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When you are looking to install a turbo charger, it is generally because you want to increase your cars performance; however the down side of having a high performance vehicle is that it increases the fuel consumption. Turbo chargers increase the air that enters into the cylinders and by increasing the air intake you increase the fuel intake.
When more air is squeezed into the cylinders, more fuel is also taken in and this allows you to get more power each time the cylinder fires. This can give the vehicle up to 50% more power, and the easiest way to achieve increased performance is to install a turbo charger. There are other ways of increasing the performance such as increasing the size of the cylinders, but this is not necessarily feasible on some vehicles.
The cylinder contains a piston and the average car has four cylinders; however there are vehicles with six or eight. Some motorbikes, electric lawn mowers, chainsaws etc have only one cylinder.
In high altitudes vehicles lack in performance due to the thin air, a vehicle installed with a turbo charger can also lack slightly in performance; however this is less noticeable due to the fact that the turbo charger can take in the thinner air easier which will help you increase the overall cars performance compared to lower altitudes.
The turbo charger is bolted to the exhaust manifold. Inside the turbo charger is a turbine which is spun by the exhaust flow from the engine, this makes the turbine rotate 150,000 times per minute (RTM). The turbine then spins and sends air into a compressor, which compresses the air. The compressor also acts like a type of pump, which thrusts the air into the cylinders.
Cars with carburetors or fuel injection will increase the fuel flow to match the flow of air into the cylinders if it is increased; however in the event that a turbo which creates too much boost is fitted to a car with fuel injection, the program or controller may not allow enough fuel.
There are a few small problems with turbo chargers, one of them is that at slow speeds the turbo charger does not cut in and stepping on the gas does not improve speed greatly; however when it does cut in you will really feel the forward thrust of the car. You can expect Turbo to kick in when you let the car rev higher. A smaller turbo charger will provide more boost when driving at slower speeds, although it may struggle to provide adequate boost at higher speeds. To rectify this some vehicles have two turbo chargers, a small one for the slower speeds and a larger one for faster speeds.
Manufacturers that produce turbo charged engines take into consideration, that there may be downside effects in installing a turbo charger to their engines. The same sort of considerations should be taken before applying a turbo charger to a standard engine, especially on small air cooled engines. Engines that were not designed initially for turbo chargers, may suffer damage caused by the stress of increased power.