Supercharged Sharks

[MaineShark]

I'm looking for any descriptions or thoughts about supercharged Sharks. I've seen very few. Among the things I am curious about, is actually fitting the supercharger in the engine compartment. I'm thinking a taller hood is probably necessary, but perhaps some have managed to squeeze them under the stock hood.

Joe

 

[wichitacorvette]

Have you possibly thought about a procharger? Ive seen many sharks w/SC's popin through the hood..... namely my personal fav, Project Insane Asylum . But on a carb shark ive only seen 1 c3 with a Procharger. I REALLY wish i could find this guy but he was in town last summer and COMPLETELY killed me and my friend when i was in his pro built 454 in a 72 camaro. he ran the camaro this fall and ran a 12.2 and the late 70's l82 vette beat him by about 4 car lengths. when we pulled over it was a bone stock l82 w/a small (im guessing a small P-1 or something) with the carb kit. he said its been very reliable and never had a prob. I personally want a procharger to be my next step, which if i win the lottery it will be.......... http://www.procharger.com

 

[StingRayCrazy]

MaineShark, I thought of a neat way to supercharge a C3 Vette some time ago before I finally decided to Turbocharge mine. Using a Procharger like Wichitacorvette recommended but not in the conventional manor.

Instead of mounting it to the cylinder head and taking up room from the Assy's and driving it with a belt. I thought of driving it directly or axially by the crank. There is plenty of room to mount the unit directly in front of the harmonic balancer. You can then drive the supercharger with a shaft connected to the crank using the 3 bolts off of the harmonic balancer for a drive pad. In between the crank and the Procharger you would need a coupling to dampen vibration and allow for some deflection in alignment. I would try a Lovejoy brand of coupling. They are very rugged, require no maintenance and are very easy on the budget.

http://www.lovejoy-inc.com/catalog/jw.pdf

http://www.procharger.com/models.shtml

For the Supercharger I would get an F-2 Procharger or one that has the highest gear multiplication (you wont have the pulley multiplication) and largest cfm rating available. Also you could make a new radiator that was thicker and shorter. This would allow you to stand it in the near vertical position to give yourself more room. That's how my radiator is going to be. I haven't seen this arrangement done before on a Vette but I think it would be a very cool project. Not to mention, you could keep your A/C and stock hood! :crazy

 

[MaineShark]

Guess I should have specified a positive-displacement type supercharger, not a centrifugal unit. For centifugal, I think I'd do the same as StingRayCrazy, and create a twin-turbo setup.

I think the Autorotor twin-screw supercharger is probably the best device, offering positive displacement and compression, in one unit.

I saw a direct-drive supercharger in a magazine, once. Potvin, I believe.

Joe

 

[JHL]

Hi

Bentley were using superchargers driven of the crank in the 30`s and I believe that Mercedes also had a similar set up. If you have space in front of the engine it will work. I saw a plain jane SAAB 900 at a recent race meeting which pulled a 9 second run. I wondered round to the pits to have a look and under the bonnet was a big block chevy which had a blower in front of the engine and was driven by a miniture drive shaft so it can work.

J.

 

[Last Ride]

I have been vacillating between turbo or supercharger for a while (current vote is twin turbo), and that Procharger idea where it is driven directly off of the crank sounds intriguing! What kind of power would, say, a stroked 396 LT1 (fuel injected) make with this setup? I have not yet decided on how to go about adding power to my '78, but it is certain that it will have to be a custom job all the way. As for the positive displacement blower under the hood, buy a LARGE cowl!

 

[SLICKMAN]

How much does one of these procharger's go for?

 

[StingRayCrazy]

Efficiency and power go to the Twin Turbo hands down. But the cost factor favors the Procharger not to mention the ease of installation. I've seen people give up on projects and sell them new on EBay for less than $1500.00. You can buy kits from Summit for less than $4000.00. :crazy