smokey yunick that is.. anybody read it?? My pop got a copy for the holiday and i was flippin through the second book the other evening when I stumbled upon smokeys claim to have created a bellhousing supercharger?? which he ran on the nascar circuit for some time.. that was until someone figured out he was cheatin.. anyhow has anyone ever heard or seen a bellhousing supercharger? In the book smokey describes the contraption as some sort of impeller inside the bellhousing possibly bulit off of the clutch assembly? supposedly it had ports into and out of it to help direct the pressurized charge of air.. Anyone has ever seen something like this? thanks sawzall
Smokey was DA MAN!!! He was famous for stuff like that... ...I like the story about the time that NASCAR inspectors had his car partially disassembled for inspection, and Smokey thought they were taking too long. He got fed up and jumped into the car, fired it up, and backed out of the garage...then drove off back to his shop! The gas tank from the car was laying on the NASCAR garage floor...leaving inspectors scratching their heads! Classic Smokey all the way!
I wouldn't put it past him... wasn't he the one that came up with the 7/8 scale Chevelle? Among other things... Jay
Yep, that was his Chevelle...along with rigging a small block Chevy to run backwards (reverse rotation) and other innovative "experiments"!! I've always admired Ol' Henry (Smokey) Yunick!
It sure sounds interesting, take advantage of a rotating mass to run a pump of some sort. Where would you run the pressure charge into the carb? Can you pressurize a normal carb through the top without blowing it apart? The only system I have seen that runs pressure into the carb is the Studebaker R3 that has a pressure chamber around the whole carb. That would be a little obvious. TZ
You can run pressure into the top of a standard carb, many turbochargers were hooked up this way. Not sure how you would "hide" such a set-up from obvious view, unless you used a sealed "dummy" air cleaner that was pressurized by the blower in the bellhousing with a fresh air inlet on or near the bellhousing. Just a guess????
I had heard of it,and I'm sure he tried it.But I never saw anything specific or detailed. There is probably more about it in his latest books than you will find anywhere.
I have his power secrets book... Was watching the speed channel awhile back, had an old tape of an interview with him... he was talking about having a bunch of yellow m&m's in a cup out on the track. Convinced everyone that could see he was swallin some pills of some sort ever pit stop that he was taking drugs. Inspecters pulled up... M&M's! He's the reason why the SB is getting TRW pistons... his book talked about an effort between his shop, GM, and TRW to build the perfect SBC piston, spending close to a million on building the perfect one!
Hmmm... BELLHOUSING supercharger ...??( DOSEN'T SOUND LIKE ANY KINDA' CARB. BOOST SYSTEM... Coulda' been some kinda' air scoop system channeled into the bellhousing to drive some kina' veins (like on a converter) adding some xtra 'twist" to the flywheel ???Keep in mind we have wind at a couple HUNNERT miles an hour.......just a thought...any body else ???? Jersey skip
[ QUOTE ] The only system I have seen that runs pressure into the carb is the Studebaker R3 that has a pressure chamber around the whole carb. That would be a little obvious. TZ [/ QUOTE ] Weren't the Mr. Norms GSS Supercharger systems like that too? They had a big box that fit over the carb and pressurized like that. Jay
[ QUOTE ] Hmmm... BELLHOUSING supercharger ...??( DOSEN'T SOUND LIKE ANY KINDA' CARB. BOOST SYSTEM... Coulda' been some kinda' air scoop system channeled into the bellhousing to drive some kina' veins (like on a converter) adding some xtra 'twist" to the flywheel ???Keep in mind we have wind at a couple HUNNERT miles an hour.......just a thought...any body else ???? Jersey skip [/ QUOTE ] skip no what smokey describes was in fact a DRIVEN supercharger.. although in another section of the book smokey talks about a impeller he had hidden in behind the grille of his racecar at speed the impeller would turn some sort of generator to keep the car running, that way he could run without an alternator (or without the guts inside) and still charge the batt.. the guy was (and continues to be) pretty darn innovative. fwiw I KNOW some winston cup teams us "qualifying" alternators that are actually just a case with no guts inside.. why? cus they are required by nascar.. but without the inner workins runnin around you dont have so much DRAG.. ok come on anyone else know anything about these bellhousing superchargers.. any opinions. I was thinkin maybe tryin to build one.. could a torque converter (turbo 350) have fins welded on the outside?? the rest should be pretty easy..
Yep---you need a lakewood or something a lot like one to have a circler shape enclosure. Or an Olds whitch is a piece of cake...yuk yuk.
I'm thinking that we aren't talking major amounts of boost with this setup. Too hard to hide a pressure bonnet that could last under high pressure. High boost would have an adverse effect on fuel anyway... Maybe he was thinking along the lines of a cold air intake...small but effective gains, when you consider the effect over the length of a race. Maybe just 2 or 3 pounds of boost to give a slight edge over the competition. You could get away with a large sheetmetal bonnet, disguised as a regular coldair setup to help fool the inspector. You want to be 4 lengths ahead at the end of the race anyway...NOT 4 LAPS! (That only gets tongues waggin' and then you get caught!) Remember...it's all "SMOKE" and mirrors anyway! Bill
How does eight pounds grab ya? A stamped regular air cleaner with a wing nut will hold more than twenty pounds of boost. Just run a line from breather to fuel regulator to keep gas flowing into carb. Biggest hassel is the duct work, kinda hard to hide, but it works.
WOW...DON! thats lots more than I figured it would take! 'Ol Smokey was quite the inventor, I doubt we'll ever know ALL his tricks! He must have been the cause for more than one MIGRANE in his day... LOL Bill
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