Does the works blower have a smaller upper or was it changed out to a much smaller pulley in the pics that I've seen?

 

I'm no rocket scientist; but I think the only way to explicitly guage the efficiency of the blower is compare it to a stock blower developing 12lbs of boost, through an aftermarket crank pulley. Let me try to explain my reasoning. I understand that this blower generates more boost with the stock pulleys by its design. However, this increase in boost doesn't come for free. It takes more power to spin the Works blower than the stock one because it takes more power to compress incoming air to 12lbs rather than 8lbs. So the only valid comparison to make is to run a stock blower outputting 12lbs of boost. Then you can compare relative engine outputs. You can truly compare how much power each blower is leeching to develop the 12lbs of boost. One could also measure the temperature of the air on either side of the intercooler to see if there are any differenced between the two systems. The bottom line is that I don't believe that just because a blower develops more HP with stock pullies makes it better. It would appear that it just has a mechanical advantage over stock. If your stock blower with a 4lb pulley outputs similar power to the Works blower, what real benefit are you getting? The only one I can come up with is reliabilty since the blower lobes are now spinning slower. I'm not trying to start a war or anything; I just wanted to express my thoughts on the subject.

 

Edward,

I agree with your question. Tim Skelton has a great article on a Kenne Bell and they discussed the same issues....

http://www.timskelton.com/lightning/articles/index.htm

On page three they discuss the same thing. The kenne bell puts out 4 more pounds of boost with the same pulleys in place. The net result was 50 more horsepower.

They increased the size of the autoroter upper to slow it down and net the same boost level. Here the autorotor netting +16 hp over stock.

Check out that article. I found it an exceptional read.

Ken

 

Hey guys, sorry I didn't respond sooner. I wanted to talk to Dan about the time on the dyno and get the facts right before I might have made an incorrect statement and put my foot in my mouth.

This particular truck WAS baselined on the dyno, but after Dan had called me to discuss a few things, I found out the truck was running an 80mm Airriad box with a 90mm MAF, which was causing problems dynoing the new blower. This problem was corrected, but after the Works blower was installed. So there is no basline data to go by since it was done with the Airraid box.

The truck made 407rwhp with just a 4lb lower, Works blower, chip and open MAF with no filter. With the stock airbox bolted on, it dropped to 393 and lost 1.5 psi.

I'm pretty impressed with those numbers myself. If you equate the open MAF to having a filter kit, then I don't know any trucks that have made 407rwhp with just a 4lb, chip and filter kit. The average for those three mods on an 01 is about 385rwhp. So this truck made about 20hp more with the new blower than over a stock truck with equal mods and the stock blower.

There is also a ton more potential for the blower since this truck didn't have a TB or exhaust (which had been ordered from another vendor, but didn't show up by dyno time). A single blade TB on this blower is important because of the size of the intake bore, and according to the customer, after installing the TB and exhaust the truck had noticably more power.

I should be doing a same day dyno test between the works and stock blowers on pur 01 very shortly, so I'll keep everyone posted on that.

 

So let me reduce my opinion further. The engine doesn't "know/care" where the boost comes from. Unless the air charge temps or the parasitic losses from the blower are reduced, adding 4lbs of boost through a new blower is the same as adding a 4lb pulley to a stock blower, right? 4lbs is 4lbs regardless of the source. Comparing the Works blower with a 4lb pulley to a stock blower with a 4lb pulley is not a valid comparison. I guess I feel like it's more cost effective to get a 4lb pulley than a 4lb supercharger.

-Edward

 

Edward, you are missing the point. The truck did not make 4 extra psi because of the new blower. It made 4 extra psi because it has a 4 lb lower pulley. It made 12 psi with the stock blower before the Works was put on. The difference is the Works blower made about 20 more hp than the stock blower at the same psi.

 

Oh. I think I've got it now.

Thanks, Sal!

-Edward

 

I guess the only problem I am seeing is that 20 hp is $3500! I'd like to see the difference w/ higher boost personally. Sounds to me as if it's not worth it unless you plan to run high boost (and have a built bottum end).

Thanks,

 

OK, looks like I was wrong about the 12 psi w/stock pullies...OH WELL!!!