How would you supercharge a Vincent?

[Bob Blackman]

Putting aside for a moment the obvious riposte of "Why would you want to?", I would like some advice from Vincent experts on how this might be achieved.

I have written a book called The Horsepower Whisperer and the eponymous hero rides an Egli-framed Vincent. Nick Hob is a bit like a horse whisperer except that instead of calming wild animals he enrages innocent engines to great feats of power and endurance by whispering up horsepower. He torques the talk and races the race in the mechanised Wild Hunt and rides a blasphemously supercharged Egli-Vincent. Obviously.

I'm preparing some promotional material to publicise The Horsepower Whisperer and these include some images of Hob on his Vinnie, Nosferatu.

But before I get stuck in, how would the ladies and gentlemen who are steeped in Vincent lore supercharge the ultimate motorbike?

 

[daveinnola]

a turbo would be a whole lot safer the trouble with a super charger is its always on

 

[Bob Blackman]

"the trouble with a super charger is its always on"

Wouldn't that be a good thing, though?

I know Honda turbo'ed the CX500 vee-twin but that was more of a technological shop window than a genuine performance need, a sort of "we can do anything - even force feeding a vee twin" attitude.

Which come to think of it, is the kind of attitude the character in my book would have.

My initial thoughts were either a supercharger driven off the end of the crank or driven off the clutch, like Super Nero, with the latter being the favourite.

But Daveinnola's got me thinking. Maybe two little baby turbos would be better. It's gotta look good, though. I really like the solid power look of the Vincent engine and don't want to create another plumber's nightmare.

Although my story's fantasy, I want the engineering to be technically feasible.

 

[daveinnola]

with a supercharger its always on , its not like the mad max movie where he flips a switch and the blower clutches in the air has always got to go through the blower and as the impellers are air tight if they dont turn you will not have any air going to the engine , the turbo works off exaust , the more gas you give it the more the vacume drops and the turbo adds boost , now if your on a wet or slippery road would you like the power to come in with a bang , or as a proressive like a turbo ,

 

[Bob Blackman]

Mad Max - great film!

In terms of turbo vs. supercharger, I reckon it all boils down to the installation. Many turbos suffered from lag and then power came in with a bang. Superchargers may be on all the time but don't suffer from lag.

One of my cars has a turbo but lag's no problem. In the 1980s, Lancia S4 rally cars had both a turbo and a supercharger to avoid any holes in the power curve but I think technology has moved on since then.

As for clutch driven blowers, 1920's Mercedes Benz racing cars had them. When they were engaged, they apparently gave a blood curdling howl so for a soul trader (the Horsepower Whisperer wants your soul if you want a share of his power - "Speed is just a question of how much you wanna pay") this seems quite appropriate.

I currently favour a Super Nero type supercharger driven off the primary drive without a clutch and have done some sketches of what the result might look like. I've also done a sketch of a blower driven off the end of the crank but this looks messy and would be very involved.

I haven't done a turbo-ed sketch yet because I reckon the plumbing would take some working out. How would you do it? One big turbo or two little ones?

I've just posted some images into the Uncategorised 2008 Gallery. I'd be grateful if you'd let me know what you think.

 

[daveinnola]

theres been a couple of road cars with a bi turbo set up , but i found out that when i had my turbo car (2.3 merkur ) on the road that if you drove in the power band one was enough , if i got on it it would spool up about three quarters of the way through second gear the third gear was good morning judge , but if you were not thinking and driving different cars most of the time , wet roads could catch you unawears and bring the power in when you had wheel spin resulting in a 180 lol ,

 

[pifinch]

If you really want your vin to go really FAST then the only bloke you should ask is Ogri! he knows everything.

 

[daveinnola]

on the other had you could take the easy way out and get horse power in a bottle

 

[Bob Blackman]

Vincent powered Morgans

Somebody has left a comment on my Engine Punk blog (Vintage Thing No 8) about a Series A Vincent plumber's nightmare powered Morgan.

I remember seeing photos of the Mogvin for sale a few years ago but am sure that was a later design, the cleaned up sort that soothed the trouble brows of heating engineers everywhere.

I'm told the Series A example was owned and raced by a guy called Harold Pass. Anybody have any gen or photos of either?

 

[timetraveller]

I hate to rain on your parade BUT what evidence is there that a turbo charger will work on a Vincent? My understanding is that a turbo needs a steady flow of gas to the drive side and one slow reving cylinder is not going to do that, nor I suspect, are two slow reving cylinders with unequal firing intervals. If our author wants to do the research then he should go on line and check on some of the new breed of small superchargers, using some parts of turbo technology. Think of something the size of a half pint to a one pint pot and you have the idea. It could be tucked neatly away and really frighten granny when she borrows your bike to go down to the local supermarket.