Both engines will make more power, and both will see changes, but a turbo or supercharged engine will with no doubt see MORE power from a cooler temp... especially a intercooled forced induction...

Not only does the turbo have MORE air to compress which means it heats the air up a fraction of the normal amount, which is a greater drop than just ambient change. so already, right there forced induction tops n/a temp change, then you have an intercooler which uses ambient air to cool the charge even more, so what does this mean? The intercooler will be cooling the already cooled charge an even greater amount.


Simplified - Dont look at final temp goin into the engine as the story teller, look at the difference in temps. NA, sees a temp drom from 90 to 30 degrees... 60 degrees for all you highschoolers...
Forced induction - very very different on engines but Ill pull some numbers out of my ass.. 20psi out of a t3 - 278* cooled to 160 by an intercooler... temp outside drops 60 degrees the charge coming from the turbo will drop more than just 60 degrees, so lets say... hmmm... 90 so charge at 20psi out of the t3 is 188 then the COLDER intercooler cools the charge the same amount, effiencey stays the same.. well atleast in my demonstraition for ease and not wanting to type anymore it will so it cools it to 70 degrees... now that is 90 degrees in a total difference... more than the N/A saw... and with this being boosted, wouldnt there be even more of it noticed since its compressed air and not just being pulled in the engine by pressure drop??? more oxygen and a colder temp...

 

raw hp to raw hp the turbo car might make more actual individual hp than the n/a. but to compare the engines fairly u have to look at percentage. the n/a might make 5-10% more as to where a turbo would maybe only maybe a percent or 2 more. though the turbos 2% would likely be higher than 10% of what the n/a motor makes.

the point im trying to make is n/a cars will fair far better under perfect conditions, as to where there are usually many other variables that effect {1/4 mile performance} the turbo car.

u can spare 10 hp from a 500hp motor and never miss it. you gain or lose 10hp from an n/a car and that could make or break your whole day.

 

You can spare 10 hp from a N/A 500hp motor and never miss it also.

 

I only hit about 7 PSI in 1st, maybe 10 in 2nd. ECU Limits the shit outta low gear boost so my tranny stays alive.

 

Really? Interesting.

 

most n/a motors dont make 500hp. much less i was assuming we were talking 4 cylinders here, and ive yet to see a 500whp n/a 4 cylinder.

and its not ur ecu limiting boost in first... its first gear limiting boost boost is basically a product of load. if an engine is allowed to rev freely its not really producing much in the way of torque {notice cars never build boost when u just rev the engine, or very little at least} first gear makes the engines job alot easier and it doesnt happen for very long {until u shift to 2nd} most turbo cars dont have the time, or produce enough exhaust energy to spool the turbo in the short and basically easy going 1st gear. most cars will see slightly higher boost on the highway, usually in the way of boost creep.

on dyno's its different. if you have the throttle wide open, and the rollers are providing the load u can and will see max boost in just about every gear. still 1st can be a little too low to develop max boost. allbeit true running in 4th is the most accurate {closest to 1:1 ratio through the tranny} the numbers given in any other gear are going to be accurate as far as consistent. but will not show the exact same power readings as done in 4th gear pulls on teh same car. you will notice alot of people that make constant pulls {heavy tuning sessions} on the dyno will often do so in 3rd gear. the event takes less time to happen so u save engine wear {a little} , and dyno time.