Billet SN Impeller

[jlmccuan]

I've been sidelined with some injuries and a bad burn accident, but now beginning to be out in the shop on a regular basis. During that time I've been able to think a bit about my land speed Hawk and the SN supercharger. I've done a few designs in Solidworks and run them on my mini mill in high density urethane. HDU is great for development as it's dimensionally stable and can be cut with higher speeds and more aggressive cuts. This allows development to progress rapidly as modification cycles are quick. At any rate, here are a couple of pics.











The last pics are an idea I thought of for a radial inducer combined with a blisk. It pulls air in and forces it into the stock impeller rather than relying on the vacuum from the air being slung off the straight vanes of the stock impeller. I also have one for the first impeller shown which I call a VR3. All of this fits the stock scroll cover. The blisk installs by removing the stock impeller bolt, placing the correct shims, friction washer, and blisk on the impeller, then installing the new longer impeller bolt and torquing down. If you decide to sell your car, you can remove it just as easily.

Thoughts?

[Michael]

Now THIS is a cool idea!

I'm curious though - wouldn't it be more beneficial to eliminate the "curl" at the inlet end of the stock SN impeller to make a smoother transition between the inducer and the impeller itself? Seeing as you're milling the SN impeller anyway, that would be an easy modification to make.

You'd also find a bit more efficiency if you added a cone to the end of the inducer as well. Sort of like this:

NoviGSS impeller5.jpg

[jlmccuan]

It would be better to not have the curl on the stock impeller, but I'd like this to be an upgrade path that folks can take to add the blisk and then improve their impeller later, if they like. I have a different impeller and blisk for folks who want to go all out in one step. The blisk shown has the advantage of improving the stock impeller and being removeable and put on another car if needed. So, eventually, there will be a Phase I, Phase II, or Phase III available. Currently investigating casting costs that I can CNC finish as a route to reduce costs to the consumer over billet also.

I am getting ready to test these products compared to production units logging ambient air temp, barometric pressure, cfm in, rpm, cfm out, psi out, air temp out and horsepower required for a wide variety of blower rpm so we can get a true comparison of what to expect under most driving conditions. Much better, I think, than the "you can expect 1-2 psi more boost". What good does it do to get more boost if it's in an rpm range that you only use for .5 seconds before you shift. I'm looking for boost sooner and more of it throughout the rpm range I'm accelerating in.

As to the cone, the bolt supplied with the blisk will have the cone built in. I'm considering making a shorter version available to folks who just want one for their stock impeller.

Down the road, I have some research done taking stock scroll covers, opening them up and making a more aggressive impeller design to take advantage of the larger inlet size.

I also have hybrid and full ceramic bearings for SN's available. The limit on the stock input bearings is 10,000 rpm. I also have ceramic balls and I'm working on a better race as well. Just the hybrid bearings allow 17,000 rpm and with other balldrive improvements the stock limit can be safely exceeded.

I really enjoy hotrodding these old pieces. The car I'm building for Bonneville is a Studebaker powered Hawk that we built a 259 bored and stroked to 363. Just another old piece hotrodded way beyond the original design.

[suede57ford]

Keep up your research on different designs. I like the fact you are using on a vintage Stude engine. I think I have exceeded the cfm for a SN impeller in my heavily modified stroker Y-Block. If a VR-4 design comes through it should fit my combo well.

[SuperL98]

I am getting ready to test these products compared to production units logging ambient air temp, barometric pressure, cfm in, rpm, cfm out, psi out, air temp out and horsepower required for a wide variety of blower rpm so we can get a true comparison of what to expect under most driving conditions. Much better, I think, than the "you can expect 1-2 psi more boost". What good does it do to get more boost if it's in an rpm range that you only use for .5 seconds before you shift. I'm looking for boost sooner and more of it throughout the rpm range I'm accelerating in.

A "Real" compressor map for the SN series superchargers would be worth a zillion $$$$$'s to the rest of us

An Impeller upgrade that didn't require all the VR4 components would also be a dream come true.

I would buy one....

Good luck with all this

[jlmccuan]

I'm interested in determining the market potential for things like this. Doesn't really affect whether I do it or not as I have friends who can use them racing Studes at vintage events. But it would help me figure out whether to pursue tooling costs for casting and material needs for a run of pieces when I have the testing finished. I understand for most folks the testing will really put a fine point on whether or not they're interested. But feedback on interest or especially the specs needed for interest would be helpful. Anything else folks would like for these blowers or others would be of interest to me as well as I like designing things for the niche markets that most companies would work on developing. I've done this my whole life for a wide variety of markets from agricultural implements to commercial BBQ ovens, lol.

[Duke]

This is excellent I'll take one when there done!!

[antoine]

I'm second in line

[jlmccuan]

A quick update. I finally got the new CNC and moving again on these.

[antoine]

The sn guys have hope

[Duke]

Excellent I got mine upgraded to the vr-4 but boy does it make the heat even with the oil cooler! But I will definitely still take one of your impellers!

[Duke]

I still have the scroll cover and the h.o impeller it came with.

[hey its me]

Yes keep up the progress please!

[vincenzosaleen]

I am interested as well. I have every upgrade in my sn93 series, however, i now have the xe270ah cams in her now and doubt the sn93 would handle 6200 rpms for very long. Please contact me when complete. I will certainly purchase a couple of them. Thanks...vince

[suede57ford]

I have maxed out my performance with the SN type impeller for my radical stoker Y-block with original VR57 blower as well.

An improved impeller such as a billet VR4 might produce enough cfm's to bring me to the next level.

I've checked many places having the cast VR4 impeller I have being duplicated as a billet, but all the really good machinists are too busy to do a small volume run of say 10 impellers.

I will purchase several if they become available.