Lynn said:
Isn't forced air induction what a supercharger does? I guess I don't see the difference. A supercharger can be driven by belt from the motor or by an electric motor but they do the same thing right? I think a belt driven one is capable of producing more pressure I would assume. Do you have a different definition of supercharger?
I believe that Supercharging generally refers to forced air induction that's powered mechanically from the motor's rotation, usually driven by belt.
Also, I believe that turbos and superchargers generally pressurize directly into the intake manifold, and not pre-manifold (ie airbox).
Your rig seems to be just what the Pioneer needs to bring it's high altitude performance up to par.
I've got a question about filter filtration performance. I purchased a used '08 RZR which had a major intake design flaw... They apparently didn't have enough flow volume going to the stock airbox which caused the filter to allow dirt to pass though due to (presumably) too much Vaccuum created at WOT., which would score and wreck the cyclinders on the intake side. Long story short- the seller lied about having oil consumption, I ended up rebuilding and installing an aftermarket Donaldson filter based intake, which has solved the problem.
I would recommend testing the filter material to make sure filtration still works well with positive pressure on the outside... k&n filters are pretty robust and can probably handle it no problem, but they are designed to work with negative pressure from the intake and it wouldn't be fun to find that dirt is getting into you cyclinders due to some quirkiness. Using the blower only when needed will surely minimize any risk (probably wouldn't be in highly dusty situations) but it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on your filtration effectiveness...
Keep up the great work and excellent reporting! It's nice to know that if I get a Pioneer down the road there are options if I find that it lacks power. It's good to see ingenuity thriving!