New Supercharger

[FORZALANCIA]

Hi guys its been a while, had a few probs with my motor it had a hyro lock up cause copper headgasket didnt seal properly which caused pistons to get suck and timing belt to jump 2 teeth, leading to bent inlet valves. All fixed now, and this time i decompressed the motor heaps! I used 2 x 1.8mm headgaskets with a steal 1.6mm decompression plate inbetween. I still need to tune her up a bit, with the new supercharger i got i have no leaks and just over half throttle i am hitting 12psi! The supercharger is a sc 14 (1.4L) and i am running a pulley ratio of 1:1.32. A few problems i am having at the moment are seems hard to start unless i pump the accelerator 3 times or more then she starts but a bit of backfiring and has a flat spot under 1,200rpm until she warms up. Maybe i should use the choke i think this might help. I am currently running a sidedraft 45 weber with 150 mains and 180 air correctors and wen i do push around half throttle i notice black smoke so i think maybe running a bit too rich? Plus where can i post some pics?
thanks,
Ant

[Will]

Well. sounds like you are getting there at least!
I had the SAME PROBLEM (coolant weep) with copper head gasket, and then came up with the bright idea of putting a very tiny bit of Permatex ultra copper ever so carefully around the galleries. Result- a copper head gasket glued to the block, had to be removed with a chisel, destroyed gasket.
I since found that you can get copper head gaskets chemically etched so they are a bit thinner except around the galleries and fire ring, to increase clamp pressure at these critical areas, but I now have Spesso race gaskets and will use them from now on- lesson learned!


Good luck, let us know how things progress.

[FORZALANCIA]

Car is running quite well, but traction is a real problem if i accelerate over half throttle wen she hits 2,000 rpm in first she just lights up the wheels and pulls sideways. This happens in most gears but in 3rd its at around 3,000 rpm pulling all over the road like a raging bull :roll: lots of torque i can tell you thats on a dry road too, forget driving her on a wet day!

[Will]

Sounds like time to look into a LSD arrangement!
Most are expensive, Quaiffe,Collotti etc. around $2K, but you may also want to try one of the "Phantom Grip" units. They are essentially a spring loaded block that fits in the diff and presses against the gear ends to increase the amount of energy needed to make the rear wheels move in relation to each other. They are pretty popular with the ricers and about $300 USD.
Not the best solution, but worth looking into as a lesser expensive option.

[FORZALANCIA]

Will maybe you can help, i am running a 312 duration 10.5mm lift inlet cam & a 1608 exhaust cam, when i hit arounf 5,500 rpm its like she doesnt seem to be pulling is it the cams or the exhaust? My inlet cam is rated from 3,000 to 8,800 , is this a bad combination of cams? I tried to not go so long duration and lift on the exhuast cam so i left the 312 duration cam out and used a 1608 in my exhaust better idea? Now why i think it might be the exhaust is because i am running a standard lancia beta 4-2-1 header and into a 2.5 inch system with 1 muffler 1 hot dog and 1 free flow muffler, i think the header is restricting flow uptop especially because the gasket has now blowing in the exhaust manifold!Any ideas? Has heaps of torque as i have said before but whats with the uptop power i am hitting 14psi, and it seems like its better if i am changing gears quicker like at lower rev's 4,500- 5000 just seems like i get much more pull this way.

[Will]

I read above that you've added to the deck height, so you may no longer be getting good exhaust extraction beyond a certain point.

Personally, I'd try moving to a 300 degree on the exhaust. Once you have a bigger exhaust, you may find you can move back up the compression, possibly even eliminating that plate.

Remember, a supercharged motor works EXACTLY the same way a N/A motor does up until it starts making boost, it just does it with a lower throttle opening. In this range, everything that applies to a N/A motor applies equally to a supercharged motor.

I think your reduced compression may be too much to allow contaminants to adequately clear the hole. You could try using a dished piston in place of that plate to help force out the exhaust (i.e. volumex pistons), and add water injection if detonation is an issue. Cheapest water injection kits I know of that seem reliable is cooling mist (www.coolingmist.com), around $200USD.

For that price, worth some experimenting IMHO. You could also use a boost retard on the ignition, very helpful item because the supercharged fuel burns faster anyway, this keeps your peak cylinder pressure from getting too early on.

But hey, I'm no expert, so that may not be the best possible suggestion- just the way it looks from where I sit.