From what I've seen from this site alone, many people go the SC route rather than turbo. Whats the reason behind most doing this (usually you find it to be the other way).

 

Mostly because the first 2 S/C kits that were complete bolt-ons worked well. The first 1 or 2 two "so called" kits for turbo applications turned out to be incomplete and left their owners with tuning nightmares which required thousands of $$$$$$ more to just make them run. Although today, some guys have claimed they have done a turbo for very little money, the norm is that it is still not a cheap and simple route to take. It all comes down to finances and how much time and patience and expertise you have at your disposal.
I've had my Vortech kit on my car for over 1.5 years. I just bolted it on and have never had to "tweak it" and I've never even "tuned" it. It has never given me any trouble. I'm not sure how many of the current turbo owners can say the same. Remember, it's a very high compression motor. This makes blowing it that much more of a challenge. If you're up to the challenge and have the money, a turbo may in fact be more gratifying. I just don't want to spend that kind of money nor do I wish to spend that kind of time and I get enough gratification with a S/C.

ps. If this thread doesn't get mechanical or technical and remains a philosophical debate, I'll move it to S2000 Talk.

 

well, i'm looking for technical advice (but your comment was apprciated )

 

SC's came out sooner than the turbo kits, and over time they have proven reliability. Bugs kept getting worked out on the turbo kits, so people looking for FI went with the obvious working choice.. the SC

But now after a few years, there are a couple decent companies that have made the right adjustments with their turbo kits to run with reliability of the SC.

But when going turbo, you will most definitely have to fine tune the engine management or you'll have some serious problems. You can get away without doing this with a SC, but it would still be better I'm sure.

 

why is that the SC "seems to get away" without tuning over the turbo charger?

 

S/Cs contribute useable boost up high in the rev range. Turbos contribute their boost lower down. If a turbo was designed to boost up high like a S/C, it wouldn't need as much tuning either. Boosting down low is a more dramatic change in running parameters. It has it's advantages and disadvantages.

 

You can "get away" with it on a SC because the kits come with their own FMU. It's pre-tuned from Comptech and Vortech. Like X said, the characteristics of the SC bringing boost on higher in the RPMS only require minimal tuning to be done. But the SC companies already took care of this, but taking extra time tuning it more wouldn't hurt either.

Turbos make their presence noticeable earlier than SC's requiring even more extensive management systems and tuning to be required.

 

exactly..... the turbo is meant to make loads of power throughout basically the entire rev range whereas the s/c (the centrifugal ones as offered for the s2k) do not see full boost until near redline. It depends on what you want, the major advantage of the s/c is that you can drive the car nice, and put relatively low strain on the motor, but have the power there when you need it. The turbo route will be a much more costly route. If done right and tuned right, the turbo will be rewarding, although it will most likely render the car as a non-daily driver.