Congrats tomcat!

The revised supercooler looks great.

Folks, this is the best bolt on accessory I`ve seen in years. I was lucky enough to be included in the dyno testing of tomcats prototype at Nickerson Performance last January and the results were just plain mind boggling We took a stock 454 Mag with an M1 Procharger, added Tom`s low restriction intercooler/carb box and we consistantly made 740 hp! with the stock pulleys! Dean Nickerson himself had remarked that we were in "uncharted territory" as those numbers had not been achieved with such a mild base engine with 8.6 compression on pump gas.

I wish you the best of luck with your new system and I`m very excited about testing your new design on NEVRENUFF`s new DME 502

Kurt

There is a four page article about the testing of tomcat`s prototype in the May issue of Family and Performance Boating magazine

Tom,
Any dyno test plans on this unit? What about the pricing? Any ideas? Greg

Kurt,

Thanks for the thumbs up. Just to clarify for any new members out there, the Procharged setup made 650 HP. All we did was switch the carb box and intercooler with our prototype. Same carb jetting, same ignition timing, same compressor pulleys and we added almost 90 HP. This is due primarily to the elimination of pressure losses in the pathway between the compressor and the carb, and a little bit to the more balanced air flow distribution across the intercooler core. The intercooler in the prototype was only 353 in3 because we were trying to stay close to the capacity of the small Procharger intercooler.

I look forward to seeing you again. I hope you get the Top Gun back in the water by then!

Greg,

The plans for testing are as follows:

1) Flow bench next week
2) Nevrenuff's boat next month
3) Dyno a Procharged 502 in the fall

All I really need to see are good flow bench numbers; the HP comes from that. But the in water test will give us another magazine article which F&PB has agreed to publish. It will also give us lots of installation pictures so people can see how easy it is. Finally, the dyno test is scheduled for the fall, so that the volunteer doesn't lose any boating time. Do you want to be the guinea pig?

Price

I have learned over the past few months that cost depends a lot on how simple and efficient your manufacturing method is. This has as much to do with how smart your vendor/supplier is, as it does with how good your design is.

Originally I thought that there was no way I could build this thing as cheaply as Procharger does. After all, I'm replacing rubber hose of practically no cost, with a patent pending compressor discharge plenum and an integrated intercooler core with cast water tanks. And shouldn't I be able to sell for more since there is a clear HP advantage?

I thought about this a lot and finally decided that the way to sell this thing was to sell for the same price as Procharger, and give the customer the extra HP for free.

The Rtech Supersystem, with a Vortech V-7 compressor and our 468 in3 intercooler core is very similar in compressor and intercooler capacity to an M-3 kit with 504 intercooler. But we have the advantage of lower restriction/higher airflow and will always make more HP. I had a 2001 price sheet that said the price of an M-3 kit for carb BBC was $5,996.00. So that became the target and we just kept refining the design and manufacturing method until we got the costs down to the point where it's worth proceeding.

As they say, price and specifications may change, but I'm confident that we can sell a complete kit for $6000.00. For those wanting to convert their M-1 Procharger setups with the supercooler alone, the cost will be about $2000.00. This is comparable to the cost of a separate carb box and intercooler. These customers will not only get the airflow advantage but they will be greatly increasing the cooling capacity of their intercooler, from 324 to 468.

If you're wondering why 468 in3, it's because the core is as big as it can be and still have a total box height of 7.5", the same as a standard carb box. Turning the carb sideways to get the core 6" deep is the other thing that makes this 468 possible. The sideways carb mandates the use of a single plane intake (Edelbrock Victor Jr. and Dart).

Any more questions? As you can tell, I'm full of information after living this project for six months!

Tom

Looks great! Would be perfect on a HP500. Can the stock hp500 carb and intake be used? Does the $6k include the sideways adaptor and carb? Great job! Marty.

Thanks Marty,

The HP500 is a perfect candidate. The stock (Dart) intake is the one to use and Nickerson already has a blowthrough tuneup for the stock 800 Holley that comes on these engines. You have to provide your own fuel pump and regulator. From what I've seen and heard, the Aeromotive 1000 is the way to go.

The sideways carb adapter and the Vortech throttle linkage are included. The Vortech fuel line kit is optional as some people like to do their own.

Also optional is Vortech's beautiful CNC machined flame arrester, since some people will just run a K&N filter. I am getting one of these flame arresters next week to see what I have to do to use it on the V-7 compressor. It was designed to fit the larger inlet of a V-4 compressor, but I think I can machine a simple bushing/adapter to use it on the V-7.

Speaking of HP500s, there is a certain 42 Fountain with triple engines that may be sporting a set of Rtech Supersystems in the near future. I am really hoping to see another magazine article out of that installation.

I have talked to Biggus quite a bit about this project and can not waite to see it on Pauls new motor.

Tom,
I might do the guinea pig thing. What location? Nickersons? Greg

Hi Greg:

We might pick something closer for the two of us. I was thinking of Tyler Crockett. Does he have a dyno? The advantage of Nickerson's is the carb tuning (if necessary). NEVRENUFF had a Nickerson carb and we didn't have to do a thing to it other than richen the jets for the test with the smaller pulley.

Flow Bench Numbers

We flowed the supercooler today at Rolling Thunderz in Toronto. We used the same bellmouth inlet and Holley carb that we have used in all testing. Even though I simplified some features for the sake of manufacturing, the Rtech Supercooler flowed 96% of the air flow of the prototype that gained 90 HP on NEVRENUFF's engine. The main reason is the depth of the 468 core which is 6" compared to the 353 core in the prototype which was only 4.5". I'm willing to make this trade off for 33% more cooling capacity.

During this session we were also able to determine the ideal length for the discharge tube. There is a slight tradeoff in the position for best total flow vs. the position for best distribution of flow across the intercooler. This tradeoff is included in the 96%.

That was the final bit of "science". We are now full speed ahead on the manufacturing and marketing of this piece.

Awesome tomcat

hey, don't forget to get the lawyers started on that regular filing, a year comes up way too fast and you must continue the filing before 365 days to keep you patent valid.

we just filed on our towlite

i know your struggles regarding manufacturing sources. if you want something done right (or cheap) you gotta do it yourself. between the wholesalers, retailers, and contract manufacturers fair? cuts, we were paying money to sell our product/idea!!!

so back into my polebarn for production

too bad work keeps getting in the way of getting the job done.......but gotta keep the day job for now

Make as many as you have time for,and license the rest of the volume that you couldnt have time to make anyway. you'll still get the profit

good luck

How does the water flow?

Across the bottom, then U turn and back across the top and out? In and out on the same side.

or from one side on the bottom and out the other side on the top?