i believe when the put ideal the person meant idle, what rpm range the car stays at when at park or with your foot off the gas pedal. only thing i could think the 1500 -1600 rpm is for is for the kenne bell superchargers run at a high rpm range so the engine won't stall at idle. as for how a supercharger works, it is mounted on the side or on top of the engine. the supercharger kit normally comes with a longer accessory drive belt. the supercharger is powered by the power from the crank just like the alternator and the other accessories. superchargers are known for instant power. as a pose to a turbo charger that normally runs on exhaust gases and have a lag to power. turbo are normally connected to the exhaust manifolds or the end of the exhaust where the gases exit. now from what i have read most people prefer superchargers over turbos because more people don't want the lag. also most people say leave the turbos for the cars that were originally designed for turbos. this is what i know about turbos and superchargers. I might be wrong on somethings. if i am someone will chime in and correct what i said that was wrong. hope this helps.

 

yeah makes a great deal of sense now... what i interpreted was superchargers act as part of the engine where as turbos act as a bi product, using the gases the engine gives off... supercharges acting as part of the engine use the power the engine gives off to power it??? by the belt system? i was under the hood of a hmmwv today and i think its kinda sorta tha same thing... or set up wise... i think i found the pulley system, its all the rubber belts in the very front of the engine right??? the mechanics were away and i was enroute to do some other stuff... didn't have time to ask.

ThaGremlinKing

 

Stock, our engines are "naturally aspirated". Basically, the valves work such that after an ignition cycle, exhaust gasses exit the "back" of the cylinder. Then the intake valve opens, and fresh air gets sucked into the vacuum. The valve closes, the piston comes down, compressing the air. Fuel is squirted in there, and the spark plug makes ignition. Rinse, repeat.

With both Turbochargers and Superchargers, the idea is that the air that goes into the empty cylinder is already under pressure. It's not at one atmosphere basically. Thus you'll read about compression. You squirt different fuel amounts into the compressed air, and you ultimately extract more energy from the ignition.

There's a compressor that handles making the pressurized air in both types of forced induction solution.

In a Supercharger, the compressor is driven by a belt that is in turn driven by your engine. This is additional parasitic load on the engine, but Supercharging still results in a net gain in power.

In a Turbo, you throw basically propellers in the exhaust pipes. The propellers spin as exhaust gas goes by, and they in turn power the compressor. This power gain isn't parasitic (it doesn't draw from the engine), but there is usually lag.

Turbo is more complicated in terms of piping. Super is simpler in terms of it's just a belt and a thing bolted on top in place of your intake manifold.

You'll read about psi... pounds per square inch, which is to say... how much compression is going on. More generates more power. It also generates more risk.

There's the nutshell.

Oh, and all of this usually involves about $6,000+ US

 

Very nice explanation, just so everyone knows a little about these engines and why high boost is a problem. For starters we're dealing with Hypereutectic pistons not forged pistons. So any detonation on the motor can be death to the piston, couple that with a ring land area high up on the piston and you have to deal with ring failure as well. I'm sure there are guys running high boost in stock trim and with a good tune and good gas your chances are pretty good. In my experience your on borrowed time. There is a limit to how much these engines can handle. I personally am installing my supercharger in a few weeks, its a custom job I designed using a Vortech Si trim and a few other tweaks I want to try. I'm going to cheat a little and run 6-8 psi of boost and see what happens. Anyone insterested in the kit in its finshed product let me know I'll share the details. We think the car should make an easy 575+ to the tires. Not that I'll be the first to do it but I think I figured out a reliable way to.

 

Everything mentioned here so far is accurate.... Just a few little things to perhaps give you a clearer picture.

There are different types of superchargers. You have centrifugal, twin screw and roots superchargers. All run on the same concept, the engine's crank drives the supercharger, as mentioned, just like it drives your alternator and A/C compressor, among other items. I'll pick one supercharger type, the centrifugal, just as an example because it is very similar in operation to a turbo charger.

The idea behind all forced induction is to increase the amount of air going into the engine. Why? Simple answer, you need oxygen for anything to burn. Fuel goes into the engine mixed with air. The ratio of air to fuel is optimal at a certain point. So assuming you have a fixed space (say the inside of an engine cylinder) you will get a certain amount of air in it at a certain pressure. At a give air to fuel ratio, you will get a certain amount of fuel. If you increase the amount of air you shove into that cylinder, you can then add more fuel. The more air and fuel in a given space the more powerful the explosion. Since the inside of the cylinder cannot grow or blow apart all that force pushes down on the piston. Bottom line, more air and fuel.... More power.

Turbos and a centrifugal supercharger are very similar. They both have impellers that blow air out. The supercharger makes the impeller spin by being driven with the engine belt. Superchargers the have a gear system making that impeller spin much faster than the engine RPM. In many cases 6 o r 7 times faster. In a turbo, you drive the impeller with exhaust gasses. The exhaust is being pushed through another impeller that in turn is connected directly to the blower impeller. The end result is identical, air is blown out at a higher pressure.

There is a great deal more to it, obviously, but the basics are that. wikipedia superchargers and forced induction.... You'll get more details and into the thermodynamics involved if you want to. Also look into intercoolers.... Another part of the system....

Ok