Hey all,

I really dont know much about engines and everything, but i was wondering if you guys could help clear somthing up, whats the diff in performance between a turbo and supercharger?

I had couple guys that seem to know something about rotors saying it would be eaiser, cheaper and get the same sort of performance i was looking for with a charger.

 

I am a believer of the supercharger... hehe.

They are very similar but yet different.

I found this that helps to explain. I am willing to hear what other have to add

http://www.superchargersonline.com/content.asp?ID=19

 

What sort of charger are you thinking of fitting? They're both chargers - supercharger and turbocharger - they just draw their own running power from different sources.

Turbochargers use exhaust gases to spin them while superchargers are belt or gear driven directly off the engine in the same way as water pumps, alternators, etc.

So there are many issues with production cost, ease and cost of fitting, availability and suitability for different cars, retuning the car's computer, etc.

There are trade-offs with both systems but you'd probably need a lot more than a paragraph or two in a post to discuss them all. (And to put it another way... I don't know them all anyway... )

If you'd like some more general info, there's pages of it in short digestible chunks at How Stuff Works.Com Just follow all the different links:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm

Good luck

EDIT: Must learn to type! I keep getting beaten to the post by younger more skilled keyboarders... :o

Taka's link has some very good info and covers similar ground but slanted towards superchargers. The HSW site has more about turbos.... and has pix..

 

^^^^ What they said

I keep dreaming of going down the positive displayment path.

Apparently there are a crop of new generation diesels in the marine industry that have both turbo and supercharges for the best of both worlds. They are getting amazing performance and efficiency I have been told.

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

Apparently, and IIRC, the Group B (ie mid 80s) rally Lancia Integrales were turbo + supercharged.

I really prefer the linear power delivery of an NA rotary. Quite a lot of REACT's members have turbos and they seem to be on a bit of an upgrade cycle: increase boost, get bigger injectors, get bigger FMIC, get bigger turbo, break diff/gbox/axle, lather, rinse, repeat. That said, rotors love forced induction.

 

Iv read all the info on the links provided, thanks guys.

Still dont know what i want to do though. Decisions Decisions....

 

The best thing to do is probably wait for a while longer and see what comes on the market in the next few months.

We're not exactly spoiled for choice when it comes to availability of suitable kits for the RX8 in Australia right now.

It's not a matter of just bolting something on and driving away, there's a whole heap of stuff that has to be done with the hardware and software side of the car's computer as well.

At this stage, (as far as I can see from the discussions on this forum), most of the local rotary gurus are still perfecting their setups and ironing the bugs out of the tuning side of things. Our tuning and setup is a litte different from the US cars too.

Could be just the sort of Christmas present for our cars, but unless you're the type who gets a buzzz out of being at the experimental edge of things, my feeling is to leave it for a bit longer.