hvacdude

What is the function of the surge tanks on our cars engine ? I couldn't find anything about the purpose, what they do, why they are there. Thanks.

Efivehundred

hvacdude, think of the surge tanks as plenums. They serve the same purpose.

hvacdude

Ok, so they are like reservoirs full of air to provide plenty of air for the super charger. They are , in a sense the intake manifold ? Do people put spacers on the bottom of them to provide even more air capacity ? Like putting a spacer under a carburator that mounts on top of a intake manifold, like they do on American muscle cars ?

Efivehundred

No, they are downstream of the supercharger to provide equal amounts of air to the cylinders. They are large volume manifolds. The spacers I've read about on the forum are phenolic spacers to slow the heat transfer from the heads. I don't think there are performance gains by increasing plenum volume on a forced induction engine. The spacers for carburetors can be for slowing heat transfer, depending on the material, and increasing plenum volume or increasing air velocity.

hvacdude

"No, they are downstream of the supercharger to provide equal amounts of air to the cylinders"...

Okay, so hence the term "surge tank", to prevent surging, provide a equal amount of air flow to the cylinders.

When you say "down stream", are you saying the surge chambers are filled up with {compressed} air out of the kompressor ?

Is the compressed air in the surge tanks mixed with fuel then ?

Is the amount of compressed air going into the engine regulated ? I thought I saw a butterfly damper of some sort under the kompressor.

How much boost {in psi} is the kompressor making ?
My Torque pro app {bluetooth OBD software} has a boost gauge. I have seen the boost go as high as like 23lbs when I floor the gas. That seems pretty high, Is that boost reading including the 14.7 atmospheric pressure ?

Thanks for putting up with my questions about my engine. I am just trying to get a better understanding of what and how the kompressor works. I really appreciate the input.

Efivehundred

Yes.

The fuel is added to the air just before it enters the cylinder.

Could be the bypass valve.

I think the max psi is 12 with stock pulleys. 23 psi is high. It shouldn't include atmospheric pressure.

You're welcome. There is a lot of info in the forum. Search and spend a lot of time reading.

C32owner

Well then yes the 23 psi indication on the torque pro app is including the 14.7psi... Therfore your actual boost is 8.3psi..

There is a setting in the torque app where you can select/deselect the compensation of 14.7psi

Ps : what altitude are you running at?