View Poll Results: Which would you put on your car?
Procharger
274
43.77%
Turbo Charge It!
352
56.23%
Voters: 626. You may not vote on this poll
Procharger Vs. Turbo
Originally Posted by kp
lol, I dont mind discussing it and let people debate about it, its been a fairly clean, no drama thread. There are pros and cons to each and people are passionate about what they own usually, especially for what the stuff costs. Personally I see a turbo or a blower no different then a 3/8 drive ratchet, its a tool that I can make work for me no matter what kind of car I use it on.
Originally Posted by bboyferal
Hey, good debates and good explanations are good exercise for the brain... Plus, work is boring. 
Lucky guy, surfing the web at work...they expect me to work for 4hrs, then I go home
J
1. Have you driven a vehicle with a centrifugal supercharger? If not, you may want to find a friend and ask them if you can take it for a spin. When you drive it, watch for two things.
- When do you hit maximum boost? Because a centrifugal is basically a turbo on a belt, you don't hit maximum boost until redline. Just when it starts feeling good you have to shift and start over again. There is really no comparison to the spool you get with a turbo. With a turbo you generally get full boost by 3000 rpm. It gives you more usable horsepower and significantly more mid-range torque which gets you down the road.
- What does it sound like? Some people really like the sound of a centrifugal, but we think it sounds like your alternator bearings are going bad, even at idle. We believe that turbo spool is a much more satisfying and intimidating sound.
2. Why are you purchasing forced induction?
- Is it a daily driver? If so, are you willing to deal with the constant belt noise, slipping belts and the gas mileage hit? Search Google or Yahoo! for slipping belts or go to any performance forum and read about the nightmares. For example, click here to see a forum discussing how much fun they've had with changing worn and blown up belts.
Here's some additional information from a centrifugal supercharger's website:
1. The vehicle MUST be at operating temperatures BEFORE full throttle runs or immediate supercharger failure can occur.
2. The vehicle MUST be stored in heated garage and/or engine must have engine block heater at or below 25 degrees F or immediate supercharger failure can occur.
3. Clean supercharger oil inlet fitting every 3,000 miles
4. Excessive belt tension can cause supercharger or crankshaft bearing failure. No manufacturer settings are provided as to what the correct belt tension should be.
Are you going to be racing? If so, do you want to worry about slipping or thrown belts? Check out our racing section and see why American Iron driver Dave Martis took off his Vortech and put on a remote mounted turbo.
- Do you want to run more boost in the future? With a smaller pulley, how much can you get without slipping belts? Because of less parasitic loss there is more potential in a turbo system to generate more horsepower.
- Do you want to be able to easily change the boost? A centrifugal means a pulley change, increasing the likelihood of belt slippage. Turbo boost can be electronically controlled with the flip of a switch. That switch can also arm the methanol system and only spray on the high boost setting.
3. What are the costs involved?
- Installation costs? One of the really nice things about a centrifugal is that they are pretty easy to install, so install times and cost should be relatively close to a remote mounted turbo system.
- Product costs? Unless you are going for a twin turbo system, the base system costs are close to the same. However, to get the real benefit of a centrifugal most people choose to upgrade headers and the exhaust system which can push the price up by thousands of dollars. A remote mounted turbo system does not require headers or high flow mufflers to see the performance gains. Save that money and upgrade your suspension, transmission or put in forged pistons/rods and run more boost!
- Maintenance costs? With the additional equipment under the hood, normal preventative maintenance can be more difficult and therefore more costly.
"Given equivalent vehicles, the turbo would easily motor away from the centrifugal in an acceleration contest......The turbo offered massive midrange torque production, the only system to exceed 600 lb-ft. Need more convincing? At 4,000 rpm, the turbo was more than 100 lb-ft. stronger than either the Roots or centrifugal." Richard Holdener, "Battle of the Boost"
- When do you hit maximum boost? Because a centrifugal is basically a turbo on a belt, you don't hit maximum boost until redline. Just when it starts feeling good you have to shift and start over again. There is really no comparison to the spool you get with a turbo. With a turbo you generally get full boost by 3000 rpm. It gives you more usable horsepower and significantly more mid-range torque which gets you down the road.
- What does it sound like? Some people really like the sound of a centrifugal, but we think it sounds like your alternator bearings are going bad, even at idle. We believe that turbo spool is a much more satisfying and intimidating sound.
2. Why are you purchasing forced induction?
- Is it a daily driver? If so, are you willing to deal with the constant belt noise, slipping belts and the gas mileage hit? Search Google or Yahoo! for slipping belts or go to any performance forum and read about the nightmares. For example, click here to see a forum discussing how much fun they've had with changing worn and blown up belts.
Here's some additional information from a centrifugal supercharger's website:
1. The vehicle MUST be at operating temperatures BEFORE full throttle runs or immediate supercharger failure can occur.
2. The vehicle MUST be stored in heated garage and/or engine must have engine block heater at or below 25 degrees F or immediate supercharger failure can occur.
3. Clean supercharger oil inlet fitting every 3,000 miles
4. Excessive belt tension can cause supercharger or crankshaft bearing failure. No manufacturer settings are provided as to what the correct belt tension should be.
Are you going to be racing? If so, do you want to worry about slipping or thrown belts? Check out our racing section and see why American Iron driver Dave Martis took off his Vortech and put on a remote mounted turbo.
- Do you want to run more boost in the future? With a smaller pulley, how much can you get without slipping belts? Because of less parasitic loss there is more potential in a turbo system to generate more horsepower.
- Do you want to be able to easily change the boost? A centrifugal means a pulley change, increasing the likelihood of belt slippage. Turbo boost can be electronically controlled with the flip of a switch. That switch can also arm the methanol system and only spray on the high boost setting.
3. What are the costs involved?
- Installation costs? One of the really nice things about a centrifugal is that they are pretty easy to install, so install times and cost should be relatively close to a remote mounted turbo system.
- Product costs? Unless you are going for a twin turbo system, the base system costs are close to the same. However, to get the real benefit of a centrifugal most people choose to upgrade headers and the exhaust system which can push the price up by thousands of dollars. A remote mounted turbo system does not require headers or high flow mufflers to see the performance gains. Save that money and upgrade your suspension, transmission or put in forged pistons/rods and run more boost!
- Maintenance costs? With the additional equipment under the hood, normal preventative maintenance can be more difficult and therefore more costly.
"Given equivalent vehicles, the turbo would easily motor away from the centrifugal in an acceleration contest......The turbo offered massive midrange torque production, the only system to exceed 600 lb-ft. Need more convincing? At 4,000 rpm, the turbo was more than 100 lb-ft. stronger than either the Roots or centrifugal." Richard Holdener, "Battle of the Boost"
Last edited by Built LT1; Jul 27, 2006 at 08:58 PM.
2002, camaro, corvettes, displacement, dsc1, e3, edelbrock, kit, ls1, ls3, positive, price, procharge, procharger, pti, supercharger, superchargers, trans, turbo
