Nerd’s Eye View: SEMA 2015 – Part 2

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Borg Warner had some new goodies on display in the form of the SX-E line of AirWerks turbos. The ‘E’ means new compressor wheel designs with drastically improved performance. This compressor map shows the old SX 91mm diameter compressor wheel with 66mm inducer compared to the new SX-E wheel. It’s obvious to see the new SX-E aero has much greater map width. What does this mean? It is less likely to get compressor surge and it has more choke flow resulting in more power capability. They were also able to increase peak efficiency from 75% to 77%.
The new SX-E compressor with 69mm inducer has the same surge line as the smaller and older SX 66mm inducer compressor wheel, but it flows a whole lot more.
Looking at the big boy S400 series of turbos, the smaller SX-E compressor wheel of 96mm diameter (but larger 72mm inducer) is compared to the 100mm diameter/71mm inducer SX wheel. Yeah, the new SX-E wheels flows boat loads more air. Again, peak efficiency was also improved from 75% to 77%.
Garrett by Honeywell had some new goodies sitting in the booth. Everyone is familiar with their intercooler cores, but it looks like they are getting into the business of drop-in intercooler replacement units. They benchmarked a competitors Mustang Ecoboost drop-in upgrade unit and were able to beat the competitor in both temperature reduction and pressure drop. Of course with the tie-in to Honeywell Aerospace which produces parts for civilian and Defense applications, you can be assured only the best aerospace grade materials are used. If you want to see Garrett by Honeywell make an application for you, let them know!

The OEMs are showing it is a really good time to be a track day enthusiast. As you MIQ readers know by following our various project cars, no cars made a decade ago were track ready off the showroom floor. Now you can buy straight from GM and Ford cars with brake cooling systems, oil coolers, and rear differential coolers! Of course, we’re greedy sorts who always want more power and the turbo companies are more than happy to oblige.

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