I wrote this paper for my LA class as an arguementative paper. I bs'ed the hell out of it, cuz I did it this morning when it was due 5th period. I could go on all day, but since I was already 850 some odd words over the limit I didn't discuss fuel and all that, but this is it. I also made it very vague, b/c my teacher is a retard...
Supercharger or Turbocharger? That is the Question…
Supercharger or turbocharger? A question almost every car enthusiast asks themselves when it comes time to make insane amounts of power and be king of the street and drag strip. Both come with excellent benefits and each has a few fatal flaws that can turn the tide in the race for superiority.
In order to understand the question at hand, one must have a basic knowledge of each method of forced induction. Both of these systems are designed to force feed air into your engine, hence the name forced induction. There are 3 designs of the supercharger, all doing the same thing, with slightly different methods of getting it done: a roots blower in which two lobes spin together drawing air in one side and out the other, a twin screw blower in which the charger draws air in by spinning 2 screws, and using the wedge shape of the screws to push the air into the engine, then the simplest, the centrifugal which uses a simple fan to do the job. A supercharger is basically a pulley attached to either screws, lobes or a fan that pumps air into your engine. The pulley on the supercharger unit uses either internal belts, ball bearings, or gears that transfer the motion of the spinning pulley to the lobes, fan, or screws. The pulley on a supercharger is linked to the crank shaft via a serpentine belt, similar to other engine accessories, including the alternator, the air conditioning, the smog pump, or the power-steering pump. All of these units use the rotating crank shaft of the engine, which has a pulley on it as well, the crank pulley, to power the many jobs done by accessories, including pumping air into the engine by a supercharger.
A turbocharger is essentially an exhaust driven supercharger. Instead of using a pulley to power the fan, spent exhaust gases exiting the engine spin the fan that pumps air into the engine. There are two sides to a turbo: compressor (“cold”) side and the turbine (“hot”) side. The “hot” side refers to the exhaust side; gases coming out of the engine leave each exhaust port and are gathered together by a header or a manifold, that, on a non-turbo car would then feed into a mid-pipe and out the mufflers and tail pipes, but on a turbo car, the headers are flipped to face towards the front of the car. The hot side of the turbo is mounted to a flange on the header. When exhaust is expelled rapidly through the headers it enters the turbo, spins a turbine(fan) and exits out a down pipe, that leads to the orginial exhaust and out the mufflers and tail pipes. The hot and cold side are linked by a small shaft that connects the hot side turbine to the cold side’s compresspr fan. As the exhaust exits, it goes through the turbine housing, spin ing the turbine, which is linked to the compressor fan, via the aforementioned shaft. Basically, when a turbo engine is running, both sides of the complete turbo are spinning; the compressor pumps the air that enters it by the draw of the spinning fan, into the engine quite efficiently.
Class is dismissed and forced induction 101 leads me into my discussion. A turbocharger is overall better than a supercharger. In terms of power, a s/c and turbo, pumping the same PSI (pounds per square inch, of air) into the engine, the turbo will make more power. Take Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords’, a reputable magazine, test for example. They tested a supercharged bone stock Mustang Cobra. The results were less than satisfactory; with the stock supercharger, the car makes 390HP. For their next test, they took the same Cobra, COMPLETELY stock(the way it came from the factory) and bolted on Hellion Power Systems twin-turbo kit (while replacing the supercharger) for Cobra Mustangs. “We made 847[HP] on the dyno at 24 psi, so conventional thinking would push the horsepower on the street a bit higher. The power is smooth and fun.”(MMandFF Magazine) That is not even to the full potential of the turboes, gaining almost 500 HP with one kit. The reason the supercharger puts down less ground pounding horsepower as the turbo of similar boost levels (PSI) is that it has parasitic drag as it has come to be known. Basically, when running, the engine crank shaft is spinning at large amounts of speed (RPMs or revolutions per minute is the way of measuring the speed of the crank shaft) and by putting a pulley on it and having it power the supercharger slows it down. “Parasitic” drag because it causes a drag on the rotating mass of the engine, like a leech taking power from a victim by weakening it.
In the maintenance aspect of the turbo and supercharger both are quite equal. A supercharger or turbocharger, when properly maintained will last as long as the engine is bolted to, for examples of this, look at semi-trucks. Most 19\8-wheelers have over a million miles on them and many of them are still using the original, well-maintained turbo. Both methods of forced induction require some kind of lubrication, to keep things from binding and causing unnecessary wear on the unit itself. On turbochargers and most superchargers an oil line leads from the engine’s oil pan to the unit and lubricates it. The oil is filtered through the car’s oil filter, and the thing that causes the demise of most forced induction parts is dirty oil. The other superchargers that are not lubricated with the engine’s are self contained, meaning the have their own oil that needs to be changed when the car’s oil is changed, just another hassle of the superchargers.
The only downside to a turbo is the cost. The Hellion Power Systems turbo kit costs right at $4500, a little over $1300 more than a basic supercharger kit, like used in the aforementioned test. That is not meant to say superchargers don’t cost a lot of money, there are kits ranging form 1800 dollars to over 6000, like the Vortech YSi trim centrifugal supercharger that has the potential to put out over a 1200HP costs around $6500 dollars. There are turbo kits that can get into the sub-$2000 range but the quality and longevity of the kit is at great risk. Either way, “If you wanna play, you gotta pay!”
In conclusion to this epic battle of exhaust versus pullies, I, having the ned for speed, would have a turbocharged application on any of my cars over a supercharger anyday. Both have benefits, but the unreal amounts of power being put down by turbo imports and domestics alike outweighs almost any downside to the turbocharged application.
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Supercharger or Turbocharger? That is the Question…
Supercharger or turbocharger? A question almost every car enthusiast asks themselves when it comes time to make insane amounts of power and be king of the street and drag strip. Both come with excellent benefits and each has a few fatal flaws that can turn the tide in the race for superiority.
In order to understand the question at hand, one must have a basic knowledge of each method of forced induction. Both of these systems are designed to force feed air into your engine, hence the name forced induction. There are 3 designs of the supercharger, all doing the same thing, with slightly different methods of getting it done: a roots blower in which two lobes spin together drawing air in one side and out the other, a twin screw blower in which the charger draws air in by spinning 2 screws, and using the wedge shape of the screws to push the air into the engine, then the simplest, the centrifugal which uses a simple fan to do the job. A supercharger is basically a pulley attached to either screws, lobes or a fan that pumps air into your engine. The pulley on the supercharger unit uses either internal belts, ball bearings, or gears that transfer the motion of the spinning pulley to the lobes, fan, or screws. The pulley on a supercharger is linked to the crank shaft via a serpentine belt, similar to other engine accessories, including the alternator, the air conditioning, the smog pump, or the power-steering pump. All of these units use the rotating crank shaft of the engine, which has a pulley on it as well, the crank pulley, to power the many jobs done by accessories, including pumping air into the engine by a supercharger.
A turbocharger is essentially an exhaust driven supercharger. Instead of using a pulley to power the fan, spent exhaust gases exiting the engine spin the fan that pumps air into the engine. There are two sides to a turbo: compressor (“cold”) side and the turbine (“hot”) side. The “hot” side refers to the exhaust side; gases coming out of the engine leave each exhaust port and are gathered together by a header or a manifold, that, on a non-turbo car would then feed into a mid-pipe and out the mufflers and tail pipes, but on a turbo car, the headers are flipped to face towards the front of the car. The hot side of the turbo is mounted to a flange on the header. When exhaust is expelled rapidly through the headers it enters the turbo, spins a turbine(fan) and exits out a down pipe, that leads to the orginial exhaust and out the mufflers and tail pipes. The hot and cold side are linked by a small shaft that connects the hot side turbine to the cold side’s compresspr fan. As the exhaust exits, it goes through the turbine housing, spin ing the turbine, which is linked to the compressor fan, via the aforementioned shaft. Basically, when a turbo engine is running, both sides of the complete turbo are spinning; the compressor pumps the air that enters it by the draw of the spinning fan, into the engine quite efficiently.
Class is dismissed and forced induction 101 leads me into my discussion. A turbocharger is overall better than a supercharger. In terms of power, a s/c and turbo, pumping the same PSI (pounds per square inch, of air) into the engine, the turbo will make more power. Take Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords’, a reputable magazine, test for example. They tested a supercharged bone stock Mustang Cobra. The results were less than satisfactory; with the stock supercharger, the car makes 390HP. For their next test, they took the same Cobra, COMPLETELY stock(the way it came from the factory) and bolted on Hellion Power Systems twin-turbo kit (while replacing the supercharger) for Cobra Mustangs. “We made 847[HP] on the dyno at 24 psi, so conventional thinking would push the horsepower on the street a bit higher. The power is smooth and fun.”(MMandFF Magazine) That is not even to the full potential of the turboes, gaining almost 500 HP with one kit. The reason the supercharger puts down less ground pounding horsepower as the turbo of similar boost levels (PSI) is that it has parasitic drag as it has come to be known. Basically, when running, the engine crank shaft is spinning at large amounts of speed (RPMs or revolutions per minute is the way of measuring the speed of the crank shaft) and by putting a pulley on it and having it power the supercharger slows it down. “Parasitic” drag because it causes a drag on the rotating mass of the engine, like a leech taking power from a victim by weakening it.
In the maintenance aspect of the turbo and supercharger both are quite equal. A supercharger or turbocharger, when properly maintained will last as long as the engine is bolted to, for examples of this, look at semi-trucks. Most 19\8-wheelers have over a million miles on them and many of them are still using the original, well-maintained turbo. Both methods of forced induction require some kind of lubrication, to keep things from binding and causing unnecessary wear on the unit itself. On turbochargers and most superchargers an oil line leads from the engine’s oil pan to the unit and lubricates it. The oil is filtered through the car’s oil filter, and the thing that causes the demise of most forced induction parts is dirty oil. The other superchargers that are not lubricated with the engine’s are self contained, meaning the have their own oil that needs to be changed when the car’s oil is changed, just another hassle of the superchargers.
The only downside to a turbo is the cost. The Hellion Power Systems turbo kit costs right at $4500, a little over $1300 more than a basic supercharger kit, like used in the aforementioned test. That is not meant to say superchargers don’t cost a lot of money, there are kits ranging form 1800 dollars to over 6000, like the Vortech YSi trim centrifugal supercharger that has the potential to put out over a 1200HP costs around $6500 dollars. There are turbo kits that can get into the sub-$2000 range but the quality and longevity of the kit is at great risk. Either way, “If you wanna play, you gotta pay!”
In conclusion to this epic battle of exhaust versus pullies, I, having the ned for speed, would have a turbocharged application on any of my cars over a supercharger anyday. Both have benefits, but the unreal amounts of power being put down by turbo imports and domestics alike outweighs almost any downside to the turbocharged application.
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