6G Celicas Forums

I had a thought this morning about superchargers, fuel efficiency, and hustling people at the drag strip.

A twin screw or positive displacement supercharger provides nearly instantaneous power across more or less the entire rpm band of an engine. However, this will cause parasitic drag on a crankshaft when not in boost. I remember hearing about a clutch type system that volvo (iirc) was developing that could be activated by a series of settings in a car's ECU relevant to RPM and Demand (aka amount of throttle). So that got me thinking.

A clutch based system where you could open or engage the clutch by pressing a button in the interior could be used for both fuel efficiency and power, eliminating most of the issues inherent to a Belt Driven Supercharger. When you don't need the extra power, you turn the setting to off, it opens the clutch, allowing the pulley to spin freely, and it disengages the blower and alters the fuel trims, timing, and other associated engine parameters to run the car as if it was NA. This would be perfect for saving a little fuel by reducing parasitic losses from adding a supercharger to an engine, and can also reduce wear at the same time.

On the other hand, If you usually run the car in the disengaged supercharger position, you could use it like a nitrous shot that never needs refilling and requires less time consuming maintenance and doesn't require you to go pay the insane prices for nitrous (usually around 35 dollars, last I checked, for 10 seconds of use on a 10 pound bottle with a 100 shot). Engage the clutch via a button, The ECU alters the fuel trims, timing, and other engine parameters, the supercharger boosts your power and you go faster.

This could also be used to hustle folks at the drag strip, by slapping a visible twin screw supercharger on a car that didn't have one originally, you already tell someone you're quicker than stock. Race them without the supercharger the first time, and feel free to open the hood, and tell them you wanna go again if they beat you by just a little, but engage the clutch and then ask to race them again for a bit more money. Would be easy money, right?

It this something that could be achieved for a reasonable price additional to a supercharger kit, or would it cost a lot extra to run a system that works basically off of bluetooth connection and only can be changed while the car is off? I think you could package it in a slightly different nose piece on a twin screw unit for about 350-500 dollars extra, which will pay for itself in winnings or fuel savings on the back end, while the company makes money on the front end by adding an optional feature.

The point of hiding it so much is because when you race for money, you typically get to look under the opponent's hood, so showing you have a little extra to make the race more interesting, and then intentionally losing the first race and winning the remaining etc is no different than sandbagging, really.

This would also work even better with a twin charger set up with a twin screw feeding into a turbocharger, but now we're talking a lot of money and even further complication.

The benefit of this system over any other system is both the reliability of the system and being able to completely pull the supercharger out of the equation. Unlike a diaphragm setup that is activated by suction, this system can be run without worry of accidental engagement.

Thoughts? It'd be like putting a tiny blue tooth operated clutch in a twin screw nose piece instead of making a needlessly intricate system to engage and disengage another thing.

-Lorelei "By George I think I've got it" Moira.

You'd be ruining the hallmark of a Toyota, reliability Racing is great but sitting in the pits is...the pits. Better to turn in 10 slow laps than 1/2 a hot lap.

or you could just do... drag racing because its more fun in the "wrong" car.

-Lorelei

This post has been edited by Box: Jul 28, 2020 - 11:23 AM

It's like all you care about is power and straight lines, and I only care about suspension and corners. When our powers combine...

- Casey "Gotta make it handle" Box

We have a jack of all trades, but a master of none. Who says a decently fast car can't handle?

- Lorelei "No sense buying a car and modifying the suspension if there isn't any power" Moira

This post has been edited by Box: Jul 28, 2020 - 4:27 PM

By your powers combined you'll end up with a half finished project that can't do anything well and does everything terribly all while being unreliable and a pain to drive. Don't do that. A car that's always broken never gets driven and car that never gets driven is worthless.

^This.

Everything comes at a price though, especially when you want power and handling in one car. I've learned that I put a much higher priority on suspension and handling dynamics than I do on power. Yes power is nice to have, but I'm not obsessed with having obscene amounts. I'm happy with what the Miata has stock, just throw on some 15x8 with summer tires and maybe some quality coil-overs and I'll be a happy lass.

~Casey

Mmhmm.



I'm a terrible person because I would do that if I pissed money and I **** perfect diamonds.

- Lorelei "Diamond ****" Moira

This post has been edited by Box: Jul 29, 2020 - 8:14 AM

Have someone allegedly wanting to buy the Firebird, so I guess we'll see. Even though I'm taking less than I'd like I'm not losing money, and it would be going to a 33 year old woman so I wouldn't have to worry about it as much(hopefully). That and there are a plethora of NB1 Miatas for $2,500-3,500 at the moment locally.

The last time I got a quality NB1+ Miata for sub 5k was before Phil Swift had a mental breakdown

-Lorelei "Brains Turning to Mush" Moira

This post has been edited by Box: Jul 30, 2020 - 10:25 PM

I think you've lost it.

~Casey

That would imply they had it to begin with.

Agreed. I cannot lose that which I don't have.

-Lorelei "The Brain Cell Gambler" Moira

The seat bottom is a real pain to get snapped onto the metal seat frame, it's hog-ringed to the foam and I've got it loosely on the frame to let things stretch a little before the final pull and snap but it's going to suck. It feels like it's too tight but that's what she said.

Ahh yes, that was an utter pain when I swapped the foam and covers around on my 6th gen. Hmm... I don't remember saying that at any point...

Turns out the buyer was a farce I suppose, so I trashed the listing and started over. Whatever.

I got it on but I think the foam moved under me when I was pulling the cover on, my friend knows a good upholstery guy so I might hand it off and the other seat bottom too, the back is easy.

I was just creeping Casey's post history (Girl, you have no idea).

I find it ironic to see how little she's changed (Aside from gender and pronouns).

On the other hand, I'm the complete polar opposite of who I was 5 years ago.

-Lorelei

Also:
You don't say?

Was this actually Casey's Handywork?

I was a girl on the internet for years before I officially transitioned, so that could be why.

Also I'm pretty sure it was my original idea, that or I'm imagining it.

~Casey

I mean you are who you are, regardless of which flappy bits you have or wish you had.

I wish my only flappy bits were on my chest, I don't like the bits between my legs. Sigh... I know it doesn't define me, but it's hard when there are parts of me I hate beyond words.

~Casey