First most superchargered cars have a BOV.

Second they have the same reliability issues a turbo would. Cramming all that extra air in requires a fuel system to match, if you don't match it byebye motor.

Turbos are more efficient, can't get around that fact.

 

couldn't agree more

 

Here, just read this thread. If you really want to know about why a turbo is better, its worth your time. People in that thread to listen to because they know what they are talking about: myself (mpg9999), Rguy, Trav4011, and pay close attention to smartbomb. Mike is the man. http://www.b15sentra.net/forums/show...4&page=1&pp=15

-Mike

 

There are a lot of people bashing superchargers here... i guess i have to add my .02 ... i've driven a supercharged type R before and have another friend that has a supercharged d16 as well. I've also driven many friends cars that are turbocharged. Personally i prefer a supercharger myself. A supercharger to me, although it cannot boost as high as a turbo possibly could, is a lot more fun. The feeling of instant power is there, and wonderful i might add, whereas with every turbo car i've driven, the car has had some feeling of lag. It may not be much lag, but it is still there.

The only thing is that the most power i have seen out of a supercharged honda is about 300 hp, and that is with a fully built motor and liquid intercooling. If you are looking to get as much power as you possibly can, then go turbo. You can have what seems like endless psi boosting with a turbo on a built motor. The most I have seen someone boost a honda with a supercharger is 15 PSI and i highly doubt that car was a daily driver.

The blowoff valve is another benefit of the turbo. Cruising by someone with their windows down and letting off the gas and hearing that pressure release is great... but there is also something to be said about the constant whine of a blower at high revs... If you have never heard a JRSC at 8000 rpms mixed with VTEC, then you don't know what your missing. By the way, everything i am talking about refers to a roots type supercharger ie. Jackson Racing... not the Vortech system.

Ultimately, you should base your decision on what your goals are... if you want the most power possible, then sleeve the block, lower the compression if needed, and throw on a t3/t4 and boost at 20psi... if you would rather just have a good time and want a little more torque down low, then i definitely recommend a JRSC. But again this is just my .02.

 

Since most posts here are discussing the advantages/disadvantages of a turbo (all have excellent and factual arguements) since you said that you may supercharge your car, I guess I should take the time to describe the different types of superchargers in case you are unaware to further help you make a final decision:

Like I said before, with a supercharger, you get instant boost as soon as you hit the accelerator, so you get more of a linear throttle response, as opposed to non-linear with a turbo (this is because superchargers, with the exception of a centrifugal supercharger, pump a fixed volume of air per revolution). Peak power is sacrificed however due to the parasitic loss since its belt driven. Now, you have a roots blower style supercharger (I know the popular supercharger on Integras and other B-series motors is the Jackson Racing roots blower type supercharger, popularly referred to simply as a blower). A roots blower type uses blades that are similar to corkscrews to make boost and it produces it across the RPM range. Most OEM supplied superchargers are of this type because they are fairly simple in design, which translates to low price, and they are very reliable. The biggest drawback of a blower is that it creates a lot of heat. It does so because for one, a blower doesn't have an internal compression ratio, its just moving air into the intake manifolds where the actual compression takes place.

Next up, we have the more "high tech" twin screw supercharger. This supercharger has two rotors that rotate towards each other. This enables it to compress air before it is discharged. Twin screw superchargers are great at producing boost at incredibly low RPM's, but since this supercharger can actually compress air, this means that this supercharger is creating boost even while just crusing, idle, or trying to slow down. A bypass valve fixes this issue but as mentioned earlier, the engine is working harder than it has to because it is struggling to create boost that is not needed.

Finally we have the centrifugul supercharger. This is the supercharger of choice IMO, if you do plan to go this route (ironically I find it to be the best of the three superchargers because it is similar to a turbocharger, since they are both centrifugal). A CSC is a high speed fan that is sucking air into the center of the supercharger, pushing it to the outside while the blades are spinning rapidly. The air will naturally travel to the outside of the blades because of the air's centrifugal force created by the air's rotating inertia (thus the term centrifugal supercharger). Outside of the rotating blades, you have a scroll and a venturi, these aren't actual parts inside a supercharger, just terms to describe its design, the scroll is the thing a lot of people use to immediately identify turbochargers as well, its hard to describe what these things look like without having a picture. The air is forced to travel through the venturi which is what creates the compression, then this compressed air will travel around a scroll which is there to increase its pressure, but to also slow the velocity of the air since the diameter of the scroll increases as its headed towards the discharge port. A CSC is good because it doesn't have many moving parts at all, its efficiency is due to its clever engineering and design. The CSC also produces little heat because of its internal compression ratio, which also means its discharge is the coolest out of the three superchargers. The CSC can not only allow the engine to suck air, it can even flow air backwards meaning you can install the damn thing pretty much anywhere it will fit. Of course, since the CSC has to spin at an insanely fast speed (somewhere around 50,000 RPM's or something like that to start becoming efficient) you will experience some lag also, it has all the disadvantages stated earlier of being belt driven.

The blower and twin screw supercharger are self lubricated, thus being incredibly easy to maintain. The CSC uses the engine's oil so you'd have to run an oil line to the CSC, no biggie there, still low maintainence.

As for turbochargers...that link in the previous post breaks that down well enough. Man, I spent a good 15 minutes or so trying to describe the three the best I can. Hopefully you've educated yourself on the actual specifics of the types of forced induction and can make up a better, more educated decision.

Oh, and FYI:
Eaton and Jackson Racing specialize in blower style superchargers.
Vortech builds CSC superchargers.

I'm not sure who builds the twin screw superchargers, I think Eaton builds those as well.

 

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=688120

 

Thanks a TON guys mpg9999, hndacrzd, VT Prix, you guys are the fkn heat, thanks a million for the help. I'm not looking for any kind of insane amout of horsepower. 250hp in a hatchback is a whole lot more than a lot of people give it credit for, and a SC can attain that quite easily with 8psi on an LS/Vtec. Thanks for the brand recommendations too, I had forgotten about Eaton SCs. I had read on another forum while I was researching that the SC can be damaged during the split second delay during the Vtec cam lob engagment. I can only imagine that this would apply to extremely high boost applications, but i just want to make sure. What do you guys think?

 

ls motors beg for turbos, just give the motor what it wants, s/c non-vtec honda = no power

 

PRO-CHARGER .... no clearance issues either

 

leave the sc honda to me