Turbo vs. Supercharger?

SBC RACING · Feb 7, 2004

Which (Turbo or Supercharger) is better as far as forced induction goes?
Which is more forgiving on a stock bottom end?

Please let me know thanks.

GTJake · Feb 7, 2004

Turbos are more efficient. I'm not really an expert on the subject, but if I were to pick between the two it would definatly be a turbo.

Jake

Ryan Paterick · Feb 7, 2004

Good article.
http://www.musclecarclub.com/library/tech/forced-induction.shtml

Price wise, it seems supercharger is the way to go.

If you can piece a turbo kit together(buy used parts) then turbo is the better way to go.

Ryan Paterick · Feb 7, 2004

edit:

yellow1995Cobra · Feb 7, 2004

If your buying brand new, a turbo kit isnt gonna cost that much more then a supercharger.

The turbo is much better then a SC. SC's eat up power because they are belt driven. Because they run off a belt, they put alot of stress on the crank(well the centrifugal SC's do, not sure about KB's) which can cause your front crank bearing to go, or even snap your crank. This shouldnt be a big issue with moderate boost levels though.

A centrifugal sc builds boost with rpm, so you wont see full boost until 5500+ rpms. Where as a turbo uses the exhaust, and you can see full boost by 3k rpms. Which leaves way more "area under the curve".

Theres much more information on the subject. But which SC are you talking about, a centrifugal(vortech, paxton, ATI, powedyne) or a Kenne bell?

cmclean · Feb 7, 2004

Money wise, I think a supercharger is a better option. But if money is no option, then a turbo is definitely a better way to go. I would love to put turbo on mine.

Killercanary · Feb 7, 2004

Everything Jesse (yellow1995cobra) said was dead on.

SBC RACING · Feb 7, 2004

reply

Can the stock bottom end handle a turbo?

Killercanary · Feb 8, 2004

It depends on how much power you will be making and how the tune is. Our stock blokc become the weak link in motors over 400rwhp and are prone to cracking.

nf9648 · Feb 8, 2004

Theres a ton of superchargers out there for v8's, making them a cheaper and more reliable source of FI to your motor...there isnt much on the market for turbo setups on stangs making them more expensive and there isnt much R&D out for many of the turbos, Id suggest go supercharger unless you wanna go all out race and dont mind rebuilding stuff.

HRT11 · Feb 8, 2004

if you want a super charger that a stck motor can handle, makes good power and is cheap to fix get a powerdyne
in my 93 lx i ran an 11.6 with a #9 powerdyne setup and a stock motor right down to the maf

yellow1995Cobra · Feb 8, 2004

nf9648 said:
Theres a ton of superchargers out there for v8's, making them a cheaper and more reliable source of FI to your motor...there isnt much on the market for turbo setups on stangs making them more expensive and there isnt much R&D out for many of the turbos, Id suggest go supercharger unless you wanna go all out race and dont mind rebuilding stuff.

I dunno about reliable? With a turbo, you dont need to deal with belts. Which is a big relief. Of course installing a turbo is gonna be more work, but very worth it. Turbo's are very reliable, considering howmany cars come from the factory with them.

Again, the cost of a NEW turbo kit versus a NEW SC kit is gonna be close. PTK is offering 15% off right now. So you can get a full kit(minus injectors, maf) for about 3200-3300. Now, how much does a brand new vortech cost? There are about 5-6 companies making affordable turbo setups for our cars as well, take a look at turbomustangs.com and you will see.

red94fiveo · Feb 8, 2004

I have my heart set on a turbo, about the only thing I have heard about them is that they can be a little harder to tune. How much truth is there to this?

And as far as price, I would say turbos are very competitive, aside from building one yourself, there are some great kits out there. HP performance sounds like a great company and their kit includes everything (injectors, MAF, fuel pump, etc...) for $4200. About the price of a new Vortech which doesn't come with all the supporting hardware.

Or maybe I just have turbo lust!

OinkAodeOink · Feb 8, 2004

-Downsides to a blower..
*slipping belt
*broken balancers
*broken crank
*worn front main bearings
*drag to drive blower belt
*full boost by 5000rpms or more
*exssesive inlet temps ( besides ATI's)
which means more chance for detonation

All of the issues listed might not be a problem for you, but they are some of the common problems associated with centrifugal blowers. Ive had almost every one listed when i ran a vortech blower.

-upsides to a blower..

*slightly cheaper
*more readily avalible, usually
*easier to install, usually
*can look slightly nicer under the hood

-upsides to a Turbo..

*full boost much sooner ( usually around 2800-3200rpms)
*no drag on motor to drive
*no more stress on front crank, balancer, or bearings
*much cooler inlet temps ( almost all kits come with an intercooler)
*boost presures equal, turbos are more efficient at making power.
*More complete kits ( full exhuast, injectors, maf, ect.)

-Downsides to a turbo..

*slightly more expensive
*more assembly involved
*slightly more underhood heat ( which isnt even a problem)
*wait time/build time takes longer

Both will require a fine tune to the computer to get the target a/f ratio and to avoid detonation. I wouldnt say a turbo car is any harder to tune then a blower car.
My car started right up and ran great to 6k rpms 16psi boost without any aftermarket ignition or tune.. Did blow a headgasket, but thats my fault for only running 93octane.

ProKiller · Feb 8, 2004

did u blow the head gasket with the turbo setup already? no complaints from me about the vortech. seems to me that more info and parts are more readily available for superchargers than turbos. this will change as more ppl use them. just my opinions though.

Slow5.0 · Jul 3, 2004

Procharger or turbo

Nobody · Jul 3, 2004

Copmanies that make Turbo kits for our Mustangs:
http://www.proturbokits.com/
http://www.turbotechnologyinc.com
http://cartech.net
http://www.turbochargedpower.com/
http://www.x2cmotorsports.com/superchargers_turbos.shtml

Companies that make superchargers:
http://www.vortech.com
http://www.paxtonauto.com/
http://www.powerdyne.com/
http://www.kennebell.net/
http://www.procharger.com/

The number of manufacturers is a bout split these days(I'm sure I'm missing some). However, there are no turbo kit manufacturers with much history behind them and my concern is the chance of a company going out of business (TDC, Incon, ITS) whereas you will not have to worry about this with a Vortech or Paxton.

Black95GTS · Jul 3, 2004

If you start early in the day, and have all the right tools, its entirely possible to bolt a supercharger on in one day. I know because myself and three friends put a Jackson Racing supercharger kit in my buddy Drew's Integra and had it running in 12 hours or so. No beer breaks though. That thing absolutely rapes. And Ford's are 10 times easier to work on then those *** cars, there is tons more room.
If this is your daily driver, I would say its nearly impossible to go from 0 to turboed in 1 weekend, even with a kit. Just some food for thought.

But if you can have it down for a while, I would go with a turbo, no doubt about it.

yellow5.0cobra · Jul 3, 2004

i blew my engine before i blew the head gaskets the first time!

i dynoed 498rwhp and 57X rwtq and without a chip or expert tune, just a air/fuel timing/fuel pressure tune.

a month later, kaboom.

anyway...

make your own kit... probabaly cost you $2k tops with all new materials... such as turbos and piping and intercooler... maf, injectors and pump.

do you know why people with blowers blow their engines a lot of times, because they forget to factor in the 10-12% loss of power to the belt drive... so they UNDER FUEL their blown cars.. then KABOOOOOOOOM.

VIPERn94Five-0 · Jul 3, 2004

turbo is the way to go.....its more efficient because instead of a belt spinning the compressor it is spun by exhaust gases...in turn a turbo running the same boost as a blower will create more power because the belt isnt robbing any from the turbo...that also, as said before doesnt put any extra stress on the crank like another pulley(blower pulley) does....turbos another safety(and performance btw) advantage to the turbo is that boost con be controlled by the turn of a knob, or the flip of a switch...you can run lower boost on the street, turn it up and run race gas at the track etc...also boost can be turned totally off....Turbos also see to much more easily incorporate a FMIC for cooling the charge temps....the instant full boost is nice too...as long as the tubo is carefully selected to match the setup you should reach full boost very early in the RPM range....centrifugal blowers(vortech and such) create boost gradually as the RPMs increase....screw type blowers are the only blowers(maybe roots blowers) that creat instant full boost...because the screw type(like a Kenne Bell) are always spinning at 100%......even at idle....

Anthony

Turbo vs. Supercharger?

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