We recently had a good discussion of the CAI's.

I am very interested in adding a supercharger for the car. I am leaning strongly tword the Saleen unit because it is so compact and adds 100hp with only 5 psi boost. I alos like the compace water/air intercooler. I think the cooler and only 5psi of boost will go a long way tword protecting the stock internals. I am also a little worryed about the other units because there are so many connection in the tubing that could come loose. ( not saying that they will, but geeeesh )

The only thing keeping me from placing the order is the $5000 price tag... Seems way too steep to me....

Anyone else trying to make the SC decision... If so, what are your thoughts....

 

I like the saleen supercharger, but then again, I have a friend who works at a saleen dealer in Indiana that will hook me up with discount pricing which will nail it down in the vicinity of the rest of the superchargers... unfortunately I won't have the funding to throw a supercharger in for at least another year or so.

 

just think about this what ever power you will get from a supercharger at any given psi you will probebly get 20+% more from a turbo at the same PSI, just food for thought

 

how so? turbos require spool up time where the supercharger always provides boost pressure, at least that is what I've always known to be true. The only time a turbo outperforms a supercharger is in the screaming high revs. A supercharger has a more flat curve then a turbo would. Correct me if I'm wrong, I have been known to get really stupid sounding when I begin talking about something I think I know about, and I'm definitly a rookie when it comes to turbos/superchargers. I have always been under the impression superchargers were for lower revving cars like the stang that redlines in the 6k range and turbos were built more for higher revving engines such as those that go in the majority of 4 cylinder motors out there. I guess there are a bunch of arguments that could go either way here, but in the long run, I believe a supercharger will be more reliable also.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question122.htm

 

I always thought the same thing, but I'm told the newer turbos don't have near the lag time they used to...

 

Newer turbos with variable turbo geometry DO NOT have the notorious lag they used to.They can spool almost instantaniously and do not cause any parasitic loss on your motor like a supercharger.There are huge possibilities with turbos on basically any car nowadays, but for those who are in emissions controlled states it is a problem due to C.A.R.B certifications.We deal with this stuff all day long here at Banks

 

As subzero noted, VG turbos have essentially done away with lag problems, so that isn't an issue. The nice thing about a turbo is that it feeds off of the exhaust, instead of "parasitically" drawing power from the crank like a SC does.

However, you are sure to see huge gains with either.....I think it has less to do with which method of forced induction you use and more to do with how well the package is put together. Cost is also a factor, as Superchargers tend to be most cost effective.

Then again you have the sound factor. Some guys live for that Supercharger whine, but myself.....I love the sound of a spooling turbo. Add a BOV and I'm in heaven. The only thing is, historically you have seen turbos more well adapted to smaller import engines while supercharges have been for larger displacement engines. I can't say why that is the case, but at least until this point it has proven to work out that way. I'm guessing it has to do with how fast an engine can rev and what the RPM power range is like, but FI technology changes so fast....who really knows.

 

This is such a hard topic to talk about, and I am afraid that I do not have enough time for I am just on break from class, so I will try to do my best in a short amount of time. There are basically three types of forced induction excluding nitrous, they are centrifugal superchargers (Vortech, Paxton, and ProCharger), positive displacement superchargers (these come in two different verities, the old school Eaton based blowers and the new school twin screw based blowers) (Eaton makes the older style b lowers found factory on 2003-2004 Cobras) (Kenne Bell and Whipple make the newer twin screw units), and then there are turbos (HP Performance is supposedly in the process of making a kit for the 2005 according to MM&FF). A positive displacement supercharger sits on top of your engine and is usually combined with its own intake manifold, they provide boos almost instantly and have a relatively smooth and flat power curve, this is why they work so well with heavy cars because they provide such impressive amounts of torque so fast, one of the drawbacks is that they tend to have a shorter runner intake manifold design and that lowers the effective RPM range of the engine, and they cause parasitic loss on your motor because they run of the belts on the front of your motor. Turbos on the other hand take time to spool up (though much quicker nowadays) although they can be sized up to almost any power level desired, another positive is that you can place an external water to air or air to air intercooler in the system, and you can also use an intake manifold that better suites your desired RPM range, although a downside to trubos it that they are harder to tune than superchargers, but you can quickly change boost levels with a turn of a screw or the push of a few buttons not to mention that they run off your exhaust so there is not parasitic loss. Now to the centrifugal superchargers, these units are belt driven like the positive displacement units but they can be sized for more boost, although they do not tend to have the same instantaneous response as the positive displacement units, they can be set up with an intercooler like the turbos and can have a more optimum intake manifold. darn got to get beck to class, so in closing I leave you with the thought that what is good for you is not good for everyone.