Blown Skyhawk at Nations?

Discussion in 'Race 400/430/455' started by mltdwn12, May 24, 2004.

  1. Gr8ScatFan

    Gr8ScatFan ^That Car Is Sick^

    Yeah, you do have to see the cars in person. Now we have two blown BBB to see at the track. Rod's runs about half a second better than Jerry Chambers' Skyhawk and Jerry seems to have a larger blower. They are both Littlefield blowers for sure but Jerry seems to have the bigger one. If so, Rod is doing more with less.
     
  2. Adam Whitman

    Adam Whitman Guest

    Danie',
    Rod's a man after my own heart. I want my cake and eat it too also. If you can't drive it on the street, it's just not that much fun.

    I have a 494 and was considering a blown 455 for better street manners and of course the visual affect. Not quite the monster power you've got there though.

    Are aluminum rods being used? How much boost?

    You've told me enough to show your buildup is operating out of my league. Thanks for the helpful information. Anybody ever say you two could be the Buick Jungle Jim and Jungle Pam? hee hee
     
  3. blown455

    blown455 Pit crew

    Are aluminum rods being used? How much boost?

    Adam- Yes he uses aluminum rods. He has an old set for sale. They would be fine for a car not make as much power as he is. Not sure if you would need anything that big though.

    As far as boost goes he is now running 18lbs at the track. On the street he is getting about 8-10lbs cruzing around. More when he puts his foot in it, but you really can't do that on the street with this car.
     
  4. Adam Whitman

    Adam Whitman Guest

    :Dou: I understand exactly what you are talking about.

    Thanks so much for anwering all my questions!
     
  5. blown455

    blown455 Pit crew

    What kind of performance are you looking for? A blower for the street , the strip or both?

    Rod said that if you want to build it for the street do this.... Low compression, stock crank, after market steal rods, retard msd box, street blower, low boost 8-10lbs, large radiator, on gas. If you were to take it to the track, should be about a mid to high 10 sec motor.

    If you wanted to wait until winter to build this Rod's intake manifold would be for sale. Otherwise you would have to have one made.
     
  6. Buicks4Speed

    Buicks4Speed Advanced Member

    ???????

    I understand you can not surpass the look of a blower stick out of the hood. It has "MEAN" written all over it. Money aside, why not go to to a large centrifical blower. They are much more efficient and should generate more power on the same boost. IF you are at that limit with the block, your wasting HP spinning that big ass supercharger. Thats my whole approach with the nitrous. If a block is power limited, why waste power turning a supercharger. Hopefully I can get the combination figured out to spray 400-600hp. Spraying that much is just a matter of hitting the button, figuring the cam event to get it to work right is the trick,especially on a small tire. Not to knock the combination by any means, it very impressive but just for conversations sake.
     
  7. Adam Whitman

    Adam Whitman Guest

    Danie',
    That's exactly what I am considering. Maintaining quench with low compression pistons is one thing I've been concerned with, hence, all the questions about pistons and compression. But I know that's not an issue when running the compressions you do with alky. Please keep me in mind when the manifold comes off. :)

    Rick,

    You're abosolutely right with your thoughts. This engine would be for my 50 Olds, so the blower is for visual as well as performance. Keeping with that "old school" look.

    As you know my 'lark is juiced and the current engine for the Olds might be too if I ever get the car back together. I wish I'd have gone with milder cam and compression and considered more n20 so I could later go with a blower of choice, but hindsight is 20/20. :DoNo:
     
  8. blown455

    blown455 Pit crew

    A centrifical blower works more like a turbo. It doesn't build boost as soon as you stick your foot in it. Rod's set up gets boost as soon as he sticks his foot in it. Also in Rod's case they don't make a centrifical blower that would work with the amount of hp he is making. You also need electric fuel injection to make it work right. These blowers would work great on a smaller street motor.
     
  9. blown455

    blown455 Pit crew

    Adam- I'll keep you in mind for the manifold. Let me know when your getting closer to putting this motor in motion and maybe you can pick Rod's brain over the phone if you have more questions.
     
  10. Buicks4Speed

    Buicks4Speed Advanced Member

    Not ENough????

    You don't think they make a centrifical big enough to support the HP he's making. WELL..........ProCharger makes a wide range of huffers and the top dog is good for 2300HP pushing 4300 CFM and 32 pounds of boost. And you can change the pullies to make boost wearever you need it. They do tend to be a little soft down bottom but nothing like a turbo. Pound for pound of boost a centrifical will run circles around a blower. YOu are right, they run best with fuel injection but they have cars making 1495 hp on pump gas with a 427 cu in motor running carberators. This car runs 8.18 at 170 mph on PUMP GAS at 3400 LBS!!! Any comments? You can go to ProCharger.com for more info if you like.
     
  11. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    I wish I knew how Buddy Ingersoll did it, but he had his turbocharged V6 leaving the line at full boost over 15 years ago! Kicked some butt, too.


    What can I say, it's all good! :TU:
     
  12. blown455

    blown455 Pit crew

    Well sounds like you know more than me (Rod), John Force, Jim Oddy, and everyone else that runs a roots style supercharger. Your 1400 hp pump gas motor sounds like a typical magazine article that only gives you half the information. Like the fact that the intercooler was probably iced to 30 degrees, the temp int the dyno room was 40 degrees with 0 humidity.... so on so forth. I think these style blowers are cool, but if they are the best why doesn't Top Fuel use them.

    My supercharger and injection system is capable of well over 3000 hp, but my block is not. But to each his own.

    Rod

    1/8 5.22 @ 138.74
    1/4 8.07 @ 172.85
     
  13. blown455

    blown455 Pit crew

    Adam- there is no need to worry about quench in a blower engine, they just like lots of room. If your going to run it on gas put the biggest dish piston you can get in there and the biggest chambered cyclinder head you can get. Aluminium heads will help remove some heat from chambers. I would recomment TA stage 2 heads out of box.

    Rod
     
  14. Tom Haeffner

    Tom Haeffner Well-Known Member

    car

    I saw your car in 2000 i believe, and it was truly awesome seeing you guys take off from the hotel, and go cruising.I think it was still in primer that year but i cant remember.There is nothing like the sound of a blower on the street.Have you guys dynoed the engine ?.Id be curious to how much it makes.Your time slip info says 2900 lbs, so low 8s at that weight is amazing.Well ,good luck on your quest for the sevens. T haeffner.
     
  15. Adam Whitman

    Adam Whitman Guest

    Rod, thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to contact you if/when I go that route. I already have the heads, so I'm part way there. The shortblock and keeping it bandaged together is the key I haven't decided on. I've even considered a mild shortblock to get by and play with at low boost, but I know I'll end up pushing it to the limit. Why have a blower if you can only make the same HP as a N/A without blowing it up?

    My biggest decision will be how to mix my existing engines so that I'm not tossing one of my good engines to justify building the new one. I have to get the 494 to run cool enough to go in my "driver" car. The block was filled just a little too high and the oil temp gets hot for somewhat normal street driving. I may have that fixed, but haven't tested it yet.

    Keep me in mind on that manifold. :)
     
  16. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    I pulled mine down because of a knock, and what I found was the piston skirts had collasped (bowed in) causing a lot of piston slap. These are speed-pro pistons that I had equalized the weight on by drilling dimples in the bottom. The funny thing is, the pistons with the least damage (two with none) were the ones with the most dimples. I guess the extra weight was where it needed to be!

    These pistons have seen a lot of abuse as I've worked through problems, and at one time have seen over 22 pounds of boost. The tune was so far off though it ran like a pig. These pistons are over 10 years old and I don't know how they compare to the new ones.
     
  17. Kerry s.

    Kerry s. Is Jesus YOUR Lord?

    Hi Guys.

    Adam.....I've found it to be all in the overall oil capacity! It's my personal opinion that with the less-then-good oil system Buick designed for the BBB's, and that unless you are running an external belt driven pump like a Peterson, that an oil cooler is probably not the way to go as it will more-than-likely be a restriction and bleed off valuable pressure.

    I would be interested in hearing if others have experimented with a cooler and pressure measurments before and after the cooler, as well as the front and the back of the engine itself.

    Afterall, I always leave the door open for the possibility of my being wrong.:TU:
     
  18. Adam Whitman

    Adam Whitman Guest

    Kerry, I wiped out the cam bearing which I blame on trying a cooler. There's just too many bends in the system already.

    I have a pro-stock style pan on it I built (based on your advice I think) and run 12-15 Qt's in http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20163&highlight=laugh . It took longer to do it, but it'd still get hot unless ambient was below ~70 *.

    I have now welded a water jacket on one side of the pan. I plan to circulate water through it via the heater hoses. We'll see how it works when I get the engine back in. Not exactly an ideal heat exchanger design, but hopefully adequate.

    By the way, I will never mig-weld anything that holds liquid together again. Damn pinholes! (I'm not that great a welder, but gas welding seems to create a lot less leaks)
     
  19. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    When I upgrade my bottom end I intend to switch to the "Scavenger" oiling system. That will get rid of a bunch of 90 degree bends and help the pressure.

    http://www.thedinosaurgang.com/neat.htm
     
  20. GSThunder

    GSThunder Dejavu

    Rod, I also admired your car cruising the Nats a few years ago.
    Way cool, especially when I saw you rip off an 8 second pass the next day...:eek2:
    Anyways, I am planning on putting a 8-71 blown 455 Buick in the 32 Ford coupe I'm presently building. I had planned on using a kit from Don Hampton as he was the only one I found who lists a kit (with intake) for a BBB.They also have a steel crank hub in the kit. I already have a set of 75 455 heads to lower compression as much as possible.
    Do you have any advice for building a STREET 455 with a blower?
    I've helped two different friends assemble their chebby blower motors so I'm not COMPLETELY in the dark about what a blown motor needs, but then again our Buicks aren't chebbys...:laugh:
     

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