-
2008 News Review
We take a look at trends and developments over 2008
Read On -
Safety Mods
Making your car go faster is one thing but making sure it is safe is often overlooked
Read On -
Porting and polishing
Porting and polishing an engine will increase the power gains available
Read On -
Split bonnets
Dont put up with a standard opening bonnet when you can have a custom split sideways hinged bonnet
Read On -
Carbon fibre
A hot new styling additon is carbon fibre panels with many options available
Read On -
Quarter mile calculator
Calculate your approximate best possible quarter miles time from BHP & weight
Read On -
Ricer or Racer
Find out if you are a RICER or a RACER in our fun personality profile test
Read On
Hot topics in our Members forum
How much power do you think I will get from a ...
Sign up now- What turbo upgrade do you recommend for a Skyline RB32...
Sign up now - Essex boy saying hullo to yall...
Sign up now - AGU tuning tip wanted ...
Sign up now - Trying to get more power on my Supra twin turbo ...
Sign up now - What is the best Tyre for my Citroen ...
Sign up now
Join the forum today and benefit from over 50,000 articles on tuning styling and friendly car banter. You will also have full access to the members gallery,project updates and the members only Arcade. (All car owners of all ages and from all countries are welcome)
Sign up now
Adding a supercharger - the advantages and disadvantages.
"SuperCharge me."
Superchargers
A supercharger is quite simply an air compressor which helps push more air into an engine.
These are driven by a belt from the engine effectively creating pull on the engine sapping up to 30% of the engines power.
For this reason superchargers are not as efficient as turbo chargers, which are driven from 'spare' energy taken from waste exhaust gases.
The big advantage for superchargers is that they produce additional power from much lower engine speeds and do not suffer from the inherent lag of turbos.
There are two main types of supercharger, a positive displacement supercharger, which gives a fairly constant level of boost making tuning a much simpler process, and dynamic compressors, which provide boost in proportion to the engines speed.
It is better to fit a supercharger to a Naturally aspirated engine than going for a turbo because you will have much more control over the power and it will be delivered in a more consistent manner establishing a good base for ECU tuning to take full advantage of the power.
If adding forced induction to a standard naturally aspirated engine, a word of caution about engine knock.
This is where pressure in the engine causes the air/fuel to prematurely ignite causing extensive engine damage.
Just as with a turbo you would need to lower the compression ratio of the engine in relation to the amount of boost you are putting into the engine.
Ideally you want to lower the compression of an engine to around 8:1 to allow a reasonable level of boost, although this varies from application to application and with water injection this can be safely exceeded.
Typically superchargers are more expensive to make than turbo chargers. As demand increases these costs will eventually come down to affordable levels and aftermarket kits will be available for most popular engines.
The other advantage of a supercharger is that the charge temperature is substantially lower than an equivalent turbo application and cooler air carries more oxygen which means more fuel can be burned therefore releasing more power.
Any form of compression of air creates a temperature rise so an intercooler is still a good idea on a supercharged engine. You will also need to uprate your fuelling.
Manufacturers are now producing dual forced induction systems. These give a good compromise between low down boost and top end power. Offerings such as Volkswagens 1.4 twincharger engine can produce a massive 168hp and 177 lb-ft torque, and still return fuel consumption around 40mpg. A smaller engine is also lighter and smaller so fairly small cars can be fitted with these engines and offer very good performance.
As modern engines are so well built there is a lot of scope for the addition of forced air induction without dramatically impairing reliability.
The supercharger is also an easier bolt on upgrade when compared with a turbo.
There are also some interesting projects around where superchargers are being added to turbo engined cars to provide the best of both worlds.
Auto Custom Engineering have just released a wide range of supercharger kits for German and popular cars. These are a bolt on upgrade running low boost and do not require major internal engine work. Click here for details.
Join us in our forum to see which mods our members rate and swap ideas and plans for your tuning project. TorqueCars are a friendly forum and all makes and models, and all levels of technical ability are welcome. Join here.
See more articles in Tuning / Forced Induction / Superchargers
- Turbo uprating
- Spoilers & Wings
- intercoolers
- Engine Swaps
- Slip diffs
- Engine rebore
- Intake vents
- Engine balancing
- Roll cages
- Fuelling
- Quick shift kits
- Particulate filters
- Intake Valves
- Strut braces
- Sport Catalysts
(Get over 50,000 more CAR SPECIFIC tuning and styling articles,arcade games & pictures in our FREE exclusive members only area register today.)


