Turbocharging and supercharging a vehicle is a great way to improve the performance of your engine. Whether you have a small displacement engine or a large one, you can greatly improve all areas of engine capabilities by utilizing one or the other.

To understand how a turbocharger does this, we'll cover the basics first.
Most cars are what is called naturally-aspirated(NA), which means that they use atmospheric air pressure and the vacuum created inside the cylinder to suck air into the combustion chamber. This is power-robbing system is fine if you just want a car to get you from point A to point B, but if you are seeking a more exciting ride, then forced-induction (FI) is for you. FI means that air is being pressurized in the intake manifold to a level higher than atmospheric pressure. This extra air is called boost. Because fire needs air to burn, more air in the combustion chamber will allow more fuel to be used, which will release more energy when it is burned. More energy released means more horsepower and better performance.

The two methods of forced induction are turbocharging and supercharging. A turbo works much like a supercharger in that both use a turbine or pump to pressurize the air. The major difference between the two is the means by which they are powered which causes several other differences as well. A supercharger is spun by a belt attached directly to the crankshaft of the engine. It delivers almost instant boost the moment the throttle is opened because how fast it spins is dependant on the crankshaft. The downside to a supercharger is the fact that the extra energy required to spin the blades puts extra load on the crankshaft and thus subtracts from the total horsepower gain. This is called parasitic loss. Another downside to a supercharger is it doesn't reach full boost until the engine is nearing maximum RPMs. A turbocharger is different in each of these areas. A turbocharger uses exhaust gases as its power source. The exhaust travels from the engine and spins a turbine which is connected by a shaft to a compressor wheel that creates boost. This has an advantage over a supercharger because it uses energy that would normally be wasted, so it is a pure power gain. A turbo will also reach full boost in a lower RPM range than a supercharger which puts less stress on the engine and its components. The disadvantage of a turbo is that because it is driven by exhaust gas, the turbine doesn't begin spinning quickly enough

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