[Shotimes] Supercharging

[Michael Humbert]

No offense taken.  I understand what you are saying, and agree with much
of it.  As of now, the motor runs flawlessly, but is leaking oil from a
few seals.  As I am going to be partially dismantling much of the motor
anyway, I figured it would be a good time to consider the possibilities.
I already have all of the seals, including the head gaskets, so that
isn't a concern.  True, it will be tough to get the car running
perfectly after changing some of the major parts that drive its
functioning, but I feel that with enough thought, research, and time
spent on it anyone should be able to get it right.  It is with this
mindset that I have been thinking about this matter.  

I appreciate what the car can do in its current state, and enjoy it a
great deal.  I have simply been thinking about how it could be made
better, and a glaring opportunity is by increasing the power with a
supercharger.  Even if the smallest amount of boost is used, say a
maximum of 6 psi, 40% more air can make its way into the engine and
performance increases will be apparent.  This is where my concerns come
though, as increasing the amount of air will obviously affect the moving
parts inside the motor.  The only obvious (to me) parts to change are
the pistons as they will have a huge amount of pressure placed on them
if more air is introduced but the compression ratio remains the same.
This is why I wanted to get some advice on what else might need to be
changed as I am by no means a car expert.   

I thank your input on the lack of diff pins.  I did not even think about
the need to beef up the transmission and differential as mine has never
given me a problem (will a Quaife solve the problem of the lack of diff
pins???).  My clutch will need to be replaced, I'm sure, as it has about
60K on it, 30K of that with a bad throwout bearing.  Adding some more
torque will certainly exacerbate its problems quite a bit.  Basically,
at the current time I am making a checklist of what will need to be done
to have the project go smoothly and without any unanticipated problems.
In a worst case scenario I learn a bit about the motor and don't take on
the project.  Anyway, to avoid being too verbose (kinda late for that)
those are my thoughts behind the question I presented to the list.  I'm
sure they are all fairly trite thoughts toward the forced induction
"technical" items, but I have little experience with the actual workings
of a motor compared to the theory of what each part is supposed to do.
(Read --->  Book smarts, but without experience, lacking some street
smarts).

Mike Humbert
90 w/ 159K

-----Original Message-----
From: IdriveaSHO@aol.com [mailto:IdriveaSHO@aol.com] 
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 10:55 PM
To: humbem@rpi.edu; shotimes@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] Supercharging

No offense to all on the list, especially Nick since I know he has a 
supercharged SHO, but for what the SHO is it's great! If you want a
really 
fast car that handles great and is comfortable, why use the SHO? Granted
it's 
the most comfortable car I've driven, but my mustang will kill it, and
my old 
mustang that had about $3k into the motor would put down a vette(if I'd
ever 
encountered one...a stock one). I've heard alot of troubles with the SHO
as 
far as tuning it after the big injectors, LPM, Supercharger etc. Just my

opinion of course, maybe Nick's SC SHO is doing great and maybe some
others 
can chime in, I just think that with the diff pin being out of
production, 
headgaskets being $112 a pair, and the motor needing to be removed or to
be a 
contortionist just to do spark plugs that it's not a feasable "fix up go

fast" car(all though it would be pretty stealth since the cops don't
give 
them a second look and nobody seems to know the SHO even exists). Now
let the 
"Steve, you're stupid"s begin. -Steve Bowen
<< Any input is
 appreciated as I have little experience in messing with the internals
of
 a motor. >>