There are several classes of supercharger... major classes are attached (such as roots style, Eatons, Whipples, KenBell, etc) and non-attached (Paxton/Vortech, etc) The Vortech are like a belt driven turbo. The pros of the Vortech over a turbo is you don't have the exhaust restriction, no parasitic exhaust heat against the compressor, and no lag as it is instant boost since it runs off the crank.
Let's face it.. ALL engines are nothing more than air pumps... the more efficient you can run air in and out of that pump the better the engine is going to run. I've seen many applications of water injection for increased cooling of the fuel-air charge, cools the EGT's and which gives you more power.
If you look at a dyno graph of a single turbo engine, vs a supercharged engine... you will see VAST differneces in the HP and torque curves. On turbos, you have a high spike in the HP and torque curve. With Superchargers torque is flat... like with my 2003 SVT Cobra, I have 16lbs of boost at 2200 rpm under load.
With a turbo you have to build rpm to start getting any boost, and when you load a turbo engine, you have to stay ontop of the power curve or it will be a domino effect of continually losing power due to as the rpm's drop, the boost drops, the torque drops.. which further allows for reduced rpm, and the cycle continues. So for a turbo.. manual transmissions and gearing is critical to keep the engine at optimum torque rpm rage.
This is not the same for supercharged engines... boost is instant maxes out earlier in the rpm range. It's also VERY easy to tune a blower by changing pulley sizes and boost by-pass settings to meet the operating needs. Typically.. a supercharge engine it's easiest to run an automatic trans as gearing isn't as critical as your optimum torque range is a wide band. Ohh and the guys who say a supercharger saps too much HP than it's worth? You've obviously never owned a blown vehicle! lol I've owned both.. and when you hit the peddle... a blower car will instantly push you back in your seat, and the turbo car will slowly accellerate.
Now.. once you get to high rpm and/or long duration running ... turbos start to get more efficient. But honestly.. do we run our trucks a million miles over the road or run at high rpm with little loading? For most of us no.... We want torque for climbing hills, driving in the woods, hauling a load... etc.
So the more I'm looking at this truck.. the more I'm looking at putting a supercharger on it vs a turbo.
Plus.. I actually am one of those crazy guys that like a challenge and to be different. lol
