39 replies to this topic

[oliver122]

just wondering what you guys think is better , as i have seen a few supercharger bolt on kits around for about £1000 , but carnt really see many turbo kits , this question is mainly out of curiosity and possibly a step to take in a few years time

[mini_mad69]

Turbocharged engines generally produce more power, or can be made to produce more. The bolt on supercharger kits for minis dont allow for an intercooler, which makes them alot less efficient at high boost levels.
Turbo engines can produce hight MPG figures aswell, as your not always using boost.


Although the supercharger kits are fairly cheap for the power increase, and easy to fit.

[WRLondon]

superchargers also more efective through the rev range,
while turbos take a while to get on boost

supercharged usually means using a Bini part though -.-

really is up to you!
both cost about the same

if your going for bi power turbo
if your going for about 130bhp then supercharging

turbo's mostly mean you have to chop up your bulkhead unless you pay alot for a mirage manifold

[oliver122]

cheers guys , think i might put a turbo on then when im on my full wage , so i can chuck money at it , when turbo'ing i know it would put alot of strain on all components so what would be need to be done to stop them getting destoyed , i could see the gearbox breaking easily with the forces it will be creating , theres isnt like a manual or something is there, that explains it all ?

[j0-rdan]

http://www.turbo-mini.com/

[Sam Walters]

The suck through superchargers create the same gear box destroying force as the turbo`s do.

Simply due to torque.

However, Personally my opinion of it is that a turbo charger is a better solotion for a mini given what you can get.

Most of the kit for turboing the mini can be attained from the metro turbo.

However it retains the gastly T3 turbo that is vastly too large for our uses. Well 95% of the time anyhow.

the gt17 has proved to be a fantastic alternative, there is more information about it on the turbo minis forum.

Its a lot more work, as firstly youve got to source the bits through the various forums, ebay ect.

the website oliver has said there is a fantastic link to have a ganders at.



Personally i cannot vouch for what is better having only been in turbo charged minis and not owning either a turbocharged or supercharged mini myself.

Its all about the 8000rpm scream for me.

[WRLondon]

yeah turbominis.co.uk

[new_zealand _minis]

100% supercharger . mad power !!

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[johnnysti]

The choice will be alot more simple when there is a blow through supercharger kit available. Will be like chalk and cheese between blow through and suck through. Then it will be a much fairer comparison between a turbo or supercharged setup.
I would say go down the turbo route if you are looking to do the charger as a suck through. It just doesn't work and you are forever chasing gremlins to get to run anywhere near efficiently. I can honestly say that after fitting a suck through weber kit and running it for six months, i wish i had turbo'd it instead. I'm sure there are people on here that will disagree with what i have said but if you are comparing suck through with turbo, its turbo every time.

Edited by johnnysti, 01 January 2011 - 08:50 PM.

[oliver122]

what would i need if i wanted to turbo the mini , also can you turbo a 998 ives seen them do it on turbo mini , but there isnt much detail as he has done it in 20 hours the reason being to save me buying a 1275 in a few years as prices are expensive now , so wouldn't like to think what they cost i a few years.

[boffster]

The choice will be alot more simple when there is a blow through supercharger kit available. Will be like chalk and cheese between blow through and suck through. Then it will be a much fairer comparison between a turbo or supercharged setup.
I would say go down the turbo route if you are looking to do the charger as a suck through. It just doesn't work and you are forever chasing gremlins to get to run anywhere near efficiently. I can honestly say that after fitting a suck through weber kit and running it for six months, i wish i had turbo'd it instead. I'm sure there are people on here that will disagree with what i have said but if you are comparing suck through with turbo, its turbo every time.

Hello,

I will agree fully with this possibly to your suprise , the turbos have been proven to work for what has been wanted by the owners due to most of the parts being available, and the dredded suck throughs also have the parts but are not to good IMO because of the silly long intake tube and high intake temps, etc. And yes, it is partially unfair that superchargers get associated with suck through .

all in all, it depends how much time, money and skills you have whether it is bolting parts together, or welding custom manifolds and brackets together so i would personally favour a turbo as the better for reliability and ease of being able to achieve higher power outputs from relatively factory parts.

However, superchargers don't have lag so for low down torque and thus good road driveability i would favour superchargers plus they make good whines.

Funny that you come to mention blow through superchargers

[Wil_h]

superchargers also more efective through the rev range,
while turbos take a while to get on boost

supercharged usually means using a Bini part though -.-

really is up to you!
both cost about the same

if your going for bi power turbo
if your going for about 130bhp then supercharging

People need to get away from the issue of lag (or boost threshold more correctly). It really isn't an issue, drive my 998 turbo and see, it drives like a normal car, no issue in traffic whatever.

I wouldn't use a supercharger at all, inefficient-crap, why have a car that has 130bhp and does 25mpg with all the bodges needed to make the system work, when you can have a well developed (by BL) turbo system that can give 180bhp and 45mpg.

turbo's mostly mean you have to chop up your bulkhead unless you pay alot for a mirage manifold

£350 is not a massive amount for a mirage and there are other options.

[oliver122]

superchargers also more efective through the rev range,
while turbos take a while to get on boost

supercharged usually means using a Bini part though -.-

really is up to you!
both cost about the same

if your going for bi power turbo
if your going for about 130bhp then supercharging

People need to get away from the issue of lag (or boost threshold more correctly). It really isn't an issue, drive my 998 turbo and see, it drives like a normal car, no issue in traffic whatever.

I wouldn't use a supercharger at all, inefficient-crap, why have a car that has 130bhp and does 25mpg with all the bodges needed to make the system work, when you can have a well developed (by BL) turbo system that can give 180bhp and 45mpg.

turbo's mostly mean you have to chop up your bulkhead unless you pay alot for a mirage manifold

£350 is not a massive amount for a mirage and there are other options.

i was thinking of using a 998 , does it create a big difference having a turbo on the 988, ive also been looking round and it seems quite hard to source parts for a turbo, but saying that i dont really know what i am exactly looking for , ive just been searching " metro turbo" " mini turbo " just simple searches really , i wont be putting a turbo on for a couple of years yet , but i wanted to start sourcing the parts , as no doubt they will just get harder to find as time go's on

[Ethel]

Mini/Metro Turbo spares haveprobably already reached saturation - no more are made & there's plenty of demand so what's available is usually sold on.

Quite a few bits are common to all forced induction:

An injection (MPI is best) fuel pump & tank , fuel pressure regulator (neither needed with suck through)
X pin diff & other heavy duty gearbox & clutch stuff.
Programmable ignition...


A 998 can make a nice turbo road engine, obviously you can go further with a 1275, but either will produce enough power to be fun while avoiding expensive drive train modifications to get really big bhp on to the tarmac. It would be worth building up your turbo lump out of the car on a replacement engine & box. You might find yourself pulling the engine out a few months after turboing it anyway if it's at all tired.

[mini13]

Out of interest I ran the figures to see what the power difference on a turbo and supercharged lump running 18psi boost would be.

about 40hp less on the charger set up.

as will says, you can disregard "boost lag" if you use a modern turbo of the right size,