" its the gear drives, the rotors and the toothed belts. The tighter the belt the louder the whine." I'll agree with this statement.
It's the belt. Years ago I had a friend with a dummy 671 on a T Bucket. It basically was a high rise intake with the blower case being gutted. He had tubes inside the blower case to connect the carb plates to the intake. When he traveled he left the belt off and was quiet as most any SBC. A few miles out of town he would slip the belt on and the whine was as if a full blown motor. Not many knew this and thought it was real. The only problem he had was the case with most high rise systems and that was the carbs freezing in cool weather.
I have a Vortech centrifugal with a serpentine belt that whines at idle... in a Lincoln Towncar. So the gears have some input to the sound you hear.
I would go with the belt. Some bikes have a belt drive . They whine if the belt is tight. I have a 3 inch belt on my bike. I dont run it very tight. It does not whine. I have seen a bunch that sound like a gear drive on a SBC. On an 8-71 the gears are helical cut. They will not whine .
most of the noise is from the belt, it's air being trapped under the clogs on the pulleys. Drilling holes in the pulley to allow the air a place to go will quieten it down, but who the hell wants it quiet. the whine is part of the cool factor
Yup, it's the belt. My friend has a gutted case with a carb inside, no rotors, no gears. He can make it louder or quieter by shimming the case to change the tension on the belt. Frank
Same sort of whine a quick change rearend makes, Hmmm makes me think it might just be the straight cut gears, whatta ya think guys????
i agree with mj40...a buddy of mine also had a fake blower on a 63 chev..no guts inside.the belt made all the noise.
Some of the Lysholm superchargers sound like a firetruck and you can hear them coming a mile away. Thats my favorite super charger sound.
Surounded by a bunch of sick peverted deviates, and I love it! If you can't have a sense of humor you might as well become a democrat.
Bullrack, thanks for mentioning that Detroit Diesel first offered a super-charger. I didn't KNOW who was first. If I recollect, Graham started offering super-chargers as an option in '33 or '34, after they basicially PIRATED the design directly from another company -- A.C.D., maybe? Pierce? HELP here!
I guess it depends on the kind of blower. Here is a video link to 1930s Mercedes with a roots mounted blower. The blower is clutch engaged but when the engine is cool and the oil in the clutch is cold the blower runs until the oil cools. The noise is from the spinning rotors.
How about this blower wine/surge? <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_E73yfmqaQk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_E73yfmqaQk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
That's the first thing that popepd into my mind also. Change the gears (cut type) in the rear, limit (not eliminate) the whine. that would make me lean towards the gears.
90% of all "blower whine" is a fool with the belt too tight. Blower rotor gears are helical cut. Mr. Mooneyham advised me to set belt tension on a street blower so that you can just slide the belt back and forth on the top pulley with the engine cold. The intake manifold and blower expand when hot, and tighten the belt. Over tightening the belt to make it noisy drastically shortrens belt life. If you must have the noise to impress people, run a longer belt over the outside of the idler pulley.
Want blower whine??????????? Go with a wider belt, ie, 3 to a 4in. Want to cut down on the whine????????? Go with v-belts.......... Want no whine at all......take it off and give the thing to someone that'll appreciate it........
OK - i think there are two different noises - the belt and the blower (the gears and compression) noise. The blower noise is much quieter than the belt noise. My buddy has a 142 weiand and it has a flat belt. It has the blower noise - it whines. I have a gilmer style belt and all you hear is that belt, it's LOUD. It has the blower noise too I am sure, it's just over powered by the belt noise. You do have to keep the belt loose cold - it gets real tight when it's hot if you tighten it hot. I usually have 1" to 3/4" play in the longest part of the belt when cold per Dyer's instructions. I think being slightly able to move it would be a great gauge too. You can also hear the rotors going wop wop wop wop wop wop wop if you listen real close here is the belt noise http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvW3kuN4ci4&feature=channel_page
You ARE the MAN!!!!!! You get the first prize trophy!!!!!! I've had my ear next to blown fueler motors and AA/FC's since the mid 80's......blowers whine.....unless they are screw or centrifical.....still they make a little noise..............on my test stand that I bolt blowers to to test after rebuilds......(has a 50 hp electric motor turning a pulley setup)......when I run v-belts....they whine a little.......it more or less sounds like a giant hoover vaccuum going then...............when I throw on the 3 or 4 in. wide gilmer......holy crap it come ALIVE with sound......... I test for boost pressure, belt loads, and for bearing noises..........ask DBS, Dyers, The Blower Shop........the belt is the main noise makes besides the gears, then the rotors......in that order..........get over the whine and enjoy the horsepower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I currently own three vehicles with blowers, all three use multi V belts and all three produce a varying amount of "whine". So IMO, the gears and rotors spinning, and the moving air, do make most of the whine. The V-8 with an Eaton supercharger (over driven 3.2:1) makes the most beautiful, high pitched whine I've ever heard. (When the engine hits the 6400 RPM rev limiter, the blower is moving about 20 K RPMs!!!) But for years I've always been told the Gilmer toothed belts make a lot of noise-the air escaping from the belt-to-gear tooth interface, that's what drilling holes in the gears is all about. My two cents. K. PS, I think blowers whine when they don't get enough alcohol.