superchargers

[dezerts10]

are superchargers a good way to add torque and hp to enable you to tow better/easier?

Gregg

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[dcman008]

they can be...that is the whole reason my friend jon got his sc on he z71, well that and beaing able to light up the tires doing 60+ ... they add good power torque, but the down side is you have to run 91 octane. many people say that if you off road not to get them casue they suck way to much dirt in your motor...

[RushTransAm]

A vortech centrifugal blower cramming air into the tb with a carb hat would run fierce. Hot rod ran one on a mildly 4.3 with forged pistons, lightly ported early heads (probably not as good as vortecs), and a mild cam. Made like 525 on the motor with the blower, and said at lower boost that it would safely pump out 450 all day long.

[Ryno]

If you can find a turbocharger kit for your application, I'd go with that. Takes alot less power to make more, and it's alot more efficient on the gas. Boost is boost, and the intake temp (air) tends to be less with a turbo, since you run an intercooler. If it's a newer truck, you can tune the pcm for it.

[John F2000]

I just built a pre-runner using a twin-turbo 460 Ford. I believe it is one of the best combination off-road motors. It produces 1000 hp using race fuel. By adjusting the boost and timing in the cab you can lower the hp to 700 hp and run pump gas. Since it is a blown motor the torque curve runs very flat with close to equal amounts of torque to hp. The motor has no turbo-lag since we ran small turbine houseings with a big block, however this required very large wastegates. It is always on at least 2 pounds of boost at all times in the dirt. I used a pressurized carb instead of fuel injection for reliablilty.

Regarding blown motors being bad in the dirt due to sucking in dirt. I use super filters. The level of dirt the turbo sees will only cause long term wear on the compressor side. This is the advantage of turbos. You can re-build a turbo for $300.00 instead of the cost of most mechanical blower rebuilds can be quite high.

Regarding fuel. With the ability to adjust timing and boost in the cab and a low compression 8.5:1 motor. If you can turn the boost all the way down and retard the ignition and you can drive home on the worst Pemex available.

The other adavantage is that the cost to build the long block turbo motor per hp is much lower than for example a trophy truck motor. A blown motor can produce 1,000 hp, for example, and if you grenade the botom end the entire engine replacement can be as low as $6,000.00 versus $40,000 for less hp and torque of a typical TT motor.

[pciscott]

I have the Vortech kit on my 05 F150 and it adds quite a bit of punch, but it kind of lags a bit and then kicks in hard. I think this would make a race truck break loose in the dirt? Also they say that you do not loose too much fuel economy, this is just flat untrue. On the freeway I may get as high as 16, but 8-9 is all she gets from home to work. It blows away Titans though, they scratch there head and wish they had a Ford!

[John Yeiser]

Regarding the lag on the vortech. You can adjust that out in the dirt. For example you can lower your rear end gears to get the rpm up sooner to bring the blower in sooner and you can overdrive the blower more and run a pop off valve to release the pressure so your boost comes in sooner and you bleed off the top end so you dont over boost. Most street applications are designed without a pop off valve and the blower is driven to not overboost at the top end, this sacrafices the bottom a little.

We solved the problem by running a big block so any possible lag was overcome by the displacement of the motor, since you only need so much torque and hp at the bottom in the dirt. Turbos work good in a situation which you run small housings to spool up quickly and bleed off with waste gates on the top end. This is not bleeding off the compressed air it is bleeding off the turbine side or the driven side keeping your intake charge cooler. This is better than on a centrifugal supercharged motor (vortech) since the blower is spinning faster (if you overdrive it to boost earlier) and heating the air up, excessively, which you are bleeding off the charged side (with a pop off valve) on the top end. A roots blower completely eliminates the lag but you have a bigger issue with debris in the intake side and lack of adjustibillity in the cab.

In the end, when set up correctly the blown motor can have a more predictable power ban, in the dirt, than nat aspirated. A blown motor is simply like driving a bigger displacement motor, which by itself is true if you were to drive a high reving small block versus a big block. Our blown motor, when on full boost, is like driving an 800 cubic inch big block, steady hp curve and an early flat torque curve.

[John Yeiser]

Regarding vortech,

I forgot to mention on fuel economy. That is correct if you are going to make more power, ie with a blower which is increasing your displacement, you use more fuel in general. Especially in a street application on a stock vehicle that is designed to run in its original state very economically. However in a race application we have found different. For example, my truck with a high compression 500 hp 460 nat aspirated on the hwy got 3 mpg and about 2 in the dirt. With the new twin turbo at 750hp, the millage was pratically identical. The only explanation we can see is a heavy 5000 lbs truck like my pre-runner or a TT uses every bit of 500-600 hp to keep it above the sand. When the motor puts out more power, it runs in a more efficient point in its power band, ie not full thottle all the time, and gets on top of the sand quicker and easier.

[dcman008]

The vortech supercharger a grate... We work with them all the time,we do all the pattern work and some of the machining for them... But if you want the best bang for your buck id go with a root type supercharger, you get more cfm at the same boost levels...most root type superchargers are based off of eton/magnuson blowers and i think are the best on the market

[jeff]

As long as you can keep the temps in check it'll be fine for a tow rig. Boost + more fuel = more heat. Worse case scenario is you see a gauge reading that requires less right foot.

With that said... I like turbo's much better than superchargers. Everything about a turbo makes me happy... ease of install... ease of adjustment... ease of replacement... power output... just seems to be the way of the future.

Aloha