TOTD Turbocharger or Supercharger?

[aaron88]

TOTD  Turbocharger or Supercharger?

What do you prefer and why?

Once we have some responces I'll give my take too.


Aaron

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[JAYGT]

i like turbos.  you can run boost from 2 pounds to 30 pounds with the twist of a button .  easy to put an intercooler in the pressure line.  also you can spray nitrous on the intercooler or run race fuel and run evin higher boost for a money run.  easy to put a junk yard turbo on a moter.

supercharger is limited by the pulley you have bolted on it.  if you have a 8 pound pulley than thats what ya got.  got a 1000$ money run tough sht thats what your gonna run.
you want 25 pounds of boost tough sht cant with normal surpercharger.  want to put an intercooler on it for more hp.  tough sht cant on most.   the higher boost pulleys usually cause high heat proplems. the temp of the air being pumped by a supercharger would make you cry. very limited setup.  they are good for a reliable stock setup  thats it.  

think about it what would be better.  a supercharger that  is maxed out at 12psi or a turbo you can crank up to 18 psi with race gas and nitrous cooled intercooler?   we all know.

[lercs]

well you forgot to mention the most important difference of the two.. and the reason i would do a supercahrger.. you put the gas on and you have the hp.... on a turbo you have to wait for it to spool up.. who wants to wait for power..

supercharger also makes more sense on a larger motor and turbo on a smaller motor.. v-8 super charge it
4 cylinder.. go turbo

just check out this supercharged 240z and tell me that you dont want a supercharger

http://servinitup.com/videos/240z.mpeg

[FieroDough]

I love the Super Charger!

it has one major downfall, it robs power to make power.

But after you get over that, it's a no brainer to go supercharged!

Here is why...
A supercharger is CONSISTANT, HP is there when you need it througout the power band. The boost is fully adjustable by computer. (and possible mechanicaly, but i never looked into that).

You can run a 3" pulley and have the blower running at 50% (we have a blowoff valve as well, you just can hear it because it blows back inside the supercharger, releases high pressure back into the low pressure section of the charger. ) Then with a flick of the switch, close off that valve and you got hight boost. (may ping or blowup, but you have high boost. )

Just want to leave you with this, it mostly depends on the driver. I can drive a high powered engine that is supercharged and spank someone really good, then sit me in a car like a Honda with turbo with the same hp ect, I would lose bad because I have no idea how to drive that properly. Shift points are different, spoooling, reving at this line (I never got that... )  ect.. .


My vote is supercharger all the way.

[GoFast85]

Why not Turbo and Super together on the same engine. Best of both worlds and what you lose in weight you gain in hp (if your engine can take it.

[dguy]

I love the Super Charger!

it has one major downfall, it robs power to make power.

Small correction Eric.  

Both types of blowers use power to make power.  It's called the "nothing comes for free" rule.

The turbocharger obtains its drive energy from exhaust pressure.  It also represents a restriction in the exhaust system and some "extra" energy must be spent pushing exhaust gasses through the turbo which would not be spent in a non-turbo'd system.

The supercharger obtains its drive energy from a belt, just like the alternator, water pump, etc.

Both blowers require energy in order to do their thing...  they just obtain it from different sources.  The reason why a blower works is that the overall gain in power exceeds the power "lost" in operating the blower.  Well at least this is how it goes if the system is designed properly.  


As for a preference, with my rather limited experience piloting each style of blown motor, I'd have to go with the supercharger.

I drove a turbocharged Probe GT once, somewhen around 1990.  It was pretty cool at the time; I loved the sound of the blower winding up, and the smoothly rising shove into the back of the seat.  At the same time though I found that the constant transition from no boost-to-boost when shifting (manual transmission) made for very choppy acceleration.  It would have definitely required some refinement of my driving skills to get the most out of it, but I was just a kid with a gopher job at the time, and my employer likely wouldn't have let me take the car out for regular practice sessions.

The Taurus SHO (3.?L supercharged V6 IIRC) which I took for a spin later, was an utterly different beast.  My dislike for the Mack-truck weighted shifter aside, it was smooth all the way, and all of the power was "instant on."

I think at this point I've read pretty much every pro & con going for either type of blower.  On paper, they are different but equal as far as I'm concerned.  For my driving ability however, I'll take the supercharger.  Unless of course someone wants to lend me some seat time behind a turbo so that I can figure out what to do with the thing.  


Hey look... there I go answering one of Aaron's questions with a case of verbal diarrhea again.  

[lsixtyseven]

I prefer turbocharging over supercharging, because the exhaust is power which is just wasted, so why not use it instead of throwing it away.

It is true it does use some power to overcome the obstruction in the exhuast, but nowhere near the power a supercharger robs.

[JAYGT]

turbo lag?   at launch the engine should be at 3000 rpm.   at shift points the engine never goes below 6000 rpm and up to the redline for 9000rpm.  where is there going to be this turbo lag you are talking about>??  id say that exaust gas is flowing realy fast.   opps sorry i forgot i drive a domestic now.  we havnt figured out how to build a race engine like this, stock, in north america.

turbo on a crap engine with low redline  and low tourqe band might be a problem.

but if you put a 12 psi pulley on a stock supercharged engine get ready for a mess.  you could not imagine what the air intake charge temperature will be. what if its mid summer? can you say detination.  now try road racing this car for an hour or two.  impossible. you could melt lead with that intake charge.

at least with the turbo you can have a huge intercooler your intake charge will be cooler at same psi.  and like i said you can spray nitrous on the intercooler for a absoulute chilley intake charge of dense cold air.  compared to air that would pop popcorn id say this is the way to go.

like i said before if your just a drive to the mall kinda guy supercharged is the way to go.  stock pulley wont heat up the intake charge very much.  low rpm non racing will keep the intake charge less hot.  very reliable.
if your car is automatic and has low tourqe curve and low redline its the only way to go.  turbo would be a nightmare on that kind of engine.

i want the 3800sc  in my fiero.  its automatic so i would put the sc tranny in as well.  perfect launch with auto and sc.  hp where is should be. less screw ups in quarter mile with auto as well. i would put a smaller pulley on it.   im cutting the hood open and putting open mustang  1985 hood scoop.  both side air scoops on the sides with fans to draw air in. i have 93 mrs turbo side scoops . have to keep the sc cool.  on weekends i would run c16 race gas and pack sc with dry ice.  is there a way to adjust psi from the cockpit?

[FieroDough]

Why not Turbo and Super together on the same engine. Best of both worlds and what you lose in weight you gain in hp (if your engine can take it.

it's already been don on pff with a 3800SC-I  not sure what the results are. But i think one would restrict the other,.

[lsixtyseven]

             
we havnt figured out how to build a race engine like this, stock, in north america.

Excuse me Mr jaygt, but have you forgotten that grand nationals dominated before the imports came on the scene, if you want proof just take a look at the early 90's turbo mag.

[GoFast85]

at least with the turbo you can have a huge intercooler your intake charge will be cooler at same psi.  and like i said you can spray nitrous

Can't you use an intercooler and spray with a supercharger also?

[GoFast85]

Why not Turbo and Super together on the same engine. Best of both worlds and what you lose in weight you gain in hp (if your engine can take it.

it's already been don on pff with a 3800SC-I  not sure what the results are. But i think one would restrict the other,.

Not so.  See:
http://dtcc.cz28.com/87fiero/87fdrive.htm

[FieroDough]

at least with the turbo you can have a huge intercooler your intake charge will be cooler at same psi.  and like i said you can spray nitrous

Can't you use an intercooler and spray with a supercharger also?

Yes, yes you can. *grin*

[FieroDough]

Why not Turbo and Super together on the same engine. Best of both worlds and what you lose in weight you gain in hp (if your engine can take it.

it's already been don on pff with a 3800SC-I  not sure what the results are. But i think one would restrict the other,.

Not so.  See:
http://dtcc.cz28.com/87fiero/87fdrive.htm

that engine is only turbo. Was the question not an sc and a turbo together?

[JAYGT]

tibs im sorry to hurt your feelings but a bone stock grand national off the showroom floor did mid to high 14's.  documented at a car show by a gn nut, with a gn at the show,  with the paperwork on his windshield.  oh ya thats a fast car!!   well actually that was very fast for the time.
you say the gn had a race car engine?  starting in 89  the honda  civic had a high compression twin cam variable came lobe (VTEC) 1.6 rated at 170 hp.  factory lsd with a 9000 rpm redline.  that sounds more like a race car engine to me. heck 20 more hp than the fiero gt and 1.2L smaller.  bone stock times of mid 14's  in the quarter mile. mmm sound familiar tibs?

the gn would get fast with mods but hey you can make any car go fast with mods.  bolt a turbo on a 89 mustang ,  same vintage,  and watch the frame twist in half.

mr dough tell me how you would put an intercooler on a 3800sc fiero.  this should be interesting.  just like the guy that said putting a 3800sc in a fiero gets ya 11's .

yes paxton makes a supercharger that is designed like a turbo but run off a belt. intercooling that is fine but  we are not talking about mustangs here.