# supercharging



## rios (Jun 10, 2002)

im curious as to how a supercharger hooks up to car. from what ive read, its easier to install than a turbo system, and seems easier to maintain.
to get it connected to the engine, is all i have to do just find a way to get it attached to the intake manifold and connected to the drive belts?any info would be greatly appreciated


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

I wouldn't say it's easier to install or maintain than a turbo. It's all in the components you use and how well you install it. If you have an SR20............your best option is to turbocharge it. 

Personally, I think supercharging 4bangers is not that great.........I mean.....only 4banger I ever heard of that came with an s/c stock was the old MR2, and that lil thing only made like 12x hp.............................nearly all FI stock 4bangers now come turbocharged.


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## mpg9999 (Nov 22, 2002)

It would be 10 times harder then to install a turbo on an sr20 b/c there are no supercharger kits out there for an sr20. Not only that but turbochargers are more effecient.


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## javierb14 (Jul 9, 2002)

> only 4banger I ever heard of that came with an s/c stock was the old MR2, and that lil thing only made like 12x hp


the new mini cooper makes ~160hp supercharged from the factory. 

some may say that superchargers have "instant" power delivery...but a few centrifugal blowers on 4cylinders have more lag than a good sized turbo. not to mention that they usually only make power at high rpms. also, turning up the boost on a turbo is done with a boost controller....u need to change the pulley for a supercharger.


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## Guest (Jan 11, 2003)

I have a vortech which is a belt driven turbo. Look at my website

www.cardomain.com/id/maxstyle


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## DP03 (Dec 8, 2002)

20th maxstyle, can I ask what the approx cost is to supercharge these motors? Any dyno #'s or track times?


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## psshhgoesmysr20 (May 1, 2002)

It's not a belt driven turbo, it is a supercharger. Turbos are driven from exhaust gases, Superchargers are belt or pulley driven.



20th maxstyle said:


> *I have a vortech which is a belt driven turbo. Look at my website
> 
> www.cardomain.com/id/maxstyle *


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## TheVodKA (Sep 19, 2002)

The 230 kompressors from Mercedes are s/ced 4bangers and those little things are pretty fast, although they would definitely make more power if they were turbo.


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## B132nr (Jul 20, 2002)

*From what I understand*

A supercharger is driven by the crank so you only get about 60% of the power and it reacts faster then a turbo does. A turbo uses waste from the enigne so you use 100% of the power from the turbo. I have seen alot of supercharged civic si's and integra gsr's. But they have low torque and a supercharger makes up for that.


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## rios (Jun 10, 2002)

so would it be worth putting one on a ga? i mean, in contrast to high compression pistons, not turbo


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## javierb14 (Jul 9, 2002)

i like these superchargers
Top Fuel Supercharger Facts


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## bahearn (Jul 15, 2002)

Just a minor point here. You guys are mis-using terms. A *supercharger* is a pump to forced compressed air into an engine. A mechanical supercharger uses belts or gears to provide power to the compressor. A turbo-supercharger uses an exhaust-driven turbine to provide power to the compressor.

In both cases there is a supercharger (compressor). It's the compressor drive that differs. Make sure everyone understands that in the vernacular that "supercharger" refers to a mechanically-driven compressor while "turbo" refers to exhaust-driven compressor.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.


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## sentravis (Jul 7, 2002)

boy bruce.. "bitter old man is right" LOL.. so .. can i use you as my teacher "Automobiles 101"


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## bahearn (Jul 15, 2002)

It will cost you a round-trip ticket from Houston to Rochester, New York.


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

rios said:


> *so would it be worth putting one on a ga? i mean, in contrast to high compression pistons, not turbo *



no. why would you want the supercharger? chances are likely that if you got the wrong s/c setup, your top end would still suck.


I still don't understand why 4banger drivers are so high on superchargers...............

a local kid had a nice 95 GSR, threw on a jackson racing supercharger. didn't reduce timing, used plugs that were too hot, and melted thru a piston. yes, MELTED! I was at the shop and saw them first hand. He's lucky he didn't fry the rods. From what they looked like, he was driving there with 1.5 cylinders working correctly. yes, I said .5


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## Sentra_Industies (Oct 31, 2002)

Somone needs to post the pic of the twin turbo supercharged V8 with the directport nitrous.


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## Guest (Feb 12, 2003)

You just need to look...........
Its been done twice [ posted on the web], but the
follow through was lacking.....

The two sr20 engined cars use the s14 toyota soup which is
sourced from the small engined soarer....
the aussie fellow who doesn't have a good grip on extra
fuel issues runs in the 12's with a bluebird[ 510] RWD.

There is a guy in europe running a front drive pulsar with
the same set- up, but its too underdriven on pulleys;
he doesn't get too much extra from it....

These are just not exploited correctly for there potential.
For Fwd; you've got to give -up the space occupied by
the a/c... its almost a bolt- on.....

For the ga 16 the sc 12 from the mr2 works nicely.
toyota superchargers are efficient and good units.
They are cheap comparatively, but you've got to do the
plumbing , pulleys, ect. yourself; can save big bucks......


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## spdracerUT (Jun 11, 2002)

A little bit about superchargersblower vs. turbos. First, superchargers require power/HP from the crank to spin; turbos use exhaust gases to spin. If you use something like a Roots type blower, the boost pressure goes up linearly with RPM. So for example, 1psi=1k rpm, 2psi=2k, 3psi=3k. If you use a centrifugal blower(vortech uses this in it's civic si kit), it goes up exponentially so like 2k=1 psi, 4k=3psi, 6k=12psi. I'm just making up those numbers, it all depends on the blower design and pulley size, but you get the idea.

Now... a turbo will spin as fast as the exhaust gases and wastegate setting will allow. My t25 hits 7psi by around 2.6k. I think most of the base Jackson Racing kits are set to hit ~6-7psi at max revs. So would you rather have a turbo which hits 7 psi before 3k or a blower which doesn't hit it until 7k+ rpms? Not to mention that the blower sucks HP from the crank. I like turbos 

Khiem


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## PrOxLaMuS© (Aug 11, 2002)

My gathered knowledge:

Turbo Chargers : Cheaper, more efficient, produce more horsepower and torque and they are HARD to install.

Super Chargers : Way more expensive, not efficient, weak horsepower and torque and are EASY to install.


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## Guest (Feb 13, 2003)

I'll point something out here... Turbos are not free energy devices. The engine is still doing work to push the exhaust gasses out of the manifold. That's how the exhaust gasses develop their velocity (crank drives piston upward, emptying gasses out of cylinder). You can't claim that a supercharger requires engine power and imply that a turbo does not. Both require power... but both produce more engine power than they consume, and the turbo does a better job of it.

I don't disagree with peoples' evaluations of turbo vs. super... just correcting an oversight about the operation of the turbo.


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## mpg9999 (Nov 22, 2002)

It is not the exhaust gas velocity that powers the turbine, but rather the heat from the exhaust gas. It is recovering wasted energy. But yeah, it will create backpressure.


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

Proxlamus.............turbo kits really aren't that hard to install as long as you know exactly what needs to be done.


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## spdracerUT (Jun 11, 2002)

ritmusic2k said:


> *I'll point something out here... Turbos are not free energy devices.
> I don't disagree with peoples' evaluations of turbo vs. super... just correcting an oversight about the operation of the turbo. *


You're right, I could give you the thermo evaluation if you want. Had my grad. thermo test this morning, that sucked! Yes, turbos create back pressure/flow restriction, but compared to how much power blowers suck up from the crank, it's like nothing relatively.


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