New LB builder in Reading

[LPH_UK]

Hi Raj

I also have a car about the same 450hp / tonne! It's a Lotus Elise with a Supercharger Honda K20. It whines like you wouldn't believe! It uses an Old Eaton design charger, a Rotrex wouldn't make the same noise. It's so fast it scares me to be honest. I had another Lotus running a 4 pot k-series Rover with forged pistons and ITBs that had about 200hp. It was lighter than the Elise but more like 280-290 bhp/tonne. It wans't as fast but it was much more fun to drive quick as it didn't feel like it was going to kill me!

Remember that the Stratos is a very short wheelbase, rear-engined car. Too much power could make it rather unpleasant to drive. But Neil (Turbo Nutter) would probably disagree with me

I used a race engine builder based in Bromsgrove. They took forever to do it, for various reasons, but am very happy with the finished article. He's a good guy and a great engine builder. Just don't ever tell him you 'aren't in a rush' . Most of his clients have race deadlines so they tend to go to the front of the queue.... http://www.shengineering.co.uk/sh/. Their charges were reasonable. It was parts costs, my need to replace just about everything and the custom ITB stuff that escalated the costs.

Leigh

[renmure]

Having also just paid a deposit I will keep an eye on this thread as well for hints and tips.
I am minded set on a fully rebuilt 3.2 litre GTA engine on throttle bodies with custom ecu for mine. I had my mind set on an Italian engine as being in the right character for the car. Again a personal thought, but the supercharger whine never really gave me a thrill. Each to their own tho

Only other comment I would make is that it's great having massive power to weight ratio if you are a driving god. I have something at the moment with a tad over 600bhp/ton but it can be fairly easy to stuff it (don't ask me how I know that) or find yourself backing off from having fun for fear of stuffing it (yup, me again) but on the other hand if you hit the sweet spot and have the right power in the right car at the right level of competence then I guess it should be ace. I am making the call that for me in the Stratos that should be somewhere between 300-330bhp

[turbonutter]

There are many questions above..... While it would be nice to see a 400bhp supercharged Alfa, it's not an Day task to do yourself and the "off the shelf" rotrex kits won't give you the sound you want and might not fit without modifications. You also need to remember that at that power level, you are at the limit of a 5 speed Alfa box, and probably past it with a six speed.... it is probably ok i the Alfa was they are front wheel drive and don't have the traction that a stratos has, especially if you go with wide tyres. Of course it does somewhat depend on how you drive.....
if you are looking for 400hp then the obvious choice is the supercharged Toyota engine which is already being installed in at least one ListerBell.

As for driving, with 500bhp, my car is far from easy to drive, but I have a turbo engine, so I ant really comment on a supercharged one, but if it's fun you are looking for don't go with big power, 300bhp is plenty to get you in trouble in a car like the stratos......

[Bernard]

Just for my 10 peneth

The Strato's was (and is mainly) about handling... going round corners very quickly, changing direction like a kart...a cross country pocket rocket.... I suspect that a 280 / 300 bhp Strato's will be just as quick round a tight twisty track as a 500BHP car

If you have any doubt's look at some of the Comas vids........and he does not have 500 bhp....... and unless you are a mega star you won't be any faster

Now pure straight line speed is something different.... but do you want to go 130mph + in a Strato's ??....... the wheelbase geometry will make it interesting !

Phil

[john]

Looking at the above posts I'd say listen to the voices of experience before you make your choices!

[Stradale493]

As others have said, I guess it depends what you want from the finished car - in my case something that looks and drives very close to an original Stradale road car with similar performance characteristics (power / torque), but with as many modern creature comforts (air con, cruise control, sat nav, reversing camera, DAB radio, digital music jukebox) as I can stealthily / subtly add. I went with the Busso engine as I always liked the look of the Alfa V6 (unlike other manufacturers engines that all seemed to have large plasic trays sat on them to hide the ugly plumbing and wiring). If I was going for pure performance I would have gone the Toyota route.
I had a S1 Elise for 10 years and kept the engine totally standard as it always have enough performance for me on the "twisty bits" of the local roads and I had no interest in taking it on the track

[ProtoTipo]

Fit a modest V6 for starters, get used the car, then upgrade later.

If light enough, any Stratos rep. will really shift with 160 to 200 bhp.
Upwards of 250 bhp is silly quick.

[turbonutter]

Just for my 10 peneth

The Strato's was (and is mainly) about handling... going round corners very quickly, changing direction like a kart...a cross country pocket rocket.... I suspect that a 280 / 300 bhp Strato's will be just as quick round a tight twisty track as a 500BHP car

Phil

We proved that at curborough (if you don't know it's tight and twisty) the other week, most of the time Bob and me were lapping around the same time, and I have nearly double the horsepower. my best lap was a couple of seconds faster, and I have no doubt a better driver would have been even faster.... and I could probably go faster if I had more track time, but on a twisty track, it's hard to use the power, without spinning, which I did a few times just to prove I was trying

[Raj_UK]

Hi All

nice to find an active forum and thanks for all your comments

TBH when I had my Evo I was happiest with how it felt when it was 400/400 ... when I went to 600 I couldn't be flat out as much and I'd start to get torque steer despite it being AWD and I'd lose traction in all but the hottest weather

Currently I have a KTM X-bow which is running 375 hp and I'm getting the STR as an all-weather version of a fun car to have

I've had turbo'd cars as my fun car (brum brum cars as my 7 year old and 4 year old called my Evo then X-bow) ... but I'm thinking I'd like to have a really intrusive supercharger whine ... for a change

I guess this must be the silliest reason on the forum for someone to go for a supercharger ... LOL

I'm thinking I just want it to have a reliable drivetrain ... what are stock internals and drive train good for ? since I always seem to have bad luck with cars ... LOL

Is there anyone with an STR or another Stratos near Reading who would let me have a poke around it plz ?

cheers

Raj

[strat24v]

Superchargers all generally all about torque which is what the Alfa gearbox isn't too good at. If you fit one, you need a fair bit of boost to offset the weight of kit fitted compared to the weight of the vehicle otherwise you can have even less power to weight. Only kit available is the rotrex but that's a belt driven turbo, more about top end. The right part for the job is an opcon/autorotor lysholm supercharger but you'll have a Merry time engineering it all . Sensible advice is to aim for 300 HP, ample in such a short car, you can achieve that with a high stressed Alfa installation or go the Toyota route which is what most here would now do if they were starting again.