Maybe it’s the type of blower that’s not what I was looking for . generally fab work is not an issue for me . Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
In my googling it seems like a centrifugal supercharger is more of what I think is what I was looking for over all Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Cool. These days I think Vortec and Procharger are more modern in their vane design. A lot more like a turbocharger and less like a Graham Supercharger.
Yes the used Paxton supercharger is what I was thinking of. They did not come stock on anything but Paxton sold a lot of them to Mustang and Camaro owners in the 80s and 90s.
47 streamliner from your questions I get the idea the supercharger project may be more than you can handle at this time. Let me run thru some ideas that may help you make up your mind if this is for you. Don't try to hop up an old motor. You will blow it sky high in a month. Have seen this before. At least you need to go through the motor measuring, inspecting, and replace rings, bearings, timing chain, oil pump, do valve job etc as necessary. When you have a good stock engine, with good oil pressure, all working well, you can start to think of a hop up. The beauty of the Paxton supercharger is you don't have to do anything to the motor and don't spoil its stock reliability and drivability. You add extra power in the mid range and high speed range where flatheads tend to pooh out. The centrifugal blower draws less power to drive it, and places less strain on the engine than other types of blower. I am not sure about the later type of Eaton blower, it may be a good choice too. I mean turbochargers and the old GMC type blowers. To put the supercharger on your car you need sturdy mounting brackets to hold the supercharger, you need to add a pulley and belt drive. Then you need to pipe the compressed air to the carburetor. The carburetor needs to be modified with bigger main jet and you need to be sure the throttle shaft is air tight. You need a small pipe to pipe compressed air to the fuel pump and you may need an electric fuel pump for more volume. That is pretty much it. Don't go over 5 pounds boost and your stock pistons, rods, carburetor float etc will be fine. The supercharger can be modified for more boost but this cuts its life and reliability. 5 pounds boost will give you 40% more rear wheel HP. It is tempting to turn up the boost but if you do you will bring all kinds of problems unless you rebuild the engine with better pistons, rods, etc and modified superchargers don't come cheap. An alternative would be a junkyard supercharger off a Buick or Thunderbird V6 but that is another story.
The Paxton or McCulloch supercharger was introduced in 1953. It was tested on V8 Ford flatheads. A 239 cu in 110HP car. It was meant to be used on the typical American car of the time engine size 200 to 331 cu in and 100 to 160HP. It is not much use on anything over 350 cu in but was very successful in the 90s on 302 Mustangs and 305 Camaros. So it was really made for any typical six cylinder or small block V8 car of under 350 cu in .
Don’t know if it’s more than I can handle , just never played with supercharging before . Just picking the brains of people that know more than I do about them . I ask basic questions because I learned long ago to assume nothing . I stumbled on the possibility of supercharging a hudson yesterday . Hadn’t crossed my mind prior . Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hamber, @hoggyrubber has a beast of a blown six, and untill I started typing, i thought it was a Hudson six. Now im thinking it could have been a Chevy. I had pics somewhere.
They came stock on '57 Ford V8s. 292 or 312. I don't now. Also Kaiser cars with Continental flat sixes and some Mack trucks. They have been around. The variable speed drive was the weak point. Done away with in the Paxton version I understand.
Here’s the old McCulloch site, I don’t know if it’s been updated in years. http://vs57.y-block.info/ Best I know, and it’s not perfect, they started with a pancake style for flatheads. Then came the VS series used on Kaiser’s and Stude’s. They dropped the VS (for variable speed) and introduced an SN series for “short nose”. The VS had an electric clutch that split the front pulley for a higher drive speed and more boost. There might have been an Avanti set up that went into high at low rpm, then slowed down to prevent overboost or overspeed at higher rpm. The SN series got rid of that mechanism, making a shorter unit. They made an extended pulley that allowed an SN to mount on the VS brackets. These are the ones you saw for 302/305 motors. The 1957 Ford F code used a VR series for variable ratio. All originally on 312’s, only in 57. They sold some later on for other engines, but I think ford had an exclusive deal for 57. These units worked, but were problematic. Many have been converted to late model SN internals. I ran an SN 2000 with the extended pulley on my 55 bird. We reverse engineered the original bracket to mount it on the passenger side. Pretty simple fabrication really. I used a GM diesel tensioner instead of the long arm McCulloch. An AFB carb with the marine accelerator pump (sealed) will take 8 lbs. with just a carb hat. I’ve also got a 312 with the VR series, SN 2000 internals, and reproduction passenger car brackets. These are all old technology, but 5lbs makes a difference on a stock motor. They’re not even close to the Eaton unit I’ve got on an OT car. If you go google Robert Paxton McCulloch, he was quite a guy and an interesting story.
You say not even close to an Eaton. Do you mean the Buick or Tbird on which they came stock? Any idea of adapting one to an old engine?
Early 60's a local guy had a roots blown Hudson six in a FER..Ran 144 [I think he said] mph in the quarter... .
There was an interesting thread on here a couple of years ago about a roadster build for the The Race of Gentlemen. It had a stock 134 cu in Ford tractor engine, a 4 cyl flathead with practically no horsepower. He added a prewar Graham centrifugal blower and went racing. It did well for itself even though it was the smallest engine on the course. He was surprised at the way it would rev. I was pleased that it worked out so well. This was 4 pounds boost on a stock low compression flathead. Later... The Graham supercharger banger thread https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/supercharged-banger-modified-now-has-a-v8.850340/ More on the subject https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/super-charged-banged.1000469/#post-11277662
I know this is an old post but I need to add this here. Twin McCullochs on a hornet. awesome..... sorry for the wonky pictures. They were screenshots from an Instagram video. The video is in the link below. 4th picture. Thanks to Punklestiltskin. https://www.instagram.com/p/BydVLIMJqxx/?igshid=1ap8mer87xmgi
The Jalopy Journal
