I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge or experience with a forced induction system and high altitude. I'm in Colorado and I know that I won't be able to compress as much air as sea level. I know a little about superchargers versus turbos, but not with thin air.

One question I had was if there is a major advantage with turbo or superchargers at this atmospheric pressure.

Thanks,
DK

 

Yeah, without FI @ altitude, the car simply sucks...

 

Superchargers you will not make as much power unless you swap to a higher boost pulley, a proper turbo setup with a MAP sensor, you will make equal power to someone at sea level.

You lose a little more than 2 PSI at your elevation.

 

Bottom,
to give you an idea of the difference FI makes at high altitudes, here is a quote from the NHRA altitude correction factors page,
NOTE: Supercharged and/or turbocharged cars (i.e.: AA/A, AA/AT, BB/A, BB/AT, A/PM and AA/PM) use half factor
...meaning generally the loss is half the time. I am at over 5000ft, I see the difference between boosted and N/A cars all the time. Like someone already said, without FI it sucks.

 

Here I get about 105 kpa, at higher levels you may see only 90 kpa! Thats ~12% less air. Less air = less petrol == less power.