What a weekend! A full day of work on Friday, then 7 hours on the spyder, then another 7 hours on Saturday to get it ready to sell. It wasn't until about 3:00 pm Saturday afternoon that I FINALLY pulled the Crossfire into the garage to resume Project Rotrex!

Note: Previously, I had designed and had built a "dual pulley" to drive the Rotrex. It has been installed for months with no issues what so ever.

The next hurdle in the way of putting a Rotrex in this engine bay is real estate. We have none, so I set out to move the radiator coolant tank to the driver's side. There is "room" but no way to "mount" it anywhere as you can see.



First, I wanted a factory look as much as possible with the little stuff. However, I have to admit that after staring at this mess for a while I did think about going with an after market reservoir as I have one sitting on the shelf just staring at me. However, the OEM unit has an inductive sensor to measure the fluid level. I didn't want a light on in the dash so I sucked it up and kept going.

The first thing I noticed is that there was a control module in the way. So I unbolted it, test fit with reservoir in place, measured, closed the hood, checked clearances, then set out making one piece of the puzzle at a time.













The end result was these three pieces. One, slides the top of the control module over and out of the way. The other supports the tank from the bottom. The last one supports it from the top. It wouldn't have been all that bad if it wasn't for the funky angled tabs on the coolant tank. What a crock!

I bolted it into place and checked all clearances. She is in there, nice and secure and isn't going anywhere any time soon. I then took the stock hose from the radiator to the tank, loosened the clamp and rotated it 90 degrees to the right. This laid it down along the pan towards the driver's side. I added a straight piece of hose, a 90, and another piece of hose up to the tank - done.

Next up was extending the fluid level connector. I did so and ran it down and across the front so it is pretty much hidden. I had to stop and go to Fry's to pickup enough shrink tubing to do her up right and give her that factory look - done.

I feel like I fully acieved my goal with this step as it would take a keen eye to spot any change. In fact, if I were putting her back to stock to sell or other, I doubt I would even have to move the tank back to its original location!

Now, I can set about making the actual Rotrex bracket. However, this one is going to take a while. It is a funky place and an even funkier bracket that is going to be required to hold the Rotrex securely over time.

I'll post up any progress as I make it, but I imagine this one is going to take some trial and error to get right. My thinking right now, it that I will secure it to the motor at the alternator mount locations. I then have to add a hinge at the bottom of the mount so that I can add a bolt style tensioner at the top to prevent belt slippage. THIS ONE ought to be fun!

 

Glad your back at it!
Hope you able to make some real (and reliable) hp gains out of the NA...
Im keeping the faith!

 

Well, another round and a BIG chapter almost complete!

I worked up a birch plywood mock-up of a 5/16" bracket. The positioning was an absolute terror! A half inch one way, the hood won't close, a half inch the other the SC hits the motor, a half inch the other all bets are off. I went through about (5) cardboard versions. I then traced it on (1) layer of wood, checked, scrapped it and went back to cardboard, then finally settled on this. This is two pieces cut and glued together to approximate the thickness of the final piece. Now I have to get this design plasma cut out of 5/16" plate steel and integrate a tensioner.

It clears everywhere by "just enough". Once my other car sells, I'll probably have my dual pulley re-done and add .5". This will make everything else work out so much sweeter.

Either way it will work, but the .5" will be like adding a mile and help insure against the future. I plan on running a cold air intake behind the front grill. The outlet pipe will come forward, then turn back towards the firewall, into an air/water IC, then to the MAF.

Lots of turns, but each 90 degree turn is good for about 1% loss of flow and I am running a blower that can compensate. It is capable of another 125 HP over what I eventually want to run!

I'm going to play with it a bit more by adding .5" spacers and see exactly what it does for room on the filter side. It is touchy though as the .5" might just push me forward enough that I have hood clearance issues.

That said, I need my spyder to sell in order to buy the rest of the parts for the "physical side of things. In the meantime, I'll work on tweaks and the electronics. I have plenty there to keep me busy. Hopefully someone bites on my other car just as I am running out of things to do so I don't miss a beat!

 

Im curious as to what you're going to do for a tensioner on the SC drive belt

 

This is a great project you have going Web 3.0, yours pictures and documentation of the process are first class!

Hopefully if it all works out for you, you may have alot of customers in the N/A crowd if you wanted to go that route.

I was showing my fiance' what your doing (she has a N/A convertible) and even shes like "wow, that supercharger looks cooler then yours)

 

At this point, I'm probably going with an OEM tensioner. I found about a dozen that look like they will work. I like the idea of an OEM because they are great for constant pressure and will prevent any sort of hopping. I can then mount it on the bracket with elongated holes to allow for some rotation. This way I can tweak the amount of tension by twisting the tensioner to the very end of its travel to where you can just barely get the belt on or loosen it up as needed.

First, I have to order one in, find a place for it that will work not only with this bracket, but with the available (6) rib belt lengths. I'll most likely have to add some material to position it correctly, like a tab right in the middle. The availability of the right length belt will also determine whether or not I need an idler pulley as well. The good news is that there is plenty of room for that, thank goodness!

I guess when I said, "get this bracket cut then integrate a tensioner", I should have said it the other way around! Oh well, relatively speaking that is the easy part.

In the meantime, I'm also going to look at the feasibility of adding an idler pulley to the stock serpentine belt. At least plan it out and draw it up just in case. I'd still like to see a better wrap on my drive pulley (dual idler pulley)!

 

Web nice job of documenting your progress , this makes me want to go out and buy a N/A to experiment with Good luck

Howard.

 

What are you doing for the upper portion of the mount? Thats a lot of weight to have hanging off something that long. Id look into triangulating the bracket with an adjustable heim joint setup so you can adjust the tension on the bracket. It helps to control the amount of deflection the mount will see. You have to remember that belt is placing alot of force and pressure on the pulley system.

I'll look around locally and see if anyone has an oem tensioner. You could try pm'ing chuck norris, as he is currently parting out an na motor

 

Thanks for looking for a pulley but I ordered one last night that looks perfect. In fact, I mocked up a belt, confirmed length, availability, and placement. I'll hold off until it gets here, but it doesn't look like I'll need to add any material. As far as a brace goes, I do have my eye on a tab to the top corner of the motor. It doesn't need much, just something to ensure stiffness.

 

Yesterday I spent some time working on the form to perfect the shape and address clearance of this and that. So far, so good and I have to say, everything up to this point is working out perfectly!

Today, the tensioner came in and one quick measurement and three holes later, I had it integrated it into the mount!

I just love it when a plan comes together! Well, tomorrow I will try to drop off my form at the steel shop. That will save me a lot of work as they can plasma cut my prototype mount out of 5/16" plate steel faster then I can drill a hole in it.

Hopefully they can get it done quick and I don't have to wait in line behind some large job. Once I get it back, I can setup for a test fit and mount the blower in the car!! That is after I plot and drill the appropriate holes of course. Later, when I get ready to make a production run of these, I can send the prototype to my real machinist and he can work his magic!

That said, I haven't really addressed this yet, but as things progress, I'll reveal more on my plans as far as making this available once I have all of the kinks worked out as well as a dyno! For now, I'm focused on doing this and doing it right. Considering the future, I'm probably also going to be a little more selective about the pics I show. I'll make sure to post up plenty for sure, but I do need to be careful not to give away the farm!

 

I like the way you think.
If you need someone to brainstorm with, or need advice. Feel free to PM me, I worked on numerous FI projects like this and Im also very curious to see the end result, mostly the boost/power curve

 

Thanks for the offer, I'll keep that in my back pocket if something comes up. That said, I was thinking lastnight that instead of fighting with an intercooler right off the bat, I will go non intercooler, low boost, and minimally invasive setup.

Then I'll bump it up to a Stage II, then top out with the ***** to the wall version. Not only will it help with establishing options, but it will help in overcoming the various quirks I am bound to encounter.

 

As long as you are willing to help those of us down the road who are willing to compensate you for your time and effort, I am on board

 

Keep up the good work, this has been a fun thread to watch. We are still looking for our first Crossfire. I hope to sell my Corvair Saturday so a new car is needed to fill its void.

Joe

 

Just don't let Nader know

 

I think you would be better off running a longer belt off the existing accessory drive than adding another belt drive off the idler pulley. I ended up using the same belt as the Silverado Diesels with no problems with a less efficient blower.

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The whole point of this exercise is that it isn't possible with this blower. There isn't enough room unless you cut into the shock tower.

 

The steel shop said that my rough mount should be ready Monday-Tuesday. This weekend I plan on putting in some time on the electronics. I scoped out a place already for the piggyback and confirmed the path. Today I'll run the cable, solder up the connections, and mount the unit!

 

I am thinking just about right now a lot of N/A guys are salivating....lol
I like your idea of low boost no intercooler...that could be a nice kit you coould market to the masses....good work...keep it coming...

 

Well, I got sidetracked with selling my spyder, from last minute cleanup to test drives, etc. She is now signed, sealed, and delivered! I also picked up my plasma cut, prototype, Rotrex bracket and this thread is about to jump into high gear!