Calling Norval W.- Blower Questions

DeenHylton · 11-12-2002, 08:09 AM

Norval, do you have any pictures between the front of your blown engine and radiator. I'm interested in seeing how you resolved the issues of clearance for your fan/radiator/shroud and front pulleys. Did you retain your power steering pump and pulleys? If I don't end up selling my car I'll probably go for a bigger blower...Deen :confused:

norvalwilhelm · 11-12-2002, 04:25 PM

I don't have pictures but I could take them if you wanted. I run twin electric fans. One mounted behind the rad and one in front. With this setup I never see 200 degrees. I run a short water pump, power steering and an alternator. I modified the lower blower pulley to run the accessory belts out front so the alternator and power steering pump mount low and in front of the motor, not high above the valve covers.
For anyone interested in the accessroy setup i would sell a modified lower pulley and power steering bracket.
There is no problem with clearance in the front of the motor. I do not run a rad shroud, It is unneccesary with the electric fans.
Hope this helps but e-mail me if you have further questions

ChevelleL88 · 11-13-2002, 08:15 AM

Im thinking of going with a Weiand 8-71 blower and i deffinatly would need somthing for my accesories. Im a new member and also new to the game of Race, i dont have my vette yet, but i will some day :) Right now i have a 1970 Chevelle that im making into a 1/4 mile beast and a 1975 El Camino Daily Driver. I was wondering how much you sell the setup for the accesories. I would deffinatly be interested in purchasing it since i would prefer not to have all my stuff abouve the valve covers.

I was also wondering what kind of blower setup you have and on what size engine, what the specs are and how much power it puts out. If thats not too much trouble i would deffinatly like to know :) E-mail me at NeoSSChevelle@hotmail.com for the accessory prices and your specs. Thanks :)

DeenHylton · 11-13-2002, 08:24 AM

Norval, a big thanks for your responce. As it gets closer to Spring I may be interested in your modified pulley and PS bracket...if the car dosen't sell. Are you also running an aftermarket radiator? At this point to run two fans (before and after the radiator) I'd have to move my tranny cooler to a different location. My factory PS location is mounted low but your correct about the alternator being mounted high. Are the factory 77 water pumps short pumps...my NAPA dealer says the replacement pump is a special part number for the Corvette so both of us are still not sure if it's considered "short". Deen

norvalwilhelm · 11-13-2002, 09:25 AM

MY modified lower blower belt pulley has a double Vee pulley pressed into the front to allow the accessory belts to run in front of the blower belt. This allows the necessary clearance to mounting the alternater down low and in front of the block. The same with the power steering bracket. My power steering pump is in the stock location just moved forward slightly. I did move my alternator to the passengers side so it was not covering the power steering pump. No air.
I find the 2 fans necessary along with a griffin aluminum rad. I have one fan on a switch and only use it in hot weather or heavy traffic and there are times I need to turn it on.
My motor is a 460 with well ported Merlin heads, full roller setup, 8.1 compression, o ringed block, Weiand 8-71 15% overdriven for 12 psi of boost and heavily modified 850 double pumpers. I get about 12 mpg around town anytime and on a desktop dyno, no real testing puts out 940 HP. The motor is extremely torquey and even at 1500 rpm in 5th gear it will pull smoothly away.
I also have a Tremec TKO transmission and 4.11 gears but replaced them with 308's last week to try and get traction in 2nd gear.
1st is a total wipe out if you step on it at all, second instantly goes up in smoke if you floor it and only in third can you gently roll into it without loosing it, too aggressive and 3rd is iffy.
I really recommend a blower if you can stand the thing sticking out of the hood. I run it extremely lean on normal cruising but the power valves are boost referenced so they blow off their seats and richen it up to 13-1. I also run lots of timming initally and use a boost retart to pull timming out as boost builds.
Blip the throttle and you see about 5 pounds of boost and under normal aggressive throttle the boost runs around 10 pounds but once you open both 4 barrels you can't look at any boost gage, just hit the rev limiter and shift.
The sounds comming out of a blown motor under load is something else, a hiss like in tractor pulling.
I was recently offered $15,000 for the motor but couldn't duplicate it for that so I passed. I thought about building a 540 of something but what could I do with the extra horsepower.
I use to rev consistantly in the 7-75 range with a nitrous motor and now with the blown motor 45-5 is more normal.

DeenHylton · 11-14-2002, 07:33 AM

Too bad you live so far a way, otherwise I'd be up in a heartbeat to see your setup.
Your correct about a larger engine...you can't get traction now so what would you do with another 90 cubic inches :lol: I have already found traction to be my limiting function with only 500 HP, I can't run more than 50-75 HP shot of NOS in first gear with my little 144 Weiand without breaking loose and that's with a 10" wide race slick (3.55 gearing) on a fully sprayed (VHT) and prepped track. I don't think most people realize how expensive it costs to build a blower motor correctly, and that the actual blower itself is probably the least expensive part of the package. Sounds like we should both be looking at a 9" Ford with tubs but at this point I don't really want to go there. :cheers: