Turbo or super charger???

[Mustangbobby]

which gives you more "bang for your buck?" I know turbos have more power but are more expensive, and I would need to get it installed...how much more power does the turbo have? And is it worth the money?

[Jim Snover]

The question to answer is what do you want?

Do you want big-time torque, right now, at the stop light? Then a Roots or twin-screw blower is what will get it for you. And you will make power all the way to the redline.

Or do you want the most power you can get at the drag strip, with high-rpm launches? Turbos will fit that niche. But at the cost of power and response down low. Today's turbos are better than ever, but there is no escaping the fact that until it is under boost, power and response suffer. Maybe not much, but in comparison to a positive-displacement power adder, yes.

From an engineering perspective, turbos make more power, more efficiently, than anything else.

Jim Snover

Quote: Originally Posted by Mustangbobby which gives you more "bang for your buck?" I know turbos have more power but are more expensive, and I would need to get it installed...how much more power does the turbo have? And is it worth the money?

[05RedDevil]

Also, how much power are you looking to add? Short term and long term. If you want to add just 100-150hp you can get a pretty basic supercharger set-up for close to $4K and install it yourself. If you wan to add lots of power and keep adding and adding then a more expensive supercharger or a turbo would be in line. There is no sense paying for potential if you are never going to tap it. Know what I mean, how much bang are you looking for?

[MonteCitan]

most superchargers can also be overdriven to make even more boost, but at the expense of high RPM efficiency (IE my regal is up 19 HP using a 3.2 pulley over a 3.4... but over 5500 RPM its LOWER on HP.. just the gains in the lower part of the powerband have made the difference)

They're both REALLY efficient at making power, you just see less of it with the supercharger, as the supercharger requires power from the engine in order to spin it.. turbo's use what's already available (exhaust gases) to spin..

Around town.. just go with a twin screw style setup.. you'll love having the instant-on torque.. (as soon as you open the throttle, its got boost)

CSCs only build boost the faster they spin (not positive displacement like roots/twin screw)

I'm using an eaton on the buick.. and it is very inefficient when it comes to heat, it makes 7-8 PSI without ANY issues but try to go any further with it and its thermal efficiency drops like a rock (I've done dynos before/after IC install showing a 10% tq increase over the ENTIRE range and a 6% HP increase.. that's an average over the entire graph) Twin screws nor turbos (and hence CSCs) do not have this issue