On Feb 4, 5:05*pm, Tim wrote:
On Feb 4, 3:42*pm, Jack wrote:





On Feb 4, 3:45*pm, Tim wrote:

On Feb 4, 1:34*pm, Jim wrote:

Tim wrote:

I don't look at it that way. The question regardless of who posted it
was talking about supercharging an outboard engine. And i replied..
Actually, in the motorcycle relm, there have been companies who hav
supercharged racing 2 and 4 stroke engines since back in the 20's.. Not
saying it's practical though, because if it was, then everybody would
be offering it.

I agree. *Looked around a bit to find out. *To get max speed out of a
small boat it would be a fun project.
But between me and you, that's just boat talk.
Didn't mean to ruffle feathers.

At various times both *GM and Ford offered super and turbo chargers on
various models. Of course they didn't last long. They could have been
developed well but I think that both manufactures wanted to get in on
some mysterious performance hype that really didn't work out.

But I will say that my brother has a factory supercharged 3800 in his
Buick Lesabre, and it's got over 200,000 mi on it. still runs well and
strong.But who knows the bottom end of the engine might explode
someday. It's a fun ride when you nail it though..fantastic torque!

Actually Ford has been pretty active in both super and turbochargers.
The Ford GT, Shelby Mustangs, and later year F150 Lightnings are all
supercharged V8's, as was the V6 in the Thunderbird SC's in the 80's.
The '84-86 SVO Mustangs were turbocharged and intercooled, so were the
Merkur XR4Ti's (remember those?). *Ford's new ecoboost engine in the
Taurus SHO is a twin-turbo V6.

Audi has been very active as well with turbos, and they offer turbo 2
liter motors in their new A4's. *An '05 A6 we used to have had a twin
turbo V6. *Europe has been using turbos, especially turbo-diesels, for
years.

While gas was cheap, cubic inches have ruled as the cheap, easy way to
get horsepower in the US. *With turbo or superchargers, you can have
horsepower when you want it, but enjoy the economy that a smaller
engine offers when you're just putting around and cruising. *I think
we'll be seeing this a lot more.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Probably will see more of it, now that they're working to develop with
some perfection instead of mere sales gimmicks. *But that's what I was
saying, though offered at various times, the US industries didn't
really prosper under the turbo and supercharger offerings. Kinda like
they came and they went. A friend of mine had a turbo Capri (2.3L) and
once you got past the "lag" It would move! *But it was *dropped. *The
Pontiac Turbo TransAm was joke. *Pontiac came up with a neat idea and
put the turbo in probably the weekest engine that they had, the 3.1,
Then the Buick skyhawk V-6 wasn't any better. Good idea but sorry
engine. Heck, when I was in highschool a friend of mine had a Corvair
"Turbo Monza" That was the valve burningest car I knew of.

*The 70's-80's technology is obviously old hat now, and yes, I think
you'll see blowers of one form or another, coming back quite
extensivly. In Europe, they're finding that on E-85 fuel (corn
squeezin's) the turbo is making a tremendous difference in HP and
economy. No reason why it shouldn't work in the gasoline marine
industry as well.

Not to belabor the point, but it wasn't a "sales gimmick", it was real
power. It's just that in the past, no one wanted them when gas was
still less than a buck a gallon, and a big V8 would give you the HP
and torque you wanted. Now that big V8 is too hungry to feed, and the
technology will be more palatable to the American consumer.

BTW... I owned a 1985 Mustang SVO with the turbo 4. It would
absolutely kill the V8 version in every aspect except at the drag
strip. The brakes and handling were among the best available at that
time any price. Consumers just wouldn't pay more money for fewer
cylinders, and poor sales killed it. Too bad, it was an amazing car.