sathackr
New Member
Ok. Buddy and Dylly are correct.
I'm not a turbo expert but I do understand the basic laws of physics and the principals of fluids under pressure, the work required to move them, and what happens to them when you perform work on them.
Take 2 tanks of an equal volume...say 0.5 cubic ft (scuba tank).
Fill one to 20psi using a small compressor.
Fill the other to 20psi with a big compressor.
Q. Which compressor moved more air?
A. Neither. Both tanks have the same volume of air at 20psi. (Ok, maybe the one filled with the small compressor has a tiny amount more air as it took longer to fill and had time to cool, but the difference is negligable)
At a given pressure, your engine's cylinder(essentially an air tank), at the bottom of it's intake stroke, will hold a given amount of air(.8125 liters to be exact).
It doesn't matter if you used a leaf blower or Hurricane Katrina to push that air in there. If they are both at 20psi then they both hold .8125 liters of air at that 20psi.
Now...all turbos create backpressure. Anyone who says a turbo is free energy is not correct. That 30psi of backpressure the GM-4 turbo generates to make 15psi of boost...What do you think created that? A compressor...your piston to be exact. And guess what it took to compress that air? Energy. Where did that energy come from? Your crankshaft. Energy used to compress air going out the exhaust valve is energy that doesn't make it to your rear wheels.
If you install a more efficient turbo that can create an equivalent level of boost at a lower backpressure, you just saved yourself that energy that was initially needed to drive your inefficient turbo at 30psi. I think the ATT dropped the backpressure by something like 20psi. Less energy to drive the turbo = more energy to drive the wheels.
And we got another nice effect...ever felt an air compressor when it's running? Yep it's hot. As anyone that's ever looked at the IAT under boost knows, when you compress air, it gets hot. But wait...we're compressing the exhaust gas less. It used to be at 40psi, now it's at 20psi with our new, efficient turbo. Guess what that means? Lower exhaust temperatures. Probably significantly lower. Ever seen your IAT under 20psi of boost with no intercooler? Probably somewhere around 400 degrees...a 300 degree increase in temperature for that 20psi. Since our exhaust is cooler guess what we can do? Make more power!
So...that nice performance increase you saw didn't come because the turbo has magic pixie dust that flows more air at the same psi. For a given temperature, volume, and pressure, the mass of the air must remain constant, at least in this dimension. The performance increase came from the more efficient wheels that create the same level of boost at a reduced backpressure.
Horsepower requires fuel. Fuel requires air. The more fuel molecules and air molecules you can pack into your cylinder, the more horsepower you can make till it goes boom. The less of those horsepowers you use to make that horsepower, the more you have going to the wheels.
I'm not a turbo expert but I do understand the basic laws of physics and the principals of fluids under pressure, the work required to move them, and what happens to them when you perform work on them.
Take 2 tanks of an equal volume...say 0.5 cubic ft (scuba tank).
Fill one to 20psi using a small compressor.
Fill the other to 20psi with a big compressor.
Q. Which compressor moved more air?
A. Neither. Both tanks have the same volume of air at 20psi. (Ok, maybe the one filled with the small compressor has a tiny amount more air as it took longer to fill and had time to cool, but the difference is negligable)
At a given pressure, your engine's cylinder(essentially an air tank), at the bottom of it's intake stroke, will hold a given amount of air(.8125 liters to be exact).
It doesn't matter if you used a leaf blower or Hurricane Katrina to push that air in there. If they are both at 20psi then they both hold .8125 liters of air at that 20psi.
Now...all turbos create backpressure. Anyone who says a turbo is free energy is not correct. That 30psi of backpressure the GM-4 turbo generates to make 15psi of boost...What do you think created that? A compressor...your piston to be exact. And guess what it took to compress that air? Energy. Where did that energy come from? Your crankshaft. Energy used to compress air going out the exhaust valve is energy that doesn't make it to your rear wheels.
If you install a more efficient turbo that can create an equivalent level of boost at a lower backpressure, you just saved yourself that energy that was initially needed to drive your inefficient turbo at 30psi. I think the ATT dropped the backpressure by something like 20psi. Less energy to drive the turbo = more energy to drive the wheels.
And we got another nice effect...ever felt an air compressor when it's running? Yep it's hot. As anyone that's ever looked at the IAT under boost knows, when you compress air, it gets hot. But wait...we're compressing the exhaust gas less. It used to be at 40psi, now it's at 20psi with our new, efficient turbo. Guess what that means? Lower exhaust temperatures. Probably significantly lower. Ever seen your IAT under 20psi of boost with no intercooler? Probably somewhere around 400 degrees...a 300 degree increase in temperature for that 20psi. Since our exhaust is cooler guess what we can do? Make more power!
So...that nice performance increase you saw didn't come because the turbo has magic pixie dust that flows more air at the same psi. For a given temperature, volume, and pressure, the mass of the air must remain constant, at least in this dimension. The performance increase came from the more efficient wheels that create the same level of boost at a reduced backpressure.
Horsepower requires fuel. Fuel requires air. The more fuel molecules and air molecules you can pack into your cylinder, the more horsepower you can make till it goes boom. The less of those horsepowers you use to make that horsepower, the more you have going to the wheels.