Hey everyone, I have been wanting to put a supercharger on my 58 Chevy PU with a SBC 383 but the $2500-3500 price tag has me looking at some other options. I was thinking why not use 2 smaller superchargers? say twin Eaton m62 or m90 junk yard blowers from the GM 3800 engines and T-Birds. I can get them at the local junkyard for $70ea I would love to see some pics of twin superchargers just to get an idea of plumbing and intake manifolds. Thanks, Jordon
Sorry to burst your bubble, but if you can't afford the $3k for the blower, then you can't afford the rest of the gear required to make it work even half properly. Might be better off looking for more cubes.
I like the industrial look of the Eaton blowers. At www.toohighpsi.com (if it's still up) there is a guy that ran 2 Eatons on a 351W. Worked gooood. Not a HAMB car, but you get the idea. It could work. Two blowers pumping compressed air into a carb box. Viola! I think, if you are a fabrictor, you could do it for less than $1500-2000 bucks.
Eaton superchargers can be mounted any way that works. Upside down sideways ,whatever.They DO NOT have to be pointing down! They can be run wet or dry.Eatons all have rear or side entry - Not suited to 4 barrel Carbs. WRONG!! see attached photos. The nose drive can be easily shortened or lenghtened. Allowing whatever placement is needed. Belt slippage if a problem(not likely) can be addressed by going to more grooved pulleys (available up to 16 grooves). The (attached) piped over version is an M-90 making 460 HP on a 292. TJM73s picture could be piped from each blower to a dual quad manifold without the box. Another opinonated expert says that if you can't afford the 3K for the blower you can't afford the rest of what you need to work well. Any engine will hold 6-8 lbs. of boost. I have customers who have been running 10 lbs. on stock engines for years with no problems.If you can fabricate this could be done for as little as $400.00. Lord save us from the experts Gemini EFI
Well said Gemini. It can definitely be done if the person doing it is rich on talent but not on cash. The install on the car pictured obviously took some serious fab work and some real talent to mount those blowers, fab that air box, and plumb the system. Impressive work especially considering how clean it is. My other thought is why have the parasitic loss of two blowers? Being a Mustang owner myself, I know that most of the guys with Cobras and Lightnings don't look favorably on the Eaton blowers, and swap them out for Kenne Bells, Vortecs, Paxtons..etc, making considerably more power at the same psi. The Eaton blowers are cheap for a reason. If your heart is set on forced induction, what about a turbo/twin turbo set up? This too can be made of junkyard parts, and can be plumbed to an airbox or a blow through carb setup.
If I were building a balls out race car I would use TURBOS. An Eaton or any other Rootes style blower will provide MUCH MORE torque on the bottom than any centrifical or turbo. Street cars are about power right now, not high RPMs.As to parasitic loss, an Eaton at cruising speed uses 1/3 HP. So Jordans dual blowers would have 2/3 HP loss at cruising. Yes some other blowers make more power at the same boost as Eaton's. But that's the older version available from the boneyards. An M-90 off of a T-Bird Super Coupe will make10 lbs. on about 300 cubic inches. That will make around 400 HP. This can be done for $300.- $400. Street performance is not race car performance.Rootes blown street cars don't need high stalls and deep gears to get it done. They will rip up real tires (not skinny assed bias plies) off an idle. Build it for what you want to do with it, not what some magazine said was the hot trick of the week Gemini EFI
Thanks for the help! The engine is a 383 Chevy, all forged Vortec Heads XE 274H Cam 1.6 full roller rockers Hooker equal length fender well headers Davis DUI ignition 9.3 compression TH350 2500 stall 12 bolt rear end with posi Caltrac traction bars I was planning on running E85 since the compression is so high (I am actually currently running e85) 105 octane and the cooling effects of alcohol should work perfectly. I'm thinking of building a triangular shaped intake manifold with 2 Predator carbs mounted off the back of the superchargers. We are Predator carb dealers so I can get a good price on them How would plenum volume affect a super charged engine? At first I was thinking of going with a turbo but I all ready have a turbo car and am sick of the lag time. I want instant throttle response and tire melting fun PS I have a milling machine, welder, drill press, band saw, and lathe. I'm thinking it would be easier to fab up an intake manifold rather than try and convert one but I am open to any ideas at this point. Jordon
AH. I see. . That is a different story then. Don't know about in the states, but here in Oz you can get used blower manifolds for $300-ish ( if you look hard enough ). I have all those tools too, and for that money I wouldn't be bothered making one. And I've got an Eaton mounted on its side too. But that's way O/T.
A pair of predators is a ton of carburetion IMO. If you're wanting a bolt on solution you can score the 144/172 weiand/B&M units for around a thousand used. No machining required and should support 6-7 psi on that engine. I suspect the combo you're putting together will cost the same by the time you buy a pair of good-condition small blowers and the materials to whittle & weld it all together. The right solution depends on what you're looking for, but I wouldn't reinvent the wheel to blow 7 belt-driven-psi into a SBC on the cheap. Good luck!
great post , i can learn a lot from it . like god save me from the pros that was the first thing i learned when i came into cars;
That is definitely reinventing the wheel. SBC blower bases are cheap, especially if the mouting flange is screwed up. But if you're gonna do it, here's what would make you the man. Use a crossram base and stagger the blowers with carbs on top.
Sorry you lack the competence to understand what I wrote. Lord save us from the amateurs - such as yourself.
i vote 2 small turbos. if they're small enough you'll never notice the lag. and a turbo is way more efficient than a supercharger. Nitrous an option?
Luck you. So she's a screamer huh?, I like that. All chicks that look like that tend to be high buck in my experience.
I didn't see any other posts on this thread that you wrote. Color me confused. Perhaps you could either explain what you wrote or who you've singled out for criticism?
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