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Blowers/superchargers

Hot Rod Todd said:
Well Ive run a 671 blower on a 454 in my bucket with a pair of 750 Edelbrocks and Ive run a 540 in my bucket with a pair of 1250 dominators.

The 454 set up was VERY streetable and dyno'd at 627 hp. Was a 2 bolt mains block, cast crank, stock rods and heavy TRW blower pistons and a set of second hand Chevy Bowtie heads, Cam was Comp cams blower/turbo/nitrous hydraulic flat tappet one and the whole deal was 13mpg on the open road. Engine cost $600 and all the shortblock parts except the heads was $1800 from Summit (shipped to NZ). Crank got a crack in it after 5000 miles and many quarter mile jaunts. Best was 10.2 @ 132.

So it was a very cheap engine, built with cheap parts and it only ran about 5-6lbs of boost. Way nicer to drive than a big cammed normally aspirated 450hp SBC that a mate had in his bucket.

He drove mine and reckoned the engine was like a late model EFI car in comparison to his. Just smooth dependable power.

I would recommend a blower on a bucket. They look great, and they can make good smooth power. Contrary to what you may hear at a cruise night, they are not all about to launch the front end 6 feet into the air, or smoke the rears if you hit the loud pedal.
Click to expand...
I like the blower for the bucket, my issue is that I really don't want to cut the hood and have a blower sticking out on my rag top. That's why I was wondering about a turbo. I suppose I could look into a centrifugal blower. In all actuality, the motor I have will make plenty of power for the car, I just want more! Then I can complain about clutches and the like.
 
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! That being said, it never ceases to amaze me that some folks think that blowers are 'TOO RADICAL' and hard to drive.
Folks all thru the 60's and 70's, when you were on vacations with the families, you'll were probably driving along side some of the big diesel trucks that had the 6-71's on them....Trucks/HeavyEquipment/Stationary motors, ships and Locomotivesback since the 20's had blowers on them. Heavy Equip/ trucks and such started switching to turbos in the 60's to get away from the parasitic power loss and to take advantage of the free horses.
The GMC's were designed to be rebuilt in the trucks (in frame overhauls) frame every 150,000 to 250,000 miles, changing out the powerpacks (liner, rod and piston sets)(No boring required), and the blowers would easily go that distance.
So, you see they are durable....

And to our member that wanted to put one under the hood....if the little B&M's aren't to your liking, the paxtons bolt onto the front of the motor with brackets, like a accessory. Now, alot of folks think of the pastons like toys and can be picked up cheap. You can dress them up fairly nice, but don't look nowhere as good as a 4-17/6-71 under the carbs. The paxtons have a hat that fastens over the top of the carb.
You asked about turbos....the turbos have evolved to where theres very little diff. between the 2.
The turbo can have a little lag....but there are variable displacement snail housings to get around such things. To put these under a hood, wrap then good with a good wrap kit....this will improve the performance the performance and save your paint. But, Its Free horses....
The 6-71 eats up about 50 horses spinning it, but the effort is worth 200-300+ Horsepower.
A very mildly built Chevy 350 can easily hit 500 horses without very much tuning....
Put it this way, after you stroke and cam and hotrod the 350 and have it all maxed out....you can spend 1/4 of that money and use a blower....
I find a blower motor easy on the eyes....
 
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Stock Heavy Duty Truck 350 from the 70's + a BDS 6-71 Kit= A Smile for a Entire LifeTime Of Cruisin'....
 
Recently did a job for a client, had a little opened wheel car....wanted something unique. He brought me a complete 350 crate motor, wanted something really cool looking and different, but dependable, alot of power, and had to sound good. He didn't want to get superfancy....so I went to work.
You don't need to back up and throw a bunch of money at a project to get it the way you want it.
I got the motor, bought a set of block hugger headers, flipped them upside down, got a set of small turbos out of a couple of small japanese imports. Put a performance cone filter on each turbo, got some 2" exhaust tubing, plumbing it bow like a header to go over the frame. Used alum. 2" tubing to go to the Throttlebody hat. I built the a really nice carb hat out of some nice heavy alum. plate to polish up.
Finished it with 2 adjust pop-offs, and MSD ign.
The turbos were stock and small, that way the guy couldn't rev it high enough to blow it. Acted as a rev limiter. The turbos came on right as soon as the motor reved.
Put it on the dyno and it was a nice, powerful package, materials wise, dressed up nice below $4000. He supplied the CrateMotor....
Reved briskly to 4800, WOT was 5200, set the boot pressure fairly low to save on the motor....
EFI- $2600
2-used turbos-$500
Rest---pieces/parts, DressUp Items, low profile pan, elec. waterpump, etc...
Guy loved it.
 
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SM - I sure would like to see some pics of that configuration!

Thanks,

Mark
 
Screaming Metal said:
Recently did a job for a client, had a little opened wheel car....wanted something unique. He brought me a complete 350 crate motor, wanted something really cool looking and different, but dependable, alot of power, and had to sound good. He didn't want to get superfancy....so I went to work.
You don't need to back up and throw a bunch of money at a project to get it the way you want it.
I got the motor, bought a set of block hugger headers, flipped them upside down, got a set of small turbos out of a couple of small japanese imports. Put a performance cone filter on each turbo, got some 2" exhaust tubing, plumbing it bow like a header to go over the frame. Used alum. 2" tubing to go to the Throttlebody hat. I built the a really nice carb hat out of some nice heavy alum. plate to polish up.
Finished it with 2 adjust pop-offs, and MSD ign.
The turbos were stock and small, that way the guy couldn't rev it high enough to blow it. Acted as a rev limiter. The turbos came on right as soon as the motor reved.
Put it on the dyno and it was a nice, powerful package, materials wise, dressed up nice below $4000. He supplied the CrateMotor....
Reved briskly to 4800, WOT was 5200, set the boot pressure fairly low to save on the motor....
EFI- $2600
2-used turbos-$500
Rest---pieces/parts, DressUp Items, low profile pan, elec. waterpump, etc...
Guy loved it.
Click to expand...
Good Info. I too would like to see that. I like to hear about guys that have the skills and take the time to build stuff as opposed to bolting on a kit. That's what hot rodding is really all about, or at least where it began. If it weren't for used and bone yard parts, I would have never been able to get into cars. I once ran a Paxton on a TPI car and liked it. I can't tell you what the actual numbers were, I don't have access to a dyno, but there was a significant noticeable tire shredding difference. I spent about 3k on it in the 90's and had a mildly built 350 to begin with. I just do not want to cut a hood on my Firebird and like the ram-air hood so if I am going to boost it, I think I only have room for a Paxton type or turbo's. Thanks!
 
fletcherson said:
Good Info. I too would like to see that. I like to hear about guys that have the skills and take the time to build stuff as opposed to bolting on a kit. That's what hot rodding is really all about, or at least where it began. If it weren't for used and bone yard parts, I would have never been able to get into cars. I once ran a Paxton on a TPI car and liked it. I can't tell you what the actual numbers were, I don't have access to a dyno, but there was a significant noticeable tire shredding difference. I spent about 3k on it in the 90's and had a mildly built 350 to begin with. I just do not want to cut a hood on my Firebird and like the ram-air hood so if I am going to boost it, I think I only have room for a Paxton type or turbo's. Thanks!
Click to expand...
http://wrenchrat.com/twin-turbo.html
 
This is one of our kits from a few years ago. The customer assembled the kit. Then built this twin turbo 350 Chevy.
IMG_1309_zps5589893e.jpg

IMG_1310_zps81572517.jpg

It made about 12 lbs of boost= lots of HP
 
I don't remember my blown motor surging,but I do remember toe 10 pound pressure gauge not reading anything just running around town but going to the peg when I matted it!
 
So let me see if I understand the jist of what is being said by most of you; if I have a good solid rotating assembly with about 5 pounds or so boost from the blower and a cam suitable for the application, top it off with the right size carb. or carbs. It will be a happy street huffer motor. Would a stock big block Chevy cast crank and rods be sufficient? If I ever do put a blower on this motor I would definitely freshen everything up with bearings, rings, and so forth.
 
Absolutely. I've been doing it for years with a crate motor. And you don't need a new cam either. Just don't be stomping the pedal all the time and the motor will outlive you.
 
Well I'm just going to have to make sure I leave enough room behind my radiator for a blower belt so I can add a blower. First trick is getting the car on the road!
 
Would a stock big block Chevy cast crank and rods be sufficient?

Just limit your boost pressure to no more than 5 psi and dont spin it faster than 4600....if you mostly just cruise with it, you'll be ok. The stress comes in on reving the motor. Run the blower belt snug, not tight. One thing, that cast crank is strong, but brittle. Snug it up too much and you'll snap of the end of the crank, especially if the belt gets to slapping.
Some of the best blower motor material are truck motors....steel cranks with good rods. Then all you gotta do is bore the block to accept some low compression forged pistons....

One of my favorite motors is the Chevy W409. Go to 427", a 427 crank is a dropin, and add a blower. Talk about looks....AND performance....

As PotvinGuy said....don't really need a cam unless your trying to get it all outta the motor. When you pressurize your intake manifold, valvelift doesn't really enter the picture on the street....
 
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Well my 454 came out of an early 80's dually so it may have a steel crank already. I'll know when I change out the oil pump before putting it in the car.
 
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