Has anyone heard of a pro-charger style setup (with the hat ontop the carb or a carb box) on a Buick 455 or 350? I think it could work good. I have a tig and a plasma so I could make my own kit to adapt the unit to a buick. Anyone seen this done, or have info?
My friend David just got his done, go to the "Race" section and do a search of the user name "gs455david". He was thinking about selling some of the mounting brackets, he does have a bitchin set up. If you want to do a centrifugal supercharger, w/ carb box, he has a perfect example. I'm sure he'd love to tell ya about it. Gary G.
Boost and HP Since your on the boost subject. here is something for thought. 1 atmosphere/14.7 psi on a proper setup should give you double you natually aspirated Hp. 300N/A = 600 Boost. So 7 psi will give you half. 300HP N/A = 450 HP Boosted. And so on. Just a rule of thumb to go by.
Will a super charger be compatible with my combo? I was checking out the above mentioned super charger and had images of how nice it would look under my hood. However I have a lot of questions that maybe someone could answer. Does one have to design a motor around a super charger, certain cam, compression, bottom end prep, etc? The reason why I ask is my new motor is basically done and I don't want to tear it apart but was wondering if it could be super charged in the future even if its not full boost, how does one change the boost by the way? Right now my combo is a 455 motor, TA stage one aluminum heads (312 intake 220 exhaust), poston 113a cam and girdled oil pan, TA sportsman rods and weisco pistons (.038). The motor will be dyno tested but right now I dont have any HP or TQ numbers. I also don't know what the compression will work out to. What I figured is if the compression is not optimized for the cam or the HP numbers are short of what the motor could be pushed to then maybe the additional numbers could be obtained with the super charger. In other words if the compression falls below the 10:1 I was hoping to have (or some specified cranking PSI) or the HP lets say is maybe 500 to 550, then could I do a mild boost to bring the numbers up to 600 to 650 HP? I hope I worded this in a way everyone could understand what I'm asking. Also I dont want to use N2O so thats out of the question, I want the power to be there always and not temporarily. Will the power from a mild boost be felt in my intended RPM range (2500 to 5500) and at part throttle as opposed to only full throttle? Thanks for your input, Allen allioop108@aol.com
New articles just posted on the XSPerformance site will answer a lot of your questions about the engine build, but here are a few quick answers. No, you don't have to build the motor specially for a supercharger. There are some things that help, but really you build the engine primarily for the power you'll be making. Just like any other performance build. Yes, if you end up with 500-550 hp you can use a mild amount of boost to easily make 600-650. All other things being equal, you change the boost by changing the pulley size on the blower. A supercharger is ideal for giving you all the time power when you want it. Centrifugal supercharger power curves are FAR more linear than pretty much any other power adder. So, if you want power in that 2500-5500 range, it'll should be about perfect for you. XSPerformance
OK now I'm starting to see a whole new game plan. A few more questions so I can start planning this. How do I know how much is enough or if I'm going to far, dyno testing, boost gage, compression test. With the supercharger am I looking for a specific PSI if I do a compression test. As far as fuel sytem, I was going to get the new mechanical fuel pump from tri shield performance, that not so cheap billet pump. Will I still need an electric pump or will this cover my fuel requirements. Also when you speak of linear power curves is this equivelent to a cam with narrow lobe separation where it has a power peak, in other words increases to that peak then dies out? Allen allioop108@aol.com
Not sure what you mean by how much is enough or if you're going too far. But here's a suggested plan of action... Use a chassis or engine dyno and do a baseline. That way you'll know what kind of power that you are producing and where (what the power curve looks like). Based on that information, the specifications of your engine build, and knowing what kind of horsepower you want to make a pulley ratio is engineered to get you in the ball park. After you install the system, go back to the chassis dyno and have it tuned in. An hour on the chassis dyno is really invaluable for tuning ANY car, particularly a supercharged one. The chassis dyno operator can help get the carburetor, timing, etc., perfectly dialed in to make sure you have the correct air/fuel ratio to prevent detonation and maximize power. With regards to the fuel pump. The only pump we recommend is the Aeromotive A1000. By linear power curve, we'll see if we can get one to post for you. Centrifugals will generally continue to build boost and power as long as the RPM increases. They don't typically have the dips, peaks and valleys of a conventional power curve and they definitely don't have the massive spike of a nitrous power curve. Hope this helps, XSPerformance
