turbo charging

[Ricky]

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

[Talonmotorsport]

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.

[GraemeWebb]

Originally Posted by fabbyglass

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.

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.

[Tatey]

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

[Davey]

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.

[AshG]

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

[twinturbo]

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

[deezee]

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 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

[Davey]

"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.