Thread: Supercharger advice needed

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Ok, with my Healey project winding down soon (hopefully), like any good hot rodder, I'm planning my next project. For that I plan to do limited make over on my 46 Ford coupe. There are things that need to be repaired and other things that I have never really been satisfied with. They just weren't bad enough to change.

The car originally had a 383 stroker, but the cooling system has always been marginal and that engine was overheated and damaged. I replaced it with a pretty much bone stock smog era 350 and have been driving the car like that for about 7 years. In short, it does everything a "normal" person would want. I runs good, gets decent mileage ( for a smog 350) and is as reliable as a steel handled hammer. It just doesn't have any power. The car weighs almost 2 tons with me and 1/2 tank of gas. It does have a "poor man's" overdrive (2.75 gears) and that kills a lot of get up and go.

I have recently acquired a fairly low mileage 383 with a bad wrist pin. That will be going in the car along with some kind of overdrive. I'm kinda leaning toward a TKO 600 5-speed even though it has an automatic now. I also plan to upgrade the 9" rear to 3.50 or 3.70 gears and posi. Tires are 29".

So here's where I need info. I would really like to put a small blower on the new engine. I've never ran one nor do I know anyone locally to ask, but think they are very cool. They look good and make great power. Since the engine is apart and will need some internal parts, I can build a it pretty much any way I need to.

I think the Blower Shop has a 4-71 type setup with a single carb. It uses a cog belt. I think I would like to do a throttle body injection unit on top. I want it all to fit under the hood. I'm looking for low end grunt, not a top end charge. I would also like it to run on pump gas since I drive the car on long trips. Is this possible using boost retard?

The 383 has Edelbrock RPM aluminum heads (cc unknown right now). I will zero deck the block for a tight quench. I'm thinking 8.0 to 9.0 compression, mild cam and let the blower do the work. Definitely forged pistons.

I also plan to get rid of the smallish vertical flow radiator and rebuild the inner fenders to allow a larger cross-flow unit. I know a blown engine will tend to run hotter.

What else would I need? Can I drive long it distance reliably (Power tour type trips)? I know fuel mileage will be bad, but it's a limited use car (maybe 5000 miles per year). This is strictly a thought problem right now. It will be be at least a year before I could dive into it. Any advice will be appreciated.