turbo or supercharge?
Professional
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 112
Likes: 0
From: Colorado
Personally I say turbo. But truth be told that's like asking people what color to paint your truck. Opinions vary.
The only thing I WILL say is, look at heavy duty application. How many supercharged units are there? Dodge Cummins TURBO diesel...Ford Powerstroke TURBO diesel, Duramax...same same.
Tractor Trailers.. (Semi's), also turbo charged, not supercharged to my knowledge.
What I do know about SC's is that even though they are a power boost, they FIRST are a parasite, which by running a belt robs a little power. You also have to deal with belts that slip, or break. This can cause less or no boost. I had a highly modified Grand Prix that I used to drag race. It was supercharged. I would put a brand new belt on when I went to the track. Goodyear Gatorback....At the start of the race day, I would be running 16 Psi. of boost. By the end of the day, I would sometimes see as little as 12 Psi. Belts belts belts...
ALSO, on a SC, the boost level is directly related to RPM's.
Turbo's don't steal power from the engine before providing it. With today's turbos, there is less and less condition for turbo lag. Might not be completely gone, but is very little. Depending on the turbo model and composition, you could reach max boost at an early RPM and actually maintain that through your higher RPM's. Depending on the install and boost level, HEAT can become an issue, there for robbing the enging of potential power...but education is resulting in better installations and kits, that minimize that...also, intercoolers reduce the intake temperatures.
A remote mount turbo greatly reduces the intake temperatures as well.
Just my .02...I'm no Guru. But I hope it helps.
The only thing I WILL say is, look at heavy duty application. How many supercharged units are there? Dodge Cummins TURBO diesel...Ford Powerstroke TURBO diesel, Duramax...same same.
Tractor Trailers.. (Semi's), also turbo charged, not supercharged to my knowledge.
What I do know about SC's is that even though they are a power boost, they FIRST are a parasite, which by running a belt robs a little power. You also have to deal with belts that slip, or break. This can cause less or no boost. I had a highly modified Grand Prix that I used to drag race. It was supercharged. I would put a brand new belt on when I went to the track. Goodyear Gatorback....At the start of the race day, I would be running 16 Psi. of boost. By the end of the day, I would sometimes see as little as 12 Psi. Belts belts belts...
ALSO, on a SC, the boost level is directly related to RPM's.
Turbo's don't steal power from the engine before providing it. With today's turbos, there is less and less condition for turbo lag. Might not be completely gone, but is very little. Depending on the turbo model and composition, you could reach max boost at an early RPM and actually maintain that through your higher RPM's. Depending on the install and boost level, HEAT can become an issue, there for robbing the enging of potential power...but education is resulting in better installations and kits, that minimize that...also, intercoolers reduce the intake temperatures.
A remote mount turbo greatly reduces the intake temperatures as well.
Just my .02...I'm no Guru. But I hope it helps.
Champion
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,875
Likes: 1
From: North Eastern England
A supercharger whine is much more pleasing to my ear, than the whistle woosh pop of a turbo
Seriously....I do know what you mean.
Al.
Professional
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 202
Likes: 0
From: Sewell, NJ
Personally I say turbo. But truth be told that's like asking people what color to paint your truck. Opinions vary.
The only thing I WILL say is, look at heavy duty application. How many supercharged units are there? Dodge Cummins TURBO diesel...Ford Powerstroke TURBO diesel, Duramax...same same.
Tractor Trailers.. (Semi's), also turbo charged, not supercharged to my knowledge.
What I do know about SC's is that even though they are a power boost, they FIRST are a parasite, which by running a belt robs a little power. You also have to deal with belts that slip, or break. This can cause less or no boost. I had a highly modified Grand Prix that I used to drag race. It was supercharged. I would put a brand new belt on when I went to the track. Goodyear Gatorback....At the start of the race day, I would be running 16 Psi. of boost. By the end of the day, I would sometimes see as little as 12 Psi. Belts belts belts...
ALSO, on a SC, the boost level is directly related to RPM's.
Turbo's don't steal power from the engine before providing it. With today's turbos, there is less and less condition for turbo lag. Might not be completely gone, but is very little. Depending on the turbo model and composition, you could reach max boost at an early RPM and actually maintain that through your higher RPM's. Depending on the install and boost level, HEAT can become an issue, there for robbing the enging of potential power...but education is resulting in better installations and kits, that minimize that...also, intercoolers reduce the intake temperatures.
A remote mount turbo greatly reduces the intake temperatures as well.
Just my .02...I'm no Guru. But I hope it helps.
The only thing I WILL say is, look at heavy duty application. How many supercharged units are there? Dodge Cummins TURBO diesel...Ford Powerstroke TURBO diesel, Duramax...same same.
Tractor Trailers.. (Semi's), also turbo charged, not supercharged to my knowledge.
What I do know about SC's is that even though they are a power boost, they FIRST are a parasite, which by running a belt robs a little power. You also have to deal with belts that slip, or break. This can cause less or no boost. I had a highly modified Grand Prix that I used to drag race. It was supercharged. I would put a brand new belt on when I went to the track. Goodyear Gatorback....At the start of the race day, I would be running 16 Psi. of boost. By the end of the day, I would sometimes see as little as 12 Psi. Belts belts belts...
ALSO, on a SC, the boost level is directly related to RPM's.
Turbo's don't steal power from the engine before providing it. With today's turbos, there is less and less condition for turbo lag. Might not be completely gone, but is very little. Depending on the turbo model and composition, you could reach max boost at an early RPM and actually maintain that through your higher RPM's. Depending on the install and boost level, HEAT can become an issue, there for robbing the enging of potential power...but education is resulting in better installations and kits, that minimize that...also, intercoolers reduce the intake temperatures.
A remote mount turbo greatly reduces the intake temperatures as well.
Just my .02...I'm no Guru. But I hope it helps.
Where as a gasoline motor can see benefits from both.... Diesels also put out much more torque through a much narrower rpm range...
I Personally like superchargers if you're going for a streetable rig... no worrying about turbo lag... just punch the gas and instant boost....
But if your looking to get the most out of it... you're going to want to go the turbo route.
Professional
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 112
Likes: 0
From: Colorado
I'm just going to say this and as far as I am concerned, is the deal maker/breaker....
Price out your desired supercharger kit. Take note of the power gain.
Price out your desired turbo charger kit. Take note of the power gain.
It's been a while for me, but when I was doing it, I discovered that the SC's were more expensive, and gave LESS power gains. Hmm....no brainer as far as I am concerned.
What I found is that the supercharger kits don't produce as much power gain as the turbo kits do...just base numbers.
I now plan on selling this truck and getting a diesel for sure. But I was going to go with a remote turbo on this one...glad I didn't now because of the transmission issue I'm having.
But check out these guys (NO AFFILIATION)
http://www.ststurbo.com
I have another friend with a Pontiac GTO (new) that put me onto the STS kit. I rode with him in his car and trust me...no lag. Skid marks in my shorts from pure pucker factor...but I was ok with that.
And again, as far as the turbo lag goes...turbo technology now days has almost completely eliminated the turbo lag. Only in small displacements do you still see any...but that's just a physics thing because they don't move as much air to get it going. Even THERE, they have done things to increase performance in that area. VW put a variable vain turbo in the TDI's. Only a split second of lag in those.
Price out your desired supercharger kit. Take note of the power gain.
Price out your desired turbo charger kit. Take note of the power gain.
It's been a while for me, but when I was doing it, I discovered that the SC's were more expensive, and gave LESS power gains. Hmm....no brainer as far as I am concerned.
What I found is that the supercharger kits don't produce as much power gain as the turbo kits do...just base numbers.
I now plan on selling this truck and getting a diesel for sure. But I was going to go with a remote turbo on this one...glad I didn't now because of the transmission issue I'm having.
But check out these guys (NO AFFILIATION)
http://www.ststurbo.com
I have another friend with a Pontiac GTO (new) that put me onto the STS kit. I rode with him in his car and trust me...no lag. Skid marks in my shorts from pure pucker factor...but I was ok with that.
And again, as far as the turbo lag goes...turbo technology now days has almost completely eliminated the turbo lag. Only in small displacements do you still see any...but that's just a physics thing because they don't move as much air to get it going. Even THERE, they have done things to increase performance in that area. VW put a variable vain turbo in the TDI's. Only a split second of lag in those.