blower bracket recommendations

FlatOut

FlatOut

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I decided to start this thread as the discussion in my build thread has gotten significantly more involved then I ever expected.

Since I am planning into looking heavily into designing and producing a blower bracket I wanted to gather all the information and suggestions in one place.

So far it seem that the options for brackets are sub par and with modern blowers and EFI creating endless power potential I think we can come up with a nice piece and solve a lot of the issues that they have.

Main concerns:
-fitment with the modern big blowers. Novi, procharger, vortech, etc.
-Bracket flex, Thicker materials, additional brackets, etc
-belt wrap. multiple idler mounting locations to improve wrap
-tensioner options. self tensioning, improved locations. ETC.
 
Can it be improved yes


Is it worth the time and investment

Probably not


Most gen 1 guys don't want to spend money




I had a pal copy mine like 8 years ago. Took a while to sell.



I talked with jc customs on making some few years ago

But I didn't want to invest because I see how it goes with gen 1s



Most think the ebay cheap bracket is to much!

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A few ideas. Not sure if anyone else cares about these things.

There’s a lot of stuff on the drivers side already, and when adding components all of the wiring is on the drivers side so it makes sense to add components there. My passenger side is almost empty with plenty of room for a SC. Most all aftermarket intakes can be routed to either side of the vehicle. Maybe make a drivers side bracket first but I would really like to see an option for passenger side mount.

Secondly I had a random thought about using electric power steering and putting the supercharger in the location of the old power steering location. I don’t know if clearance would be an issue, or belt length availability, or oil drainage from the SC would be sufficient. But I like that it’s tucked in, that the clearance issue from the water pump would be eliminated (can run a larger lower), and shorter belt length for less stretch. I think it would be an interesting option to explore.

For bracket flex I’ve seen some brackets that are double plates with spacers between them. Not sure if this would work with all Chargers though.

Most all agree that the snakebite kit is the nicest one. Compared to a generic kit what makes it better?
Anodizing
Extra bracing that is heavy stainless
Stainless pulley bracket
Premium pulley and bearings
Recessed bolts for belt clearance in some places.
Smaller profile is nice but makes bigger chargers not fit

What else?
 
ditto what lightning_2000 said. a quality, sort-of "clone" of the small snakebite-type anti-deflection bracket that bolts to the a/c bracket and the blower large mounting plate might sell. i have a homemade one that reduces deflection considerably when pushed on. thicker material for the large blower mounting plate would help. there's also the Pickrel-type brace which is effective, but large and cumbersome. a quality designed adjustable spring belt tensioner would allow the belt tension to be tweaked until just tight enough and it would compensate with some more tension when the belt elongates due to high rpm, minimizing slippage. the front blower bearing would love it. just some ideas, don't know what the market demand would be for such items. 2 plates with spacers would certainly help and would probably be ideal for very high boost max efforts, but would also drive up the cost. it all depends on market demand.
 
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Most of the items are already covered, here's a couple of my thoughts. The cheap e-Bay brackets position the blower way too far over on the pass side, the one I have now has the blower air filter pretty much inline with the master cylinder.

As far as flex goes instead of thicker material what about a different type of material. I am no metallurgist, but aren't there stiffer and stronger alloys out there besides 6061?

Cost, yeah not a lot of folks are going to want to spend $5-600 on a blower bracket just like most don't want to spend $5-6K on a transmission! But there is a need and hopefully with help from the community you won't need to make a run of 10 to cover your initial costs. It would be good to make them on demand so you don't have cash tied up in idle inventory.

Billy better hope he never goes back to a blower because I am damn sure never going to stop giving him a hard time about belts LOL!!!
 
Raymond_B said:
Most of the items are already covered, here's a couple of my thoughts. The cheap e-Bay brackets position the blower way too far over on the pass side, the one I have now has the blower air filter pretty much inline with the master cylinder.

As far as flex goes instead of thicker material what about a different type of material. I am no metallurgist, but aren't there stiffer and stronger alloys out there besides 6061?

Cost, yeah not a lot of folks are going to want to spend $5-600 on a blower bracket just like most don't want to spend $5-6K on a transmission! But there is a need and hopefully with help from the community you won't need to make a run of 10 to cover your initial costs. It would be good to make them on demand so you don't have cash tied up in idle inventory.

Billy better hope he never goes back to a blower because I am damn sure never going to stop giving him a hard time about belts LOL!!!
Click to expand...
Id rock a procharger




I'm thinking a nice billet bracket with tensioners is gonna be around 1k mark possibly more

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There's an old saying..... " Gen 1 guys are cheap " ..... thats going to be your biggest hurdle... can it be improved? Without a doubt... will guys pay for the added cost of the R&D to make it better... highly doubt it....
 
lightn95 said:
There's an old saying..... " Gen 1 guys are cheap " ..... thats going to be your biggest hurdle... can it be improved? Without a doubt... will guys pay for the added cost of the R&D to make it better... highly doubt it....
Click to expand...

I do not 100% agree with that, sure there's guys who see no value in this sort of thing and will happily put their truck together with eBay parts (and more power to ya). **But there are people who do, so before you guys go full on negative Nancy on this at least let it get started... Maybe I am absolutely wrong, but the real work/money is in the CAD file generation and only Travis can tell us what that is worth.
 
The chunk of material to make it out of costs to

And idlers. Tensioners


Let alone his cnc deal in his garage costs alot!

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lightn95 said:
There's an old saying..... " Gen 1 guys are cheap " .....
Click to expand...

I may know the guy who coined that phrase but it was more like “Gen 1 guys (for the most part) are CHEAP”

Guys will pay for quality parts but not many of them will.
 
lightning_2000 said:
The chunk of material to make it out of costs to

And idlers. Tensioners


Let alone his cnc deal in his garage costs alot!

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Click to expand...

Yep, but you wouldn't buy the materials until you have the orders.

Same thing with idlers and tensioners.

Travis has already purchased the CNC machine, and while yes it's not free to operate one certainly does not have to recoup the cost of the machine based on one part. Remember he's already doing a bunch of other items. Obviously it's all up to him.
 
Jamie V said:
I may know the guy who coined that phrase but it was more like “Gen 1 guys (for the most part) are CHEAP”

Guys will pay for quality parts but not many of them will.
Click to expand...

This doesn't just apply to Lightning guys and is a bit unfair. Have you seen all the posts on the Megasquirt forums where people trying to tune their cars built with eBay injectors, chinezium turbos, and Alibaba wiring setups? There's also folks who don't need a $1k blower bracket, they're not cheap.
 
Raymond_B said:
Most of the items are already covered, here's a couple of my thoughts. The cheap e-Bay brackets position the blower way too far over on the pass side, the one I have now has the blower air filter pretty much inline with the master cylinder.

As far as flex goes instead of thicker material what about a different type of material. I am no metallurgist, but aren't there stiffer and stronger alloys out there besides 6061?

Cost, yeah not a lot of folks are going to want to spend $5-600 on a blower bracket just like most don't want to spend $5-6K on a transmission! But there is a need and hopefully with help from the community you won't need to make a run of 10 to cover your initial costs. It would be good to make them on demand so you don't have cash tied up in idle inventory.

Billy better hope he never goes back to a blower because I am damn sure never going to stop giving him a hard time about belts LOL!!!
Click to expand...

all aluminum has the same Young's Modulus or modulus of elasticity (10,000,000 psi), therefore they all will deflect the same amount under a given load. for comparison only, steel has a modulus of 30,000,000 psi and is therefore 3 times as rigid as aluminum, but unfortunately it is almost 3 times as heavy as well. titanium is about 40 to 50% more rigid than aluminum but cost is obviously too high. a well designed aluminum mounting plate with increased rigidity (more closely located to the crank centerline, thicker and/or dual plates with spacers, etc.) and possibly/probably including properly located and oriented bracing that opposes the direction that the belt loads are appled will decrease mount deflection dramatically. this in conjunction with a well designed belt tensioner (with adjustable spring tension) will be about as good as it's going to get. attached is a link to a video showing how a belt tensioner with adjustable spring tension (and a motorcycle hydraulic steering dampener) can control belt tension and take up the slack in a dynamic application, with absolute minimum belt slippage. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dXZiYTnHLGQ
 
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BlackFlareSide said:
A few ideas. Not sure if anyone else cares about these things.

There’s a lot of stuff on the drivers side already, and when adding components all of the wiring is on the drivers side so it makes sense to add components there. My passenger side is almost empty with plenty of room for a SC. Most all aftermarket intakes can be routed to either side of the vehicle. Maybe make a drivers side bracket first but I would really like to see an option for passenger side mount.

Secondly I had a random thought about using electric power steering and putting the supercharger in the location of the old power steering location. I don’t know if clearance would be an issue, or belt length availability, or oil drainage from the SC would be sufficient. But I like that it’s tucked in, that the clearance issue from the water pump would be eliminated (can run a larger lower), and shorter belt length for less stretch. I think it would be an interesting option to explore.

For bracket flex I’ve seen some brackets that are double plates with spacers between them. Not sure if this would work with all Chargers though.

Most all agree that the snakebite kit is the nicest one. Compared to a generic kit what makes it better?
Anodizing
Extra bracing that is heavy stainless
Stainless pulley bracket
Premium pulley and bearings
Recessed bolts for belt clearance in some places.
Smaller profile is nice but makes bigger chargers not fit

What else?
Click to expand...
I have a passenger side bracket with my TorqStorm. Smog pump gets removed, alternator drops down and SC goes up top. No, that's not my motor.
b833475fafb11b22a210354f60354c8a.jpg
1ed16ca44faec0e79e8f070e4968cbef.jpg


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The entire plate doesn't need to be thicker. It just needs a stiffener or a web, which can be bolted to the surface of the plate. A flat plate in general isn't very resistant to flex. It's why all of the Ford factory brackets are convoluted shapes. It's how they build in the rigidity in the aluminum without adding a lot of weight.

With these things becoming classics and people spending more money on them, there may be a small market, especially since the same bracket will work on OBS trucks in general.
 
Excellent info, thanks guys! Jeff, so simply machining in a web would add strength?

Also great point about OBS group at large, there's a large FB OBS group that a bunch of us Lightning guys have invaded :)
 
Currently the advantage to my business is its a side business, I still have a 50 hour a week day job paying my bills so my overhead is reasonable. Machine payment/tooling and material are my main expenses, I am not collecting a paycheck from it. My R&D time is going to be significantly cheaper than that of a established business especially using any excuse to "show off" my capabilities. I'd gladly sacrifice a weekend developing something on my own time that improves my work portfolio, shows off my skills and expands my following/reputation. Any products right now is great for business. The automotive scene is tough for manufacturing as the markets are beaten to death by mass produced products and I know that. a small niche market definitely helps. These brackets don't seem like they would cost me a ton of money up front, just a lot of time. The development of the rest of the required hardware and pullies is what seem to pose the most challenge. If I can get something laid out on CAD that is improved upon current availability, I can't see why I wouldnt be able to produce something that is affordable. Might not be a large market but being a small business I don't need it to be, to be worth my efforts right now.
 
I'd make 1 like a bigger procharger uses


It's 2 brackets. If it will hold a big procharger. It will hold any smaller blower

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Although my build never came to fruition but the guy who worked on my old truck, made it work with a D2 procharger using all fox mustang accessories and one spacer.


IMG_9627.jpg
 
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