Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

If you had to choose a blower/supercharger which company would you go with?

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Whipple!!!!!

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Dustin at Whipple has been great to work with, and his chargers not only runs very cool, they look very cool, especially in a Quad Rotor set up, makes the engine room look awesome. :D Jeff Jasby

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

What about PSI???? Wesco used them on Jaws they are huge!!!!

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

I'm sure I missed a couple major players, but that's all I could think of right now. I'm sure my decision would be based on one of these manufacture's though.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

I think it depends on a lot of things as to which one i sbest for YOU ....
They all make good stuff. But what do you expect from it ? How much power gain , how many engine mods, how much room , intercooled or not, fuel type, sigle carb ,dual carb, and $$$ ..

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

I agree Boot, I just wanted to get a general consensus on who liked what and possibly why.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

All these views and not many votes; I wonder why?

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

How about God?? The Female does this very well...for a lot less money. You do have to deal with the back fire though. :rolleyes: :)

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Roots are inefficient - they are blowers where centrifigals and screw (i.e. whipple) are compressors. The inefficiency equates to heat. Since you have an unlimited amount of cold water available, air to water intercooling the inlet charge addresses this nicely.

For large cubic inch applications which are not running at seriously high RPM, a Whipple is better suited than a centrfigal. Centrifigals are better suited for very high RPM applications.

For a typical boat, large cubic inch engine with redline under 6,000 RPM, I would say the Whipple is th best choice for the application.

However, a turbo would be even better as there is less sacrificial loss of horsepower - no belt to drive it. You can run less bost and make same HP levels. I am not sure about the whipple, but a centrifigal can easily eat up 80 HP just to run it. So to make X horsepower you need to run more boost than with a turbo.

Turbo's are more complicated setups and generally cost more. Not sure why there aren't more turbo's for boats as they are better solution for forced induction applications. Would be harder to have standardized kits as packaging would quite different for different boats. Superchargers allow more standardization and this makes it cheaper. If I were building an all out effort (i.e. custom, cost is no object), I would be doing a turbo setup.

John

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

http://www.kennebell.net/superchargers/gm/gm81/gm81.htm

Very high tech and smooth integral operation I am told.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Doesn't turbo lag create throttle problems in big water?

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

I heard that PSI are the ****. Very expensive?

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Do a turbo set-up.... in theory they work great... on an engine that runs at a constant speed like an airplane.. they are the standard. Put one in a boat and watch how quickly corrosion destroys everything... Watch as everything welds itself together from the heat and electrolysis...I had twin turbo set-ups on my engines.... no way to plumb in waste gates at the time... and no way to protect everything from the heat of the turbo other than a water jacket... water-jacket a turbo and you lose efficiency.... so .... still want a turbo?

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

You mean like if you are in and out of the throttle, they need to spool up again?

Twin turbos (more $) will generally eliminate turbo lag - at least in cars. A centrifigal would in theory have the same type of issues as it won't make much boost at low RPM, but when the power comes on it does it big time and just keeps coming.

I haven't played with marine applications, so not sure if there is an issue.

John

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Roots blowers dump the fuel air mix straight down, so you get even distribution. Screw compressors move the fuel air mix to one end, so you get plugs in the front fireing lean and plugs in the rear fireing rich. Turbo's provide marine grade night terrors...a serious sleeping disorder

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Sounds like you've been there and done that! Couldn't you air cool it to get rid of the heat and use some heat shielding/header wrap? I wonder how much time and $ to try and make it work for a high HP application. Turbos are standard stuff on marine diesels - but application is obviously a bit different.

I've played with forced induction but not in marine applications. Seems you've tried it and there are application specific issues!

John

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

I've always played with EFI, so fuel introduced after the blower. As applications got hairier we would use an ECU that would allow fuel and timing to be adjusted by cylinder (i.e. a Motec) and full data acquisition to get exhaust temps on each cylinder to tune by.

John

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

For sheer big HP ( BOOST) PSI, the problem is that they don't throttle well because of the dramatic overdrive, they hate stopping and starting and so do the belts :rolleyes:

Whipple's work very well with fuel injection but the big inch ( quads) are also fighting some belt problems when throttled hard ( check the belt routing on the Merc 1075's :eek:)

Millions have been spent trying to make gas marine turbo's work, Tom Gentry gave the best of the best an open LIMITLESS check book and they found power but not a better package.

So pick your poison, the best Supercharger is the one on someone else's boat :rolleyes:

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

I had BDS blowers... nice finish quality... I dealt with them directly ( since they are only a few miles from me ).. very helpful.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

The best blower?

a woman in Maine by the name of Terri Buzzelli

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Her phone number please.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Note to self:

Boost is your friend.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Bwhhhhaaaaahahhhaaa.....that's good.....

But no one has answered the "cost" question.
Given all the "other" stuff that goes along to do a blower set up right......
What's it cost to turn your BBC Mag-Mouse into a bonified firing breathing hangranade waiting to happen :D

signed,
Uncle Ernie

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Again everyone has opinions, and I agree with speaking with the manufacturers to tap into their knowledge base, I do have a bit of experience with prochargers, and if you can contact them talk to Cary Pangrac or Jim summers, and they are willing to spend some time on the phone you will likely find there are many advantages to them, I built some 502's stock bottom end with better pistons, edelbrock heads, and m-4's blowing through dual quads and they make all kinds of power, don't add barely any height to your engine package, come standard with air- water intercooling and make more horsepower on pump fuel (91) than most other styles of blower, also due to the belt wrap on the pulley it does not have to be so god awful tight which is putting excessive loads on the crank snoout and all the bearings in the engine. I also beleive an earlier post may have been inacurate because I think a centrifugal will not cost you the extra 50 horsepower over a whipple. Nearly half the time it is spinning it doesn't make any boost but is there when you need it only, when you lay into the throttles. speaking of car stuff the mustang racers today are hauling --- and the only stuff that is really fast are turbo cars and procharged cars.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

SR-24
Have you thought about selling your current power and building some NA 572s? What kind of HP are you looking for? Are you going to upgrade your drives?

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Look at the mess below - it used to be on ATI/Procharger's web site. If you scroll down you will see a heading: blower HP consumption: 55, 58 and 74 HP. I've been sidelined for the past few years, but I used to do open road racing (silver state classic, pony express) with a 97 Mustang Cobra in the Unlimited division. These were 80-120 mile races on closed section of public highways. Over the years we worked that car up to 205 MPH. I had many sponsors at the time and got lots of coverage. If you look on www.vortechsuperchargers.com web site under "Profiles" and "World's Fastest Cobra" that'd be me. Here's an old article on some of what was in the car http://www.50mustangandsuperfords.co...ehicles/18758/ it's mostly accurate. Vortech used to have video up of the car at speed. Can shoot it to you if you're curious.


Units Baseline VortechS-Trim ProChargerP600B ProChargerP600B
Intercooled Y/N N N Y Y
Compressor Inlet Pressure (test data) psia n/a 14.3 14.5 14.2
Compressor Discharge Pressure (test data) psig n/a 9 11.2 14.5
Engine Intake Manifold Pressure (test data) psig n/a 8.2 8.2 11.5
Pressure Drop Through Intercooler (test data) psia n/a n/a 3 3
Compressor Inlet Temperature (test data) F 81 82.7 82.3 82.3
Intercooler Effectiveness (test data) % n/a n/a 76 72
Intercooler Discharge Temperature (test data) F n/a n/a 120 139.7
Engine Intake Manifold Inlet Temperature F 81 199.2 120 139.7
Total Temperature Increase (test data) F n/a 116.5 37.7 57.4
Ambient Air Density (calculated) lb/cu-ft 0.0737 0.0734 0.0735 0.0735
Change In Charge Air Density (test data) % n/a 29.5 47.1 63.2
Engine Displacement (given) cu-in 302 302 302 302
Engine RPM (test data) rev/min 5500 6000 6000 6000
Total Ignition Timing (test data) degrees 30 22 30 30
Fuel Octane Rating (given) — 91 91 91 91
Gross Horsepower (calculated) HP 281 439 502 566
Volumetric Air Flow (test data) SCFM 480 811 837 925
Blower Horsepower Consumption (test data) HP n/a 55 58 74
Net Horsepower (test data) HP 281 384 444 492
Net Horsepower Increase (calculated) % n/a 36.7 58 75.1

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

any thoughts or experienes with B & M 250 blowers on a 502?

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

A buddy of mine has two on 454's and they seem to do just fine. They're in an '88 model 31' Cig, so the speeds aren't great, but I think he runs about 75 or so. He also just had one rebuilt by the blower shop and he said you can really tell the difference in the engine with the rebuilt one.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

I run one on a 522 at 5 lbs boost. It broke 2 transmissions and I had to buy a Huber trans for it. It adds some grunt.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

that's the kinds of things I wanted to hear!! :) :) :cool:

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

We have B & M 174. 3 lbs of boost. Great blowers.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Whipple it! :cool:

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

John inNY,

I remember reading about your stang. Cool run, I bet.

Diesel turbos are indeed a different animal. While roots blowers have been used to scavenge, or assist a turbo in scavenging a diesel, they are added mechanical componentry and they have proven to be more maintenance intensive than a simple exhaust compressor. And since marine diesels consider maintenance intervals in terms of so many THOUSAND operating hours, it is easy to see that added mechanical doodads are a bad thing. Marine diesel turbos are designed for reliable operation over lag considerations. While modern turbo diesels have minimal lag compared to older motors, they still have more than you'd need in an offshore motor (lots more). Main reason is that they are sized for proper airflow at a copressor rpm that will deliver long service. Another reason is that they are waterjacketed to reduce engine room heat levels. We all know that turbos are powered by heat energy, but the necesary jacketing compromises their ultimate efficiency and trades it for heat safety. Combine that with a diesel being an engine that flows tremendous amounts of airflow at all engine speeds versus a gas application and you will see how a turbo is so well suited to a diesel.

The "in and out" of offshore operation requires power to resume in linear response to the throttle lever movement. Turbos cannot do this unless you rig a bypass to allow the compressor to freewheel when the throttle plates are closed. Can't do this in an enclosed engine compartment because it opens up the intake tract to the atmosphere which is a no no, specially if the turbo loses an oil seal which would have it spraying oil mist inside the engine compartment. And you'd still have to have a good way for it to open and snap shut to match your requirements.

for less money, effort, and trauma you can bolt big inefficient roots blowers on the motors and make great responsive power. Just doesn't give a good balance to the effort/reward level.

Can it be one? Of course. There's guys on this forum running turbos. Yellowcat is in NY and has a big cat with turbos. Bad mother.

Dragboats? Ski Racers? lots of turbos. Open air engines, though. Motors stuck right out in the open. Changes the rules regarding contained explosion hazard...

Centrifugals? Soft on the bottom, harder hit on top. Not what you want for a dragboat, but works well for most guys running drivetrains that are overtaxed anyhow. A roots or screwcharger slamming 10 pounds of boost right off idle spells a stinky gear oil smelling ruined kind of day. Centrifs give a couple pounds of boost while planing the boat and kind of provide a "safeguard" that keeps you from getting a little too excited on the sticks..

Who makes the best?
The specific application and intended usage change the equation and make that question hard to answer.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Mcollinstn is right on the money. It's case sensitive. That being the case, is there such a thing as "best blower"?... Other than Terry Buzzelli?

If the blower does what you want, or need, for your app. then thats the best blower for you. There are different blower manufacturers out there that will accomplish the same end result at which time you need to compare total dollars to be spent on one system vs. the other to accomplish that goal.

All those that are listed have a proven history. Each type of blower reacts/acts differently than the other type. You need to know what type of action you want.

The only reason you add a blower is for more speed, right? So the only thing that counts is when you bang the sticks, who ever is in front at the end is the winner.

DAVE

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Hey DaveF......I don't see any blowers here!!!! :D

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

OOOPS...I mean here...........

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

I thought you were gonna keep that a secret!!!!!!!!!!!

Notice it's set up and ready though. So if anyone out there wants to make me a hatch cover to fit over top of it all, let me know.

DAVE :)

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

I'm on my 3rd year with a set (35' Cigarette). They're the minimum for a roots-style blower on a 502, but they work. My boat came with 174s - I picked up 15mph by switching to the 250s. Long and short of it - they're inexpensive (you can probably get a used one for $1500), I know how to work on them, and they're reliable. But, if I had the bucks right now, I'd go to 420s.

Re: Who makes the best blower/supercharger?
 

Who make the best blower/supercharger ENGINE. Mercruiser. SC's baby! Nobody wants to pay the money but they stay together and run...