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ZR-1 supercharger - good or bad?


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only buy a v1 vortech if you know your buying a LOUD supercharger (loud at idle, great at revs), ZR1 is fine if its looked after, 1k is about right depending on mileage, depending on mods, you should expect 250bhp

adiitional mods see more power, ask around here plenty vr owners have zr's, they are easy to fit.

I'm a self proclaimed expert on all chargers so read my supercharger thread and you'll get the low-down on the 'version's' of z-engineerings chargers.

befor eyou buy verify mileage by checking/asking who did the bearings.

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raj at ns racing isnt gonna give an honest opinion, since he sells VF kits, stealth is your best bet ;). If it were a v1 you wree buying i could tell you exactly what to look for, but if you can't get hold of stealth, you can PM binliner, he's got a ZR2 *i think* so will be able to tell you about it....i'd trust owners more than people who sell *other* kits, unless it was stealth lol

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Valid point and ordinarily I would agree Nerih, but my last conversation with Raj (approx 4 months back) surprised me. I asked about all of the kits and he pretty much summed up what we already know. He didn't slate any of the other kits or vendors either. Vince and his team are great also but I do feel that at times they try to sell you more than you need or ask for. I have asked for quotes on timing chains in the past and they've tried to sell me a complete package of refurbished head etc for

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Hi

I've seen a second hand ZR-1 supercharger for sale for £1150' date=' which I think is very steep considering it's the earlier ZR Engineering supercharger which I believe did have reliability problems (although not sure on this). And plus I've heard of a couple of second hand Vortech 1's going for a little over £900.

Anyway, if I could get the price down is the ZR1 something to avoid and going to go wrong with lots of problems... or if I can get a good deal is it worth going for? It has apparently done (not verified) 20k miles and had a "bearing" and belt replaced in last 6 months (again un-verified). What price would anyone here offer for it? Or should I avoid it? What kind of power would the golf vr have with a ZR1?

Cheers

Matt

[/quote']

I can assure you the charger is sound...as for verifing what has been changed he still has the old belts and bearing....ask minty ,or binliner as they both know the owner and car well....ive fitted these chargers a couple of times now with no relibility problems what so ever.....hope you do charge the vr as you'll not regret it..... :)

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What kind of power would the golf vr have once a ZR1 is bolted straight on (without any extra mods - although I assume a 'basic' remap would be required), compared to a ZR2? And how would a ZR2 compare to a Vortech1? And what would be the maximum bhp that each of the chargers could cope with with further mods in the future?

Can the bottom end of the standard 2.8 VR6 engine cope with high bhp / torque - or is a thicker head gasket recommended if power is taken over 250bhp?

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I'd check whether the 2nd hand ZR2s have been reconditioned or not as NS dont deal with Z engineering anymore these will be units that have come off customers cars who are switching to vortech... but thats not a bad price if it includes everything

I've been in the car that this ZR1 came from and it certainly shifts... I guess it depends on your budget

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please be weary of v1's, go and listen to one before you buy, get a v2 or v9 with helical cut gears for quietness, you still get a decent audible whistle throughout the low rev range, people CAN hear v2's, but not at idle, which is perfect...i confirmed this by racing a corrado a few days back and then stoppinng and talking to the fellow...told him to join the-corrado.net forums...his car wasnt too shabby either, those 2.9's have a bit more low end grunt i noticed, only on the top end did i pull away from him.

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yes, i thought i'd mentioned that, i dont understand how people do up their cars and havnt heard of their owners club, corrado forums know more than us in regards to supercharging becuase of all the g-lader boys.

I still havn't got my v2 yet, i had better have it before the r&r.....im sure vince will attest to the stupid noise it makes.

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i would seriously consider buying a kit from a one of the UK re-sellers if you are planning on the zr2 upgrade and remap as you will no doubt need help with the set up as it develops niggles.

try stealth, ns racing for vf-eng kits (v9 vortech -f trim) or ultimatetune for c2-kits (v2 sq).

if you have an odb2, i'd recommend going for c2 kit, the USA chaps on vwvortex have many good things to say about this small firms ECU SOFTWARE.

VF-Eng kits have a bigger base in the UK, as the c2 kits are just starting to pop up, they support odb1 and odb2.

regardless of kit, i would recommend a remap, if you have odb1, ask the supplier to 'opt' out of the ecu chip and give you credit towards a remap at a garage of your choice.

i know ns racing and ultimatetune have done this.

stealth are the people who usually do the r&r so, if you buy a vf kit, i would say buy from them...bit more than ns, but i cannot fault stealth.

the cheapest for a new kit would be the c2 option, you get a 8-10psi setup rather than a 6 psi setup for the same price form vf.

I think its fairer to quote psi rather than bhp for the kits, since its easy to confirm psi, with any decent boost gauge.

oh yeah, if you buy a v1 vortech, the impeller gearing is different from a v2 vortech, after a quick phone call to america i learn this!!! some companies dont even know this, so they can sell a 6psi pulley or 10 psi pulley and you will NOT make 6 or 10 psi....you will make less....be warned m8, stick to v2...

just like to add, you cant boost for cheap on a reliable basis, spend a bit of cash avoid the hassle

zr1 is a good choice if you get it remapped properly....

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The main difference between The ZR 1/2 and Vortech is upgradeability. You can get a lot more power out of a Vortech (about 600 hp max.) as smaller pullies can be bought off the shelf. I doubt a ZR1/2 would ever achieve 300 hp but if you want about 250-60 they can do the job.

You can achieve 300+ with a ZR2 charger but this is coupled with other mods.

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whats the smallest pulley you can get a for a z-eng charger and what psi does it run.....

the vortech chargers are running at about 50% at 250bhp you can whack up the boost past 20 psi on some of the models, not that anyone i know has done that :(.

most boost ive seen is on apd's, with 8.5 psi on a golf rado guys are nuts though !!

vortech 300 bhp, 10 PSI pulley, 300 bhp...you'll no doubt encounter heavy detonation and your en gine will get destroyed without bigger injectors, reduced compression and forged internals (my understanding is that you dont need to have forged items but its helpful)..

im guessing the engine mods will help a zr kit running high boost, but i dont know if they do smaller pulley for high boost applications.

prefer to stick to vortech for high boost where its tried and tested.

why do I keep writing essays and then editing my posts?!

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