After I bought my VS57 I searched for brackets. I bought the bracket below from a Kaiser and planned to modify it by making a steel bracket between it and the SBC. It's for sale. This is rotated on a Kaiser for planning purposes.
Information on the ‘55 seems scarce, I’ve never run across anything more than this photo- It looks as though there are multiple carbs and the upper pulley was like a Tom Beatty drive with multiple v-belts. Bandimere had a ‘56 too, that one was much more elaborate, it used a 3-71 blower and two YH Carters when on gas, but there was also a single barrel Hilborn injector for when John wanted more power running methanol. He had a nozzle in each intake port and one above the blower but the most unusual aspect was the separate throttle pedal on the left side, used when the car was on methanol.
Here’s the original McCulloch bracket for a 55 bird. Mounted to the driver’s side head. Picture is upside down unfortunately. There were 2 IIRC 1/4” steel straps that picked up an exhaust manifolds bolt and a water pump bolt Here’s the one we “reverse” engineered. Bolts to p*** side head, water pump, also mounted a GM alternator underneath. Same layout as used on the 57 F code Thunderbird with the VR series blower and generator. It used a later model idler tension pulley. That wasn’t the best answer, the McCulloch tension arm (a short one for the SN series) would be better. Here’s a picture I lifted from the internet, the top mount position for a Ford p*** car or truck. PM me if more views would be helpful.
Just an FYI, that's my homebrew setup for a SBC posted previously. Made the bracket out of plate steel with spacers welded on. 1955 or 1956 Ford VS57 carb airhat with a bottom modified to fit the '57 and later Holleys. Best thing I've done to a 283, that thing SCOOTED under pressure! The VS-57s can be modified to get rid of that awful variable speed stuff, which is why the front of my Kaiser unit was all cut up. Previous owner of the blower did the butchery to the case, I just made it work. Used a normal sliding tensioner mounted off the bracket, not the goofy spring loaded unit. Eventually went to a dual V-belt setup off a Studebaker Avanti. The single belt worked okay up until about 7-9 PSI and would start to 'shriek' from high speed slippage. It ran pretty excellently so I kept the setup when I sold the car. Will most likely end up on my '29 roadster once I get it roadworthy.
Normal driving speeds were low, in the 4-5 range, mine would peak around 10 or so PSI at high RPM on the 283, but I was running a smaller diameter pulley so I was spinning the impeller a lot faster and had gotten rid of the VS stuff. A stock VS with solenoid is set to bleed out pressure over 5 PSI through the variable drive, although it will make more if you spin it real fast. The SN series maxed out with the VR-4 blower with 5.0 Mustang guys making 15psi with a 3.5 blower pulley and a 7" crank pulley. Needed a strong, wide serpentine system to keep the belt from spinning on the pulley. The VR had a different impeller and back cover but the front drive was largely unchanged, meaning it would bolt up technically to a VS57 bracket. I've been waiting for a VR4 unit to float by, but the SN2000 was pretty good and far more available if you're looking for a step up internally from a SN60.
Don't know where I got these, though. And yes, the '56 seems to have been way more engineered: https://www.motortrend.com/features/vintage-supercharged-injected-1956-chevysleeper/
Power shift at its finest… Hello, When we were in the pits at Lion’s Dragstrip during the 1959 compe***ive year, we saw plenty of record setting Gas Coupes and Sedans making their imprint on all of the racers. One of the most prolific was the big black 41 Studebaker Sedan of Junior Thompson. It was local, from the speed shop called Speed Engineering, which was several blocks from our last Westside of Long Beach house. Speed Engineering was the brain child of two local Bixby Knolls racers, Tom McEwen and Ronnie LeGrand. They were drag racers in Bixby Knolls and at the local Lion’s Dragstrip almost every weekend. They were part responsible for the record setting performance at the 1958 Nationals at OKC where Jr. Thompson was the Little Eliminator Champion. The real 1959 sound of the centrifugal supercharged SBC motor and shifting... 1959 Lion’s Dragstrip, Junior Thompson B/Gas Eliminations with actual Jr. Thompson sound from 1959. As far as the street usage, we saw several T-Birds with the stock centrifugal superchargers and they did make some noise when driving through the drive-in restaurant parking lot. The setup looked good, too. But, knowing the stock T-Bird and our nemesis a 1957 Ford Sedan at the drags both had centrifugal superchargers, my brother wanted to make an SBC powered Model A Coupe with McCulloch /Paxton supercharger for daily street use and Saturday at the drags. Jnaki So, my brother’s idea of a nicely done Model A Coupe for daily driving went through several conversations. We knew the SBC motor could take variations of builds and add on supercharging. So for the addition of Saturday drags was an SBC powered slightly raked coupe with a McCulloch/Paxton centrifugal supercharger.
GlenPM ... is there a way you can contact me ... I'm putting together a SBC with a supercharger. I really could use some help with brackets. Email me @ shroomopolis@yahoo.com or feel free to text/call 361.510.5530
Hi Shroom From https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/gf3a...ey=p4507bt4quy4khhpr8b8w0vg1&st=5mytr5di&dl=0 I was able to by a CH-101 for tri-year Chevies. If you have an open hood, the Corvette one, ACO-1000 would be a better choice. I have this in my'40 Ford so I needed the more upright CH-101 versus the hangout to the left Vette AC)-1000. Using this bracket led to a modified take-up arm, manifold hose inlet and alternator bracket. The only bracket I have now is from the Kaiser which I bought with intentions to modify. http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/FindPost159591.aspx I have many pictures here https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/gf3a...ey=p4507bt4quy4khhpr8b8w0vg1&st=5mytr5di&dl=0 This is another thread on some of the carb mods I made to a Holley 4150 which I modified for blow through. Lots of work but it was worth it and BTW my variable pulley on the VS-57 works great for me. Glenn
Hi Mike, you mention this, "Here’s the one we “reverse” engineered. Bolts to p*** side head, water pump, also mounted a GM alternator underneath. Same layout as used on the 57 F code Thunderbird with the VR series blower and generator. It used a later model idler tension pulley. That wasn’t the best answer, the McCulloch tension arm (a short one for the SN series) would be better." I just did dome searching and couldn't fine any pictures for the shorter SN tension arm. Do you have any pics? Thanks, Glenn
Craig Conley is the go to guy for Paxton & McCulloch today. https://paradisewheels.biz/super-chargers SN60, SN89, SN92, SN93, and SN2000 and McCulloch VS series units. In the 80s I loaned some Ford SB brackets to Jim Middlebrook (Founder/owner of Vortech) while he was the engineer at Paxton so they could reproduce them. I know Craig has at least the bracket SB Ford patterns. If he has others he could get new ones cast if there is an interest. Paradise Wheels, Inc. is the exclusive supplier/manufacturer of all ball-drive McCulloch and Paxton superchargers that were made from 1950 to 2000. In 2000, we purchased all rights, inventory and tooling for Paxton centrifugal ball-drive supercharger units from Paxton Automotive. We continue to manufacture the original 1965-1968 Shelby GT350 Paxton supercharger kits that were available as a option on the 1966, 1967, 1968 Shelby GT-350 Mustangs, and all kit parts are available separately if you have an original kit on your Shelby and need spare parts. In addition, we offer parts and rebuild services for all Paxton ball drive units.
29’s remarks about Paradise are right on the money. When I met Craig in 2003 or so he had just received the first of the McCulloch/Paxton stuff. He opened a shrink wrapped pallet and dug out the original 55 parts to get me started on the bird and an SN60. I’ve had that, and SN90 (on the shelf now) and 2 VR57’s, one on the F code clone and one on the shelf. I don’t have pictures of the SN idler. But I do have pictures of the oem 57 ford parts for the p***enger car (left side) and thunderbird (right side) F codes. Reproductions produced recently, and accurate. The VR and SN’s did not use the “splitting” pulley, so it was a fixed tension, not a “take up”. I’ll post those below. If you’ve got any questions, pm me. Mike
More of my thoughts on using the Kaiser bracket and take-up arm. As i mentioned earlier, the Vette bracket ACO-1000, is a wide setup and not workable with the early cars with limited width at the front. Here's an example of the Vette bracket arrangement. For the Chevy CH-101 brackets, the overall width is narrower but unless a generator or alternator can be mounted low on the driver's side, there will be interference between the alternator/generator belt and the take-up arm. I used the CH-101 and modified the take-up arm. I think a viable option would be to use a modified Kaiser bracket, rotated 90° clockwise. This would put the take-up arm high enough to avoid interference with the arm and the alternator belt with a right side mounted alternator.
What superchargers do the following brackets apply to: CO101D (or maybe it's C0101D?) and ... CH 101 The latter seems to be for 567 SBC – and for McCulloch (VS 57)? Happy for that to be confirmed/denied. Looking for set-up for SN60 SBC, btw.
I attached the list of brackets from the old VS57 site. I didn't see the CO101D bracket listed. Do you have a picture of it? For Chevy: "ACH-1000 B or CH101 - 1955 to 1957 Chevrolet. CH101 is the cast iron version and it also bolts onto the inline 6. I'm not sure if the aluminum ACH-1000B bracket has the same flexibility or not."
The Jalopy Journal
