Vr6 supercharger or turbo?

[Bishbosh1 10]

Hi guys, within the next 12 months I would like to add either a supercharger or turbo to my Vr6, I would appreciate comments off any1 who's experienced either regarding the pro's and con's for both. I wouldn't know where to start with the install so will get either DG or Stealth to do it. I know it will cost £0000's but we should all be able to dream!!

[floppyman 0]

Well if youre going to dream, dream properly..... Turbo and charger. Best of both in the same engine..... :D:D

[coullstar 0]

Turbo every time!!

[emu 0]

charger is cheaper and good for about 300-320 ps

 

turbo is the best of the bests but proper setup + proper engine will leave you with bill around 10k pounds

[MarkFoster 0]

charger is cheaper and good for about 300-320 ps

 

turbo is the best of the bests but proper setup + proper engine will leave you with bill around 10k pounds

 

 

Well, yes and no. If you went for Stealth's kit you could have that and a brake and clutch upgrade for £5.5k and not even have to get your hands dirty! You might have to go for 2nd hand OEM brake upgrade but it should be do-able. Ok, so you wont get all the fancy labels but it's still a very reputable kit.

 

Mark

[Kevin Bacon 5]

In a nutshell.... having done both:-

 

Supercharger = top end power.

Turbo = Pure, unadulterated filth with gallons of torque :D

 

Turbocharging a VR6 has all the theatre and a character an S/C can only dream of, which totally changes the dynamic of the whole car, not just the engine.

 

I hated my Vortech charger and wish I'd gone straight to turbo. It doesn't actually make any boost until you're past 4000rpm, and even then it's only a few psi. It's not until you hit 7000rpm do you get the full 8psi. Some people like that, but I didn't and the irritating noises it made p1ssed me right off very quickly.

 

If I was to do an S/C again, I'd go for the Rotrex, but again, they are more for top end. Turbos are just torque monsters and on that note, don't size it too small, or it'll just wreck the gearbox and your tyres. A GT35R sized unit is spot on for a VR6.

Edited April 25, 2012 by Kevin Bacon

[poll250 0]

Well, yes and no. If you went for Stealth's kit you could have that and a brake and clutch upgrade for £5.5k and not even have to get your hands dirty! You might have to go for 2nd hand OEM brake upgrade but it should be do-able. Ok, so you wont get all the fancy labels but it's still a very reputable kit.

 

Mark

 

Be under no illusions, the Stealth route will end up costing you a lot more than 5.5k once you take all the ancillaries into account. That said mine has been super reliable (Turbo wise at least) for the last 12 months :)

 

Contact Vince at Stealth and get a drive in the demo car booked!

[Jim 2]

And take a change of pants. It's a strange sensation being in a Corrado that goes that quickly!

[VAG-hag 0]

turbo = pure, unadulterated, filthy, gallons of torque :d

 

.

 

nsfw!!!!

[j_s14a 0]

In a nutshell.... having done both:-

 

Supercharger = top end power.

Turbo = Pure, unadulterated, filthy, gallons of torque :D

 

Turbocharging a VR6 has all the theatre and a character an S/C can only dream of, which totally changes the dynamic of the whole car, not just the engine.

 

I hated my Vortech charger and wish I'd gone straight to turbo. It doesn't actually make any boost until you're past 4000rpm, and even then it's only a few psi. It's not until you hit 7000rpm do you get the full 8psi. Some people like that, but I didn't and the irritating noises it made p1ssed me right off very quickly.

 

If I was to do an S/C again, I'd go for the Rotrex, but again, they are more for top end. Turbos are just torque monsters and on that note, don't size it too small, or it'll just wreck the gearbox and your tyres. A GT35R sized unit is spot on for a VR6.

 

A GT35R must be a monster on a VR6, my Supra made 500hp on low boost on a GT35R!

 

I'd have thought a GTX30R would be a better street turbo for a Corrado, faster spool and still 500hp potential

[coullstar 0]

GT35 is very good as Kev said. I had one in mine as well. Low boost and some impressive figures, they really are torque monsters. I miss the feeling soo much, I think I will have another one day. Best thing to do is compare power / torque graphs to show the difference rather than just look at numbers.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

A GT35R must be a monster on a VR6, my Supra made 500hp on low boost on a GT35R!

 

I'd have thought a GTX30R would be a better street turbo for a Corrado, faster spool and still 500hp potential

 

That's because a Supra cylinder head flows a lot of air. The 12V VR6 head is major bottleneck! :D It's no myth that the more air an engine can breathe, the better it will be with a turbo. That's why the Supras, Skylines, VTECs, M3s, R32s (Golf) etc all make shed loads of power from low boost.

 

I ran a GT30R on mine originally and it brings the torque in a bit too early for my tastes. Plus the stock gearbox doesn't like so much torque kicking in so early in the revs either. 3rd gear alway the first to go and we've even seen a member on here lose 5th gear with a GT30!

[Stonejag 10]

I've been thinking about doing one of either for a while so this thread has been really useful :)

 

Am I right in assuming a turbo would be pretty much useless on an auto since you can't control revs independent of engine speed? Mechanically a supercharger makes more sense to me as I generally have to drive with higher revs than you lot due to having one (or two) fewer gears, so the limitation of only producing significant boost at high revs wouldn't be such a problem. Under hard acceleration my box shifts at the redline, so I get 1st->2nd at 15mph, 2nd to 3rd at 80mph (!) and 3rd to 4th at 115ish - with a supercharger I'd have max boost all the way up and I'm guessing overtakes would be much more fun :lol:

 

Stone

[coullstar 0]

Would the box handle the torque?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Not a cat's chance :D

[coullstar 0]

That was my concern. Would be fun if it did!!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I think it's more the torque converter that can't handle it.

[coullstar 0]

Much like RS6's then. Fookin expensive if that goes wrong!!!!

[Stonejag 10]

I think it's more the torque converter that can't handle it.

Sounds like a challenge to me :D

 

The box is supposedly rated to 270hp before mods... I think the main issue would be whether it could handle the overrun when changing gears, could be speeded up with a ported valve body though. Cooling isn't a worry now it's all done on an external radiator, and the gearbox ECU doesn't throw a fault code until 185 degrees anyway..!

 

Has anybody actually tried it rather than 'knowing' it's a bad idea? Autos can't be that bad or I wouldn't have beaten all my opponents off the line at Santa Pod, even if they did then thrash me :lol:

 

Stone

[dr_mat 0]

Auto boxes are pretty strong, but it's just not cricket, you know ... :)

I just wouldn't. You know where you are with cogs and splines - and they're easy to uprate or fix. Uprating an auto box means finding something with a larger torque converter..

Auto boxes are good for getting off the line but as you know they're somewhat inefficient in normal use and you just don't get the control you get with a manual box.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Just get a drag car torque converter :D The gears themselves will still be a weak point, depending on the torque. Remember the manual box can only handle 350lbft maximum, reliably * and it's much stronger than the auto.

 

I've bent many a torque converter in my old BMWs playing silly buggers at traffic lights, and that's with no more than 180lbft.

 

* = Normal road use and taking care to ease off the gas over bumps. And no regular 1/4 mile lauchings!

[Stonejag 10]

Fair enough - my second gear sounded a bit dodgy earlier after my (failed) first launch start so I'd better add parts cover to my AA membership quick :lol:

 

That said the scrapyard I found the Corrado in (see the cars for breaking section) has an auto Mk3 VR6 so I think I'll nab that one if they don't want silly money. Worst case it can sit in the garage as a spare, best case it's good enough to swap over...

 

Stone