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potvin supercharger


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31 minutes ago, Force said:

Some even had turbochargers...

I guess I should have specified...

The AMT KIT he's most likely starting with has a centrifugal supercharger as in the illustration I posted.

Here's the kit-style supercharger so you get a better idea of what you're looking at. The carb is on top (though the kit has a different carb) and the intake manifolds are behind.

Image result for allison 1710 

And this is the supercharger inside...

Image result for allison 1710

There was also a turbo-compound version (3 were built for experimental aircraft in 1944-46)   

turbocompound.jpg

...and many have been set up with non-factory turbochargers for non-aircraft installations...

Image result for allison 1710

 

 

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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Yes I know that the AMT version has a centrifugal supercharger and most of the Allison engines had that...but as you can see in my pictures the P-38 Lightning had exhaust driven General Electric turbochargers to try to improve on the otherwise quite weak high altitude performance of the Allison V-1710, so it's just another version of the engine.

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The Latham supercharger can't move enough air to provide any boost to an engine as big as the Allison.  At stock gearing a GM 8-71 blower provided roughly atmospheric pressure to a 568 cubic inch engine, it would take three 8-71 blowers to do the same for the 1710 cubic inch Allison. You're best bet for adding power to the Allison is one of the turbo setups Bill posted, look up pulling tractors and power boat racers for ideas for designs.

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2 hours ago, Fat Brian said:

The Latham supercharger can't move enough air to provide any boost to an engine as big as the Allison.  At stock gearing a GM 8-71 blower provided roughly atmospheric pressure to a 568 cubic inch engine, it would take three 8-71 blowers to do the same for the 1710 cubic inch Allison. You're best bet for adding power to the Allison is one of the turbo setups Bill posted, look up pulling tractors and power boat racers for ideas for designs.

There are some great turbos on Shapeways.

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20 hours ago, retroguy said:

thanks for all the info,I'm planning a steampunk build using an allison engine and trying to add the supuercharger...

The Carl Casper Cosmic Charger kit has a Potvin. I have the kit and its in there. The box calls it a front-mounted supercharger.

Spotlight has it for $17.

image.png.59e993a28799edeb306c51ad5ac3f9f6.png

Edited by MeatMan
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1 hour ago, Exotics_Builder said:

Does not the AMT double dragster with the Fiat body and period rail have a Potvin blower option?  Does not the AMT parts pack have a 283 with Potvin Option?

Yes. The AMT double-dragster kit is mentioned above, and the shot of the Hemi engine by Landman actually shows the AMT parts-pack version, NOT the Revell version as stated.

9 hours ago, Fat Brian said:

The Latham supercharger can't move enough air to provide any boost to an engine as big as the Allison.  At stock gearing a GM 8-71 blower provided roughly atmospheric pressure to a 568 cubic inch engine, it would take three 8-71 blowers to do the same for the 1710 cubic inch Allison. 

Good points. To elaborate:

Lathams supply very low boost pressure at low RPM, and the Allison engine is limited to about 2500 RPM in its original military aircraft use, somewhat higher in racing planes, boats, pulling tractors, etc. A Latham would be useless.

The Potvin-driven GMC blowers would provide around 8-20 PSI of boost depending on the size of the blower and the over-or-under-drive ratio. But you have to also remember that a single Potvin-driven blower only provides enough VOLUME of air for roughly a 400 cubic inch engine, and the Allison is 1710 cubic inches. And most of the Potvin rigs were 6-71 blowers anyway.

As the centrifugal supercharger that's represented with the AMT Allison kit was used to increase high altitude performance (air gets thinner the higher you go, and to maintain sea-level power you need boost at altitude), different drive ratios could be used to alter the output of the supercharger for various conditions.

You can seriously raise the centrifugal blower's output for sea-level use without resorting to any additional means of supercharging...and avoid having a Rube Goldberg / Mickey Mouse cobbled up Potvin-style setup.

Or you can use a couple of BIG turbos, and blow their output into the existing centrifugal supercharger for even more boost.

 

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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