Technical Custom building a 4-53 Street Blower

It appears that both sets of gears offered for the 6V53 blower have the same pitch diameter. The newer 5107xxx style gears will not fit the rotor shafts using the older style 5128xxx gear set. If you were to fit them, it wouldn't be without shearing material off the shaft spline which I don't recommend. My rotor shafts will be match to the newer gear set so I don't have to worry about that.

The advantage to the newer gears is that they are quieter, stronger, and should wear a lot longer than the older style gears.

New Style Top: 5107084 (L.H.), 5107083 (R.H.)
Old Style Bottom: 5128600 (L.H.), 5128599 (R.H.)

 

I thought I would post some information about calculating weight of materials.

If performance and fuel mileage is important in your latest build, you might want to keep track of the weight of the vehicle during the fabrication process. You don't actually need to put it on a scale to have a good idea about how much the vehicle weighs.

Materials have a density that can be commonly measured in standard cubic inches or metric cubic centimeters. Once you know the material density, you can calculate it's weight by a few simple formulas. You can look up material density elsewhere online and it covers a wide range of materials from aluminum, steel, brass, wood, plastic and more.

Formulas:

Flat Stock: Density x Width x Height x Length = lbs or Kg

Example: 6061 Aluminum .098 standard (.271 Metric)

.098 (lbs cubic in.) x 6 in. x 8 in. x 24 in. = 112.896 lbs

Round Stock:

Standard in Inches: Density (lbs cubic in) x Diameter inches squared x Length inches x 3.1416 / 4
Metric in Kilograms: Density (g cubic centimeter) x Diameter in millimeters squared x Length in millimeters x 3.1416 / 4000

 

I'm posting a quick progress report on the blower project.

I have finished up most of the machine work. I just have a few small odd-n-ends and minor alterations to finish up.

I've been in regular contact with the gear and spline shop which whom I'm farming the shafts and coupler out to. This is to ensure I have the correct ID and OD dimensions before they receive the parts for splining and broaching.

Grinding will begin this Saturday the 10th. Well, at least it's the plan anyway. Afterwards, it's off to the gear and spline shop before pre-assembly can begin.

I'm going to start a new thread when the final assembly begins.

 

Theres omething real cool about a homemade blower...

 

It's a definite learning experience that's for sure!

 

After nearly a months worth of delays, the grinding is currently in progress and should be finished by tomorrow. After the shafts are splined, I have to index, drill and ream the rotor lock-pin holes and install the shafts into the rotors, then turn or grind the rotor tips to the final diameter.

 

I don't think I need to say more...

 

I'm posting yet another update to the project.

Pretty much all the grinding has been completed with the exception of a couple of bushings and "grind at assembly" stuff.

This past week I've been doing some preliminary checks and test fitting various parts to see if there is anything I need to address before assembly. So far everything has been meeting or exceeding expectations.

This coming week the shafts should be shipped out for the splines. The last major operation will be to drill and ream the rotor shafts for the lock-pins. The splines have to be done first before the holes can be drilled because orientation has to be maintained for rotor timing.

My plan right now is to take a day off in October and use that day to work on the blower in the shop. This will hopefully be the last major push to get things done. This does not mean I will be totally finished with the project. We have pulleys and brackets that need to be made or modified to fit the motor/blower setup. I'm sure there will be some more things that will crop up and that's just part of building stuff yourself.

Even though I want to save pictures for the future assembly thread, I couldn't resist showing a mock-up of the front which is the snout, snout bearings, input shaft, and front cover. Yeah, I didn't install the bearing retainers or the front seal on the snout, but you get the idea. The front end of the input shaft is left undecided until we know what type of pulleys we really want to go with.

 

As always, there is a delay in getting the splines and serrations done on the shafts. It turns out that the gear and spline shop has to rent the tool to cut the rotor shaft splines and there is an extra charge for it. So, I've been going back-and-forth with them about the pricing to do the job, but I think we've come to an agreement on the price finally. Hopefully they will be done early next week.

 

I know I keep saying it, but I just have a few more things to take care of on the blower portion of this project and she will be ready for preassembly. What does the preassembly involve? It means final fit and finish which includes timing the rotors and making sure all tolerances are within spec. Once all of that is finished I will spend a bit of time polishing and cleaning up the aluminum parts before sending them off for anodizing.

Until next time here are some sneak preview pics... Watch out for a new thread for the final assembly!