What Does Supercharging A Car Mean?
January 26th, 2012 Muscle CarsWhat Does Supercharging A Car Mean?
Supercharging your vehicle means that you’re increasing its horsepower. Once you do it, it can launch from a dead stop and accelerate quickly. A lot of people think that supercharging is a relatively recent option. In fact, it’s been around since the 1930′s. Back then, the problem was that giving your car a healthy boost in horsepower was extremely expensive. Plus, the technology that was used was beyond the abilities of most mechanics. In short, if you wanted to supercharge your car, you had to have a lot of money and an advanced auto technician available.
Over the last several decades, the process has evolved dramatically. The technology is far more accessible to mechanics and the cost of doing the job has decreased substantially. You don’t have to be rich in order to have it done. Below, I’ll describe how supercharged car enjoys more horsepower. I’ll also explain how that translates into better performance.
How Supercharging Works
As you know, your engine goes through a combustion process while you’re driving. That process begins when the intake valve opens. In a conventional system (that is, a system that hasn’t been supercharged), the piston lowers and creates a vacuum into the chamber in which combustion takes place. That vacuum sucks in the air and gas.
In an engine that has been supercharged, the vacuum is still created. But, rather than waiting for the air and gas to be sucked into the chamber, both are pushed into it. Car enthusiasts will know that the pressure that’s directly responsible for the “push” is called the boost. For the average motorist, it’s enough to know that the boost is what provides the extra horsepower.
How It Improves Performance
When the air and gas is pushed into the combustion chamber, the mixture is compressed due to the pressure. That means there’s more air and gas present for combustion than what be available in a conventional engine. The mixture’s compressed density creates a more potent eruption. That explosive quality of the compressed mixture creates the jump in energy which propels your vehicle.
You may have seen drag races or similar events in which the vehicles seem to practically jump off the starting line. That’s caused by the supercharged explosion within the cars’ combustion chambers.
So, how much extra power can you squeeze out of your engine from supercharging it? On a traditional engine, you can expect to enjoy over 50% more horsepower. And if you have your mechanic make other modifications (for example, changing the camshafts), the difference in power will be even more dramatic. If you need the speed, think about supercharging the engine.
Tags: Muscle Cars, Supercharging