1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
George, at a guess, what you are probably referring to are the guys who turbo Nissans and Yotas and other ricers. The reason they can get away with it is because those cars have relatively low compression ratios to start with, about 8.5:1 to 9:1 and are engines which get their horsepower out of revving high. The max power on those motors is all up around 5000 rpm or more. This low compression ratio is one of the reasons the engines need to be revved hard to give max power and also gives the leeway needed when a turbo is added that pushes that ratio up under boost, say to 10:1 or more.
The N/A Saab 9000 engine, by comparison, *starts* with a 10:1 compression ratio. You boost that to 11:1 or more and the stresses on the internal parts are huge--beyond what the internals are designed for. So the engine will run, but it won't last a long time, especially if you use the loud pedal very often. You may not care about it lasting, and if that's the case, go do your wrenching and let us all know what happens.
Also by comparison, a turbo Saab engine has a base compression ratio of about 8.0:1 (I forget the actual number). When you add a turbo that increases dramatically and you get 170, 200 or 225 hp depending on the model, turbo and ECU. In addition to the lower compression ratio, Saab changes a lot of stuff inside the engine so it will last a long time. It's not at all uncommon for a Saab turbo engine to run well over 250K miles. But that's because many parts in the engine are designed around the engine being turbocharged. There probably aren't many ricers with aftermarket turbos that have run 250K miles.
Can you put a turbo on a N/A Saab? Sure. But it won't run as smoothly, reliably or as well as an engine designed to have a turbo, and it just won't last, unless you just putt around in the thing and don't really use it. What can fail? Start with a blown head gasket due to high pressures in the combustion chambers. Then melted, cracked or shattered pistons. Other fun things follow.
Think this through before you pull the trigger. It's not as simple as you seem to think it is.
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.