Turbo charger or supercharger for an '85 Z28 Iroc-Z Camaro?

Answer 1

Supercharger. Instant throttle response, less heat under hood, probably better reliability. Be sure to buy one with an intercooler, since pressurizing the air heats it up, and you want the coldest air possible into the intake. And remember--there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. A super charger is simpler to install than a turbo, but it will decrease fuel economy about 3 to 4 percent. A super charger will have fast throttle response A turbo will not effect fuel economy while at Cruise speeds, but turbos has a thing called turbine lag which is the time between when you step on the throttle and the time the turbo starts to make boost, about 1 to 3 seconds depending on the size of the turbo. You can get more power out of a turbo depending on the one you get. The problem with a turbo is it will hurt your gas mileage plus you will have a problem with detonation. If you were to bolt on a turbo every time you go to turn off the car you would have to sit and let the car idle for about a minute. To bolt on a turbo correctly you would need a front mounted inner cooler and an after market turbo timer; then you would not have to worry about detonation or having to sit and wait for turbo to cool off before you turn it off. To set up a supercharger right it would cost between $3500 and $4000. To set a turbo right with a turbo timer and inner cooler would cost about $2500. To do both isn't a bad idea either As old as your motor and drive line in the car probably are, you'd be better off looking to swap in a GEN III small block, an LS1. For the money you will spend on tuning the car you could find a used LS motor from a wrecked Camaro or Trans-Am in a wrecking yard for -/+ 1,500 $. Unless your going for a really mild forced induction set up, your old transmission, rear differential, brakes as well as other things will need to be either replaced or rebuilt to handle the higher power levels. Now if you were to buy a running LS1 with the transmission and wiring harness, you would be ahead of the game already. Almost a 100 horse power bump depending on the stock motor you already had. A quick search on Google, I've found a built LS1 with the trans and harness for 7,500$, that motor makes 510 HP as per the ad's claim, which is more than you would see on the upper end of a turbo or supercharging setup. I'm not saying buy someones built motor, buy a stock LS1, buy new better flowing cylinder heads, high lift cam, and larger intake manifold, with supporting mod's. You will net the same or more horse power as you would adding a forced induction setup to your TPI 350 or TBI 305. The car will be much more drivable, ultimately more reliable as well. I'm not saying you should not go for a FI setup if that's what you really want to do, I'm just saying, you'd spend in the same ball park money wise, with more reliable, and likely, more power from building an LS1. Just something to look into. If you do decide to go FI with your car, look into a Procharger or the like, I have not researched it, I'm sure they have some sort of preassigned package. It should be easiest to install, and should come with some sort of programmer. Make sure and get a Dyno-tune done on the car, just because they do provide some software, does not mean it will work 100% with your car, you want to make sure everything air/ fuel / ingnition wise is in line, if it'd not THAT will lead to detonation. Don't forget, DON'T neglect the supporting mod's like your brakes, tires, rear differential, transmission, as well as fuel, and ignition. Not necessarily in that order, the last two being important to it running correctly, but all should be addressed the more power you want to make will show the weaknesses in the car. Like I said, a used GEN III LS1 with transmission and harness would be the cheaper way to go, leaving allot of the upgrades already taken care of, aside from feeding the new motor more fuel, as well as getting the power to the ground through a new rear differential. You could just salvage the fuel pump and rear assembly from the donor car as well. You will need other parts, a K-member to match the car the motor and trans came out of, and other miscellaneous things, there are plenty of article on what you need, do a little bit of searching on google. Look in to it, you may get a better result for less.

== ==