Pepco Speedwell USA Supercharger thread

[andy rowe]

Soon i will be fitting the speedwell usa supercharger to my 36hp 55 oval bug and would like to see other installations or peoples thoughts or experience with this type of supercharger as i can't find a dedicated thread to this really cool peace of kit,be cool to see other peoples upgrades while running this charger like if they have changed the carb jets or exhaust system.i was thinking of fitting a vintage speed single tip exhaust and maybe have the bottom end balanced with a lightened flywheel.

[txoval]

First thing I would say is that Ray built the kit with idea of making an exact replica of the original Pepco. He did change the bearing/shaft design for better reliability.

This is my experience, so take it for what it's worth. Another item to note is that my 36 is not stock...CW crank, lightened flywheel, cam, ported/polished heads, bigger valves...and modified a 30pict1 carb

1) the linkage stinks and needed modification, main bar has way to much wiggle and is not smooth

2) using gaskets to adjust the belt (like the original) is a pain

3) the engine runs extremely rich when cold/at startup

4) I could not get rid of the flat spot just off idle, even switched from 009 to 019

I've removed the SC and the engine is much happier.

I do plan to rebuild my stock 28pci carb, like the kit was designed for and give it another try.

While I believe those who know Ray, and state that he's a great guy...his lack of communication stinks. You spend $1500 and you'd think an email could be returned, and I've tried several times

If I had a chance to go back in time, I would buy the WW Okrasa kit in a heartbeat

[andy rowe]

i was thinking of making my own belt tensioner anyway which is pretty simple and am thinking of using the stock 28pci carb and maybe try a slightly bigger jet in that,think there designed for stock motors though,there are a couple of people here in the uk who have them,aircooled engineering in the uk have just built too motors with them which you can follow them on Facebook.

[SplitPersonality]

Good choice!

I bolted the standard Ray-kit on to a low-mileage 122- industrial 30/36 HP ... and loved it from when I first started it! I put it in my '54 beetle and the very first wekeend I took it to the "Bergrennen 2013" - the "main hillclimb" of the north...

Put it to the test in the "standard 1200"-class....and the results speak for themselves:
http://gmundbrokerage.blogspot.no/2013/09/results-bergrennen-2013.html
(I am "Oystein A" in the 1200-class)

Contenders in the class were "standard, good running 1200 ccm cars"....and on this hill, my supercharged "standard good running 1200" was about half a minute faster up the hill. So - the supercharger works!

[andy rowe]

that sounds good,nice to get some feedback

[txoval]

I hope my comments weren't taken as the SC doesn't work...I was just stating that it needs work out of the box in my opinion.

My biggest issues are:

Linkage
richness of engine when cold
installation and tension of belts

Once my engine is broken in, I plan to reinstall the SC, but with a 28PCI carb...hope it runs better

[356ride]

txoval you must be doing something wrong, works perfect on mine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9jgSHfQZZQ

Ray answered all my questions straight off, i cant complain, brilliant bit of kit

for the tension i have bolted the support to the top center bolt on the case and i had to bend and twist the support arm to bolt directly under the unit.
i did have over fueling problems to start with as i had fitted a 6v electronic fuel pump, fuel everywhere from the carb so ive now fitted a fuel regulater and hey presto perfect

infact Fez thrashed f@#k out of mine for 800kms on the petermax muller rennen

[txoval]

Once again, I never said the kit didn't work...

The linkage in the kit "works" but falls short of my expectations and I fixed it.

The blower was designed for a stock 36hp engine...mine is not

I believe going to a 28pci carb will help. I have less than 10 miles on my engine, so I've removed the SC and will run NA until it's broken in...it does run great without the SC though

I did talk with Ray quite a bit before the purchase, but have had no luck since

[andy rowe]

its a shame Ray is so hard to reach as he does make some nice products for 36hp engines as i would like some of his valve covers too.

[oldbusboy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9jgSHfQZZQ

Holy crap!!! That sounds awesome. Where is a build thread on your car?

Trevor
_________________
1968 porsche

[356ride]

[andy rowe]

looking forward to the feature dude

[GTV]

How much boost do they put out?
_________________
EMPI Power Rules!

[txoval]

I was told between 3-5lbs

KCW has a build using this SC and only recorded 1.5lbs...I honestly think they have an issue with the setup. They even installed a larger pulley to overdrive the SC and the boost did not increase

Here's the thread over there:

http://www.kustomcoachwerks.com/forums/viewtopic.p...start=1560

[GTV]

[txoval]

I agree, which is why I believe my engine runs better without it...

[Mr. Motorhead]

To start with, let me say I don't know a damn thing about running a super charger, not just on a VW but any engine in general. I had money stashed to buy one of the Speedwell USA kits back in February of this year. It took me until August to actually get one. My biggest complaint is customer service, mainly the lack of it. Now that that is out of the way, lets talk about the kit itself. For the price paid for this kit I think it is a good value. I'm told the design is a copy of the original Pepco kit available back in the day for a 36hp engine with a couple design improvements to the blower itself. It is everything I expected it to be. There were some things that needed some work, namely the throttle linkage. It depends on the stock throttle spring arrangement which is fine if you have one. Mine is pretty far from stock so that would not do. The main throttle link is also a bit floppy on where it mounts on the side of the super charger case which does not allow for full throttle. Easily fixed with a piece of tube welded perpendicular to the arm in the hole for the mount. I added a regular carburetor return spring on the top link to bring the throttle plate 100% back to zero for a smooth idle.

I will be making an actual adjustable tensioner for the belt as well, I don't much care for the add and subtract gasket thing either. I'm running a 28PCI with a 24.5mm venturi, even though it runs a little on the rich side at startup over all it runs good. I got this unit to run on my stone stock 36hp engine, not the 1560cc stroker it is on now. I plan on playing with it some more until the time comes to run it on my stocker.

As for the boost numbers, there seems to be no "official" numbers to work with. I've heard 3-5 pounds and as high as 7pounds of boost. I followed the KCW thread on their engine build and supposedly they got 1.5 pounds of boost with their engine producing 40hp/60ft pounds of torque at the rear wheels which I thought was kind of low considering I got 36.9hp/57ft pounds of torque at the wheels with a stock stroke, stock cam engine back in March of this year:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=546787&highlight=dyno
I'm not bagging on the job done to the KCW car or engine; while the setup on the car is not really my cup of tea, a lot of time and detail has gone into it. The problem I have with an engine such as that is that there is too many over all changes made using guesses rather than proven facts. If their customer is happy with it and he pays his bill, that's the most important thing, right? Since I have some base numbers to work with, I'll come back to this thread with the new dyno numbers I get when I get the supercharger on the stone stock 36hp.
_________________
30 years experience in the sales of new and used auto parts!
36 horsepower parts for sale at http://www.aircooledresearch.com/
Or the new site at http://www.bugparts.com
Check out the Bonneville project:
http://aircooledresearch.com/docs/thebonnevilleproject.html#

"All limitations are self imposed."
Some Chinese guy

[txoval]

I think Matthew's comment in red above hits the nail on the head for me...my expectations for performance were out of whack...

I expected too much boost, and an oh shit moment when the boost kicked in

My straight cut cam gears are noisier than the blower (which is a sound I like)

I look forward to seeing Matthew's data

Matthew please share the data on the belt tensioner when complete

[grueni]

@txoval
its all tuning. flat spot and co is because everything is done for a std. engine.
but at the end you need a smaller supercharger pulley at the blower. because your engine breath's kind of same good without as with the blower. it's a low boost blower.
i needed a long time to find out how to adjust the carb (34pci) on my blower setup. with high boost (17psi) stock engine just okrasa cam, tde endpipes. and boooost. more than 70hp and 150nm of torque all day long.
but the carb and ignition was the main part of it and hard to find out what is right and what not.

maybe the pepco is not enough for your engine and with good cards and intakes you will find the same power than with a pepco.
_________________
1960 1584cc turbocharged, 35,5/32 (11,117s 1/4mile )

[txoval]

Grueni:

I agree with the tuning...I do not believe that my engine is too much for the blower...especially if Matthew's stroker is benefitting from the blower.

Once I put some miles on the engine I'll switch back and try different carbs/jets