentially in maintenance mode for the remainder of that 20
years. Tranny, OD, rear axle, hubs, suspension, steering etc have all been
renewed so only the engine is left. Even if I spend 10k tomorrow, amortized
over 20 years that is $500 a year. I will have to spend $5k anyway just to get
the motor refurbished.
Regarding the SC, motor cars have been supercharged since the beginning of
time so I don't feel like I'm performing an unnatural act. It is an acceptable
modification in my mind and less culturally polluting than say a Nissan rear
end, Toyota tranny or cosworth hubs (not that there is anything wrong with
that...). The SC seems like a good enhancement to me, drivability,
performance, fuel consumption and it is 100% reversible if I or a future owner
feels so included. Heck, Bob Lang has a SC on his Saturn.
The advantage of the Moss kit is that they have done the heavy lifting with
the R&D (Thank you Moss) and they produce a complete kit albeit that there is
a significant amount of dismantling required to fit it. Not a biggie for me.
The R&D and the history (numbers sold, proven durability over time) probably
means it will be a reliable installation and it wont be losing belts at random
and inopportune moments. My only question really was about the crank damper
and it sounds like it really should have one but it probably isn't going to be
a big deal at the rpm we are talking about. I'm still not sure that I want to
take that risk though.
Stan
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