anybody have names/manufacturers of the boat couplers that may be found- if you have the space out front you can run the 6-71V blowers that no one makes intakes for (or if you have an engine that is not popular for blower manifolds of any type) -rick
Years ago I had an Fe blower intake made from a 2 x 4 Carb intake. The center was cut out and a blower base and pop off valve were welded on. Hampton Blowers still makes intakes for the Fe. Back to the thread I remember reading the moon set up was available again. There was a thread posted about a year ago
I never personally saw one hiccup, but I was told that it could be quite spectacular when both tubes lit off (backfire with two tubes of combustible mixture contained under pressure). tweakman has the most righteous setup I have ever seen. Front mounted blower puffing just air into the motor with an EFI setup. Absolutely gorgeous.
These are from a shop tour with my car club Twin City Idlers at Jim Greens shop in Monroe, WA. In one of the pics you can see the car of which the Pontiac engine came from.
OK , I'll volunteer with this information I got from Ernie Hashim at Bakersfield several years back. As he was being recognized by the NHRA by serving as grand marshall of the CHRR. His family had brought out some memorabilia including an early hemi with a front mounted 671. We were discussing the type of coupler used (modified stock detroit diesel torsion style ) or a "Greek" style, I made a mistake by mentioning the name of Potvin. Mr. Hashim became very upset at the mere mention of the "P" name "Sumbitch stole my idea" was Ernie's reply . Not wanting to upset this icon of our sport any further ,I apologized and thanked him for his time. ---I later learned Ernie and "Blower John" Gilbert had done several of these front drives and provided much R&D for top mounts.
I stole this picture off the HAMB some time ago, so whoever posted it originally deserves the credit...
Okay, gonna bring this one back from the dead. I'm sure there's more crank driven blower info out there! And WHAT IN THE HELL is that engine in the last post?! I do not recognize those valve covers!
The crazy hammer guy was Wayne Arteaga with his cousin Ernie and the Hellmuth boys. Wayne and John Hellmuth became partners in the Arteaga Hellmuth blown gas Willys gasser later. Wayne was a photographer and many of his candid shots have appeared in some of the gasser books with the Stone Woods Cook car that used that same garage for repairs when they were in St. Louis. Wayne is gone now but the Willys coupe still survives. deChrome
obviously a spoof photo, each guy has an out of place item in his hands piston in the blow off plate? fuel can pouring nothing on top of engine, hammer guy, and I dunno on the guy in back, what is he doing? Let me get my glasses so I can see something edit: he's got a speed wrench !
The picture of Wayne Arteaga and his Potvin blown Olds was for the cover of the March 1962 Hot Rod Magazine. After the cover shots were made we took a few joke pictures of the four of us and the Olds engine that powered Wayne's green Henry J.
4.71 with dual side-draft carbs on a '25 Hudson. Now, there's something you don't see every day. Brian
I read somewhere that Dean Moon bought Potvin. It may have been something that I already knew but reading it makes me believe that it is not something that I just made up in my head.
Those are some great photos. I plan on doing a similar blower on my 29 Ford pickup using a 6V53 blower.
Moon bought Potvin in 1963, but didn't market the blower drive. When I built mine in 1993 I called Moon and they still had the molds and make the end plate for me. Nice guys! The drive is still in their catalog for about $3300 less blower.
That Hudson is one of 2 very similar cars built here in Oz about 20yrs ago, saw both on a vintage car rally when they came thru my town.........very nice hotrods...........which the owners didn't appreciate being told.......lol.........they both ended up in the USA soon after.......and that poly dragster is the Goddard/Thomas car from the early 60's in Melbourne, Australia.........never saw it run, it was replaced by a 426 Hemi powered rail also initially with a front blower.........andyd
Thats my old bosses car Eddie Thomas a legend in Australia ,must be around 1960.Eddie changed this set-up to a top mount blower on a 426 hemi and I recall was the fastest car in Australia around 1962.
Check the THE POTVIN SPECIAL on Google and Youtube I have a couple of photos on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/bindare/ The Potvin Special is driven by Lori "The Potvin Kid" Peterson. 1957 Chrysler Imperial 392 CI Hemi Motor - Potvin Blower Drive 123" Wheelbase. The quickest Potvin -GMC 6-71 Blown front-engine dragster in history. 7.733 @ 177.93 mph. " rel="nofollow">www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxS0DO0p8kM#t=129</a> The first engine with the Potvin blower system was Doug Hartelt's Chrysler "works" prototype car. (1954) and appeared in 1955 where It was the power for the J.E. Riley Special, that won the first NHRA Nationals, driven by Calvin Rice. The Mooneyes Dragster and Dragmaster Two-Thing featured also featured the Potvin blower system. Chuck Potvin sold his company to Dean Moon (Moon Eyes). You can still buy Potvin Front Mount Drive Kits from Mooneyes (Small Block Chevy only I think)
Brian, Now that is some pretty fancy machine work and casting. beautiful. I never though of running one in front of the grill shell. I have considered running a potvin style setup in my A. If you run it out front you could shaft drive it and use a small transmission to get away from the 1:1 drive, that way you could drive it 1:1 or over drive it when you needed more boost. I would think that with the blower and carbs/injectors that far away from the valves you would get a little lag, something like turbo lag on a draw through turbo. maybe not as bad because it would not be compounded by spooling time. But it is a neat idea.
We must mention the Blower Bentleys, a Bentley 4 1/2 litre with Amherst Villiers supercharger made in the late 20s.
The Jalopy Journal
