At Prodigy Performance the most common question we get asked is how our Turbocharger Kit differs from Supercharger Kits. In order to maintain some level of balance in answering this question, we turn to an article from Redline 360 to see what they have to say…
Turbo vs Supercharger
The ultimate question in forced induction. People ask us all the time if it’s better to go supercharged or better to go with a custom turbo kit or an off the shelf turbo kit. Both are different in terms of how they work, performance and cost. We’re not going to get into the technical details of each one, but hopefully this information will show you the difference between the two so you can decide which route you are more interested in going on your car or truck.
Essentially, a turbo sits off of your exhaust manifold, and the exhaust gasses spin one end of the turbo (the exhaust side), which makes your compressor side spin also and force air into the intake system, therefore creating air pressure. Check our Stage 2 Turbo Systems HERE. A supercharger doesn’t work off the exhaust gas, it is attached to your engine and spins with the crankshaft. When the crankshaft spins the supercharger, it forces air into the motor. The turbo is more efficient as it doesn’t require engine power to spin it, so it makes more power per boost. A supercharger also does not create full boost until red line, which is when the engine is spinning the supercharger as fast as possible.
What is forced induction?
Both a turbo and supercharger are forced induction systems. They are designed to literally force air into your engine. The more air [and fuel] you can get into your engine, the more power your car will make.
What is a supercharger?
A supercharger is a unit that bolts to your engine and connects with a belt between your crankshaft and the supercharger unit. As the engine spins, it spins the supercharger and makes the supercharger force air into the engine. The size of the pulley that spins the supercharger determines how much boost you will make. A smaller pulley means the supercharger will spin faster so it will make more boost. The supercharger is limited by it’s efficiency, so if you overboost the supercharger, it will blow hot air into your engine and you will not make as much power (amongst a myriad of other problems). Since the engine needs to literally spin the supercharger, it is not as efficient as you need to use horsepower to make horsepower.
What is a turbo?
A turbo is similar to a supercharger, except it has an exhaust housing instead of a pulley and runs off of your exhaust gasses. As your car produces exhaust, the exhaust gas spins the turbine which causes the compressor to force air into the engine. A turbo is more efficient than a supercharger since your engine does not need to work harder to power the turbo. Because a turbo is not connected directly to the engine, it can spin much faster than a supercharger.
Source: https://www.redline360.com/garage/supercharger-vs-turbo-which-is-better-and-whats-the-difference
The Winner is…
Auto manufacturers have decided: the turbocharger wins by a wide margin. It’s not so much about power but rather fuel efficiency. Federal requirements for ever-improving fuel economy, strict greenhouse-gas emissions standards, and customers’ desire for good fuel mileage have driven carmakers to use turbos rather than superchargers. Buy Your Turbo System now.
The turbocharger has enabled automakers to replace a lot of V-6s with more efficient turbocharged inline-fours that provide at least equivalent power and often more tire-spinning torque, while turbo-sixes have replaced many V-8s in higher-performance sport and luxury vehicles. Global information company IHS Markit counts some 220 2018 models offering at least one turbocharged engine versus just 30 available with a supercharged engine.
Source: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a25412500/turbocharger-vs-supercharger-definition/
So it’s official… Turbo’s are better than Superchargers… Need more proof? Check out the dyno numbers comparing our Turbo product to that of other Superchargers and a naturally aspirated Jeep Wrangler JK.
power_stock_mag_ripp_prodigy_hemi
torque_stock_mag_ripp_prodigy_hemi
i am interested in putting a turbo on my 2011 jk 3.8 liter engine. What is the actual gain in HP and Torque? are there stage 1
/stage 2 option or is just one type of kit only? how much is it.
Todd,
You can expect around 280WHP and 320WTQ basically doubling your HP and TQ. We offer a stage 2 for automatic and Manual and a stage 3 for Manual only.
you can find the price right here
Interested in 3.8L stage 2 kit for 2011 rubicon 35” tires, 4.88 gears daily driver. Transmission cooler, head bolts if recommended. Gages still looking for best mounting kit. Live in Edmonton Alberta Canada. Any information would be helpful
Chris, Thank you for your contacting us about your Performance needs for your 2011 Rubicon! transmission cooler and head bolts are not required for stage 2 , as for the Gauges we do have a piller pod set up. I will email you directly the details and pricing to ship to Canada.. we do have great prices on freight!
I would like to know if the twin turbo coming out for the 2015 Dodge Challenger V6 will it be CARB certified for California state?
All though our Twin System was tested and is 49 state legal, it is not California Carb Certified.
Want to put a twin turbo on 2014 Jeep Sahara Unlimited .How much of a power increase can I expect ?
Hi Greg, We offer a single Turbo system for the Jeep Wrangler and we see increases of 150+ WHP.
our system makes more HP and TQ than any Forced induction application in the market. We also produce more HP and TQ than the Hemi and LS swaps that cost $30,000.00 We been in business over 12 years and we have our product in 30 countries. We also hold all the world records for HP and TQ for Jeep Wranglers from 07-11 JK/2012-2018 JK / 2018-2020 JL/JT.
Would your tuning allow me to run 87 octane if I so choose for a daily driving let’s say? Would I have to load a new tune for different octanes or could I change this with a single tuner? Would the boost be controllable from a tuner or a separate device in the cabin?
Hope my questions are not too annoying.
Thank you for your time!
Thank you for these questions James, you will not be able to run 87 octane with our system. even with tuning our product produces a lot of power and requires 91-93 octane at all times. the Boost is controlled by the mechanical wastegate from Tial, it uses a spring on the inside to do so.
I was wondering what the boost curve looks like. is it like 10psi all the time or like 12 psi toward the end?
good day Zach, turbochargers work way different than a supercharger where peak boost will be at the end of the RPM due to the fact it is controlled by a belt. causing it to be dependent on RPM. Turbochargers work on the wasted exhaust and our system is controlled by a external wastegate. this will build boost to reach peak boost and will stay there till end of RPM. example our system will reach peak boost between 2800-3200 rpm. hope this helps and if you have any other questions please respond here or contact us directly.
Is this kit something a mechanically inclined person can install themselves, or do we need someone to properly tune with the post mechanical installation? 2017 wrangler.
Mark, This system is a full bolt on system. someone with some mechanical knowledge can install in a weekend. Our system comes with a install manual, instructions on how to read the file to send to us and we give instructions on how to load the tune file. We do provide a base tune for our system that includes Transmission tuning as well. These systems are also in stock and ship same or next day.
How much power can the stock Dana 44 rear axle and auto trans reliably handle?
Cliff, Great question! We have ran our house Jeep on Stock Everything, Trans, Axles, Diffs, etc. We have raised the boost levels up to 12lbs making over 420WHP and have taken to the drag strip on drag radials making multiple launches with the stock set up. have not snapped or broken one yet.
our stage 2 system comes with a 7lbs of boost set up adding 150whp to your jeep. We also include transmission tuning with all of our Turbo systems for the JK 2012+. I hope this helps answer your questions!
2016 jk