Thanks for the write up. These units have fascinated me for years. Certainly unique and I'm assuming they are designed for short bursts down the track.
Great looking blower. See a lot of blowers on rods, muscle car, whatever. Number one question. How many pounds of boost? Also good to know what rpm to get the boost, and what is temperature of incoming air ( think intercoolers ). Far to many blowers just for looks.
I friend and I experimented with this using a 48 volt leaf blower and gas-powered golf cart. For some reason, it didn't work. After a little research, it comes down to this approach violates most of the laws of Conservation of Energy.
Ok Tubman, would love more explanation of what you did & why it did not work. Was thinking of electric leaf blower into turbo to eliminate lag..
another really cool story. I knew many guys from Indy area as I lived in South Bend 150 miles north most of my life. I was a charter member of the Indiana Street Rod Association. I do not remember that car. Showed my 32 Roadster for many years at World of Wheels at State Fairgrounds Show.
It didn't work because most leaf blowers simply don't move enough air to effectively increase air density within the engine enough to make a noticeable power gain. They are typically 3 to 5 horsepower, and it takes 30 to 40 horsepower to drive a roots style blower on a 350 ci engine to make 14 pounds of boost. For example, The 2025 Porsche 911 has a 3.6 L engine with a hybrid turbocharger. Those crafty Germans put an electric motor in the bearing housing between the turbine and compressor. The electric motor is rated at 27 hp, and is only used at low engine rpm to eliminate turbo lag and improve engine torque lower in the rpm range. Bottom line, air is heavy and it takes a bunch of ponies to move a significant quantity of it.
Consider this. That is obviously an automotive starter motor powering that setup. An automotive starter motor produces at best 1 1/2 HP. Given the loss of efficiency through the motor, the bevel gear drive, and the supercharger itself, maybe 1/2 HP gets to do useful work. That amount of power can't drive the impellor fast enough to be anything but an obstruction to air flow. If that worked, you would be able to lift yourself off the ground with your shoe strings. About the golf cart thing. Leaf blowers are high on air speed, but low on volume. With a differently designed blower (to maximize volume), we may have been able to make it work, but to put is succinctly, a leaf blower is not a supercharger.
There are some experiments on utube with guys trying to drive turbo charger compressor end with small electric motors. Will have to Check again. Sorry to steal this post but it is about blowers. Tks for info
@J.Ukrop - Cool stuff! ... Thanks for sharing! Although I subscribe to the channel, I somehow missed this video (that was posted just a couple weeks ago). Perhaps Tommy Lee (@HenryJGuy) Byrd can share some more history and/or photos of the car & its electric supercharger (i.e., stuff that ended up on the cutting room floor) ... ??? @HEMI32
When I read the thread title, I figured it would be a Shorrock supercharger. 'Lectric is certainly different. Would love to see how it performs, other than the "wow!" factor. I suspect there is a good reason that the OEMs don't run electric blowers, but could be wrong. Cheers, Harv
Lots of exotic items are rare because they didn't work. The rarity doesn't make them work any better.
Definitely cool, I doubt the blower does much if anything maybe just a really cool air cleaner! It definitely adds a cool factor to the car. I’m working on an air cleaner at present trying to get an early 60s look, I’d trade my air cleaner for that blower in a New York minute. Dan
Chuck Norris had an electric one in a 4wd truck in some movie back when. I’d thought it was a pipe dream. Maybe not?
The Miata crowd have an electric blower/super charger that's available (or was!?) that makes a slightly noticeable difference when engaged. The car I rode in had one and you could 'feel-it'. Sorta like secondaries kicking in when winding out 3rd gear ! Nothing stupid powerful but....there none the less. Sooo it does work ! At least on a Maaaahzzz-duhh. 6sally6
Who would of thunk? One for sale a few miles from me.... "Rare hot rod 1957 Oberhausen dragster supercharger and original documentation" https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...place_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks
"My system is largely solar powered and recycles 91% of its expended energy, allowing a ratio of 167 miles traveled for every gallon of fuel burned." '"So the super car runs on gas..." Cheers, Harv
Here’s Paul Aldrich’s OBERHAUSEN Electric-powered Supercharger display: images from the tyrodscc Instagram feed OBERHAUSEN Ad from the November 1958 issue of MECHANIX ILLUSTRATED magazine
John Cooper “JFC” himself is a 70 year old survivor. Probably the best riding hot rod I’ve ever rode in.
The Jalopy Journal
