I have a question if anyone would like to weigh in it. Lately, I’ve been avoiding using turbos or superchargers and just building the engines. I’ve been doing this mainly on muscle cars (V8’s) and I’m finding that with the use of the right upgrades I can get almost as much torque and HP using the displacement and cam upgrades and at the same time, I’m keeping weight out of the car and even losing lbs with the pistons and exhaust and still keeping the PI somewhat in check ( I think). So, my question is this…has anyone else tried this and found it to be the better build or does installing a turbo/supercharger make more sense for the power gained vs. PI used.
It obviously depends on the car and what kind of build is going to produce the result you are after. If you already have enough engine then aspiration is not going to be required. If you do aspirate, then the Centrifugal Supercharger - when available - is almost invariably the best (fastest around a track) choice. Even factoring in the weight and PI, it typically produces a performance gain in real terms. The twin screw is a last option (unless already fitted), and a turbo is imo only useful if you want torque, torque, torque and nothing elese, however both of these options very rarely stack up as a PI/Performance win over normally aspirated or the CS.
+1
On FM5 I only had about 3 (at the most) setups with the TS, and used the CSC a lot, So far on FM6, I have found myself using less of the CSC and only ONE car with the TS.
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I rarely use the twin screw. The thing is a boat anchor. I probably should have mentioned up there is I just started getting serious about tuning a few months back and had a lot to learn. I’ve gotten to where I can make a pretty decent grip build but when I try a power build its…lopsided I guess you can say. Meaning it’s either too much to where the car is unmanagable or not enough…the car is managable but still on the slow side. I’ve been spreading out a little as far as what I’m building ( was muscle cars pretty much exclusively) and I know what tracks need grip or speed, or a little of both. I had a feeling there was no cut and dried right or wrong answer. I’m just looking for some different opinions. So, thank you for the reply.
This is my order of preference when it comes to power upgrades, normally I’ll focus on tyres and weight reduction before using any remaining PI on power:
Centrifugal Supercharger > Naturally Aspirated > Other Aspirations
Before choosing aspiration however I’ll normally test all available engines, provided I have the spare PI to do so. If I have the PI to fit the Rally Engine I’ll try it out first, although the torque delivery can be a bit much for lighter cars to handle.
I also try to stay away from twin screws and even super chargers, before im done with any car (depending on track) will have it build about 6 times using several combinations.
PI usually favors an aspiration conversion over cams. Cams can work and produce a fast car, but usually you can get a little more time out of an aspiration conversion.
I’ve actually been using the turbo a good bit for non v8 motors. Seems to work pretty well for some cars. I got one in C class that’ll run top 20s or faster in a fast driver’s hands.
I’m somewhat on same track with PJTierney and HLR Mick.
Often but not always the best combination if and when power upgrades are used the absolute best is Race Centrifugal, and Race exhaust and if you just can combine those to 5.7l V8 it’s absolutely golden.
How ever that is not always possible.
As my building preference goes, Weight → Grip → Power, that means all handling parts, Rollcage depending does the car need one, and wide tires (skinny higher level tires for rain) but after that we get to the power.
My preference is
- -Camshaft in case of FWD, cause I want to avoid getting any more torque, cause it would only cause wheelspin often paired with race transmission. how ever Centrifugal brings more weight on front and improves the grip.
- -Centrifugal, if available, as it has quite low PI expense to overall performance increase. “worst by numbers best in practice”.
- -Turbo in case of AWD, possible turbo kick isn’t too drastic as it goes to all 4 wheels and it gives nice torque to get out of the corners, without too high weight gain.
- -Natrually aspirated, no camshaft upgrade
- -Turbo in case of RWD, as turbo kick might be an issue exiting corners
- -Camshaft upgrade, unless I need it anyway to “fix the gearing” cause I have gone from high revving engine to low revving engine, which has messed up the stock/street gearbox making it too short.
- -Any combination of Twinscrew S/C as it’s heavy and PI expensive compared to any other aspiration swap. how ever if it is on stock combination in high HP RWD car, and turbo upgrade is available I’d rather keep it, to avoid turbo kick.
Thanks guys for the replies. I’m right in the middle of a marathon stretch of 12 hour work days which leaves little time for anything else. Good info from trusted tuners, can’t go wrong there.