12 replies to this topic

[Mini C]

Hi all,

I doing a renovation on my first Mini which is a Cooper Spi,
I want a shed load of torque and acceleration.
What is the best route to go down,
Turbo or Supercharger?
I'll be doing the usual mods, Engine, gearbox etc.

Cheers.

[Leonard]

the search button is in the top right corner it doesnt bite! type "turbo or supercharger"

[RobJaxon]

Bore out the engine abit and put a turbo on. I have found that (on minis) that turbos provide more torque/power than superchargers.
Hope this helps, Rob.

[Jammy]

Bore out the engine abit and put a turbo on. I have found that (on minis) that turbos provide more torque/power than superchargers.
Hope this helps, Rob.

I think it all depends on the setup to be honest. I would suspect that psi for psi there isn't much difference between turbo or supercharged. Having said that I know of a couple of BIG power turbo A-series engines, but not so many BIG power supercharged engines...

[Mini C]

I've been reading all the posts on here for while,
It seems that a Turbo dose'nt kick in at low revs
and a supercharger does.

[mininutter]

I've been reading all the posts on here for while,
It seems that a Turbo dose'nt kick in at low revs
and a supercharger does.

If you want a reliable cheap proven engine - Turbo.
If you want savage power - Turbo
If you want mild/high torque throughout the whole rpm range and lots of niggles - Supercharger.

I'm at the final stage of a mpi supercharger. I love it, but there are so many issues with a suck through eaton 45. If you want a blower, go from it front mounted, through an intercooler then the carb/injection.

If I hadn't got so far down the blower route, I would now have a low psi turbo (with a boost adjuster for silly moments) and have a much cheaper, reliable and proven setup.

But I'm a sucker for that supercharger wine.

[Mini C]

Cheers all for your input.

[Wil_h]

I think it all depends on the setup to be honest. I would suspect that psi for psi there isn't much difference between turbo or supercharged. Having said that I know of a couple of BIG power turbo A-series engines, but not so many BIG power supercharged engines...

In (very simple) thoery, psi for psi a turbo and a supercharger will produce the same power. However, in reality, turbo compressors are far more efficient than supercharger ones (roots type). This means that less heat is generated in the charge for a turbo, and we all know that cooler air makes more power.

This extra heat generated by superchargers is made doubly bad with suck through systems as no intercooler can be used.

The general rule that superchargers make power at lower revs still holds true, but modern turbochargers are so good that boost threshold is significantly lowered.

IMO superchargers are a poor second to a turbo.

[norwegianminiman]

but then again...

LOT more work fitting a turbo from what ive gathered...

[Wil_h]

I'm not so sure.

If you compare like-for-like systems there is little in it, infact I still think a turbo is pretty straightforward (see the how to convert a 998 to a turbo in 20 hours thread). Installing a turbo suckthrough system is easier than an SC installation (no messing around with pulleys).

Installing a turbo blow through system is easier than an SC blow through system too I reckon.

But as most SC systems are suck-through and most turbos blow-through it is probably perceived that turbos are harder, mainly because of fuelling I guess.

[Jammy]

And another advantage of turbo over SC is that, as Wil says, you can adjust the boost as you like, where as you have to change a pulley to adjust the boost with an SC.

[Mini C]

Adjusting the boost,
can that be done on the fly.
From in side the car while driving,
or is it a tuning thing?

[mini13]

with a turbo you can have a bleed valve mounted in the car to vary the boost.