Me first. Let's just say I wanted to improve the power of my Grand Am. (Not that I do, just something to consider.) Should I go the Eaton M62 supercharger route for 3k or a NOS kit for about $300? Could my car even handle the Eaton blower? GM tried it out and put a tranny from a Bonnieville and some stiffer shocks on there and still never produced it. But hey, what does GM know..... Then agian, is the NOS really worth any money? I'd have to pay again and again to fill the tank up. And not to mention without lighter pistons it would only kill my engine faster. Not good.
the blower is certainly going to remove any reliability you have in that engine. remember, you're taking a Naturally aspirated engine and submitting it to forces and power levels it is not designed to sustain. somewhere, something is going to break.
It was a "what if" situation. I'm stuck with the Grand Am, I can't afford to sell it, trade it in or anything. I'll just keep taking care of it and so far it's been okay. It will need some new CV joints here soon, but other than that nothing costly.
What year? Four or six? What displacement? What transmission?
With none of the critical information I'd need, I can't really say what's best. I can tell you that nitrous will destroy your motor if it's not set up properly (and most people don't set it up properly), so if it's a six then you're best off with the supercharger. If it's the four it's probably the twin-cam 2.4L. Get a turbo. If you go forced-induction, you can safely run between 6 and 8 pounds of boost without risking much. Your power gains will be modest, but you won't blow up your engine.
Modest is a bit of an exageration... Most turbo cars are only running 12-15 psi... I think that if he runs with 8 or so, he would see a nice amount of power.
remember guys, its not boost that matters, but cfm. ALL engines hate running under any pressure, let alone 20-30psi or even higher. its about how much air you're moving, not how much pressure you're creating. a larger turbo running low boost will make more (RELIABLE AS WELL) power than a small one at high boost.
I had a tiny little turbo on my old Firefly (a 1 liter, 3 cylinder engine with a turbo, go figure), no lag at all, it' was pretty sweet. I miss that car.
Not that small, but not a big one by any means. Damn, that thing had a lot of jump for a three cylinder. Oh how I miss it. It was a total piece of crap, but I loved it like a child. A very ver retarded child. With rust holes.
