Turbo Charging Gas Engines ?

[brian eiland]

..thought this might be of interest to those that have gas engines on board

"In addition to employing lightweight design, hybrid drives, and optimized injection systems, automotive industry development engineers are designing smaller internal combustion engines in order to achieve their ambitious targets of significant reductions in vehicle fuel consumption, and thus of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, in the next few years. Early market analysis by Continental led to the conclusion that almost all European and Asian engine manufacturers were focusing on developing small turbocharged gasoline engines, and that there were excellent opportunities for growth in this segment in the next few years"

...more HERE

[daiquiri]

Ehm... Maybe I've missed the point, but - what's the news there?
It's been at least 7-8 yrs by now that small turbocharged diesels (around 1.4 liters) are being used in automotive industry, and even 1.2 liters TDs are being introduced lately.

[brian eiland]

Originally Posted by daiquiri

Ehm... Maybe I've missed the point, but - what's the news there?
It's been at least 7-8 yrs by now that small turbocharged diesels

Gas engines, not just diesel

[rasorinc]

All Subaru engines in their cars have been turbocharged for years.

The BMW TI models to mention just one Brand. More than 40 years ago.

[rcig]

I turboed twin 165 mercruisers (inline 6 cyl). saw a nice increase in power but ran into reliability problems.

[brian eiland]

A lot of gas engines are not built to handle the extra forces involved in turbo, or super charging

[Jimbo1490]

Originally Posted by rasorinc

All Subaru engines in their cars have been turbocharged for years.

Maybe some are. My '04 Forester is not turbocharged.

Jimbo

[Jimbo1490]

Originally Posted by brian eiland

A lot of gas engines are not built to handle the extra forces involved in turbo, or super charging

I guess you never got into the whole Buick GN scene, back when that was hot. Not to mention Porsche 911/930.

Jimbo

[Ike]

Automotive Gas and Diesel engines have been turbocharged for at least ten years and the trend started at least 25 years ago. Actually, the latest trend is back to supercharging. If Ford is just starting to turbocharge their engines then they are way behind the curve.

[Frosty]

Supercharged Bentley 1930's.

Spitfire during 2nd world war.

[thudpucker]

Originally Posted by rcig

I turboed twin 165 mercruisers (inline 6 cyl). saw a nice increase in power but ran into reliability problems.

Are you talking about the GM 6 cylinders?
Did you get too much boost? How did you know what the boost was? Did you have a guage?
The reason I'm curious is because its a coming thing for older engines. It should be reliable if the boost is kept down around 2-5%.

I had a Mitsubishi 2.5 Turbo and my friend had an Izusi 2.5 Non-turbo. My engine would pull his down the road backwards. Got better milage and started better too.
I like the Turbo Idea. Especially for hi-speed cruising at a fixed Rpm.

Originally Posted by brian eiland

A lot of gas engines are not built to handle the extra forces involved in turbo, or super charging

Sorry brian, thats not true. Every ic engine can handle that, no matter diesel or gas. The question is to which extend charging (compressor or exhaust turbo) is sensible before a noticeable decrease of lifespan takes effect. Bentley (Bentley Blower), Mercedes, Audi, all used compressor charging during the late 20ies and 30ies.
The early 60ies have seen the introduction of the modern exhaust Turbocharger, mainly KKK and Garret, the 90ies brought the combination of a compressor for the lower rpm range and a turbo for the higher. (Mercedes, VW).

So there is absolutely nothing new in this field.

Regards
Richard

[brian eiland]

Originally Posted by Originally Posted by brian eiland

A lot of gas engines are not built to handle the extra forces involved in turbo, or super charging

Originally Posted by apex1

Sorry brian, thats not true. Every ic engine can handle that, no matter diesel or gas.

So I guess there was or is no real need for those 4 bolt mains, custom pistons, extra ring sets, more robust rods, etc in certain 'forced air input engines'

Originally Posted by apex

The question is to which extend charging (compressor or exhaust turbo) is sensible before a noticeable decrease of lifespan takes effect

Care to define what this decrease in lifespan might be?? I would say that if its too short a short lifespan, then the 'engine was not properly built to handle the extra forces' !!! That was what I was saying, not all engines are built to live under 'supercharging' for a reasonable lifetime, as they were never intended to be put to that use.

[Cheesy]

Originally Posted by brian eiland

So I guess there was or is no real need for those 4 bolt mains, custom pistons, extra ring sets, more robust rods, etc in certain 'forced air input engines'


Care to define what this decrease in lifespan might be?? I would say that if its too short a short lifespan, then the 'engine was not properly built to handle the extra forces' !!! That was what I was saying, not all engines are built to live under 'supercharging' for a reasonable lifetime, as they were never intended to be put to that use.

There are really too many variables to give an answer to that. The most common reason for an engine that has had a turbo fitted to fail is detonation. So basically if you run low enough boost and fuel with high enough octane rating you may not significantly shorten the life of the motor at all.