Supercharger, Manifold and Runners

At the heart of the APR Stage III+ Supercharger System is Eaton’s latest Twin Vortices Series (TVS) supercharger unit, the TVS1740. The supercharger system is a positive displacement, roots style pump, utilizing Eaton’s lightweight, four-lobe 160 degree twisted rotors. Cast and assembled as a single, OEM-style-manifold and rotating group housing, the unit is quiet, compact, attractive, easy to install, and requires little to no extra maintenance to the unit itself.

The positive displacement supercharger offers power instantly as the throttle is pressed. Boost pressure builds with no perceived lag commonly associated with other types of forced induction, and provides a large increase in torque across the entire power band. Throttle control is linear and predictable and makes for an excellent driving experience both in daily driving and wide-open acceleration.

Since the supercharger does not compress air as it moves through the roots, it’s extremely efficient during light throttle and cruising situations. Unlike screw-type positive displacement superchargers that are always compressing, the TVS unit can internally bypass unwanted air, resulting in negligible parasitic loss during cruising and thus far greater fuel economy.

The single cast unit and appropriately sized rotating group eliminates potential leak points and allows for a slim, compact design without sacrificing key airflow design characteristics. The unit features a high velocity flow path through the supercharger rotors and an unrestricted discharge port into the appropriately sized plenum. The large plenum equalizes flow across all ports as air feeds evenly through the low-pressure-drop, dual-internal air-to-water heat exchangers. Finally, the ports are separated into individual runners and continue through aircraft grade 6061 billet aluminum extension runners, offering greater operation by eliminating cross talk.

Internally the dual heat exchangers offer technological advances shared by Formula 1 teams around the globe. Each unit features a louvered fin design, which minimizes pressure drop while achieving excellent cooling effectiveness. The extruded multi-rib tubing maximizes heat extraction to be carried away through the large bore coolant recirculation hard lines. Externally, supercharger coolant is pumped through a large front mounted heat exchanger where it’s cooled and circulated back through the charger again.

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Engine Management

The factory Bosch MED 9 engine management system is responsible for proper operation of the engine during constantly changing environmental and load conditions. With built in compensational data for environmental variables and varying load conditions, the factory ECU is far more complex and intelligent than units found in other vehicle makes and marques.

With the significant amount of changes included in the APR Stage III+ TVS1740 Supercharger System, APR’s Engineers spent months calibrating the engine management system, including well over 100+ hours of in-house chassis dyno development. Drivability, gear changes, cruising and part throttle operation were tuned to operate smoothly as if intended by the OEM. Further development was performed putting the vehicle through performance evaluation and durability testing at the drag strip. APR’s Electrical Engineers built new coding functions, strategies and routines into the ECU to control conditions normally unseen at factory power levels. Thanks to APR’s incredible proprietary calibration suite, data logging software and full access to the coding structure of the ECU, appropriate and intelligent changes are made to ensure flawless drivability and excellent performance without compromise.

Adding forced induction to a naturally aspirated engine presents several challenges with regards to how the ECU operates. APR’s Calibration Engineers properly restructured the engine’s volumetric efficiency (VE) model to properly determine the ECU’s calculated load. Accurate open loop fueling is achieved, translating to insignificant fuel trim adjustments. Closed loop fueling is calibrated to control lambda perfectly under all operating conditions. Furthermore, compensations, such as ones related to intake air temperature, are adjusted to handle the large temperature variances compared to a factory naturally aspirated setup.

APR’s Calibration Engineers have optimized cam timing, ignition timing and lambda to provide tremendous leaps in power while retaining OEM knock control sensitivity. The result is safely achieved power, optimized for various fuel grades found around the world from low quality pump fuel, all the way to high quality, oxygenated race fuels.

Beyond power and torque enhancements, APR’s Calibration Engineers were able to increase the acceleration rate of the vehicle through other calibration changes. Ignition delays are reduced resulting in a more responsive pedal without altering overall throttle sensitivity and resolution. Drivability was greatly improved by reducing the throttle lag commonly noticed at slow speeds and while reapplying throttle after decelerating. APR’s Motorsport Rev Limiter allows power to climb all the way to the factory set redlines without dropping off several hundreds of RPM earlier. And lastly, APR’s tried and tested 4,200 RPM Motorsport Launch Limiter allows the driver to focus on launching the vehicle, rather than controlling the engine speed.

Beyond wide open throttle performance, APR’s Calibration Engineers spent countless hours optimizing vehicle drivability under daily, part-throttle, driving. The vehicle’s pedal maps are recalibrated under both standard and sport mode, providing smooth part-throttle drivability without compromising the driveshaft windup protection. The vehicle fully retains its impressive daily driver status and simply has more power on tap should the driver request more with his or her right foot! We call it Performance Without Compromise.

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Supercharger Coolant Air-to-Water Radiators

APR’s supercharger system features a large, 585 mm x 140 mm x 65 mm front mount radiator and a second 320 mm x 140 mm x 90 mm side mounted radiator responsible for cooling coolant as it’s pumped out of the supercharger’s dual internal air-to-water heat exchangers. An adequate cooling system is critical in any supercharged application to not only keep power consistent, pull after pull, but also to help keep IAT below dangerously high levels.

The heat exchangers are specific to the R8 platform and feature cast aluminum end tanks with threaded connection points and bleeder valves. Each cooler cleanly installs with the supplied CNC, laser-cut brackets, complete with vibration insulators.

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Supercharger Coolant Pump, Harness and Bracket

The R8’s rear mounted engine results in a supercharger cooling circuit spanning over twenty feet and calls for a high quality coolant pump. As such, APR’s supercharger cooling system features a highly efficient brushless cooling pump that feels right at home in the R8’s engine bay.

The military grade coolant pump seamlessly connects to the factory wiring harness through the included APR wiring harness with no wire splicing and is triggered by the included relay system.

APR’s CNC, laser-cut bracket provides a simple and clean method of mounting the pump to the vehicle, out of sight, and vibration isolators ensure the system runs as quietly as possible.

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Supercharger Coolant Expansion Tank

The APR coolant expansion tank is used for filling the supercharger’s cooling circuit and for handling liquid expansion under various operating temperatures. APR’s CNC, laser-cut bracket provides a simple and clean method of mounting the expansion tank to the engine bay out of sight. The alumnium tank is anodized black and features a machined APR logo.

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Supercharger Coolant Lines

The APR Supercharger System features dual internal air-to-water radiators designed to reduce intake air temperature, (IAT), before entering the cylinders. With cooler IAT, the ECU will request more ignition advance and result in more power.

A multitude of coolant lines feed the supercharger’s internal cooling system, which provides a circuit between the included radiators, coolant pump and expansion tank. Longer lines, such as those running the full length of the car, feature threaded connections, braided stainless steel outer sleeves and reinforced rubber cores. Specifically routed hoses are made from multi-ply silicone and the remaining hoses are flexible, reinforced rubber. All necessary brass connectors, spring-loaded clamps and OEM style crimp clamps are included.

The factory engine coolant hose running beneath the supercharger is modified for fitment reasons and is constructed from a high quality, multi-ply silicone. Protective covers are provided to shield against abrasion.

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Intake System and Air-Oil Separator Bracket

Two high flow K&N filters are adapted to the factory air box to provide fresh filtered air to the supercharger. The factory MAF housing bolts to the metal filter bracket and connects to the throttle body via two multi-ply silicone hoses. The ultra-ridged design ensures the hoses will not collapse under the tremendous vacuum created by the supercharger system’s newly added forced induction.

Laser-cut, CNC-bent air-oil separator brackets reposition and secure the factory PCV system beneath the intake system.

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Supercharger Pulley System

The supercharger system’s internal rotors are rotated via a belt and pulley attached to the engine’s accessory drive system.

APR’s upgraded the R8’s belt system to utilize a 6pk belt for additional strength. A new cast and CNC machined bracket is used to properly orient the circuit and features new OEM tensioners, and idler pulleys. The harmonic balancer is upgraded to an OEM replacement, high quality, balanced 6 rib unit.

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Engine Oil Relocation System

The APR supercharger system’s casting features a large, high flow, dual throttle body inlet system, which provides a high velocity flow path to the supercharger roots. To incorporate this feature into the design APR’s engineers were required to move the factory oil filter.

A CNC-machined billet-aluminum adapter connects to the oil feed and return and provides a connection point for high quality, braided stainless-steel oil lines. The lines route to the new black-anodized CNC-machined billet-aluminum oil filter housing.

CNC, laser-cut brackets cleanly hold the housing in place and out of sight under the factory engine side covers. Oil changes are now made easier with quick and easy access to the filter.

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High Pressure Fuel Pumps

Sold separately as brand new pumps or rebuilds of the engine’s existing pumps, the APR High Pressure Fuel Pumps address fueling needs and leave plenty of headroom for safety and further increased power levels. By increasing the pump’s internal capacity, the fueling system is capable of displacing a higher volume of fuel per minute at every RPM. Read more on our APR High Pressure Fuel Pumps product page.

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Fueling System

To accommodate the large APR Supercharger, modifications are made to the low-pressure fueling system and evap lines. Each fuel line exceeds CARB and EPA ratings and includes a patent-pending GreenShield barrier. The multi-ply, reinforced rubber hoses are designed to protect against today’s modern deteriorating fuels and include a best-in-class working psi of 225.

OEM style spring clamps and crimp clamps are included to ensure a solid connection. The included mounting bracket allows for a clean and solid install of relocated components.

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Intake Air Temperature Sensors and Harnesses

The factory mass airflow sensors include intake air temperature (IAT) probes and are designed to provide the engine control unit (ECU) with air temperature information. Because the R8 is converted from naturally aspirated to forced induction, the sensors must be relocated to ensure proper IAT measurement. The IAT sensors are absolutely critical for safe, reliable and powerful operation and as such, APR provides two OEM sensors and harnesses for placement just past the supercharger’s dual internal air-to-water radiators. The included harnesses allow for simple integration into the OEM wiring harness and come preinstalled in the supercharger.

The sensors feed correct IAT readings to the ECU, which provides closed loop control over various calibration decisions, such as desired ignition advance. This provides safe operation no matter what the condition. During a cold day, with lower supercharger coolant temperature, the ECU will safely increase engine output mainly through ignition. However, under hot conditions, such as a vehicle seeing plenty of track time, the ECU will compensate for these conditions, lowering output slightly to avoid dangerous premature detonation. These compensations result in only attempting to safely achieve the maximum amount of power capable during any given temperature related scenario.

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Engine Coolant Hose

The APR Supercharger fills the valley between the cylinder heads and as such, the factory coolant hose was redesigned to accommodate the supercharger. The specifically routed hose is made from multi-ply silicone and features a protective cover to provide a shield against abrasion.

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Vaccum Lines

To accommodate the transition from naturally aspirated operation to forced induction, APR provides new vacuum lines and junctions. Leak proof connections are easily achieved thanks to the included OEM style crimp clamps.

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Spark Plugs

To cope with raised cylinder pressure and temperature, eight NGK Iridium IX spark plugs are included. The plugs operate at a heat range colder than stock, which results in better pre-detonation resistance under extreme conditions. With these spark plugs in, APR’s calibration engineers were able to safely achieve more power, especially in extremely demanding conditions.

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Gaskets and Hardware

New OEM gaskets and bolts are provided to facilitate a leak proof connection between the cylinder heads and APR Supercharger runners.

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Fender Liner

The side blades on the Audi R8 provide an excellent mounting location for further supercharger air-to-water radiators. The APR Supercharger System utilizes a vented R8 V10 fender liner to allow proper airflow through the air-to-water radiator and in doing so, borrows an engineering design element from the V10 platform. The fender liner installs cleanly without any destructive trimming to the factory parts.

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Install Manual

APR has a worldwide network consisting of many professional shops capable of performing an APR supercharger system install. To accompany APR’s world-class technical support hot line, APR includes a full, printed, step-by-step install manual to make the install process smooth and simple!

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