Supercharger for 5.0L V8

I am new to the forum, so my apologies if this question has already been asked.

After doing some research, it appears that the 2010-2013 LR and the 2009 (2010)-Present Range Rover share the same AJ 133 5.0L V8 engine. The Range Rover has a supercharger option. Has anyone heard of putting the supercharger from the Range Rover onto an LR4?

Are there any reasons why this is impossible or an otherwise terrible idea? I have looked around the internet a fair bit and have not seen any discussions on this topic.

Thanks!

I was doing the same research and there was no answer. Spending more time surfing the net I found this:
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/...t-for-land-rovers-new-5-0l-v8#image=100198666

I would have installed that but the price is unbelievable.

Regards,

I can only guess that the difference is more than simply a bolt-on supercharger. There are probably a variety of integrated electronics that come with it including a different ECU.

For me, the V8 is powerful enough and I don't think the LR4 suspension is designed to handle more power.

Paul--thanks for the response. Good point about the electronics and ECU--that might be enough to dissuade me from going this route to begin with.

The reason that I am interested in additional power is because I live in the Rockies so the passes can be kind of tough. I've read somewhere that NA engines lose ~3% of power for every 1,000 feet, and with some passes being up above 11,000', we're already down 33%! (There is some debate about whether supercharged engines lose power at the same rate, but that's irrelevant here--I figure if I start at a high level then I should retain more than enough power. Interestingly, turbos do not tend to lose much if any power at altitude.)

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by "I don't think that the LR4 suspension is designed to handle more power?" Forgive my ignorance on the matter.

To each his own, but this is a 6000lb heavy duty SUV. I think if I were doing 11k ft passes, I'd be worried about it having adequate power, not the full power it has at sea level. I think it will be just fine.

Then again, I am of the opinion that if you want a fast or performance vehicle, you got the wrong one. I did European delivery on a 328iT M-Sport, and at 8000 feet I never once had any concern about losing power - and this was on performance wagon with only 230hp. It did just fine. I think you will be fine unless you were towing something large.

Now I see your point about altitude, where superchargers and turbos are big benefit.

My comment about the suspension was when I thought you might want more power to drive more aggressively or take the LR4 to the track.

Before the LR4 I owned Audis for years and the main reason to swap to a bigger turbo or add chips was to track the vehicle.

Paul and Quijote--thanks for the replies.

My motivation here is not to have more power for power's sake (though that is always a great time ) but really to manage towing and hauling up over the high-country. I agree that the 375HP from the V8 should be plenty, but after a slew of vehicles that have been woefully underpowered, I am hedging my bet.

You're completely right about the turbos and superchargers though: we have a 2014 TDI Jetta and it keeps all of its power up at altitude, which is excellent. I think Quijote was experiencing something similar with his turbocharged BMW.

I should note that I am not yet an LR4 owner, though I do have a number of feelers out for 2013s with less than 40k miles, so hopefully I'll be joining the club soon!

itsaroboticbear said:

Paul and Quijote--thanks for the replies.

My motivation here is not to have more power for power's sake (though that is always a great time ) but really to manage towing and hauling up over the high-country. I agree that the 375HP from the V8 should be plenty, but after a slew of vehicles that have been woefully underpowered, I am hedging my bet.

You're completely right about the turbos and superchargers though: we have a 2014 TDI Jetta and it keeps all of its power up at altitude, which is excellent. I think Quijote was experiencing something similar with his turbocharged BMW.

I should note that I am not yet an LR4 owner, though I do have a number of feelers out for 2013s with less than 40k miles, so hopefully I'll be joining the club soon!

Click to expand...

For the record, my 2011 BMW had a NA 3.0L I-6. No turbo. I did similar driving in my performance pkg 2003 330i. Same engine, 235hp. In both cases they had sport suspensions and encouraged you to want to drive quickly.

Admittedly I had to drive slowly up it, but our LR4 climbed Mt Washington (6000+ feet) and it was perfectly fine. Again, towing is a different animal, but if I were towing up mountains I'd be driving pretty gingerly and I doubt I'd be cursing about lack of power with a 5.0L V8. Remember that the SCV6 starts with a ~15% power deficit, if you want to go by the numbers.

By all means I'd love to hear actual reviews of people doing this. It would be very interesting to hear about real life experiences on this.

Quijote--I completely agree, but the anecdotes about high-country towing are hard to find. I suspect you're right that there should be plenty of power and I am certainly not trying to break any speed records up over these passes--I just want to avoid the engine sounding like it's going to blow up (like many of my previous vehicles!).


I agree that the SCV6 doesn't seem appropriate for the job. That said, I know that Jaguar has pushed the same SCV6 engine to 400hp, but I fear that would be a lot of strain on the motor pulling around a 6000lb truck.

I don't know about you folks, but I'd totally love an extra 50lb/ft of torque. [emoji6] I could live without the extra HP, though.

I do some heavy-duty towing (~6600lbs) in the summertime here in CO, at high elevation. One of the passes I go over is well above 11k feet, and the LR4 does really well. I do have to rev the holy hell out of it up that steep, windy grade, dropping into 2nd, but otherwise it's plenty powerful.


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