I had an idea while back, can someone tell me if its feasable? or just idiotic?

I've converted a few AC units to air compressors and there are plenty of belt driven air compressors out there (the one in my garage would work too)

what if we had a big air tank, 150+ PSI and used it for bursts of forced induction? would it work for extra power? use water separators, even use an oiler mixer with some high energy fuel to help enrichen for the extra air.

I could build something like this for 1/4 the cost of a supercharger or turbo, plus you lose no energy to running the accessory at the time you need the power, like with a turbo or supercharger.

 

since a normal engine like a 302 requires around 500 CFM , an air compressor would give you around a 2-3 second use time.

 

500cfm is quite a bit..

 

to make a difference youd probably have to have a 60+ gallon tank straped to the bed and plumbed with a 5 inch high pressure line. to get your few seconds of improved air. but then what keeps if from blowing around the top of your carb?

for the same price (ish) why wouldn't you put in a nitrous system. little 15 lbs bottle smaller line and no one would be able to figure out what just happend on the highway.

just my thoughts. i know some people really like to be different. good luck. sounds interesting.

 

If this worked, it would be very common. The parts are cheap, install would be easy. As pointed out, you can't pack enough air to make it work, and there are much more effective measures for extra power available.

 

OK so how many CFM is smog pump capable of .

 

Considering your typical small home compressor is only good for like 8 cfm?(check the rating on yours), the car version will be likely much smaller and if you need 500cfm....you see the problem?

If it was that easy.....I'm sure by now someone would have already figured it out. Remember all the "electric hair drier" blowers? Some how the law of physics makes it pretty improbable to work.

Consider the rpm needed, typical electric motor is 3200(about), those underhood superchargers are geared to run 20K+ rpm to get those little vanes moving fast enough to create boost.

 

Not enough to make a difference. The first thing about smog pumps I remember is Hot Rod magazine reversing the flow on one with no effect.
How they did that I do not know.

As I said before, and as Freightrain said, if it was this easy, it would be everywhere.

 

I looked into smog pumps a while ago, they don't do compression well and that's what we're looking for with turbos and supercharger, pressurized air.

and at 8cfm I know it's not going to push much air quickly, but I can drop 60g of air out of a tank in almost no time. I'd like to find out just how much CFM one of these supercharger or turbos are pushing out at 8PSI.. if I can get 5 seconds of 10PSI+ at good enough flow off of a relatively small tank, it would be worth it.

60g for 5 seconds is not worth it..

 

You're just not going to let this idea go I guess. How are you going to dump that "60 gallons" of air fast enough at a controlled rate into the engine? If you dump it into the intake side of a carb, you will just displace the natural aspiration of the engine. If you dump it into the intake, you need to plumb and control and meter a fuel supply in such a way that it distributes the A/F mixture evenly.

One more time: If this worked, or even SEEMED to work, you could buy a kit from JC Whitney....

 

one of the guys in the diesel threads figured out one time that a turbo at speed produces somthing like 1,000 cfm at 10 lbs boost.

 

Man, you need to relax.. sorry I didn't take your word as absolute, sorry I didn't completely shut up and end the discussion because of your post. you're right, I should have ended it the second you posted.

I was talking about putting together stuff out of my garage to toy with an idea.. I never argued with you, never said you were wrong. Do you want praise for being so awesome? I don't see the point of your post, which basically boiled down to "why are you still discussing this AFTER I SPOKE? I told you it wouldnt work!"

 

Me and 3 other guys. Hey, knock yourself out. You come here to ask a question you already had the answer to, so sorry to waste your time.

BTW, to answer your OP question: Clearly idiotic. Your word, not mine.

Your time and money. Get to it and prove us wrong.

 

screw it, i'm not being baited into joining some stupid anti-social message board wrestling match.

yes yes, you're awesome and im an idiot, you're cool and i'm not, you know everything and i don't.. etc etc etc.

heads up, never argued with anyone, never said anyone else was wrong (was actually learning something in this thread, THANKS TO EVERYONE ELSE) and I NEVER said I was going to go ahead and do it anyways.

You're just frickin nuts man

 

Boys, don't make me get out the tape measure...

Some folks like to try crazy stuff just for the fun of the journey, success or failure. Some of us have tried crazy stuff hoping for a positive outcome and ended up disappointed. Typically, those in the letter group try desperately to help others avoid the disappointment they themselves may have experienced. (Any of you who are raising children will back me on this one, especially if it has to do with cars.) Those in the former group love to dream and by God, just a few of them end up with something special.

My point: it's passion on either side that drives us and this passion is good (or so I think). So to both sides, please try to appreciate each other's passion for what it is and don't take it personally when ideas differ.

Now on to the science: let's figure a 302 needs 500 CFM. A mild boost application of 0.50 atm (approximately 7 psi) would require an additional 125 (250 total) CF of air for a 15 second burst. Given that 1 cubic foot is about 7.48 gallons 250 CF becomes 1870 gallons. Let's divide this by a 60 gallon tank. To get that volume we would need 31.1 tomes atmospheric pressure or approximately 458 psi. I'm thinking kind of 'uh no' at this point but let's continue... Given the best (typical) compressors can yield 170 psi, which is about 11atm we would need a tank that held about 170 gallons. Possible, yes.

That's the easy part. Now you have to rig some sort of gate valve/regulator such that all that air can be passed through at a consistent pressure. This I don't know how to do. Just a gate valve would place all of the head pressure at once and pressure would continue to dissipate and this wouldn't work well. Finally, you would need to plumb this up such that it could be engaged when desired and then return to normal operation. This too I don't know how to approach.