Small Block Chevy Centrifugal Supercharger Test - Danger Mouse Part 18 Huffin' And Puffin'

The TFS heads, combined with the flat-top Lunati pistons, put DM's compression at 9.1:1, which may still seem a bit high for a blown motor running pump gas. But, the DFI and big cam, along with the centrifugal blower's high efficiency, meant that we were confident DM would not detonate itself to death. And the fuel experts at 76 Racing who supplied the gas for this test agreed that their 91-octane unleaded could support the boost levels and power we were trying to make. So from there it was onto the dyno.

These Trick Flow heads that...        read full caption These Trick Flow heads that we got a long time ago from Summit Racing have become a staple of DM's performance because it's worn them every time it's made the most horsepower. They're CNC machined and offer terrific flow numbers for such an affordable head.	ACCEL's GEN VII DFI system...        read full caption ACCEL's GEN VII DFI system has to be one of the easiest bolt-ons we've made yet. It came completely assembled and all we had to do was bolt it on. Even the throttle body was in place, so it was actually easier than swapping an intake manifold and carb.	The D-1SC centrifugal blower...        read full caption The D-1SC centrifugal blower does not require any oil line connections to the motor. It only took about 30 minutes to install, once we figured out the correct bolthole locations from the many available in its bracket.
You may note the rather plain...        read full caption You may note the rather plain valve covers we used this month. That's because our trick Billet Fabrication aluminum covers would not clear the blower or the ACCEL fuel pressure regulator. Check out the simple, functional plumbing for the Procharger blower.	ACCEL's Dual-Sync computerized...        read full caption ACCEL's Dual-Sync computerized distributor was included so the GEN VII ECU could control all timing events. Its dual-light installation checking system also made it very easy to install. The ACCEL guys really have thought of everything to make their DFI very user friendly.	Procharger designed one the...        read full caption Procharger designed one the beefiest blower brackets we've ever seen, which helps limit the deflection under heavy loads that can cause belts to be tossed off. The idler pulley is also well thought out and maintains a firm hold on the belt, however, it's design makes pulley changes time consuming, but overall, it's a great system.
Not only did Chris Spies from...        read full caption Not only did Chris Spies from Procharger help us set up the blower, he also helped tune the ACCEL DFI MAP on the dyno. Chris has the same DFI system on his own racecar and really knows his way through ACCEL's system. Dyno operator George Vrbancic (right) was also instrumental in getting DM up to speed and making so much power this month.	Proper ignition advance is...        read full caption Proper ignition advance is critical to making power with any engine, but even more so with a blower. Too much advance and the engine will kill itself, while too little will create excessive heat, especially in the exhaust, which can also cause damage. Here, Bob Vrbancic reports the idling timing figures back to Chris in the dyno control room, who then confirms its what the ACCEL DFI computer registers.	We never had any doubt that...        read full caption We never had any doubt that we could make 700 hp on pump gas and the engineers at 76 Racing Fuels assured us that it was possible so we ended up burning through about 15 gallons of 76's 91-octane unleaded, the same stuff you can buy at the pump.
Our confidence in pump gas...        read full caption Our confidence in pump gas might have been high, but we're not fools. After each pull we carefully checked the spark plugs for signs of detonation and if there were none we proceeded with another pull.	We tried a few pulley swaps...        read full caption We tried a few pulley swaps just to see what it would do. It turned out that the 4.25-inch diameter pulley, the size Procharger said we'd need to make this kind of power, worked best. An interesting side note is that we probably could've made equal power using Procharger's entry-level P-1SC blower, but we wanted to run the larger D-1SC instead.	Since an engine basically...        read full caption Since an engine basically sits in the dyno cell with little air moving around it, we wanted to give DM every chance to make the best, repeatable power. To that extent, as we made more and more pulls, temperatures went up so we cooled the intake track down with ice and directed a fan at the blower in between runs.