The engine is already difficult to keep together with a reasonable amount of mods, so imagine what it will be at 30+psi. This will push every component on the truck beyond it's design capabilities. The transmission is already at 90% of capacity and then the rear end and a multitude of other parts. The two guys with Kenny Bells in my area have had their truck parked for 4-6months and are trying to sell them.

This is really interesting as a show truck/dyno queen but as a high performance street/track vehicle, I have my doubts.

In my books, good performance is reliable performance. Others have other views and I respect them.

TB

 

By no means am I talking about stock motor and stock trans trucks. This blower should be put on built motors in a truck with a built trans, If you want to keep everything together. With proper tuning and boost levels you will probalby be able to run this on the street just like any car with a 671 or 871 blower on it that you see at a cruise night. Im sure if Dons Bolt goes for one we will really find the streetability of it! He has put more miles on his built motor/KB truck than others do with much less aggressive combos.

JimIII

 

Jim can you elaborate on how you guys are going to keep the heads from lifting? I am really interested in this as all the High HP L's all seem to lift their heads with all the boost from the KB's(most use NOS also), and now we are going to throw a 3.3 S/C into the mix. That seems to be the major problem after getting the motor built. Now, you see turbo'ed and some S/C Cobras making well over a 1000hp and not lifting any heads. Why are the Lightnings having this problem? It would not make sense to buy the 3.3 S/C for even a built motor if all it was going to do is just lift heads.

 

Good question

 

I think the 4 valve engine has it way better than the 2 valve engine with regards to "head lifting" But the key is to control combustion at any cost. No Detonation and they will live.

Another problem that is going to show up as the hp level goes up is cylinder wall distortion and Jim already touched on this but I think you will see alot of partialy "filled" blocks running around or the new Darton sleeves.
Dale

 

The 3.3 produces around 20 lbs at 12,000 rpm which is lower than the 2.3.....so more boost sooner........lower temps with higher possible overhead.

***Genius Bar*** does the 3.3 with 20lbs boost produce the same air flow as the 2.3 with 20 lbs boost?

 

Isn't that kinda like what weighs more 20lbs of gold or 20 lbs of feathers?

 

There's definitely a huge difference between having a problem with detonation and lifting heads.

You can easily crank up the boost to such a high level that the heads lift and never get any detonation. The heads aren't lifting due to detonation, they are lifting due to extremely high combustion chamber pressure from high boost levels.

Granted, high combustion chamber pressures can lead to detonation, but that is taken care of by using the correct fuel when running high boost ( C16 or similar for HIGH boost levels.)

 

Oh oh.......thats a trick question

 

See the thing that is going to be awesome about these blowers is that you wont have to spin them as hard to make the power.

This is the conversion from liter to CFM

(ltr X 61.05) X RPM
3465


So if you follow this equation for the Kenne Bell (2.2L) you will see that at 10,000 RPM's the KB will flow 388 CFM and at 18,000 RPM's it flows 699 CFM.


Now apply that to the Whipple at 3.3L you will end up with 581 CFM at 10,000 and 1046 CFM at 18,000!!

This means the blower will see cooler tempratures and more power at less boost! Not being spun as hard also accounts for being easier on the bearings and rotors.

This blower also only weighs 4.4lbs more than the Kenne Bell even though it looks very bulky.

These blowers have been used on Marine race engines for quite some time now. As I was told, in California there is a 200 mile race of nothing but WOT. They use these blowers on some of the boats and have had no failures do to case to rotor and rotor to rotor clearance. The Whipple uses a .015" clearance. On other blowers it is much closer and if there is flex in the case the blower will then seize which is something we all have seen or heard of.

Lifting the heads on these motors can be attributed to more than one reason as already discussed. Low octane, too much timing, not enough fuel. Boost levels shouldnt be a problem. The only thing that can be done to prevent this is to prepare the vehicle properly.

As far as boost levels go this blower is capable of 30+ psi. However as I mentioned above you dont need to spin this charger as hard to get the same or better results. You can still run this blower at a safe boost level and make more power then any blower on the market for these trucks.

I would even have to go back on my statement of saying these are generally designed for built motor/trans trucks and say that if run at a low enough boost level it would be an awesome blower do to the fact that you are spinning it much less you would have to with any other S/Cer. This means lower temps and less wear on the unit itself.

These blowers are extremly good for street use do to versatile boost levels. For example 10 psi of 3.3 boost is like 14psi of the other aftermarket blowers on the market.


JimIII@JDM

 

how much longer til we can buy them and find out for ourselves?

 

Has anyone looked into O-ringed headgaskets and machined heads/blocks, like the Buick GN guys do? Also, what are the options as far as sleeved blocks? While 99% of us will never need them, I'm sure there are going to be some nasty race motors built off this 3.3, and somebody is going to need them!

 

I know there are a few trucks out there using o rings. We have one now that we just finished up. So far they seem to hold up well.

 

The Ford has it way better off than the buick ever did. The ford has more evenly spaced head bolt hole, a stiffer block and head and a much smaller bore, 8 cyl instead of 6, and the best Cometic style gaskets you can get...stock. Its already proven that the ford will withstand in the neighborhood of 1800 hp.I dont think even the baddest stg II buick stuff has hit that mark yet. (I dont keep up on them as much as I used too.)

So...I will try this again, if you keep the combustion process under control you wont lift a head.....period. There's more to controlling combustion than just pressure......timing is the key...or I should say when peak pressure accurs.

A good friend of mine has the equipment to map cylinder pressures "real time" I haven't taken him up on his offers to use this yet but next year I will.
Dale

 

Like my motor>??? Can you please respond to my emails and phone calls and messages Tommy. Thanks, -Mat-