Turbochargers

The turbocharger, or a just simply the turbo, has been around for just on 100 years. It was invented by Swiss engineer named Alfred Buchi in 1905 and was first used on diesel ships and locomotives from the 1920s. It was used on production airplanes from the 1930s and on trucks from the late 1940s. But it only found its way under the hood of a production car in 1962 when it was used on the Oldsmobile Cutlass Jetfire.

As a forced induction system, a turbo is nothing more than an air pump that is driven by the engines exhaust gasses. It consists of a compressor-wheel and a turbine-wheel that are connected by a common shaft. The compressor increases the density of the air that enters the intake manifold by forcing more air than what the engine would normally suck into the manifold. This higher intake air density than produces more power when combined with the correct amount of fuel. This is similar to the way NOS allows more fuel to be burned by providing extra Oxygen as explained by Ian. The major difference between NOS and a turbo is that the turbo provides a constant supply of extra Oxygen while NOS only provides a limited supply.

You've got three options when it comes to laying your hands on a turbo car:

• You can buy an OEM turbocharged car such as a Mitsubishi 3000GT, a Nissan 300ZX, a Nissan Silvia spec-R, a Toyota Supra, etc.
• You can buy an aftermarket turbo kit for your car. Here there are many options to choose from. There are Garrett turbo kits, STS turbo kits, Turbonetics turbo kits, and so much more.
• You can also build you own turbo system.

A complete turbo kit consists of the turbocharger as well as the necessary parts required to integrate the turbocharger with the car's engine. This includes an exhaust manifold, plumbing to connect the turbo to the intake manifold, and can include an intercooler as well as cooling and lubrication feeds for the turbo. When building your own turbo system, selecting the perfect turbo for a particular application can be a real challenge as no one turbo is best suited to all applications.

There are a number of things you need to consider when selecting a turbo. These include:

• Engine capacity
• Number of valves
• At what RPM to you want the turbo to come in
• The type of fuel you plan on running
• The turbo boost you plan on running
• The amount of horsepower you want.

[Source www.custom-car.us]