what is involved in putting one?

[Seal]

hey everyone, i dont know much about blowers, but what is involved in installing one? I am not planning on getting one soon, I just would like to know how it's done [img]smile.gif[/img]

[daWhoady]

attach blower in specified location, then hook up belt. Then run pluming from the compressor to the throttle body.

Thats a simple way of putting it, seems like you wanted a generic explanation.

[Seal]

i know that [img]tongue.gif[/img]

but, like what is the specified location? like u remove the airbox, and put it in there? or do u hook it up through headers, what do u connect it to to give it the extra 100hp? all that stuff... it obviously isnt a fan that turns on when the computer says "hey, i passed 3K rpms! start making 100hp!" :D

[daWhoady]

hehe.....ok, the location of the supercharger unit is whereever the kit specifies. If you are doing a custom job yourself, you have to find a way to locate it to where you get adaquate belt contact with the supercahrger pully, or use an additional belt.

What a supercharger does is uses the power from the engine to turn the supercharger pully, which in turn spins an impeller. That impeller compresses the air that goes into the throttle body. At X amout of RPM's is where the supercharger starts to make boost over atmospheric pressure.

[Seal]

himmm [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Triple W]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>
What a supercharger does is uses the power from the engine to turn the supercharger pully, which in turn spins an impeller. That impeller compresses the air that goes into the throttle body. At X amout of RPM's is where the supercharger starts to make boost over atmospheric pressure.[/QB]<hr></blockquote>

Bill Nye the Science Guy :D :D :D

[strobhen]

Actually if we want to get really technical, the pulley spins the impeller on the centrifugal fan, which then puts out a certain CFM of air (Cubic Feet per Minute), which is usually higher than what the engine can get rid of, so since you are putting in more air than the engine can get rid of, the air must compress to make room.

The impeller doesn't compress air, it just moves a lot of it. It is also designed in such a way that backpressure (pressure trying to make its way backwards, or against the flow of the fan) doesn't bother it much up to a certain point. When pressure rises above a certain point (the rating of the fan), the fan will only serve to maintain that pressure as it simply will not be able to put more air into the engine.

The amount of CFM a supercharger makes is very directly tied to the RPM of the engine (unlike a turbocharger, which is much harder to calculate). The higher the RPM, the higher the CFM. CFM will also be affected by pulley size (both crank & supercharger), condition of the charger, and a little by the free-flowing and size of the filter (not much tho, these are very powerful fans).

There are two kinds of superchargers. There is the "Roots" supercharger. It is a twin screw design that makes a lot of boost down low, and is mainly used on carburated & OEM applications. They are torque monsters and spin up very quickly. The other kind is called a Centrifugal Supercharger, which is basically a belt driven turbo. It is more efficient than the roots, less than the turbo, but also has less lag than the turbo and is a tad cheaper.

Centrifugal superchargers do have some lag though, but if you do any kind of brake stall, it should be minimal at best.

[ June 30, 2002: Message edited by: strobhen ]</p>

[Arctc Wolf]

there is also a 3rd kind of sc, a twin-screw sc. it's based off of the roots, but uses 2 intermeshing lobes that look like screws(hence the name) to push more air into the engine. this sc heats up the air much less than a roots, between 8-9 degrees per psi boost, but is still not as efficient as a centrifugal. The screw makes up for this by always providing a set amount of boost, instead of waiting to spool up quicker to make boost. when installing a sc kit, the kit will give you instructions as to how and when to put a part on, as well as give you all the components you'll need.

[daWhoady]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr> Originally posted by strobhen:
The impeller doesn't compress air, it just moves a lot of it. It is also designed in such a way that backpressure (pressure trying to make its way backwards, or against the flow of the fan) doesn't bother it much up to a certain point. When pressure rises above a certain point (the rating of the fan), the fan will only serve to maintain that pressure as it simply will not be able to put more air into the engine. <hr></blockquote>

The impeller in the compressor side of a supercharger does compress air. that is how a supercharger works. the only reason you need to worry about CFM is to make sure it can produces enough to feed the engine. The supercharger takes in air, and sucked into the compressor where the impeller is being turned by the pully attached to the engine. At a certain RPM, the impeller is turing fast enough to compress air over atmosheric pressure.

Our engines take in 14.7 psi of natural atmospheric air presseure at sea level. The supercharger just ups that pressure. If you are putting out 8 psi @ X RPM from the supercharger, your engine is taking in 22.7 psi total at sea level. The supercharger compresses air molecules, so more fuel can be burn. More air and fuel equals more power.

[Seal]

i see, the more air, the more power... well, those air scoops could add hell of power when going fast then.

[daWhoady]

In a ram air set-up, I've heard you can generate abour 1 psi over atmoph pressure. That could give you nice little gain if done correctly

[strobhen]

No, a supercharger does not compress air and then spit compressed air into the engine. It is a very powerful fan that spits a lot of uncompressed air into an engine -- the only reason air in the engine becomes compressed is because it cannot move the air out fast enough.

A supercharger is a specially designed centrifugal fan. Similar to what you find in a water pump or some air conditioning fans. Air goes in the center and then gets flinged to the sides of the unit & forced out the opening. There is nothing in the mechanism to compress the air. Air is compressed in the engine because you have an engine that puts out, say, 500 cfm of air and a supercharger that pumps in 1000 cfm of air. Where does that other 500 cubic feet of air per minute go? Nowhere, so the incoming air must compress it to make room inside a static container. Very little if any compression takes place in a supercharger.

That is why when you make an engine more free flowing the boost decreases. You let out more CFM of air while the supercharger puts in the same amount.

CFM is very important when looking at a supercharger, more important than the max PSI. Take two superchargers, one flows 1000 cfm at 3k rpms, another flows 2k cfm at 3k rpms. Hook each up to the same engine, and that second one will be making a lot more boost a lot faster than the first one.

Want a case-in-point? Ok, go look at ATI's website, look at their models.

We are using the P-1SC, it flows 1200 cfm of air and will build up a maximum of 30 psi. The F-4 (the one that mustang hit mid 6's on) flows 4300 cfm of air with a max of 32 psi.

Look at that difference, 2 psi but over 3k cfm. The amount of air the supercharger flows is everything. ATI even has chargers w/ a lower cfm and higher psi rating. The PSI rating simply means that when you reach that point, the supercharger will do no more than pump in enough air to the engine to maintain that PSI.

You take that P-1SC and strap it to one of our cars and watch it go, now take the F-4 and strap it, even modify the pullies so they spin at the same, heck, even lower speeds, that thing is going to be putting out a lot more air (and hence, boost) a lot faster (its basically a big *** impeller compared to the P-1SC, with other enhancements I'm sure).

[daWhoady]

I guess I was mistaken. strobhen, you explained it beautifully.

[Redsix]

Ditto :D

[Mcaanda]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by seal:
hey everyone, i dont know much about blowers, but what is involved in installing one?<hr></blockquote>

On my site, if you like, you can download the .pdf version of the SC install guide. It will show you just how to get the SC installed into your car, and there you go...

It's actually just more time consuming than anything else....