I have been looking at roadrunner engineering and am really considering a blower on my truck. I emailed joe abbin and am waiting to hear from him. Do any of you think I will have any over heating problems? Right now I am running around 190 degrees with a combined weight of 20500 lbs. I can get her up to 55 mph if there is not a bad wind but easter sunday was pretty windy and I could not keep her over 45 mph without loosing speed and down shifting up the slightest little grade. If I can get another 50lbft of torque and about 20hp I think that will make a big diffrence, what do y'all think? Worth the money?

 

all the "glitches can be worked out ! if you can afford one get it !!!!!!!!!!!! had a buddy with a big block , supercharcharged chevelle oh geez was that thing a fun ride !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I also had a buddy who bought his Monte Carlo from his grand mother. He struck a blower on that thing and momma hang on!!

 

I don't know much about the whole set up, but, I have personally met Joe Abbin and been to his shop. The man has his own dyno! I see him at car shows and at the local cruise in from time to time. I believe that he knows his stuff. Whatever advice he gives you is sound advice.

Just a side note on blowers. A nice small compact blower can be found relatively easy at your local wrecking yard. In the early and mid 90's GM put a blower on their 3.8L V6 cars, you could find it in the SSE Bonneville's, Buicks, and Oldsmobiles. I was at the wrecking yard the other day and spotted 2 of them. I'm not sure what kind of adapting it would take to fabricate an intake manifold for them though

Bobby

 

Matt, are you talking "Turbo" or "Supercharger"?

Gil

 

My opinion only; ..More air into combustion chamber ,means more fuel required to keep the A/F ration @14.7.1..of course you already know that..how you maintainn that is the 1st question...easy enough to do with some of modern aftermkt ECU'S.F.A.S.T is one system that comes to mind..
The next and more serious question is..will the flattie hold up to high pressure and heat and quick RPM's??
I've seen that nice looking flattie in your gallery, hate to see that thing get damaged...But here is where I differ to you flattie guy's.
Good looking project so far!! Might a different Trans/Axle combo meet your needs ?

 

56F600--I have a 63 stude avanti with 289 and supercharged from factory. I had an idea to put my extra paxton or McCullough supercharger on my 272. I was informed that this will work well. I would contact Jon Myers studebaker if you want 1 of these. I would think they would work,with a little engineering. Maybe Niolon or NUMBER DUMMY can inform you if this is correct. My 56f600 goes 60 on the highway,and it is like going 90!! LOL......Bill

 

Supercharging my engine is one of the things on my list to do. Unfortunately, they aren't cheap and I'd really avoid spending money on a used one. Rebuilding is expensive and finding someone to do it right isn't easy either. You will be running much hotter with a blower. I'm assuming your talking Supercharger and not turbocharging? The blower will work better with lower compression pistons also. I would look into an aluminum radiator with good electric fans to keep things cool. Don't go real big on a blower either. I have a 289 and a 671 blower is pushing it. I really like the B&M compact blower (can't remember the number right now) They run about $3500 for everything. Maybe Santa will be good to me this year.

 

I'm talking about a blower, a weiand 142 which is prety small. The factory compression ratio is pretty low already 6. smoething:1 with 8BA heads and 7:1 with EAB heads. I have the 8BA heads on it right now and I have a set of EAB heads either way the rati is just right and the stock system should be good for 5PSI boost which will give me the results I want. I calculated my CFM requirements to be around 177CFM with a redline of 3500 RPM, which is as fast as I want to spin it anyway as this is a work truck and not a hotrod. So I am looking for a mid fifties Y block 94 carb if anyone knows were one might be. I am still doing my research and waiting to hear from joe. If yall get a chance check out his site at roadrunner engineering.

 

joe just contacted me and said 5psi will work fine with stock pistons however I will have to run dual 94's or a small 4bbl. which sucks because I will need a new distributer too, and I just converted mine to electronic. Heat should not be a problem as boost is only maintained for a shrt time period.

 

If you're lookin' for a 50's McCullough (can you say: "PAXTON"?) I had a STUDE and a FORD--they're identical except for the I.D. badges. The only one still around (somewhere???) is the Ford, I kept it 'cause it was off a Y block and all it needed was the 'magic aging dust' blown off (Don't we all?)...and some *****, bearings that is.
Anywho, the bracketry went to make the STUDE sale, but if you're interested in some pics (or the McSupercharger itself for that matter) just ask...I'll fire up the old air compressor and see what's underneath all that dust in my garage.
T.