What is the difference between turbo and supercharge? What are the pros and cons of each? Thanks in advance.

 

Without going crazy, the main difference is that turbo generates its power from your exhaust, thus creating the "turbo lag" meaning it takes longer to reach max HP.

A supercharger uses a pulley off of the engine, so it "robs" some HP to make more. The advantage is that it makes the HP immediately.

there are plenty of threads about which is better and why and cost, etc

 

Turbo is better
SC's steal HP from the crank to drive the turbine. Turbo's use the exhaust air to turn the turbine, thus the HP is free. Turbo's generally make more boost. There is no real lag anymore with them, they spool so quickly.

 

No lag?? then you have to go with a smaller one and make less power...

also, a turbo's boost is easier to change on the fly with a computer.
With a n S/C you have to pysically change the pully out, so it's not as convenient.

 

Supercharger is usually a cleaner or neater installation and can be put back to stock condition if needed. Turbos can make big power but I believe you have to make some cuts for clearance issues, and unless you spend big bucks, it's just not as pretty. I am not flaming a turbo, I just prefer SC.

 

turbo. i like the "ppssshhhh" it makes.
no turbo lag in the vette. you have enough torque to pull you till the turbo kicks in.

 

Unless you over boost the S/C and use a boost controller... Same as turbo...

EVERY turbo car/bike I've owned has turbo lag... Out of the several turbo vettes I've driven, ALL have lag, just to give my opinion to some of the other posts. That's why i went with the supercharger on this car (C6) and my viper (srt), could have done turbos on these two cars as well, I chose a different route on the latest creations, and I'm MUCH happier with the S/C's...just MHO...
Jeremy

 

I've owned (2) twin turbo cars in the past, whether it be lag or power delay...it's there! Ditto, I'm happier with the blower.

 

There is only 1 kind of turbo, a centrifical compressor driven by exhaust gasses. Highly efficient, must be controlled by a blow off valve at at the high end (AKA waste gate). Where boost arrives is primarily determined by the size of the turbo unit. Smaller units build boost lower in the RPM band and give good overall power. Larger units sacrifice the lower end of the power band for more power up top.

There are (at least) 3 kinds of superchargers.

A) The Roots blowers (2 or 3 blade rotating blower moves air around the housing latterally) produce boost right off idle, and when sized correctly all the way through the power band. This supercharger is the least efficient at creating boost wrt TQ consumed in doing so. The roots blower was originally designed to move air into mines and is reasonably efficient as a blower, it is not so efficient at producing boost. Top Fuel Drag cars use Roots Blowers due to the low end response and the large sizes that are available for their monsterous air intake requirements.

B) Whipple (screw) superchargers look like roots that has been twisted into a screw. This supercharger moves air longitudinally down the length of the screw. This SC is considerably more efficient at creating boost wrt the TQ consumed in doing so. Boost builds from the lower mid-range all the way through the power band. Ford GT uses a Whipple charger.

C) Centrifical superchargers are basically the centrifical compressor from a turbocharger driven by the crankshaft. These are the most efficient at creating boost wrt TQ consumed in doing so. Power arrives in the mid range, blow off valves control boost in the top end.

When air is compressed it gets hot, engines run better with cool air, so intercoolers are often employed to make the engine run better and prevent detonation and self destruction. The turbo and centricial SC are fairly easy to plumb up to intercoolers. It is difficult to plum up intercoolers for Roots and Whipple SCs, limiting boost to lower numbers or rescticing such engines to higher octane fuels.

 

Very well written...
Jeremy