KA-T Turbo Question!

[morpheus78]

Does a turbo only give the car more power on WOT at certain RPM's or is it more power across the entire powerband?

-DAVE

[Craving4Boost]

its possible to make some power not WOT....but you'll wanna be WOT if you want your turbo spooling good. why do you ask?

[fiznat]

The turbo will make power only when it is compressing your intake charge. Depending on the size of your turbo/flow characteristics of your engine etc a turbo will usually begin to compress air around 1500-2000 RPM, and keep going until it has reached your desired boost level, where it will then maintain that pressure through the remaining RPMs. To answer your question, a turbo will ADD power everywhere in the powerband above 1500 RPM. This is, as I mentioned, dependent on a number of factors but it is a rough number that you can go by. It is also important to note that the farther your throttle plate is open (the more you press the throttle), the faster the turbo will spool. You CAN spool the turbo at half throttle, but generally WOT is really where the turbo comes alive.

[Craving4Boost]

its impossible to not put your pedal to the metal when its starting to spool!! lol geez...everytime you drive every gear has a transition feeling and it just want to bring the pedal home

[C-Kwik]

At WOT, a motor will see more power generally when manifold pressure becomes positive. So the question is really answered by knowing when a prticular motor and turbo combination starts to see boost. And where this occurs is largely dependant on turbo sizing.

[morpheus78]

So i guess itll be kinda like my nitrous setup? It doesnt replace a bigger engine.

[C-Kwik]

not necessarily. Depends on what context you speak of. Anything that allows more air to flow through a motor will generally increase power. Displacement, Engine speed, and forced induction all do this to increase power in a motor. Big displacement motors can have some advantages, but you can certainly match it's power level(with the bigger motor being NA). What you can't do with the KA is have forced induction into a huge motor and get even higher power levels.