Originally posted by Loco Honkey@Nov 29 2003, 01:20 AM
Each have their own applications. A roots type blower is at home between two huge cylinder heads, and underneath two huger carbs. A turbo will be at home under the hood of any car owned by someone who is truely serious about performance. Every time. There is no discussion. The fact alone that a turbocharger is upwards of 75% efficient and takes NO power to turn vs. the Roots type blower barely managing 50% efficiency and requiring around 60 HP to turn at full boost pretty much proves this.
Turbo lag? I don't want to hear about it. Everyone whines about turbo lag like NOTHING happens when you step on the gas- not even naturally aspirated response. I'd rather wait for a second and then have a mountain of torque available to me then to have high initial tip in torque ready that quickly drops off with the onset of heatsoak. Don't know what I'm getting at? Drive any GM supercarged Grand Prix and you'll see what I'm talking about. Besides, with the advent of modern aerodynamics, ball bearing center sections, and more efficient intercooler cores, you can easily double the power output of the engine without any sacrifice in drivability. If anything, it'll be easier to drive because the torque rise will occur much sooner in the powerband.
Here's some real world facts that I personally have experienced: I had a '93 Si hatch with the stock D16Z6 w/ 130K miles on it. I spent about a grand on a turbo system with an FMU and ran 10 PSI on an IHI RHB5 turbo from a Thunderbird Turbocoupe and was making around 200 HP and 180 ft lbs. of torque at the wheels. A friend had a '91 hatch that he swapped a Z6 into as well as a Zdyne Gold ECU w/ VTEC and boost options. He decided to use the JR blower despite my adamant recommendations against it. So there we have it- almost identical cars, the same engines, but different feeding practices. We raced from a roll at idle. He had me off the line 'till I started to spool up at, ohh... about 2200 RPM. Once I hit full boost by 2700 RPM, I broke traction and kept with him 'till I grabbed 2nd. Bam, instant full boost when I let out the clutch and mashed the pedal. It was pretty much over after that, with him falling a good 50 yards behind me by the time we hit 110 MPH (we were on the highway). He spent upwards of $4000 on his blower and ECU. I spent about a grand, give or take $200 (I wasn't really keeping track).
I challenge anyone to put up an intelligent argument for a supercharger in a Honda. I will resoundingly debunk anything they say with proven facts, physics, and personal real world experiences.