[Shotimes] Re: SHO Supercharger

[MonsieurBoo@aol.com]

It was fun to go trolling for electric supercharger info yesterday.  At first 
I also shared Noah's reaction to the info at boosthead.com.  Then I looked at 
the "ESC Performance Graph" at

http://www.boosthead.com/installation_docs/doc20.gif

and realized why they feature the phrase "2.5 liter".  Please note where the 
PSI boost is at 300 CFM and extrapolate that out to the CFM needs of a 
properly-intake-and-exhaust-hogged SHO 3.0 or 3.2 liter air mover.  (Their spec of 
maximum CFM = 405 @ 5.5 PSI looks a tad optimistic compared with the curve.)  
Then to deliver that volume, scale up from the 1250 amps (!!!) that they say the 
ESC 400 requires.  

Of course in the eternal PSI vs. CFM tradeoff, for any "X" amount of wattage 
(or horsepower) you get to design your system to favor one over the other.  
They chose a huffer type that emphasizes high boost, and by virtue of that 
design decision, it seems to me like this particular pump isn't well matched to the 
SHO.  Without going much over their 1250 amp value, I'm making a S.W.A.G. 
that a better matched pump (higher volume, less pressure) maybe might yield 5 PSI 
usable boost.  Will Tom  -- or someone else -- build it?  Well, is there a 
demand for it?

With the approach taken by the leaf blower/bilge pump tribe, CFM isn't a huge 
issue but they have a real problem finding off-the-shelf pieces that can 
deliver mojo PSI.   So, their specs are wimpy by racer standards.  Less reliance 
on off-the-shelf pieces would be an obvious way to go.  As a step in that 
direction, here's a second generation version that advertises 1+ PSI at up to 950 
CFM, and notice their new "stacked" one to increase the PSI.  And of course, 
note the difference in power requirements compared to Tom's; no free lunch!

http://www.electricsupercharger.com/

To me, it looks like none of these designs currently hits the SHO's sweet 
spot, and any system with enough stoplight or top-end-pass oomph for SHO jockeys 
will end up needing a separate high-discharge battery/bat-cap bank a la ESC 
400.

Cheers,
Mark LaBarre
Rockville, MD 
94 ATX 125k



http://www.boosthead.com/home.php

20Psi Yummy!!

This is about to instantly become the new Nitrous.  15 second burst of power
(all the time in the world for stoplight racing), 2-3 minuites to recharge.
Say bye bye to filling your bottles.