Modifying for " Dummies"

[Darth_Emma]

Originally Posted by Duke

Will sway bars and end links improve traction for drag racing?

I am not an expert on drag racing. But, I know for sure that the sway bar and end link along with the drop springs make a huge improvement to how the car corners. There is virtually no body sway and it really holds the corners tightly.

[gjo63]

Hey darth, how is the ride with the drop springs installed? I imagine it would ride a little rougher no?

[Darth_Emma]

Originally Posted by gjo63

Hey darth, how is the ride with the drop springs installed? I imagine it would ride a little rougher no?

I honestly don't notice any difference from stock. The only difference I notice is on the turns because there is no body lean.

[Darth_Emma]

Ok, since I'm a dummy on this... Can anybody point me to a thread or information on the pros and cons of going with a supercharger vs a turbocharger?

I thought I had decided on the Magna Charger TVS2300, but now I have others telling me I should consider a turbocharger. I don't even know what the difference is. (Yes, I've tried the search button and I haven't found a concise answer to this.)

[SonnyakaPig]

A top mount supercharger like the Maggie receives its air flow from the air intake, just like a naturally aspirated engine. The ingested air then flows through spinning rotors which compresses the air, thus making it denser, which allows more air to enter your intake manifold when you step on the gas.

You will be causing a greater volume of air to enter your intake manifold when under boost (i.e., when the rotors are spinning and compressing air into the intake manifold (which is seated beneath the blower). This greater amount of air will also be more dense. Air that is more dense than atmospheric air will burn better and create a greater combustion when it mixes with your fuel and spark inside your engine.

This process causes the engine to work harder, thus making the crank spin faster as well as each of the other internal components of your engine, which will increase your engine horsepower.

A turbo charger draws air from your car's spent exhaust gas. One or both of your exhaust manifolds will need to be modified (this will usually come in the turbo kit that you would purchase) as such, the new manifolds (also known as headers in the aftermarket) will allow exhaust to travel to the turbo, which has internal impellers that spin, as well as exit through your exhaust system.

Once the exhaust enters the inlet of the turbo charger, the air will be compressed by the high speed impellers, and it will be expelled through the outlet of the turbo. The exiting air will then travel through piping to an intercooler that is typically mounted in front of the car. The intercooler functions like a radiator (in general -- as in air goes through it and gets cooled).

The air will pass through the intercooler, having been cooled and then will travel through more piping until it gets to your throttle body and then it will enter your intake manifold as cooler, more dense air. This results in greater volumetric efficiency of air as well as increased combustion capabilities.

Superchargers, turbos, which is better? The debate is endless.

Turbos don't have parasitic loss, which means they don't require any engine horsepower to function. Superchargers do create parasitic loss, in that they are crank driven and run on belts.

Turbos run on exhaust gas, so in a sense, they create free horsepower, because your car will always make exhaust gas when it's running.

You can control boost much easier with turbos. Controlling boost with superchargers requires switching belt-driven pulleys to smaller size diameters. That is not difficult for handy individuals. (I'm not quite one of them yet).

The knock on turbos has been that they have a lag before the turbos spool up to their real boost making potential. Top mount superchargers like the Maggie or Kenne Bell or E-Force pretty much make a decent amount of boost as soon as you step on the throttle.

But with the new turbo systems out, especially the twin turbos, people are saying that the lag is no longer an issue.

Turbo's have more piping. That's not necessarily a negative. It's just a factor that may affect your personal taste.

Turbo systems are a bit more expensive than supercharger systems.

Hope this helps. And if I made any mistakes, please, anyone correct me.

[Darth_Emma]

SonnyakaPig:
Wow. Sweet! Thanks for that great explanation. I really had no idea how a turbocharger worked. I had a reasonable idea about the supercharger. Now I have a lot more homework to do, but this is a great start to help me understand other discussions on the topic.

[SonnyakaPig]

Originally Posted by Darth_Emma

SonnyakaPig:
Wow. Sweet! Thanks for that great explanation. I really had no idea how a turbocharger worked. I had a reasonable idea about the supercharger. Now I have a lot more homework to do, but this is a great start to help me understand other discussions on the topic.

You're welcome. I'm glad I can be of some help.

[Darth_Emma]

I found a great thread on this topic by the way:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38022

[Raven02TA]

turbo FAQ: http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/forced...turbo-faq.html


a thread to read TC vs SC: http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/forced...rger-help.html

[Dr Jkel]

So is there a safe number that you can turbo/super charge upto with stock internals?

[tman52804]

dsteck,

What headers will fit best with my magnaflow 3" competition exhaust?

[DSteck]

Originally Posted by tman52804

dsteck,

What headers will fit best with my magnaflow 3" competition exhaust?

I don't know. Personally, I'm a fan of LG's headers... they are the best on LS7s, without question.

[CAP'N B]

Originally Posted by SonnyakaPig

A top mount supercharger like the Maggie receives its air flow from the air intake, just like a naturally aspirated engine. The ingested air then flows through spinning rotors which compresses the air, thus making it denser, which allows more air to enter your intake manifold when you step on the gas.

You will be causing a greater volume of air to enter your intake manifold when under boost (i.e., when the rotors are spinning and compressing air into the intake manifold (which is seated beneath the blower). This greater amount of air will also be more dense. Air that is more dense than atmospheric air will burn better and create a greater combustion when it mixes with your fuel and spark inside your engine.

This process causes the engine to work harder, thus making the crank spin faster as well as each of the other internal components of your engine, which will increase your engine horsepower.

A turbo charger draws air from your car's spent exhaust gas. One or both of your exhaust manifolds will need to be modified (this will usually come in the turbo kit that you would purchase) as such, the new manifolds (also known as headers in the aftermarket) will allow exhaust to travel to the turbo, which has internal impellers that spin, as well as exit through your exhaust system.

Once the exhaust enters the inlet of the turbo charger, the air will be compressed by the high speed impellers, and it will be expelled through the outlet of the turbo. The exiting air will then travel through piping to an intercooler that is typically mounted in front of the car. The intercooler functions like a radiator (in general -- as in air goes through it and gets cooled).

The air will pass through the intercooler, having been cooled and then will travel through more piping until it gets to your throttle body and then it will enter your intake manifold as cooler, more dense air. This results in greater volumetric efficiency of air as well as increased combustion capabilities.

Superchargers, turbos, which is better? The debate is endless.

Turbos don't have parasitic loss, which means they don't require any engine horsepower to function. Superchargers do create parasitic loss, in that they are crank driven and run on belts.

Turbos run on exhaust gas, so in a sense, they create free horsepower, because your car will always make exhaust gas when it's running.

You can control boost much easier with turbos. Controlling boost with superchargers requires switching belt-driven pulleys to smaller size diameters. That is not difficult for handy individuals. (I'm not quite one of them yet).

The knock on turbos has been that they have a lag before the turbos spool up to their real boost making potential. Top mount superchargers like the Maggie or Kenne Bell or E-Force pretty much make a decent amount of boost as soon as you step on the throttle.

But with the new turbo systems out, especially the twin turbos, people are saying that the lag is no longer an issue.

Turbo's have more piping. That's not necessarily a negative. It's just a factor that may affect your personal taste.

Turbo systems are a bit more expensive than supercharger systems.

Hope this helps. And if I made any mistakes, please, anyone correct me.

There is a small parasitic loss with a turbo, you create back pressure on the exhaust as the exhaust gas is passed through the drive turbine, I believe as you increase boost pressure the parasitic loss increases. Also I think there is more heat generated under the hood unless you use a remote mounted turbo system such as a Squires Turbo System

[CAP'N B]

Originally Posted by Dr Jkel

So is there a safe number that you can turbo/super charge upto with stock internals?

I think 6-8 lbs of boost is ok without forged internals, the compression ratio also has something to do with this, the lower the compression the more boost you can run, usually 8-8.5:1 is a good starting point, more boost and you have to run meth injection to stop detonation. There is a lot to do with timing and Air fuel ratio. And also the intake air temp or IAT. That's why most forced induction units run an inter-cooler.