turbo charging
 

hi i would like to find out if putting in a turbo charged engine would it be ok and if so can the chassis handle it

As these cars are very light I personaly would'nt want to have a turbo in a car that you can put side ways with a tuned 1600 cvh, let alone what ever your planning on puting the turbo on. If your looking for some thing that will go like stink I'd go for an 1800 zetec with either bike carbs /TB and mega jolt with 2-3 kg taken off the fly wheel or a c20xe with an adapted bell housing.
At the end of the day it's your time and money but these are not the sort of cars you want coming on boost half way round a corner or on a roundabout.

Why do folk insist on huge amounts of horsepower? More fun throwing a 100bhp car about and being able to stamp on the throttle coming out of a corner than having to be carefull unleashing 11ty million bhp on shite roads and tyres.:confused:

I agree. I wont have more than an estimated 130bhp at the begining and I am sure it will be quick. Andy H of Saturn took me for a spin in his roadster with 170bhp and that was sensational. Personaly I ciuld do without the hastle with a turbo, Ive enough on my plate just building the car itself.

I'll be having a nice lovely 90bhp when i finish my car, I have to agree with fabby, i'd much prefer to have a more chuckable and forgiving 90bhp than mass amounts of expensive horse power which I could easily wrap round a tree. However I have had to stop myself on many occasions from thinking 'but what if I did have all of that power'.

Having been out in Spuds car in the moist it taught me how good that amount of power can be, but also how easy it is to get the back end out even with a slight blip of the throttle, and me being a very inexperienced driver i couldnt see the car lasting too long :p

At the risk of upsetting some apple carts here its time people realised that BHP figures are pretty meaningless. Torque is what counts. There is an ancient saying in motoring circles "torque turns wheels"! BHP is a mathematical figure calculated from the maximum torque produced multiplied by the RPM and the date of your last underwear change.

I'm rebuilding a Locust but using the Haynes manual for inspiration and as a rough guide. I'm building it with a 2.9 V6 Cosworth Granada lump simply because that will give me a big fat torque curve. Yes I know that a 4V per cylinder will traditionally produce most of its torque at higher revs but a 2.9 litre V6 is still going to give some fairly substantial torque from around 2K and a smooth build up from there. Add into the mix that when you really boot it to above 4K its gonna fly but with no sudden surge of thrust, just a strong build of forward motion and I think its the way to go, well for me it is anyway.

The biggest problem with smaller capacity engines generating high power outputs is they invariably have an "on cam/off cam" (on boost/off boost for turbos) moment where they change character from Mr Hyde to Dr Jekyll and all hell lets loose. The same is true to some extent of bike engined cars.

D.

yes 90-100bhp is totally fine infact mine only has 90bhp at the crank and 75 at the wheels. but then having been in a 300bhp turbo nutter 7 i can understand the appeal :D

I will have a nice torquey 2.9 V6. the old pushrod 12V ford is a heavy but dependable motor..

My 2 sierras both have V6's as does our mondeo.. Why... Because a V6 is more torquey ;)

But one of my sierras does have a pair of Garrets strapped to it, but they are not mahusive, so they blow from low down and don't have lots of lag.. So it's a better package than a YB Cosworth ;)

TT

Well for a start, only exceptionally old engines "Come on Boost". Its like some internet myth that turbo cars just suddenly dump 300bhp to the wheels without any warning :eek: Every car with a turbo'd engine, I've played with (1991 onwards) has a variable demand placed on it by throttle. I.E. if your not at full throttle, you don't get full boost. You can get loads of turbo engines up to 6500 rpm with out the turbo giving you more than 2 psi.

Plus a turbo doesn't have to be huge, a nicely balanced one, just to push your torque all the way up. Or perhaps an Eaton supercharger to give you, say, 6 psi of boost.

I'd say go for it. Whats wrong with more power? I'm not saying you can't have fun with 125 bhp / tonne.... but personally I want more than 200bhp / tonne in a sportscar :D

"You can get loads of turbo engines up to 6500 rpm with out the turbo giving you more than 2 psi."

I'm sorry for being controversial but that is the biggest load of spherical sperm producing organs I've heard yet!

If you're engine is doing 6.5K RPM then you're turbo is doing upwards of 20KRPM and by its very nature it will be producing serious boost.

Any turbocharger installation that produces a meagre 2psi at those sort of speeds isn't worth having!

D.

Have to agree Davey...

And cars do have lag and doo come on boost. Less so nowerdays with variable vane turbos but even in the late 90's it was true.

My broter in law had an almost stock 4x4 Cosworth. I had a stock Volvo T5. I prefered the performance of my T5 as it was an auto. When I booted the throttle it dropped down a gear and the reves instantly rose spoolign the turbo and bringing the bust on. In Bros cossy. You would floor the throttle in 5th and wait... and wait... And WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..

But my 250BHP 2.9 V6 has little turbo's that turbo techncis used to keep the flexibility of the V6 and give boost from low down. Sure they can't give more than 300BHP max between them but they get there very well ;)

TT

Agree totally with the posts to date regards to engine size and power. In my experience the extra power, upto 170bhp, is fantastic on track and warm sunny days and you can really give the car some boot. On greasy days it all becomes a bit of a handful, recent experience with Ginge springs to light, and you cant fully enjoy the car because you are frightened to put the power down. So a larger engine car with more power and torque is going to be similar in the dry, yes it will be great to open it up down a straight but the main enjoyment is to be had blasting it round twisty B roads or on track. As long as you have enough power to safely overtake sunday drivers that's more than ample.

There are some opinions out there that anything above 170hp in a roadster is unusable, for most other then the Stig, and defeats the principles of the roadster. I would certainly agree with this. With my original engine, the 1.8cvh, there was just as much fun to be had.

Keep it cheap and cheerful and you'll be having more than enough fun. The 1.8 CVH on bike carbs is a very well matched engine to the roadster, also an easy and cheap upgrade to more power later on post IVA.

AndyH....:)

Spud,

I agree, when we had our ‘moment’:eek: on that corner, which you handled beautifully might I add, I realised I am going to have to learn to drive again.;) It is not like driving a Range Rover you know.:D

1.8 CVH power will do me for now thank you very much.

Your just not listening :mad: I'm not saying you can get turbos that only make 2psi at 6.5K am I? I'm saying if your drive normally you can get an engine to 6.5K without going on full boost. Its not like at 3K you suddenly get 1bar boost whether you like it or not!. Thats what your wastegate is for.

The point I'm making is managed turbo engines only give you full boost when you ask for it. They are perfectly drivable engines and not some unforgivable monster people on forums make out.

Would I have a 520bhp/Tonne Caterham R500? Yes I would. So whats wrong in trying to get just halfway there with a Haynes?

Nah....what you want is a supercharger :p

Much more fun in a light car, and oodles of low down torque from the off....

Turbos have their place, but I dont think they are suited to lightweight cars...

But then again I am biased.

Thats a very clean and well put together build flak
hope mines that good one day
Ray:)

Looking great there FM
 

I'll second Rays comment. Looking great there FM :)

Boy this thread has started plenty of debate !!??

Just before Christmas I was taken for a serious spin in my eldests 360BHP & near equal torque Impreza.

To be honest with you folks..... It frightened the hell out of me & my ass has only now started to close again :eek: :o

To say that it was mentally insane would be a gross understatement !!

Personally, if thats Turbo power for you then no thank you.

I want to feel the thrill ......not be sitting in it !!?? :D

Remove two of the four wheels that are driven and see what happens.
Off into the boonies at great speed.
I repair TT's S3's RS4/6's Porsche's etc and they are great fun to drive (legally ;) ) and some are turbo'd and they can be driven off silly amounts of boost with variable vane technology but they weigh as much as a small bus,put large amounts of power into a 6/700kg car and you have the big brother of Frankenstiens monster,great for the track but if you want to spend your time in a field or ditch buy a tractor,you will spoil not only hours of hard work but also a fantastic sports car you have built.

Just my humble opinion.

ROFLMAO :D

Ash,

It took me a second but I got it.

Cheers Ginge