Turbo Charged Controversy
 

Just wanted to throw something out there to draw a little controversy. Can anybody argue which is superior? A turbo charger or a super charger?

RE: Turbo Charged Controversy
 

I personally love turbo'd cars. Nothing better than seeing a FMIC and hearing the spool.

Super charger= More expensive, less work

Turbos= Cheaper, but more work (tuning)

RE: Turbo Charged Controversy
 

I think turbo chargers are better for smaller cylinder cars and super chargers are better for V8s. Depends also on wheter you want low end power or mid range power too.

RE: Turbo Charged Controversy
 

Another thing to consider is a turbocharger has more potential to providing more horsepower compared to supercharger which is limited to it's pullies.

RE: Turbo Charged Controversy
 

Technical Articles : Normally Aspirated vs. Turbo vs. Supercharged

This explanation was provided by John G. Gauthier.

NORMALLY ASPIRATED (also known as NT, non-turbo)
Examples: Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Ranger, Buick Park Avenue.
A normally aspirated car is one without any compression of the inbound air before reaching the cylinders. Air is brought in through the air filter, sucked into the combustion chamber, intake valve(s) close, sparkplugs ignite the fuel & air and combustion occurs. Exhuast valve(s) open and the exhaust gas is released, exiting out the exhaust manifold through the catalytic converter and exhaust piping to the muffler.

TURBOCHARGED
Examples: Porsche 911 Turbo, Eagle Talon TSi, Dodge Daytona ES Turbo.
A turbocharged engine makes use of the hot escaping exhaust gases that the normally aspirated engines 'waste'. On a turbocharger, there are two turbine wheels very close to each other, and they are linked via a solid metal shaft. One turbine connected to intake side of the motor while the second one is in the path of the exhaust gases. As exhaust gases pass by the exhaust turbine on the turbo, the force of the rushing air spins the turbine. Well, since the two are linked, this means the intake turbine begins spinning at the same time, forcing more air into the engine. This cycle, however, is dangerous; more air into the engine makes more exhaust gases which spins the exhaust turbine which spins the intake turbine which pushes more air into the engine. See what can happen? It's like a small runaway nuclear explosion. If you keep your foot all the way to the floorboard, the turbo would build so much pressure up in your engine that you will blow your engine up. To prevent this, there is a valve in the exhaust turbine housing that opens at a certain pressure to allow air to pass by the exhaust turbine without increasing the turbine's speed (this valve is called the "wastegate".)

Turbocharged cars typically have a intercooler in between the turbo and the intake manifold. The intercooler is designed like a radiator for the air passing through; air leaving the turbo is extremely hot (the exhaust gases rushing through the turbo can reach temperatures well over 1600 degrees.) Cooler air is more dense, contains more oxygen (and other gases) per volume, and combined with more fuel means more horsepower.

The problem with a turbo is that it requires exhaust gases to get it moving, so the car has to be moving. And from the time you press the gas to the floor to the time you get a response is called 'turbo lag'. While a properly tuned turbocharger, this lag is minimal but still present.

SUPERCHARGED
Examples: Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, Pontiac Bonneville SSEi, Ford 150 SVT Lightning.
Supercharged cars do what turbocharged cars do, they force air into the motor, but in a different fashion. To get additional air in the engine without the turbo lag, someone designed a roots-type rotor that sits on top of the motor and runs off of a belt, just like the water pump and alternator. As the engine spins, the supercharger spins just as fast as the crankshaft spins (or possibly slower if underdrive pulleys are used.) There are also different designs of superchargers; some are a bolt-on accessory that sits in the front on the motor just like any other belt-feed item like the power steering pump or alternator. With this design, are in sucked in one side from the air filter and forced down a tube in the other direction and into the intake manifold. This is typically an aftermarket supercharger, not originally sold with the car at production time.

There are drawbacks to a supercharger. First, a decent well designed supercharger is more expensive than the largest and most powerful turbocharger sold for street cars. Second, because a supercharger runs off of a belt, it takes horsepower away from the motor to operate just like the air conditioning compressor. In high performance situations, this can be anywhere from 25 or 50 horsepower lost up to losing 200+ horsepower JUST to spin the supercharger. Third, a supercharger gradually increases the PSI of boost in the cylinders with increased rpms. You can only get max boost at the redline. With a turbo, the turbo spools and the wastegate opens up once the peak desired boost is reached (on street cars this is usually around half way to the red line or lower.) Fourth and finally, a supercharger generally can not produce boost pressure as efficiently as turbocharger can.


I believe that a turbo charger is superior in 99% of the time...