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  • RIPP vs. Magnuson...SuperCharger Shootout!

    You knew it was coming. Its finally here. We are going to turn these to SuperCharger heavy weights loose against one another in a battery of tests. Lets get to know the competitors.



    Reigning Champ - Black Betty. She's and internet celebrity, been on the cutting edge of prototype gear for the last 2 years. She'll be representing RIPP SuperChargers in this all out throw down. She is a Rubicon Unlimited with 4.10 gearing and for the purposes of these tests, she will shed her 37'' KM2s in favor of BFG Kms 255/75r17. (stock Rubi tires)



    The Challenger - Sweet Pea / Pea Soup'd. Yes she's got two names, one from us, and the other from one of our readers. She's essentially brand new. 2013 JKUR all stock everything....Except her Magnuson SuperCharger.



    Whats the difference? Two routes to the same end. MORE POWER. its widely known that there is really no way to add punch to your JEEP JK without taking drastic measures. We have done the dyno testing on intakes and exhausts. The sound changes, but not much else. If you really want to unleash the beast that is your pentastar JK motor, we are paving the road for you.
    This article was originally published in forum thread: RIPP vs. Magnuson...SuperCharger Shootout! started by JeepLab View original post
    Comments 243 Comments
    1. KaiserBill's Avatar
      KaiserBill -
      Quote Originally Posted by 2k13jk View Post
      Has anyone tried setting up a 2 step on ripps kit or is it even possible id like to do it to my 2013 jk ripp super charged
      Do you mean two stage? You would need two Ripp units to do it. Or you would have to have a custom unit designed for you that has a second stage compressor built into it.
    1. 2k13jk's Avatar
      2k13jk -
      A 2 step in it as like launch control you would set the rpms at like 4500 for launching in 1st gear
    1. KaiserBill's Avatar
      KaiserBill -
      Well, I see what you mean... Personally, I would go with a Supercharger with a clutch then after 4500rpm use a turbo-supercharger to make up the rest of the boost. this way you get immediate response with the supercharger then the turbo-supercharger picks up the power when the exhaust gases are at peak pressures and volumes.
    1. UselessPickles's Avatar
      UselessPickles -
      A twincharger system (supercharger + turbo) sounds awesome in theory, but good luck implementing it well and getting all the transitions to happen smoothly for a good daily driver without more than doubling the cost of the vehicle. That kind of stuff requires good electronic control over the clutch, bypass valve, and wastegate, integrated with the rest of the engine control systems. No one makes such a kit, so it would be a totally custom system.

      A sequential twin turbo setup is more realistic than twincharging, but even that would be very expensive as a one-off custom system and may suffer from some daily driving compromises with purely vacuum/spring controlled valves, etc.

      It doesn't seem worthwhile to discuss theoretically optimal setups that are vastly different than what is available on the market, unless you have the money/skills necessary and plan on building and tuning a custom system.
    1. KaiserBill's Avatar
      KaiserBill -
      Not really... Useless Pickles-- the Detroit Diesel two-strokers were all supercharged for low rpm idle to 650-800 up to about 1200-1300rpm and turbocharged after 1300rpm for normal use. You cannot make a two-stroke diesel and not use a supercharger for scavenging. The system has been around for decades. You're correct it does add complexity-- but you don't need electronic controls to do it. A simple clutch either mechanical or electromechanical can be used to disengage the supercharger. The bypass valve is basically just a very large waste gate and that be operated via the clutch. And waste gate itself doesn't really have anything to do with it. You operate it with or without one. The Detroits used run about 18psi of manifold pressure and they had no waste gates on them. The used to run on the big series engines like the 16V71's two supers and four turbos. So you could get 800hp at 2100rpm and 2000ft-lbs of torque-- where the maximum would be at 1600rpm and be like 2150ft-lbs. Two Stroke Diesels are incredibly flat with their torque curves.

      Sequential is good. In fact International offers Sequential turbo charging on their DT series engines as does Detroit on the smaller models but their bigger models use a Compound System.

      None of it is theoretical is all practical and has been done for decades. A lot of the pioneering work for turbocharging actually started during the end of WWI.
    1. UselessPickles's Avatar
      UselessPickles -
      It's all theoretical for application on the Jeep Wrangler. Getting a one-off complex system like that custom built and tuned as an add-on is impractical.
    1. KaiserBill's Avatar
      KaiserBill -
      Quote Originally Posted by UselessPickles View Post
      It's all theoretical for application on the Jeep Wrangler. Getting a one-off complex system like that custom built and tuned as an add-on is impractical.
      Well, if you stick with stuff from kits and boxes then you will never really know the joy of blazing a new trail. But if you want a bolt on kit to increase your turbo's power, fuel economy, and overall performance from pump gas-- Snow Products Methanol-Water Injection system. It will set you back about $1K plus tax and shipping-- but it will give you about 80Hp and 50-80Ft-lbs of torque in the max settings in addition to your turbo ratings--plus in the eco-setting an increase in fuel economy of about .15-.25mpg.

      So if your kit gives you 120Hp and 100Ft-lbs of torque extra adding MW-50 to the system can put you up to 200hp extra 150-180ft-lbs of torque depending on application.

      I call it WEP-- as in Wartime Emergency Power-- I'm putting on a CAT 3116 engine I'm installing in my baby. Cruise power with MW-50 will go up from about 170hp to 210hp and max power right about 300hp at 2700rpm. Torque will be about 620ft-lbs max at 1550rpm and cruise torque right about 320ft-lbs at 2400rpm with the Methanol injection operating.
    1. UselessPickles's Avatar
      UselessPickles -
      Being an early adopter of a new turbo kit is enough trail blazing for me. Water/meth injection added onto a Pentastar turbo/supercharger kit might not be that simple. I think we're at the point where another major jump in power will require supporting internal engine upgrades to be reliable. I'll sit back and let Prodigy risk blowing up an engine or two as they develop their stage 3 kit

      You're putting that CAT engine in your Wrangler? Create a new thread for that! That could get interesting. That thing is HEAVY!

      Dry weight: ~1500 lbs
      +7.4 GALLONS of water for the cooling system (~62 lbs)
      +6.6 GALLONS of oil (~48 lbs)
      Wet weight: ~1610 lbs!!!!

      For comparison, the Pentastar...
      Dry weight: ~325 lbs (based on finding the 3.8 weighs 413 lbs, and Pentastar is claimed to be about 90 lbs lighter)
      +10.5 quarts of water for the cooling system (~22 lbs)
      +6 quarts of oil (~11 lbs)
      Wet weight: ~358 lbs

      That CAT engine weighs 1250 lbs more than the Pentastar! That's going to require some heavy duty front suspension upgrades to support that weight, and will make the vehicle very front-heavy. That could be dangerous. And your predicted crank HP with water/meth injection added is not much more than what the stock Pentastar already puts out. All that low RPM torque will allow you to crawl over anything without touching the gas pedal, but daily driving performance on the street will be worse than the stock engine.
    1. UselessPickles's Avatar
      UselessPickles -
      Quote Originally Posted by KaiserBill View Post
      Cruise power with MW-50 will go up from about 170hp to 210hp and max power right about 300hp at 2700rpm. Torque will be about 620ft-lbs max at 1550rpm and cruise torque right about 320ft-lbs at 2400rpm with the Methanol injection operating.
      All that "low rpm" torque doesn't really mean that much when the engine only revs up to 2800 rpm. If you gear it to give it similar road speed range in each transmission gear as a stock Wrangler with a Pentastar, then it would be equivalent to having a peak torque of 267 ft-lbs at 3600 rpm, and only 137 ft-lbs torque at 5600 rpm. The stock Pentastar already has 250+ ft-lbs torque from about 2000 rpm all the way through 5400 rpm. But you probably wouldn't gear the vehicle that tall (probably not physically possible... would require something like 1.60:1 axle ratio), so you'd end up with VERY short gears, with tons of torque at very low speeds. The first few transmission gears would probably be useless for street driving in 2HI, and 4LO would be useless except for the slowest of slow rock crawling.

      These low-revving, huge low-rpm torque diesel engines are designed continuous high-load work in construction equipment, or getting very heavy loads moving from a stop (loaded up semi trucks, etc).

      Just want to make sure you understand what you're getting yourself into.
    1. UselessPickles's Avatar
      UselessPickles -
      Quote Originally Posted by KaiserBill View Post
      max power right about 300hp at 2700rpm... and cruise torque right about 320ft-lbs at 2400rpm with the Methanol injection operating.
      These numbers make no sense. To have 300 hp at 2700 rpm, that would require 583 ft-lbs at 2700 rpm, but you say that at 2400 rpm, the torque has already dropped to 320 ft-lbs. Time to revisit your numbers/assumptions
    1. KaiserBill's Avatar
      KaiserBill -
      CAT's output numbers are what I based my figures on. What it really produces I won't know until I dyno the engine.
    1. boosted1's Avatar
      boosted1 -
      Is this a "Shootout" thread? seems off topic
    1. Rexx19's Avatar
      Rexx19 -
      Quote Originally Posted by boosted1 View Post
      Is this a "Shootout" thread? seems off topic
      sounds like a turbo guy is salty about a SC thread. lol
    1. boosted1's Avatar
      boosted1 -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rexx19 View Post
      sounds like a turbo guy is salty about a SC thread. lol
      Orr..... The thread discussing installing a CAT engine in your Jeep is actually off topic.
    1. UselessPickles's Avatar
      UselessPickles -
      This thread needs a do-over. We need a very rich person to donate several identically equipped Wranglers and one of each of the forced induction kits so that a full and fair comparison can be done on everything from the install difficulty to performance
    1. JeepLab's Avatar
      JeepLab -
      Quote Originally Posted by UselessPickles View Post
      This thread needs a do-over. We need a very rich person to donate several identically equipped Wranglers and one of each of the forced induction kits so that a full and fair comparison can be done on everything from the install difficulty to performance
      Its hard to keep everything equal when testing power mods. Realize, we got each about a year apart. All the jeeps are 4.10 geared manual trans rubicons. The turbo was a 2door, the two SCs, on 4drs.

      BB had a lift and duratracs when the SC came on. Sweet Pea was bone stock. They were tested as evenly as we could have done it.
    1. doc5339's Avatar
      doc5339 -
      Quote Originally Posted by uselesspickles View Post
      this thread needs a do-over. We need a very rich person to donate several identically equipped wranglers and one of each of the forced induction kits so that a full and fair comparison can be done on everything from the install difficulty to performance
      absolutely
    1. doc5339's Avatar
      doc5339 -
      Quote Originally Posted by UselessPickles View Post
      Looks like the Magnuson might not have as big of an advantage over the RIPP at low rpms as people seem to assume based on the centrifugal vs roots-type generalizations. Although, it's impossible to know what the story is below 2000 rpm with certainty based on this chart. But as I've already shown thanks to the magic of math, 2000 rpm looks to be a low enough rpm to be useful for general off-roading: http://jeeplab.com/showthread.php?33...full=1#post802
      True, I am surprised that the RIPP pulls that well at the bottom, however, the Magnuson seems to have more power where i generally use it between 2,000 and 4,500 RPM. I drive a manual, and generally do not spin the motor up to redline when shifting. Daily Driver purposes, the Magnuson appears to be the winner; on paper anyways.
    1. doc5339's Avatar
      doc5339 -
      Just curious as to whether Sweet Pea and Black Beauty have had MPG recorded regularly since their respective supercharger installations? I use Fuelly myself, and am really curious to figure out not only which is better $ per torque/hp, but also which has better overall fuel economy.

      I would guess that RIPP would win the MPG battle. Has anyone been keeping decent hand-calculated MPG records?
    1. UselessPickles's Avatar
      UselessPickles -
      Not gonna happen. Different Jeeps with different tires/gears driven by different people, etc. Any MPG comparison would be completely meaningless. You would need someone to run two otherwise identical Jeeps with the two different superchargers through a controlled test (like EPA fuel economy test procedure) to get a valid comparison.

      Look at the hundreds of discussions of MPG on Jeep forums for an example of how meaningless it is to compare actual real world MPG of two different people. I've seen people report anywhere from 14 to 21 MPG average with stock Jeeps.
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