What If?????

[RBManufacturing]

I am still working on the postal jeep with the built 302 Mustang
engine. Runs Great. Got me to thinking. I know, that can be a
dangerous thing!!! I know a blower on the intake of an engine
can greatly increase horsepower. What if a small 12 volt high
power fan was installed on top of carb forcing air into engine
similar to what a blower does. The fan could be wired through
a potentiometer that is attached to throttle linkage. As throttle
is increased, fan would speed up like a blower speeds up when
throttle is increased. Not as powerful as a blower of course
but beneficial??? Anyone got an old clunker and willing to try
it? Has any car co. ever done anything similar? I put a scoop
on the carb of a Mustang years ago that I ran at the drag strip. The faster she went, the more air was forced into the
carb, and performance appeared to improve by about 1 second through the 1/4 mile. What say you????? I, and maybe
alot of others here would be interested in the outcome. I do
not have access to a carb type vehicle except the jeep, and it will be awhile before she is at a point of doing it. Any comments or anyone willing to try? Rick

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What if a small 12 volt high
power fan was installed on top of carb forcing air into engine
similar to what a blower does. The fan could be wired through
a potentiometer that is attached to throttle linkage. As throttle
is increased, fan would speed up like a blower speeds up when
throttle is increased )</font>

A potentiometer is a horrible way to control electric motor speed. Also.. you are ignoring the fact that a 'hi speed fan' is likely a hih current device... potentiometers are not great for that application. Also.. I bet you would have an awesomly hard time getting the throw of the linkage to time up with the resistance increase / decrease on the potentiometer.. whether you used a linear or tapered one or not... Bad idea in my opinion..

Not addressing your automotive question.. but merely staying on the electrical side, A Pulse Width Modulator would be a much .. much better choice for a motor speed control.

Soundguy

 

[MikeIA]

If the fan doesn't work, maybe you can hunt down one of the units described here.

A selected quotation to pique your interest:
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( At the mild end of the Turbonique product line were its AP (for "Auxiliary Power") superchargers, so named because they had their own power supply. Unlike regular superchargers (driven by a crank pulley belt) or turbos (driven by exhaust pressure), Turbonique AP superchargers operated independently of the engine and scavenged no power from it. They appeared to be a spiral turbo with a spark plug, and were engaged with a dash-mounted switch - a sort of prehistoric Nitrous setup. When the driver threw the switch, the supercharger unit would receive liquid oxygen for ignition, and then it was fed a rocket fuel named Thermolene -Turbonique's trade name for N-propyl nitrate. The exhaust thrust from combustion would spin a turbine impeller up to 100,000 RPM, ramming the engine with such intense boost that it essentially turned it into a giant two-stroke. Turbonique dyno-tested an AP unit on new Chevy 409 in 1963, increasing horsepower from a stock 405 to 835 -- backing up their advertised guarantee to "double your horsepower" -- although it came with a recommendation not to run the unit for more than 5 minutes and only with forged cranks, pistons and connecting rods.)</font>

Now to find some N-propyl nitrate......

 

[BB_TX]

Certainly not my area of expertise, but I don't think a fan could supply the volume and pressure needed. It would have to supply the volume and exceed the negative pressure induced by the aspiration of the engine. If the fan could not do that, it would actually have a negative impact as it would impede the air flow into the carb. I think you would have to have a blower of some type.

 

[jinman]

I believe nitrous oxide injection is a much cheaper and more responsive addition to your stock engine. It doesn't increase the compression, but it sure makes your fuel more efficient.

 

[Ray2210]

You can't really run a performance small block on less than 600 cfm and at boost you'd need to maintain at least that above atmospheric pressure. If you consider that a standard upright air compressor rated at 5 hp max with a 60 gallon tank can't really provide more than about 10 cfm at 90 psi you can see where a compressor of sorts will be needed to supply 600 to 800 cfm at say 5 to 8 PSIG. Run the math using pv=mrt and you'll see what I mean. By the way I say this all as an engineering technologist and already know that the fan won't work.

 

[Highbeam]

Then there's the flex-a-lte fans that pull 5500 cfm through the radiator at a much lower pressure with less than 30 amps or less than half a HP. The boost levels to supercharge a gas engine are pretty low 10-12 psi sounds real familiar. Turbo diesels get up to 35 or so psi.

You're better off with a belt driven whipple.

 

[kensfarm]

Check out the RAM-AIR feature on Pontiac Firebirds.. I have a 97.. 5.7 liter w/ WS6 Performance & Handling package. The RAM-AIR adds 20hp.. giving 335hp. Another performance enhancement would be upgrade electronic control module.. to a racing module. Another hp boost can be gotten from switching your belt-power water pump to an electric one. It's all the little things that add up. I use to own a 76 CJ5.. I wish I had it on the farm.

 

[RobertN]

Rick,
At this point, before the projects goes any further, might I recomend tossing the 302 and moving to a 429/460? You do not need a fan, you need cubic inches /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[HGM]

I think this is what you have in mind....

I totally agree, it wont work.. It will provide a restriction at some point.. You'd be better off with any of the options listed above..

I'm not a fan of cubic inches, I prefer technology.. I (personally) would dump the 302 and look for a late model(OBDII) V-8 like the 4.6DOHC.. Many more possibilities, more reliable horsepower and can still be tuned to give you fuel economy when you need it.. They have blowers already on some of them too /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif..