Turbo lag and supe lag

[alfacybersite <acs@domain.elided>]

In #1065 Michael Smith makes a good case for the turbo vs a
supercharger.

Okay, a bit embarrassed to admit, but I've never driven a car with
either one. I suspect everything he says is undoubtedly correct. There
must be good reasons why most auto makers use turbos rather than
superchargers.

Still...

As I've pointed out, more and more manufacturers are turning to
superchargers. No, I don't expect turbos to go away and not suggesting
they should. As Jim Steck points out, you can get more power out of a
turbo since you're using available 'energy'. I'm sure I'll be corrected
on my terminology.

As I've said, turbos visually for me are not sexy. DCOE's are, and
believe a nice tight installation of a finned supercharger would be
also. Yeah, that's important to me. Perhaps I've told this story but a
year or so ago, I was at a CarNight at a high end paint shop which did
primarily high end hot-rods. A fellow who had a very nicely detailed
'rod' (I admire excellent craftsmanship, but personally believe its
generally misplaced on 'rods') and had just started up his very nice
car. Being me, I stuck my head in the window and said, "Too bad you
don't have power windows." He opened the door so I could watch, then
pushed up using one finger on the window winder handle and the window
went smoothly up. Pressed down on it, and it motored on down. Sure shut
me up. Now that's cool and even sort of sexy.

Turbos are functional. I like functional very much. I like attractive
functional much, much better.

Mind you I'm coming from an aftermarket mentality. I also like the fact
there are more mounting options with the 'super' - most of you remember
that in the twenties and thirties many were mounted in front of the
radiator / grill - though I'm not recommending it today. You don't have
to hook an oil line up to a supercharger (as far as I know) so you won't
get coking in the oil. You won't have to replace your exhaust header /
headers every few years. And you don't have to sit there and let your
turbo spool and cool down before shutting off. I just ran a bunch of
errands - starting and stopping my engine seven times. I have no desire
to have to baby a turbo.

But as I said, other than that Michael, I agree with you,

Biba
Irwindale, CA USA
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