I thought I'd state a few facts and spout a few opinions about superchargers.
The Judsons are cool, period pieces that can be made to run but will
not yield the high dollar to HP ratio power gain that other designs
will.
The Mo$$ supercharger kit is good. We all like to bash Mo$$ for some
of their stuff but they do a good job, IMHO with the SC kits. They
invested time and money and made a kit that is easy and reliable.
They bought the Jackson Racing rights. The kit uses a Roots type
blower made by Eaton. Eaton has really evolved the Roots types to a
high level. Many OEM makers, Ford, GM, Mini, Jag, Mercedes, etc. use
Eaton blowers in production cars. It is a solid product. The kit
costs around $3k which seemed expensive to me at first but is really
moderately priced for what you get. They include a single SU carb,
which is good for the application. They use an Eaton M45 with
integral bypass circuit.
The Roots type blowers, ubiquitous as the GM 71 series, have been used
for many years effectively. However, newer Lysholm type units are
more efficient and generally better, but more expensive. You can find
nice, low mileage Roots blowers on ebay for very little money. Most
of these units are takeoffs, some new, because the OEM roots system
was replaced with a more effective Lysholm unit. Kenne Bell uses
Lysholm units.
There is a new type of centrifugal blower coming up. Centrifugal
blowers, like the Paxtons, have been around for 50 years or more.
They are currently available and viable for many cars, especially
Mustangs. The new twist on these blowers is the Rotrex. Jackson
Racing, who sold their Roots brand tech to Mo$$, is re-emerging with
the Rotrex as their centerpiece.
DIY supercharging is possible. You can find used and new takeoff
blowers on ebay for a song. However, some of those units don't seem
to have the integral bypass, which isn't the end of the world. An
external bypass circuit is not hard to implement. A vacuum controlled
blow off valve (BOV) can be had cheaply on ebay and used as an
external bypass valve. Or, you can run without a bypass circuit. A
new complete Lysholm or Rotrex kit costs several $k($3995 Minimania
Lysholm kit for 1275 Mini). A new Lysholm or Rotrex head unit alone
costs around $2k. New Eatons are expensive, too. But, a used OEM
Mazda Lysholm type unit from a Millenia can be had for $100-200. The
Eaton 45s from new Minis can be had for about the same amount.
A real trick would be to adapt injection or a throttle body and
sensors from a small car or motorcycle to the A-series with a blower
and tunable fuel management. Of course that would be kinda silly, as
the A-series platform is not designed for electronic junk. It would
be Frank's nightmare, a Spridget with a computer.
Cheers,
Derf
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