The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop is this such a dumb idea?

I have a 2001 chevy pickup with the 4.8 V8. I need more power. I want a supercharger, however I do drive this thing in the winter so I want to be able to still get around(2wd). I had this crazy idea of having a centrifugal supercharger, but on an electric clutch, like an a/c compressor, so I could turn it on and off at will. Comments? (Sorry if this is post-'72)

Jeff,

If you put a centrifugal blower on the engine you won't need a clutch. Like a turbo these blowers have a spool up and DO NOT start making boost off idle. My SEC is quicker from a dead stop with out the blower to about 40 MPH. A positive displacement blower like a Whipple is where the blower makes gobs of torque right off idle. A Vortec with a bypass valve is sucking air until the boost pressure closes the bypass valve. I don't have a bypass valve on my SEC yet so I still have the lag like a turbo set up. A blower is one of the best horsepower gains you can make dollar for dollar and installed right the blower will not harm the engine.