How come superchargers aren't popular ?!?!
 

I can appriciate that they take up more room, and sap power from the engine, but they are instant boost and can rev as high as any engine !?!?!

Are they less reliable ?!?!

Expensive to produce !?!?

The new mini copper S uses them...

There popular with mercedes, all merc Kompressors are supercharged.

IIRC they are expensive, VERY expensive when it comes to changing or re-conning the charger on a golf G60, always lusted after 1 of them :cool: I dont think they produce the power a turbo does though although they do have many more plus sides compared to a turbocharger

A turbo runs off wasted energy too, whereas a supercharger runs of the engines power. So fitting a supercharger your losing some of its engines normal power but the turbo will produce its power of exhaust gasses so the engine is running to its full potentiol

This maybe slightly off topic here but given that the above is true how come turbo charged engines are not far more fuel efficient ?????

because (similar thing can be said for the supercharger I suppose, not 100% confident on the logistics of a supercharger so feel free to correct me if Im wrong) an engine runs perfectly on a given air/fuel ratio. when the turbo is chucking in alot more air (the boost) then the engine has to chuck in more fuel to get that ration right. thats how I understand it anyhow...

Superchargers are better lower down the rev range ie instant power. They tend to run out of puff higher up where a good turbocharger is better

I dont think turbos are much less efficient than NA engines. Efficiency should really be determined by how much fuel is needed per bhp, not how much fuel is needed.

Powerful engines need fuel, but the question is, is a 150bhp turbo car less efficient than a 150bhp NA car. The answer is not a lot and sometimes it is more efficient, depending on how the NA car makes it power, eg. low revving high capacity or high revving low capacity.

A 150bhp supercharged engine of the same capacity as the turbo charged engine will be less effecient as engine power is being used to drive the compressor as opposed to the energy wasted in the exhaust gases. I don't think the consumption is enormous.

Turbos power is not completely wasted energy. When you run an exhaust turbine blocking the fuel exit you increase back pressure and thus reduce the engine ability to empty all the exhaust gases out of the cylinder, this prevents you from getting as much air in until the turbo is able to push past it. In short the turbo creates it own hard work which will cost efficiency.

The new Mini Cooper S will be Turbocharged as they need more power and the supercharger cannot give it.

The Toyota 4AGZE is supercharged and a fantastic engine. Never officially imported to UK.
Feels like it has more torque lower down rev range and still feels powerful at top of rev range. Wonder why Toyota stopped using this engine

Superchargers are also
often heavier than a turbo, the potential gains aren't as big as with turbos.

On the upside they're more responsive low down, and require less plumbing than a turbo, and there isn't the same heat problems that a turbocharger gives.

Superchargers are popular with me, at least... massive low torque when you add them to a biggish engine. Not as exciting as a turbo in my view - may have something to do with it

Is it possible to run a supercharger and a turbo???

Not strictly true once you add the weight of the intercooler and all the associated plumbing necessary to allow a turbocharger to work efficiently.

All the R type Jags are supercharged, and the V8 Vantages packed a brace of Eatons too:thumb:

There's a very nice thread on NASIOC where someone's supercharged an Impreza RS(?) with an Eaton or Eaton style blower.

Easton blowers aren't particularly efficient but add a few modern doo-hickeys such as a bypass valve and an electronic clutch and they don't disturb the engine at small throttle openings or on cruise.

J.

Yes, again Toyota produced one (not sure of the designation but it was a 2 litre straight 6 related to the IS200 engine). Plumbing is probably somewhat complex, though. It doesn't make more peak power, but makes a lot of torque every where

Lancia produced the Delta S4 which was both supercharged and turbocharged.

Nissan produced a JDM only Micra with a similar setup as well.

Isn't that a bit like strapping a Rolls Royce Merlin engine to a Tonka toy?

The turbo charged one litre March SuperTurbo EK10GFR (Micra) was quite popular, in single turbo trim it provided the mechanicals for the Figaro too, damned ugly though:

http://auto.vl.ru/catalog_photos/nis...arch_15004.jpg

110PS 13.3KGM SuperTurbo
76PS 10.8KGM Turbo


Simon

dont be silly the only reason why superchargers aren't popular
is becouse............u can,t put a dump valve on!!!!!


























well i dont think u can:idea:

A colleague at work has a Cooper S - 1600cc, 160 bhp. It is considerably greedier on fuel then my Octavia vRS -1800cc, 180 bhp.

My 220hp ( 243hp according to AmD ) Cooper S is nearly 35k miles old so it's nothing to do with not being able to produce the power...maybe it's emissions / cost savings why they are changing to a turbo charger ?

Yeah the Minis are meant to be pants on fuel consumption, my 150 bhp Saab 9-3 does 30 to the Gallon, the Cooper and Cooper S are meant to be worse which for a small car is pretty bad but I prepare to be corrected, I think whilst the Mini is trendy its faults get brushed under the carpet.

Oh and the Merc ones sound Horrible, dont know how the owners stick it, save for another month or two and buy the v6, two of my mates have E class Mercs, ones a 200Kompressor and the other a Diesel 320, guess which sounds better !

My 3.2 V6 Supercharged AMG sounds alright

That may be more related to the fact that the Octavia has a state of the art 5V per cylinder engine, whilst the Mini is saddled with an asthmatic 1970's 2V motor, than it is to the type of forced induction the engines are equipped with

there was a supercharged sport at the NBO

Indeed Jap innovations have supercharged a sport there is quite a lot of interest over on imprezasport.net even though we dont know much about it yet.

Well I like em, here is a pic of mine :)

http://images.fotopic.net/y7xau2.jpg

There was a supercharged Toyota Celica 190 T Sport at Crail.... and that sounded totally crazy when the guy let off boost. :cool:


Cheers,
Grant