Centrifrugal Blower? WHAT IS IT????

Love the way your McCulloch looks on the Flatty, Kind-of like a "Space ship"!

Great shots ..., is the Latham on a IL Car?

Mark

 

Not to hijack this post but this is on Epay.....Lots o' Coin...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2436331703&category=38634



Chris Nelson
Kansas

 

The Latham is on a IL car. Actually in my town. The car can be seen in the book "Hot Rod Chronicals" Its the "Burk Roadster"


I got mine for ALOT less than the E-bay auction!

 

Well, I've got to post this shot every time this subject comes up...



My father had a McCulloch on his '55 Chev in '56. The "serious" engine guys gave him shit because they regarded it as "lame bolt-on equipment". Same shit, different era.

 

look at this site for lots more

http://www.vs57.com/

 

Big A, I got a lot of that before I had the Blower rebuild.
It was mounted on my engine but not hooked up, not to have a fake blower but to get all the clearences right while I was building the car.
I had all these experts (that had been there, done that )tell me how these blowers dont make any boost, and they could not stand in the shadow of a 6-71.
I'm glad I stay'd with my plan, I'm pretty happy with my "lame bolt on". Now if these geesers want to tell me what a piece of shit it is, they will have to catch me first!

 

The way I understand it is that Paxton is the parent company and McCullogh was a division.

That blower was a factory option on the 38/9 Ford and after the war many cop cars were outfitted with them at the dealers. Paxton was always working behind the scenes and there were even 54 Y blocks running on the test track in Dearborn, a few got out to the public with beefed Fordos.

The factory blown 57 312 was the Paxton/McCullough.

 

I forgot to tell you metalshapes. If you run a 6 volt solenoid with a 12 volt system, it will nearly double your boost...and the solenoids won't burn up, its some easy horsepower.

286 merc, the blown 312 was infact a paxton, however, it is niether the VS-57 or the SN-60 style. The blowers that were made for ford weren't very good, but they look cool. A guy here in lubbock went through the extensive process of putting all the guts from an SN-60 into one of the factory ford blowers. It looks good and works even better

 

Thanks drgn, But I'm not changing anything untill I've got bigger brakes...

 

dudes, thanks for all the information..................Briggs

 

Hotrodjosh

Going to the "Pile-up"? Would love to see your car there as well as your friends with the Lathom!
Mark

 

Ill be there. Not sure on Dave though. He insists its going to Ra**! Better not!

 

See Ya tommorrow!

Have to work in the AM but I'll look for your car.

Mark

ps and it ain't going to r%!*..and he'll miss a good show!

 

[ QUOTE ]
Also, I was so busy typing, I forgot to say that the picture of the supercharged engine is in my car! It's a 63 Riviera, engine is a 401. Currently have the engine out and the heads off as I just spent $1100 to get them all rebuilt. Everything new: hardened seats, stainless valves, bronze guides, springs and more porting work. It should run real strong.

[/ QUOTE ]

How well does it work? Power, and gas milage wise?

 

I dont know about Gas milage, I have not checked it.
The engine is smoother with the Blower than without. When I hooked up the Blower with the old Cam, It lost most of its lumpy idle. From what I hear, a 6-71 has a more intant throttle responce than the McCulloch. You can drive it at low RPM all day long, and it feels pretty much like an unblown engine, maybe a little more torque, But with sort of a lazy throttle responce. ( but not in a Turbo lag kind of way but more like it would with a heavy flywheel )
If you are already in a higher gear, driving along at low RPM, and you put your foot in it, there is no explosive acceleration at first, there is no bog either, it just steadely builds speed, past the point where you would expect the engine to still have power, accelerating harder as it goes up in RPM, right to the moment you change gear. In the next gear you already have boost and RPM so it just keeps on going.
It is probably not what you want for a serous competition car( it only gives about 5 or 6 PSI ), but it is very nice for a steet car. Sofar not to temperamentfull, the engine just runs a little hotter, and it makes a nice noice.

 

I think the reason for you motor behaving the way it does is that the little blower can't keep up with all those cubic inches. The biggest motors those were put on from the factory were 304's. Also, a really lumpy cam doesn't work well with a centrifugal blower. A lot of good cams for N/A motors have a lot of overlap, and that allows a lot of the air from the supercharger to just blow straight through the motor instead of building pressure.

 

The Engine is only a 283, With a blower grind cam in it.
I'm not unhappy with the engine at all, I have never owned anything like it. ( as far as power or money spent.).
I was just trying to paint an honest picture.
what I like somebody else might not, but I'm completely sold on Blown engines.

 

Since no one has posted a picture of a VR57 McCulloch I'll try. This a picture of the motor I am building for my 57 Ford F100. I have 90% of the supercharger setup. It took me 4 years to accumulate the parts and I had the supercharger to start with.

 

Ok, I get it now, for some retarded reason I was thinking you were talking about a nailhead...

On a related note, I talked to the guy I work for in the summers in Carson City and I asked him about his special "blower grind cams" that he has. They are his own grind that he has come up with and they are like nothing else on the market. I asked him what kind of power increase could I expect if I used one of his cams. He said, "I can't really tell you, not knowing the exact specs of your current cam and stuff. However, it made a 148 rear wheel horsepower increase over the best cam that crower offers in my '57 vette with a 400 sbc." The motor he was talkin about makes about 720 horsepower, has alcohol injection and about 20 pounds of boost, so its on a totally different scale than what most of us are on...but thats still a hell of a power gain for just swappin cams...

 

I went from Crower to CompCams and it was like night and day, Dont know the specs on the Crower cam, because they wouldn't tell me.

 

Pics of engine...

 

another...

 

That looks so cool! What kind of carb do you have?

 

metalshapes, that setup looks sweet in that car. Right at home with those vette valvecovers

 

Thanks guys, If my earlier post sounded negative, it was not ment to be.
It has the widest useble powerband I've ever come across, but it is 45 year old technology and parts. And if that showes up at very low RPM/Boost that is OK. A hot Unblown engine would not even run under those conditions.
The carb is a Holley 600 DP.

 

Metalshapes - sure looks cool - could I use them on the site?

With regards to McCulloch/Paxton, just to clarify - Paxton Products was the research division of McCulloch Motors and was set up in 1951 to develop and market the supercharger amongst other things. In 1958 due to high losses Robert Paxton McCulloch sold off the Paxton Products division to Andy Granatelli.

Regardless of who owned Paxton all variable speed blowers were marketed as McCullochs, all variable and fixed ratio superchargers were marketed as Paxtons.

The variable speed superchargers (VS57 and DO-59) used a variable ratio drive pulley to vary the speed and therefore boost output of the supercharger.

The variable ratio superchargers (VR57 and VR58) ran at a higher input shaft speed but varied the impellor drive ratio to modify the boost output.

The fixed ratio superchargers were basically the VS57 units with the variable drive pulley removed and were referred to as the Short Nose (SN) units. i.e. SN60, SN89, SN93 etc.,

Swapping 12 volt with 6 volt solenoids will not double the boost - all the solenoid does is shift the drive pulley ration on the VS57 between high and low.

The 57 Fords used the VR57 which was superior to the VS57 units. In stock form they were rated at 325 Horses and in NASCAR form they were rated at 340 HP. They dominated NASCAR in 1957 until they were banned.

As for performance (see attached) - the McCulloch/Paxtons were never really meant for out and out racing - they just made good street sleepers (and very fast 57 Fords).

Jim

 

Sure you can Jim, there are some more pics of my car on the Unibody Roadster thread.
Thanks for the extra info.

 

Ok, I phrased the statement about the solenoid wrong...if you use a 6 volt solenoid it will keep you in High range more....
The VR-57s weren't really "superior"...
They made 325 horses on a 312...while the VS-57 made 275 horses on a 289. However the VR-57s were prone to breaking and didn't last too long under everyday use. So, they made more power per cubic inch, but as far as dependability, durability and all out "ruggedness", I think the VS-57 is superior

 

Thanks Metalshapes

drgnwgn289 - Fair comment on the the VR57's - however when looked after I still think they were superior.

1) They had a better boost output potential - could be shimmed to produce up to 7 psi against the 6 psi of the VS57.

2) They had a greater air flow capacity - not sure about the actual quantities but when the bigger engines came out in 1958 the VR57's were used by Paxton.

3) They ran cooler - the direct oiling allowed them to run cooler than the self contained VS57 units - which helped extend their operating life, and possibly helped with their higher boost outputs and greater airflow handling capability.

4) Slimmer and smaller - more compact installation.

The downside of the VR57 units was the use of engine oil for cooling and lubrication. No one bothered changing oil as regularly as they should - and blow by acids and contaminents soon made a meal of the blowers.The VS57 units were more fault tolerant as they had their own internal oil reservoir - so infrequent oil changes (not reccomended) didn't necessarily mean doom for the supercharger.

The VR57 units were also a bit susceptable to those who like to rev the crap out of their engines as soon as it's fired up. They really need a good oil supply and high revving when oil has yet to reach them is not reccommended. Low oil pressure was also not very good for them and if anyone was using one today I'd reccommend having a seperate oil filter and an automatic engine shut off switch for low oil pressure situations.

The 325/340 HP rating was very conservative. Actual ratings were significantly higher. A recent dyno test has revealed some surprising figures - which I cannot pass over until it's published.

Jim

Jim

 

many good points...however, it is hard to compare boost figures of two blowers unless they are both tested on the exact same engine. My blower (a VS-57 with the nose cut off) will make about 8.5 to 9 psi on my 289, but if it were put on a 502 it would have a hard time making any pressure...I guess when you really look at it, both units have their flaws and it all comes down to personal prefference.

Nice website by the way...been there many times, had no idea it belonged to a hamber