Turbo or Supercharger ... which and why ????

TJ___90

Well-Known Member
310
53
Charlotte, NC
Vehicle Model
2012 CIVIC SI
Body Style
Coup
Hi everyone few months or maybe years (hope not) new kits for the new civic will be available. so if anyone have new info on any part or kit maybe we can discuss it here.

About the turbo and SC please share what you know which one is better and why. Not because you have it its better try to convence new people with numbers and aspects.

MAKE IT RAIN HERE WITH YOUR COMMENTS =D

and sorry for my bad writing .
 
With the integrated manifold design, it will probably be easier to design and extract more power from a turbo kit. You will probably see more turbo kits on the market, with possible a SC design following in the next year or so.
 
were there other options besides comptech and jackson for the previous civic? I didn't pay a large amount of attention to the superchargers out there...

Agreed with the comments made by Jro.

turbo - lag on power, but once the turbo spools - more HP, skys the limit on power (based on budget). Look at bisimoto - he hit 1000hp on a turbo setup
sc - cheaper, quicker power, easier install

tuning- hondata is working on a solution per conversations I've had with Doug
full-race - they will discuss their solution for tuning in the coming months when their kit is released.

It should be interesting. Previous civic owners had to wait like ~3yrs before tuning/forced induction was possible.
 
Rotrex/kraftwerks - lots of promise.. not much delivered.
In the last 2 years we've seen more options with the CT/JR kits though with Mercracing aftercoolers, ported/polished blowers etc.
I remember when I had the highest power stage 1 non tuned civic with 268whp, now I have friends making 340whp..

I still think the turbo is the way to go through with the K24.
 
bisimotos dyno plot showed almost all that power over the top 1000 rpm.

supercharger is drop in and forget it, turbo not so much.

cross reference the intake manifold gaskets and if you feel like experimenting order 1 new one from Honda for the 2012 Si and buy some used ones off the k20z3 k24a2 k20a2/z1 and k20a3 to see which it lines up with.

Then you will see if you can get an older model's K SC kit to fit on there. Space under the hood seems identical to the 8thgen, it's a matter of lining up the manifolds...
 
Turbo seems like the better route since there is an intergrated exhaust manifold, bolt up a down pipe and turbo and bam.. Would like an S/C tho, the whine it sounds soo nice...lol...hoepfully kits come out soon
 
would a SC be better since the vtec already produces nice high-band power? i feel like the current model lags a little when you're starting, but picks up nicely as you get going...
 
Total sleeper. Very nice.
I think a turbo makes a lot of sense from what I have been reading. High end power from the turbo and VTEC seems like a natural fit to me.
 
6332347765_f2cf75653f_o.jpg


insanity turbo power kicks in around 6000 rpm
 
that's what it looks like when you hit boost too! :eek:
 
HAHAHAHA, i bet.
I love the dynamic of effeciancy and power, that's why I :love: my Si.
 
In general with a turbo you can get more power. However, there are also some drawbacks. If the turbo is too large, you risk turbo lag, which is the latency between you floor the gas pedal until it starts producing power. I think this engine is going to be especially suitable for turbos. This integrated header thing looks like it was made for a turbo. There is plenty of room back there for a turbo and the plumbing could be very short if you used an water-to-air intercooler. The shorter the plumbing, the less lag you will have and the better the drivability and that is what the water-to-air intercooler would provide. The long stroke is also going to produce some killer torque. I did some basic calculations with the engine simulation program Engine Analyzer Pro and it looks like it would be pretty easy to get over 300 HP with pretty low boost, like 7psi.

A supercharger generally starts building boost immediately so there is very little of no lag. This engine is really well suited to a roots type supercharger. This is what CT Engineering is doing. The placement of the supercharger would be easy considering where the intake manifold is located. I think this will be the best option for street driving. It should also be easier to get CARB certification. You could also do a centrifugal type supercharger like a vortech. These tend to be optimized for the higher rpm range. Since this engine is all about torque in the mid-rpm range, I don't think this will be the optimal solution.

With either option, I think it should be possible to get more power, with excellent reliability, than cars such as the Mazdaspeed3, the Volkswagen GTI, or even the WRX STI. Even with the price of the kit, they should be lower price. Throw a 300 hp supercharger with a good suspension kit and you should have one smokin' sport compact. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the CT Engineering kit produces and costs. It looks like a properly engineered kit where they use CAD/CAM and proper modeling software. I see alot of I-built-it-in-my-garage-and-am-totally-unqualified-to-be-designing-parts-for-an-engine kits on the market for a lot of cars and people end up destroying their engines in a short amount of time because they got fooled by the supposed big numbers they put out. Don't be fooled by high HP numbers. A properly designed system can have substantially less power on the dyno and still smoke these kits. Don't be a bench racer.
 
i have only had the car for 3 days and i want more power:) cant wait for things to magically start coming up quick
 
I think with the new EFR series turbos from BorgWarner the whole idea of laggy turbochargers is a thing of the past. I only say this because of how they look on paper, though. I've never driven a car with an EFR turbo. If I do anything in the way of power to this car though, it will be a Full-Race turbo kit with an EFR turbo. As others have already pointed out, the integrated exhaust manifold and the underbore K24 just makes sense for a turbo. A supercharger has some benefits, but a well-designed turbo kit is the best way to go in my personal opinion. It's pure efficiency, where as the supercharger is the exact opposite of efficient. It produces a parasitic loss in order to make power. There is no intelligent argument against the turbocharger being the more efficient option. The turbo vs. supercharger debate is ongoing, and will probably always be that way as long as there are internal combustion engines. It all boils down to what you want out of your car, I suppose; just like any other "this vs. that" debate pertaining to mods.
 
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