e ram

[etip]

just read an old post about "e-ram", an electronic supercharger of sorts.

it looks like a joke, but on their site people have testamonials (I don't know if you can believe them)

I trust the fellow Pelican Parts folk, so...... what is this thing, and does it work?

thanks,
Eric

[carnut169]

Like a charm. Better than a turbo, and my gas mileage doubled.

[etip]

for real???

[Clark Griswald]

Wayne has one of these e-rams and has been threatening for months to do some testing.

So what did you find, Wayne?

[widebody911]

I'd posed a challenge to the guy on Rennlist, that if he provided a test unit, I'd hook it up to my car as a test mule, cover the cost of the dyno run, and would buy one if it actually lived up to it's claims, as well as post the results to the list. So far he hasn't taken me up on my offer.

[R22tech]

Yeah, Carnut169s car blazed past me and i was doin' 140...no...150! Yeah! Yeah! That's the ticket. All I heard was this "swoosh", yeah, a "swoosh" and he was g.o.n.e. yeah, gone, that's the ticket!

[Wayne 962]

Hey widebody911, I have one of these (unfortunately, my 911 is in storage right now, recovering from being completely disassembled for the 101 book).

I'll send you my test unit, and you can hook it up and see if it does anything. They only claim 5HP, and I think that those numbers are very reasonable. The thing only works at full throttle and has a duty cycle of about 10 seconds. Not super-useful, but I can't see how it doesn't work. It increases the airflow by a couple of PSI, which is basically the opposite of what happens when you drive at altitude in the mountains...

-Wayne

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

I believe it's Ford, though it may be GM, is currently doing research on a very similar device--a little electrically driven low-boost supercharger. Read about it in Automotive News about a month ago. It just may be that all the people falling down and laughing their heinies off may have to reconsider.

Stephan

[widebody911]

Sure! I have a homemade intake setup on my 3.6L, so hooking up the e-ram should be a snap, plumbing wise. All I'd need to do is hook in the microswitch for WOT and awaaaayyy we go!

10 seconds... Hmmm - what's the longest straight at any of the tracks in NorCal?

I can see how it might help, but I'm a sceptic by nature, and the hype that tends to accompany the marketing efforts of the E-Ram guys (Mark Kibort) is counter-productive as applied to me.

For the rest of y'all, E-Ram's site is: http://www.electricsupercharger.com/ Looks like they actually got a patent on this thing last year!

Originally posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts
I'll send you my test unit, and you can hook it up and see if it does anything. They only claim 5HP, and I think that those numbers are very reasonable. The thing only works at full throttle and has a duty cycle of about 10 seconds. Not super-useful, but I can't see how it doesn't work. It increases the airflow by a couple of PSI, which is basically the opposite of what happens when you drive at altitude in the mountains...

[Jim T]

Its amazing how history repeats itself.

E-Ram was the big thing on the BMW-Digest around 5 years ago. There were so many threads on it, I lost count. Some of the funniest posts I've ever read on the Internet were the result of the E-Ram.

Some people on the Digest (engineers, etc.) got a hold of it and did testing. In the end, Kibort ended up getting run out on a rail, as I recall.

But marketing makes the world go 'round, and I think he is pretty good at that.

Here is an example of one of the sites that sprung up to pay "homage" to the E-Ram.

http://www.bimmers.com/m3/hoax/index.html

[Jim Sims]

There's a rule of thumb one can use to roughly evaluate if an improvement to a system is real or is just a statistical variation. It's called the square root of N rule. It works like this: if a system like an engine is nominally expected to produce N horsepower at a given rpm then one might natually expect to see variations of plus or minus the square root of N. If the engine nominally produces 150 horsepower then this would be plus or minus about 12 horsepower. Therefore, one might see a group of these engines produce between 138 and 162 horsepower. Therefore a claim of a 5 horsepower increase could be within the natural variation; I would be skeptical of it. Now it's possible to get actual, small incremental horsepower increases (reductions in friction, improved volumetric efficiency, etc.) that are real but these have to be proven with multiple tests with controls and all the variables (air temperature, humidity, oil temperature, engine condition, etc.) accounted for. I don't think Porsche or any other manufacturer left many easy horses on the table. Jim

[island911]

Great link Jim T
So I can follow the DIY instructions. .. get the leaf blower, duct tape and all; but I don't have the last thing on his list;
"Complete and utter disregard for either what anyone says or for the engineering of your fine German automobile. "


Pretty much sums it up.

[911pcars]

According to an old PP post, alternator drag at high rpm can sap 2-5 hp (depending on electrical accessories). Cutting the field current to the alternator changes it into a rotating shaft assembly and frees up that HP. An old hot rod trick was to add a simple ON-OFF switch to the field circuit for an extra couple of horses. You could probably do this with a microswitch on the throttle linkage. This costs a lot less than E-Ram. However, I'd have to rank this way ahead of K&N's claims of horsepower creation.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

[JMPRO]

How about just taking the right size electric motor, hooking it up to the fan/ alt in place of the crank pully ,wire it up w/ a reostat that is run off the engine r.p.m. and free up 15 h.p. or so for racing. An alternate street set up might have an electric clutch that you could switch to change from crank drive to electric drive at your will. Certainly not somthing you would use all the time {due to ungodly amp drain} but just when you need it.The system could also have a feature that would let you overdrive than fan on those hot days stuck in traffic or for cool down after some hot laps.
Jerry 911 SC Targa

[pwd72s]

Truth here..I wouldn't BS you none But e ram was available back during the late 70's. At the 1978 Porsche Pea-raid in Aspen, CO, I added one of these units. Anybody remember Dick Barbour
Racing? They had the red Lemans 935 there. Awesome car! But, on the way home, after installing the e-ram unit on my old 911S? No lie, I passed that 935 going at least twice it's speed...an open desert highway. I got on the CB radio, and braqged about this amazing feat. The response? "Uh, would you mind waiting while we stopped & took the car off the trailer?"

Guys...this is (mostly) a true story....

[Mifintifin]

Your e-ram thread reminded me of a site I found several months ago about Pulse Charge technology from Dolphin. Anybody know anything about it. The info site is http://www.baat.com/pulsecharge/information.htm

They claim "Improvements are substantial, from 20-50% power or fuel efficiency gains as confirmed by numerous tests." Can't really figure out what they are doing from their description because its so vague.

Check it out, maybe someone can talk them into using a 911 as a test car.

Mifintifin

82 SC Coupe
83 SC Cab