1st Generation Specific (1979-1985) 1979-1985 Discussion including performance modifications and technical support sections

Compressed air

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Old 10-17-14, 11:57 AM
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Compressed air

I'm just throwing this out there, this may be a completely stupid idea. Has anyone ever ran compressed air directly into a carb of a rotary motor? I know in a piston motor, doing this would not be good, but how about a rotary? I'm not talking 140 ft/lbs either, if you could meter it somehow. This is basically what a super/turbo charger does, right? Again, this is just a thought.
Old 10-17-14, 12:02 PM
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The closest thing I've seen involved some internet car video guys installing a few leaf blowers in some piston car and actually getting slightly faster times. Seemed like a ton of work and money for a tiny gain.

Here's a better thought. Get a "super/turbo charger" like you said.
Old 10-17-14, 02:05 PM
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Back in 08 or 09 I suggested something similar; I'd been messing around with calcs based on HP scuba tanks which hold 100-120 cu.ft. of compressed air at around 4000PSI.

Pretty much got laughed off the forums.
Old 10-17-14, 04:46 PM
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I ran across a website that had 2 leaf blowers on a corvette and I agree that looked like a lot of extra work.

Did you ever have any luck with the tanks? I'm not going to laugh at you at all, it's just a idea.
Old 10-18-14, 01:07 AM
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It could also double at making your car amphibious.
Old 10-18-14, 11:30 AM
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Originally Posted by Bleeblobz
I'm just throwing this out there, this may be a completely stupid idea. Has anyone ever ran compressed air directly into a carb of a rotary motor? I know in a piston motor, doing this would not be good, but how about a rotary? I'm not talking 140 ft/lbs either, if you could meter it somehow. This is basically what a super/turbo charger does, right? Again, this is just a thought.
a turbo or supercharger increases FLOW by increasing density. pressure is an easy thing to measure, but we really care about the mass airflow.

compressed air would work, but you need a lot of it. to wit, a stock Nikki carb can flow 330 Cubic Feet of air per minute (CFM), which is rather a lot, the 110 cubic foot, scuba tank would run the engine for, ~20 seconds.

this is why we use a turbo/supercharger, there is no tank, only spoons
Old 10-18-14, 11:54 AM
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there have been older used methods of using compressed air , not nitrous, but in their tanks perhaps, to help spool up turbos from the cold side. I think this was a Gale Banks or Smokey Yunick trick.
Old 10-18-14, 12:09 PM
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Originally Posted by garagemahal76
there have been older used methods of using compressed air , not nitrous, but in their tanks perhaps, to help spool up turbos from the cold side. I think this was a Gale Banks or Smokey Yunick trick.
that does work, or you can inject water into the exhaust before the turbo, when it turns to steam, it expands 18x, so this helps a lot
Old 10-18-14, 03:39 PM
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Originally Posted by j9fd3s
... or you can inject water into the exhaust before the turbo, when it turns to steam, it expands 18x, so this helps a lot
holy crap! really? that's pretty neat.
Old 10-18-14, 06:14 PM
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Thanks for the info, I understand that a lot better than its won't work. It looks like large diesel motors also have aftermarket compressors, like you said, it should be used with a turbo. I think bendix has some products.
Old 10-18-14, 10:02 PM
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http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_car

Check the link, its to a car that runs on compressed air

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Old 10-18-14, 10:32 PM
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Look up also di pietro motor on google or youtube

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Old 10-19-14, 04:02 PM
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Citroen and volvo both have one along with many small builders. Here's a story I came across last week.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/03/c...cept-hands-on/
Old 11-27-14, 10:25 PM
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I'm bringing this back because I just ran across the video I talked about above. Enjoy.
Old 11-28-14, 02:26 PM
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Originally Posted by j9fd3s
compressed air would work, but you need a lot of it. to wit, a stock Nikki carb can flow 330 Cubic Feet of air per minute (CFM), which is rather a lot, the 110 cubic foot, scuba tank would run the engine for, ~20 seconds
Which is why I had proposed it for drag racing use... only need a few seconds, & a tank, valve, and lines would be far simpler and much lighter than a blower or turbo.

One added benefit is that as you release a compressed gas to a lower pressure, you get a great deal of charge cooling also - which increases mix density. All mechanical cooling systems depend on this effect.

You might even need to heat the mix to prevent icing - - opposite of the issues that turbos have trying to get the mix cool after compressing it.

Not anything I'm not likely to ever actually try, as I don't race, but still looking for reasons why it shouldn't be tried.
Old 11-28-14, 04:21 PM
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Just hook the air pump straight to the carb!! 200 horsepower gain! Search air pump supercharger.
Old 11-29-14, 12:05 AM
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At the video, 23:15 says it all, "On this episode of Roadkill, we prove the internet is right and leaf-blowers don't work!" - there, I just saved you all 24 minutes of your life.

By their own admission, the only gains they found were on the chassis dyno and aerodynamics prevented their $1600 worth of leaf-blowers from being able to make more than 2mph difference over a timed 1-mile test course.

Not sure what kind of racing this method of 'boost' would apply toward, but it better be low speed, and preferably tied down to a chassis dyno! Interesting experiment, nonetheless...
Old 12-07-14, 10:02 AM
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Originally Posted by diabolical1
holy crap! really? that's pretty neat.
I've experimented with pre-turbine water injection.

The results are fairly dramatic.

Thing is that no one makes a system so it's a matter of cobbling together parts. I found some stainless compression fittings and welded the threaded end solid. Then drilled a tiny hole to make them into a nozzle. Tapped manifold, threaded in. Then ran copper line.

Ideally the nozzle would have some sort of check valve because the heat will boil away the water in the lines so the pump ends up refilling them.
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