[x3m944]

To address the issue of the belt, sure it’s a weak link, so is the external belt, belts always are. Period!

Yet I haven’t lost an internal belt yet and that’s spinning the Supercharger up to over 80k for sustained speeds, something the end user isn’t likely to do. In other words the belt is more than adequate for the job, like everything else its over engineered. I could run a higher internal ratio and still not max out the bearing or the belt.

Any belt will wear out eventually. That’s why a spare belt is included with the Supercharger DIY kit. It will require replacement at some point, based on current tests and projections, you shouldn’t have to open the supercharger to replace a belt for quite some time. Can you say 2-3 years?

I am looking into using Kevlar or fiber belts, but that’s another expense. Come on now, this is back yard home brew stuff, not Fortune 500 stuff. I am no big manufacturer. I will say this: If I can make it better and cheaper I will and I will pass the savings on to the end user! Can I promise that, nope, have no clue how expensive stuff will get, considering everything I buy from raw materials on up has to be delivered to me or to who I buy it from and we all now how prices are rising do to gas prices, etc..

Look at the prices of a new Vortech, Paxton, Powerdyne, etc… only way you can beat my price is with a used unit! But this isn’t a sales pitch. I am simply saying, you buy used you get what you buy, you get something I built, you can bet its something I will use or am using on my car. Besides this is supposed to be a hobby for me not my life. Beauty in my eyes is that, I am real, you can reach out and talk to me, meet me at events in the near future, hands on kind of stuff. I am one of you, I didn’t come to the forum to advertise my ebay adds or some such, I been around a while and I am often to free with information.

If you think my supercharger is the cats meow, great if you don’t… so? I built it you didn’t so go suck an egg. Hahaha seriously your entitled to your opinion, if you can do it better then do it! If you can’t…

Still a belt failure is not catastrophic, it means you loose boost… that will not kill your engine only your fun.

Awh Shucks what are we going to do now…. You remove the unit and remove the cover, replace the belt and move on. In the event you some how hosed bearings, those are replaceable as well… more complicated as in you return it to me for service, but you would have to do something terrible to the unit to do that. Those bearings are way over spec for the application.

As for belts and bearings, I do not manufacture them after all. Belts are no different than replacing a AC or ALT belt. Simple and easy and for the end user who is rather anal about replacing belts, fine, replace it every year. Bearings should last the life of the supercharger, but should they fail or some one overdrives the unit etc, and yes some idiot will do that, well then eventually they could fail.

That’s why you see superchargers with busted blades on the compressor wheel or gauges on the lobes in a roots supercharger, people want more boost and go beyond anything practical for the unit. If you want 20 PSI, the idea is not to overdrive the supercharger, I will offer a high Boost application down the road, these initial units are designed for a max of 8 PSI, which is below tolerances, but that’s beside the point I like a safety margin.

If you don’t want belts, fine go buy a Vortech or something and enjoy your folly. Then again I am not the only one to use a belt drive in a supercharger. Belts are quiet, more so than gears, good or bad, I think that’s a plus, it also doesn’t cost as much to manufacture, but that doesn’t mean it’s a weaker or cheaper design, what I means is I don’t have to buy, build, design gears. Will I offer a gear drive, yes I will, I already have two different prototypes built, but that’s down the road.

I am constantly either redesigning or building something better, not just for me, but for everyone, I mean come on people. I want a supercharger or turbo under the hood of every car, I am a boost fanatic…. and everything goes better with BOOST!