A Look Back at Paxton - 36 Years of Excellence -
36 Years of Supercharged Mustangs
Paxton Supercharger History
Paxton is the only company that has been supercharging the Mustang since the Mustang was introduced. The following is a brief timeline of the development of several Paxton superchargers and the association with the Ford Mustang.
1935-1960
The legend of the Paxton superchargers dates back to the inventor Robert Paxton McCulloch. The original McCulloch supercharger began production in 1937 for flat head Ford engines. The supercharger possessed a maximum boost level of 4 psi. The impeller was driven by a set of worm gears that were lubricated with the engine oil from the factory oil pump (sound familiar?). Over 5,000 units were sold in the late 30s. The early 1940's shifted production to wartime endeavors and supercharger production was discontinued.
The idea for new supercharger had emerged in the late 1940s to address some of the drawbacks of the original old model. The goal was to produce a supercharger that was quiet, capable of low-end boost, inexpensive and possessed self contained lubrication. In 1951 the first VS 57 supercharger was produced after $700,000 (a lot of money in 1951) in research and development cost. The supercharger was finally marketed to the public in 1953. The supercharge utilized a planetary ball drive that offered a 4.4:1 step up ratio from the input shaft to the impeller. It was lubricated with a mechanical oil pump and a self contained reservoir of transmission fluid. The supercharger offered a maximum of 5 psi and significant bottom end power with the aid of a variable rate input pulley. The V-belt system allowed the pulley diameter to essentially change based on engine RPM and power needs. The VS 57 was used on a wide variety of vehicles at the time including the Kaiser Manhattan, the Packard Panther (five show cars built), the Studebaker Golden Hawk, the 1957 Packard Clipper (4,809 produced rebadged as Studebakers), the 1958 Packard Hawk (588 produced). The total production of the VS57 is estimated to exceed 46,000 units.
In 1956 McCulloch set up a special automotive division, Paxton Products (his middle name), to handle the supercharger division. The same year the company developed a new variable rate supercharger called the VR57. The supercharger incorporated a variable rate internal planetary drive ratio that could alter the step up ratio from 3.5:1 to 5.5:1. The variable rate was achieved by a spring pack that would change the distance between the ball races based on RPM. The supercharger experienced a one-year victory in NASCAR causing officials to ban superchargers in the sport. The supercharger was most notably used as the F-option on the 1957 Ford Thunderbird (211 produced).
In 1958, Paxton Products was sold to the Granatelli brothers. The design of the dated VS57 was updated to a new model that could withstand higher RPM and increased boost. The SN60 required fewer components and eliminated the variable rate components found in the VS57 and VR57.
1965-1972
Carroll Shelby contracted with Ford to build a high performance version of the fastback Mustang, the GT-350. Paxton Products worked in conjunction with Shelby to design a limited production run of supercharged GT-350s. (If you want to know the number of vehicles, let me know). The vehicles were produced in limited quantity from 1966 to 19?? (Need to double-check the last year of the Shelby Mustangs). The systems were also available as a dealer option for Mustangs from 1965 to 1972. The original Mustang system is still available today.
1973-1982
Smog regulation had an adverse affect on the performance industry. Paxton Products began focusing in other industries. Kits were designed for the Mustangs of this period using the SN 60 supercharger. I am not sure if they were designed currently with each new model year Mustang or designed later. In any event, these were certainly the least glamorous years. These kits were discontinued in 1998.
1983-1985
The demand for performance parts began to increase in the early 1980s with the introduction of the 5.0 Mustangs. Paxton Products reintroduced the SN60 for the 5.0 Mustang offering 5-6 psi. Up to this point, Paxton essentially had no competition in the centrifugal supercharger market. All vehicles were carbureted and you were limited on the amount of boost that you could force through a carburetor (about 5-6 psi). The draw through affect of the roots blowers was better for big power carb applications.
1986-1994
The fuel system of the Mustang changed to EFI and all bets were off. Now a centrifugal supercharger would be preferred to a roots blower. Centrifugal supercharger companies started emerging including Vortech, Powerdyne and ATI. The centrifugal supercharger war was on and the consumers were screaming for more boost and more power. Paxton Products responded with three revisions to the SN 60: the SN 89, the SN 92 and the SN 93. All included minor variations on the original ball drive design. A high performance version was released in ???? called the VR4. Although the supercharger was capable of producing 14 psi, it was only recommended to be used in short intervals (racing) because of the extreme heat created internally. Vortech's new gear drive design was proving to be a serious competitor. Paxton Products finally began the design of a new gear driven supercharger.
1995-1997
The NOVI 2000 supercharger was officially released as Paxton's "race only" supercharger in 1995. The supercharger featured helical cut gears for quiet operation, a 3.54:1 internal step up ratio (see press release for additional information) and an advanced scroll and impeller design capable of 25-30 psi and nearly 1,000 hp. Although the supercharger was highly praised by the media, it was available only in limited production. Complete supercharger systems were designed for the 1986-1993 Mustang and the 1994-1995 Mustang, but the complete kits were never put into production. The high demand for the NOVI kits prompted several motivated Paxton distributors (most notably Central Coast Mustang) to design their own supercharger systems for the 5.0 Mustangs. In 1996 Paxton Products released the NOVI-2000 ST supercharger. The ST was intended as the street version of the NOVI-2000 with a 5-inch diameter impeller instead of the standard 6.5-inch diameter NOVI impeller. In 1997 the name of the SN 93 ball drive supercharger was changed to the NOVI GSS.
1998
In January 1998, David Adams, Jr. organized a group of private investors to purchase the automotive assets of Paxton Products and form Paxton Automotive. The initial goal was to build on the quality of the NOVI supercharger and design a completely new product line around the gear driven design. In May 1998, Paxton Automotive started designs on the NOVI-2000 RR (reverse rotation blower for modular Mustangs), and two new NOVI-1000 blowers. The NOVI-1000 superchargers were intended to utilize the proven NOVI gear case with a new scroll and impeller design for lower CFM applications. In June, the company upgraded the design of the ball drive supercharger and changed the name from the NOVI GSS to the SN 2000 in an effort to avoid any marketing confusion with the NOVI line.
The previous designs of the 5.0 Mustang kits were placed into production. The company began selling the 86-93 NOVI kit in March and the 94-95 kit in August. In late September, Paxton engineers began the design of the NOVI 3000 supercharger, with the intent to produce the largest centrifugal supercharger available. The prototype for the NOVI 2000 RR (reverse rotation) was completed in November and the company started the design of the Modular Mustang system. By the end of 1998 Paxton Automotive had accepted the NOVI-2000 as the standard for all future supercharger system development on street applications. The short lived ST blower was discontinued primarily due to lagging sales (every one wanted the big impeller) but in part due to the confusion in marketing.
1999
1999 marked a significant turning point at Paxton Automotive. It was the first year that NOVI superchargers outsold the ball drive systems. The year also represented Paxton Automotive's come back in the Mustang market. We invested significant resources in tuning, computer programming and supercharger system development. In March the prototype for the NOVI-1000 was complete and superchargers were in production by December. The system for the Modular 4.6 liter motor was completed on our 1998 Cobra just in time to learn that the 1999 systems possessed a return less fuel system. Work immediately began on a new 1999 GT. In September, systems were released for the 96-99 Mustang GT and the 96-98 Cobra.
The first NOVI-3000 was completed and sent to Elias in June 1999. In June Paxton Automotive decided to upgrade the passenger side mounting brackets on the 86-93 Mustang NOVI kit from the standard 3/8-inch billet aluminum to a ½ inch billet aluminum plate with dual (instead of a single) tensioner. Bob Kurgan switched from to this NOVI system (from a Vortech) and ended the season as the Renegade new record holder.
continued.....
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks