Supercharger for my Apache

[diceman50]

After 4 years as my daily driver I have decided that it is time for some more power. The truck has the original 235 in it with a custom built one off fuel injection system built by a good friend named Greg and myself. Greg is an EE and did all of the wiring and computer programing and tuning. He has hacked several of the most popular GM OBD1 computers and is a genius at manipulating and tuning them. I am a mechanic and fabricator from the school of hard knocks and I handle those items.

My neighbor Kris, Greg, and myself recently installed a ZZ4 crate engine with a First Fuel Injection system (not FAST) on Kris's 1972 step side. There is a build thread here at:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=603726

My Apache runs well for a 50+ year old engine and the fuel injection makes the drivability of the truck great compared to the carb., but does little to increase the horsepower. Around town it is great but at freeway speeds it struggles when there is a hill and/or a stiff head wind. Since I live in the land of 75 and 80 MPH (posted) speed limits I want a few more horses to work with.

The fuel injection system consists of a vintage Edmunds dual carb manifold with 3 bolt flanges, 2 Retrotek Stromberg lookalike throttle bodies, a Frankenstein Chevy/Ford distributor and ignition system, and various GM and Ford sensors. I did a build thread on the fuel injection system on the Stovebolt Forum. If you are interested it is here:

http://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/...=678192&page=1

The engine also has Fenton cast iron manifolds with a custom built stainless steel 2 inch x 1 3/4 exhaust system out the back.

The rest of the drivetrain consists of a 1967 Saginaw 3 speed on the column, a Gear Vendors overdrive, the original rear end with 3.90 gears and 31 inch tires.

The plan is for a .040 over 261 and a McCullough supercharger. Other engine mods include a 235 cylinder head with some bowl work and clean up of the ports and a mild blower friendly cam. I'm not looking for maximum power. Just enough to get over the next hill.

Some might question the decision to use an old McCullough supercharger since there are more efficient units available. It is to stay with the style of the build which is vintage 60's.

While I am waiting for the machine shop to finish with my engine I decided to work on the supercharger. It is a VS 57 that needs a total rebuild and conversion to a SN (short nose) unit. Following are some pictures of the process.

More to come.

[diceman50]

Here are some pictures of the truck and the fuel injection.

[ratty 46]

Very interesting & I like where you're going with this ... I'll continue to watch.

R46

[Advanced Design]

Great friends you guys are. A good team. Read the 72 build thread and enjoyed it.
Tagging along here to learn.
Supercharger came out nice and the truck is super cool.

[ChuckDriver]

Cool looking truck!

[diceman50]

Thanks guys! I'm hoping my supercharger rebuild parts come in today so I can work on it this weekend. Machine work on the engine should be done soon, but with the holidays I won't be able to do much until after the first of the year. Here are some more pictures.

Hank Autographs
20 Indy 500 wins represented (owners and drivers)

1. Jim Hall
2. Bill Neale – Automotive Artist
3. Franz Weis – Crew Chief for Jim Hall – VDS Engines
4. Troy Rogers – Crew Chief for Jim Hall
5. Wesley Sweet – Crew Chief for Jim Hall
6. Dan Davis – Publisher “Victory Lane Magazine”
7. A. J. Foyt
8. Al Unser
9. Dan Gurney
10. Jack Chissenhall – Owner “Vintage Air”
11. Johnny Rutherford
12. Parnelli Jones
13. Peter Brock – Designed Stingray and Daytona Coupe
14. Paul Stewart – Son of Jackie Stewart
15. Doug Nye – English Motoring Journalist
16. Sir Stirling Moss
17. Vic Elford
18. Gil de Ferran
19. Ed Welburn – GM Vice President of Global Design
20. Al Unser Jr
21. Herschel Walker #34
22. Richard Petty
23. Geoff Bodine – Nascar Driver
24. Kyle Petty
25. Rutledge Wood – Television Personality

[diceman50]

While waiting for my supercharger parts I decided to modify an old turbocharged Corvair air cleaner that I have to use on this project. The plan is to use the high pressure area in front of the windshield for a little extra supercharging and a cool air source. The mods consisted mostly of turning the oval inlet snorkel 90 degrees and giving it a slight angle so the unit can be mounted vertically.

[diceman50]

I'm am going to enlarge the outlet to 3 1/2 inches to match the supercharger inlet but, I don't have any tubing that size right now. A few more pictures.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work! Interesting...so will the air cleaner snorkel flow air through a passage in the firewall from the vents at base of windshield?

[NoClassic]

This is really cool. Excited to see how it turns out.

[diceman50]

Thanks, and yes that is the plan. As steep as the windshield is I expect there is quite a bit of pressure in that area. At the very least I should get some nice cool air.

[diceman50]

More air cleaner mods. Air cleaner originally had an air deflector/baffle/shield which I had to remove when I did the snorkel modification. In doing so I pretty much destroyed it and it needed to be larger anyway.





To make the stand off for the corners I did something I had never tried before. Instead of cutting them into the sheet metal and bending them I cut some 3/8" cold roll rod 3/8" long and spot welded them to the deflector and then to the housing. It worked very well.

[diceman50]

I couldn't find any 3 1/2" tubing for the outlet locally and I didn't want to buy a 10 foot stick of it anyway. So, I decided to roll my own. I had some 16 gauge hot roll (I would have preferred cold finish) in the pile so that's what I used. I decided a 3" long nipple would work and a little math told me I needed an 11" x 3" piece of material. After cutting and trimming to size I rolled it up with my old Jet slip rolls. Afterwards I welded it about 2/3 of the way on the inside. Past experience told me not to weld where the hose bead is going until last. Then I used my old homemade bead roller to put a bead on it.

[diceman50]

More pictures.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work Diceman. Like the aircleaner and mounting system. Will the supercharger pull through or blow through the carbuerator?

[diceman50]

Thanks AD.
It will blow through, but they are not carburetors they are throttle bodies with Bosch style fuel injectors in them.

[diceman50]

I finished my supercharger conversion and rebuild today. It was pretty straight forward and without any real surprises. Unfortunately I had a camera malfunction so there aren't many pictures of the actual assembly.

[Advanced Design]

Looks really good Diceman. Dumb question, is the housing aluminum? Curious and I've never seen one in person.

[Z10]

Looking good my friend.

[diceman50]

Thanks guys. Yes the housing is aluminum. It weighed 26 lbs. in it's original VS configuration and 19 lbs. after the conversion to a SN. I was amazed at the precision of the castings and the machine work on a 60+ year old piece.

[diceman50]

Well, I finally got my 261 back from the machine shop. Then I promptly left town for nearly a week to attend the Barrett Jackson auction in Scottsdale. Unfortunately on the way home I caught some kind of cold/flu bug and was out of commission for another week. I have been trying to catch up on some other projects ever since. Now I am waiting for some warm weather so I can give the engine block a thorough cleaning with hot soapy water. I did take some pictures of the machined parts though. Still waiting for the camshaft.

[Advanced Design]

The parts look really good and looking forward to the next steps. I kind of wonder how many machine shops today even know about grinding rocker arm tips?

[diceman50]

Thanks A/D, I too wonder about that. It seems automotive machining is becoming a lost art. Pete the guy who did the work on my stuff has been one of my best friends for over 20 years and has been in the automotive machine shop business for over 30 years. I dare say he knows as much about engines as anyone in the country. I am very fortunate to have his services available to me.

[Advanced Design]

Diceman, any updates?

[diceman50]

Unfortunately nothing of any note has been done. As usual "Life Happened" and I missed my window of opportunity to get it done right away. Some other obligations came along so it has been moved to the back burner for the time being, but it is still simmering. Thanks for asking A/D.

Diceman