Supercharged RV8

[chesterak]

I know his isn't strictly COBRA talk.... my lad has it in his head to supercharge a RV8 3.9L I had originally built for my CR Viper. It's planned to go into an off-road comp safari vehicle (to replace a tame 3.5L lump)- does anyone out there have any knowledge/experience of supercharging these engines or who could advise who may have. Thanks in anticipation...
Stan

[robert]

Stan

I have expience of supercharging Chevy 350s, and the principles are the same, what info would you like?

Robert
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[daxv8man]

This sounds very interesting, come on Stan ask the man. Can i have an answer
Rob, What's the cost of buying a suitible Turbo.

Graham

[robert]

Graham

No idea, turbos have far too much lag, whereas the supercharger doesn't.

Best Regards

Robert
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[chesterak]

Robert,
Thanks for the response. As you say, the principles of supercharging are well known and documented. What we are hoping for is practical advice on fitting a supercharger to a Rover V8, pully arrangements, speed ratio, etc. I'm trying to find the model number of the blower we have been lent - I think its a Wade unit one size up from a RO 20 (I'll confirm this later). This particular unit has been fitted to an Essex V6. We have cut down a twin carb manifold and we are planning to weld on an adapter plate then use the four barrel Weber thats on the engine now.The unit is quite tall so we are only using it as a development tool as, I think, the blower to use is an Eaton M90. Wew have a reasonably equipped workshop (Miller, lathe, ac/dc TIG welding) so we can tackle most jobs.... any help to save us reinventing the wheel is appreciated.
stan

[robert]

Stan

This is a roots blower, right?

Robert
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[chesterak]

Robert,
Yes, I'm fairly sure its a roots type blower...just to show my ignorance, what other types are there?
stan

[interestedparty]

On the cost of a turbo set-up, I am currently encouraging Mike Johnson of Boost Perfomance to put together a simple and inexpensive carburetted twin-turbo kit for the Rover V8. He has vast experience of RV8 turbocharging, and already has the patterns for the cast iron exhaust manifolds, and the plan is to use rebuilt Garrett turbos, a fuel-injection type fuel pump and a rising rate fuel pressure regulator. It's my belief that a kit such as this would be a more cost effective way of increasing the output of a 3.5 V8 than buying a 4.6 bottom end. Using maybe 5-7lbs boost it wouldn't, at this stage, need an intercooler or lower compression ratio (thick head gaskets would be desirable), although these refinements (including more c.c.'s) could be added later.
There isn't much detail about this yet on Mike's website, but anyone else interested can contact him and maybe it will happen sooner
http://www.chevroletls1.com
John

[StuartH]

John,
Would this be for use with SU carbs, or would it be possible with webers/holleys? It's something I'd definitely be interested in (when my warranties run out - don't think super/turbo-charging is covered!! )
I'll probably be bored with its current power output by then anyway.
I guess having the cross bolted mains of a 4.6 would help whichever way you went.

Stuart

[interestedparty]

That's a good point, Stuart, no reason why the twin SU setup shouldn't be used. The SU's fitted to the Metro Turbo are already suitable for blow-through application. I did think of this a while back but forgot again (seems to happen a lot to me these days). The other Metro turbo bits could probably be used as well.
John