Supercharger Install Cost – Is It Worth It To Turbocharge Your Engine?

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Car owners often feel frustrated when their vehicles accelerate slowly and show poor top speed. It’s not needed much in the city traffic but once you enter one of the highways, you want to speed it up to feel the tingles in your legs and brain. And the majority of naturally aspirated engines will frustrate you once you push the pedal to the metal. The airflow is not strong enough to burn the fuel more efficiently, so the acceleration will be slow. This trouble is solved in turbocharged cars.

A turbocharger is not a magic box that makes your engine accelerate faster. It’s just the system that builds up more air pressure in intake so that more fuel could be injected at a certain moment. This leads to much more efficient acceleration, better top speed, bigger power, and higher torque, especially when the engine is rotating fast.

Today we’ll see if it makes sense to install a turbocharger to your naturally aspired engine and also how much it actually costs. Here are some questions we’ll answer:

  • is it worth it to include a turbocharger;
  • what else will you need but a turbocharger kit;
  • how much will it cost to turbocharge your engine;
  • what results will you get after charging up your vehicle;
  • which cars shouldn’t be turbocharged.

Let’s start right away!

Should you ever consider turbocharging your car?

Turbochargers are quite an old technology, but carmakers have only started using them widely in the automotive industry recently. A lot of wonderful engines and legendary cars don’t have many options for better acceleration and more power, although those engines are capable of delivering much more fun when driving. This brings many people to the idea that they could install a turbocharger and tune the engine to have more power and torque.

The idea is quite popular, but it comes with some difficulties. A turbocharger is basically a simple unit that will blow more air into the engine when you press the acceleration pedal. But this unit has to be properly oiled, it needs proper air filtering, it doesn’t like shaking and all those things you will find hard to avoid.

Here are the problems you can face:

  • many naturally aspired engines have no place to install the turbocharger – just the lack of space under the hood can be a problem;
  • even to fasten the TC unit under the hood may be a problem for a mechanic;
  • you will need to tune the engine properly, to use another version of the software for the ECU, but sometimes there is no such version, so expensive manual tuning will be required;
  • oil supply has to be installed, otherwise, your turbine will work for a couple of days;
  • some turbochargers will need an intercooler to work properly;
  • some engines won’t work properly when turbocharged because of ECU restrictions, they will just go to a limp mode.

As you see, numerous problems and issues can disturb you from a wonderful driving experience if you decide to turbocharge a naturally aspired engine.

The first thing you should do is go online and try to find any relevant information on forums. A lot of people want to tune their cars and they install those turbochargers. If you find a person who has successfully done this, read his or her blog articles or forum threads to get more data.

Also, count the money. Whatever they say, turbocharging any engine can be expensive. It’s not a plug-and-play tuning part that you will just need to fasten properly and use with pleasure. It doesn’t work like that, so let’s find out how much you will need to pay.

How much will it cost to turbocharge a car?

Once you decide you aren’t afraid of all those difficulties that come with the idea of installing a turbocharger to a naturally aspired engine, you may start thinking about the budget. It’s highly individual as the price for a turbocharger kit may vary depending on a chosen brand and the type of the kit.

The cheapest (and probably the worst) option is to go to the Chinese marketplace like Alibaba and find a Chinese aftermarket turbocharger kit for your car. These may cost you $200 - $1000, but their main problem is poor quality. You never know what kind of a turbocharger you buy, and the kit will contain dozens of poor-quality parts that you will need to replace soon after you install the turbine.

The second option is to search for used turbochargers and then buy some other parts to install them. In America, this will cost you $1,500 and more for the whole kit depending on what kind of a turbocharger you want to buy. But buying a used turbocharger is actually not a very wise idea. These parts are quite tender. If they were used with bad oiling, they are probably destroyed and will need expensive repair.

The third option is a new turbocharger kit. Usually, the price for decent ones starts somewhere near $3,000 and more. The final price may be even $10,000, or $20,000. These kits are the best choice but they have one huge disadvantage – their price. If you are ready to invest this money, you should choose this option.

The best brands you can count on are BorgWarner, IHI, Mitsubishi, or Cummins (mainly for diesel engines, not suitable for gasoline engines modification).

Can you install the turbocharger by yourself?

Well, the costs of buying a turbocharger may not be as bad for you. But you will need the pay to install all those dozens of parts into your engine. For this, many people will just find a mechanic who can get all the work done easily for one or two days. But some will try to save money and do the work by themselves. It’s not recommended as, basically, you will have to reequip the engine. You’ll have to know everything about engine construction to complete this task.

In the process of installing a new turbocharger, you may easily destroy the expensive parts if you have never done this before. Sometimes it’s better to pay professionals and include that money in your original expenses.

How much will the labor cost?

The prices vary again depending on which service station you choose. We investigated the forums in order to find out what the real price for turbocharging an engine can be. And we found out that usually, people pay around $800 to $1000 if it’s a simple turbocharger. But if the engine is old or the system is too advanced, the prices will go up.

Some service stations claim that the price of installing a turbocharger will be around $2000 for any car. Some companies won’t even look at your car until you are ready to pay $3000 or more for tuning your engine. So you will have a lot of options to choose from and you will see that the prices differ much. But in this sphere, expensive labor doesn’t mean good quality. Bear in mind that you will want to find a service station that offers high-quality work.

What advantages will you get with your new turbocharger?

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Well, at first you need to know that installing a turbine isn’t the last step of tuning your engine. If you just install that thing and start your car, the engine will probably stall or will just go to a limp mode. In this case, you will have to tune the ECU. New software settings are needed to ensure that the engine and the turbocharger work together quite well.

If everything is done correctly, you will get such advantages:

  • more power – the engine will deliver 30-50% more power at high RPM;
  • optimal fuel consumption in high speed – the consumption will stay low when the RPM is quite high;
  • more torque – the engine will deliver better torque at high RPM;
  • better acceleration – as you have more power and better torque, the car will accelerate faster;
  • sharp reaction to the acceleration pedal.

Of course, gaining more power is the most important thing for everyone who wants to install a turbocharger. But other advantages should be taken into account. When you drive your car with a naturally aspired engine on a highway, you need to rotate it fast to achieve the needed speed. But if you have a turbocharger, it will ensure better torque and power at a certain rotation level. That’s why you will need less fuel to drive at the same speed.

Some engines that shouldn’t be turbocharged

Before finishing our today’s article, we want to give some hints for those drivers who shouldn’t invest money in turbocharging their engines. You need to know that some engines shouldn’t be equipped with any additional units that can offer higher power.

Here are some examples:

  1. Older engines with carburetors. Turbines will work well with an injector engine, but the carbureted one isn’t that good. The massive airflow won’t allow you to drive any faster.
  2. Engines with high mileage behind. If your engine has already driven over 150 000 miles, it’s a bad idea to invest money into tuning the unit for more power. The investment won’t pay off and the engine will be broken soon.
  3. High-efficient and low-capacity engines. You know, all those modern 1.5-liter engines with 150 horsepower work at the top of their abilities. Once you add a turbine, you will end up repairing your engine all the time.
  4. Engines that have proven to be unreliable. Adding a turbocharger to your engine means that the wear of the parts will increase. This will lead to a sooner engine death.

Also, you shouldn’t install any kinds of turbocharger kits or any other equipment if you drive your car in the city and never use it for sport driving. If your task is to drive the kids to school and then get to your office, there is no need for a turbocharger. You won’t even feel that you added something to your car, but your budget will.

Verdict

Well, turbocharging a car is not a simple task at all. You will need to buy an expensive kit and then pay a person who will install that kit. You will also need to make sure your current tires fit the new power you have in the car. One more thing to consider is the transmission. The automatic-manual transmissions like Ford PowerShift, for example, are designed to withstand a certain amount of torque. Once the torque is higher, the transmission will ask for repair or even replacement.

As you see, the turbocharger for your engine may lead to a chain of expenses. So make sure you have calculated everything and you are ready to pay for the joy of having more power and torque in your car.


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CarAraC Research

About the authors

The CarAraC research team is composed of seasoned auto mechanics and automotive industry professionals, including individuals with advanced degrees and certifications in their field. Our team members boast prestigious credentials, reflecting their extensive knowledge and skills. These qualifications include: IMI: Institute of the Motor Industry, ASE-Certified Master Automobile Technicians; Coventry University, Graduate of MA in Automotive Journalism; Politecnico di Torino, Italy, MS Automotive Engineering; Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Mechanical University in Skopje; TOC Automotive College; DHA Suffa University, Department of Mechanical Engineering

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