Hi everyone

firstly, great site, nice cars and wow, what a membership list!!!

would someone please be able to clear up the life long question i have got? How exactly does a turbo work, what is the difference between a turbo and a supercharger (apart from a super charger being belt driven) and why would anyone ever put a dump valve on their car - surely it is a bad thing?

1991 XR2i - Mercury Grey, due a respray, lowered on spax, OZ F1 cup alloys. hopefully upgrading to a turbo soon, maybe escort?

 

this might help ...

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/supercharger.htm

dump valve can stop turbo damage once a certain level of power and turbo size has ben reached .. it allows the compresssed air in the system to be released and thus stops the compresser wheel trying to turn against a high resistance pressure...

 

Excellent reply, the main differnces are that a turbo needs a certain amount of exhaust speed to drive the turbine fast enough to generate boost, the supercharger does not as it is always ready and does not need spool up time.
I think that turbos are newer ?, as I know old racing "BLOWER BENTLEYS" were kicking the germans bums years ago in racing, these had superchargers, as did spitfires, two stage if I am right ?
Dump valves are there to help prolong the life of turbos due to reasons mentioned,ie to elliminate as far as possible compressor stall, the fact that they are fitted as standard on a most turbos installs must mean they do something or manufacturers would not waste their time with them.
Anyone older than me care to tell me I got it all wrong, probably.
tabetha

 

Another link for you

http://www.turbochargedpower.com/Tur...%20Blowers.htm

 

Im not sure if turbos are newer than superchargers, but there cant be much of a difference in age as turbo chargers were originally developed around 1910

 

Turbos are newer than superchargers, but they have probably been around for longer tahn you think. Turbo chargers were originally developed around 1910, and apparently the supercharger predates "the automobile"