Camden Supercharger

[jrvariel48]

Is anyone running a Camden Supercharger or even just have one?
I'm running one in my 35 coupe and I wanted to compare notes.
I get around 4lbs of boost at 4000 rpm with the pulleys that came with the set up. Thanks Joe

 

[jrvariel48]

No one?!

 

[Mike in AZ]

Have never see one. On a flathead? Got pics. Mike

 

[tjw]

Camden blower

 

[rotorwrench]

I remember your thread from back in 2014. Most folks go for the Roadrunner engineering Weiand kits or H&H Flathead's Navarro 471 or SCoT blower set ups. The Camden doesn't garner a lot of attention in the flathead performance area since they are advertised for smaller displacement engines or rotary engines for Mazda cars. It's kind of out of the Ford Barn theme of things too. The HAMB may have some other folks that have them.

 

[Fordors]

The Camden flathead kit along with their other V8 offerings were dropped when the company was sold quite a few years ago.
They had Chevy small and big block kits, Buick, Chevy and Ford V6 kits but the new owners concentrated on small four cylinder stuff.

 

[jrvariel48]

The Camden flathead kit along with their other V8 offerings were dropped when the company was sold quite a few years ago.
They had Chevy small and big block kits, Buick, Chevy and Ford V6 kits but the new owners concentrated on small four cylinder stuff.

Yes, I believe it was in 1990/91

 

[jrvariel48]

I remember your thread from back in 2014. Most folks go for the Roadrunner engineering Weiand kits or H&H Flathead's Navarro 471 or SCoT blower set ups. The Camden doesn't garner a lot of attention in the flathead performance area since they are advertised for smaller displacement engines or rotary engines for Mazda cars. It's kind of out of the Ford Barn theme of things too. The HAMB may have some other folks that have them.

The cu.in. for the Camden is 144, B&M 144, Weiand 142 & Scot is 172 but untouchable price wise. The 471

 

[saltracer]

I believe Speedway used to sell the Camden supercharger in a kit for Flatheads years ago.

 

[Ronnieroadster]

Joe while i have no experience with the camden blower I remember years back when they were first offered I spent time looking them over. Since your getting 4 lbs of boost at 4 grand at this point thats not to bad. To gain more boost the drive ratio needs to be adjusted so going down 1/4 inch in diameter on the blower would give you another 2 to 3 pounds. If going smaller on the upper pulley is not possible doing the same by increasing the lower pulley diameter would also give you more boost.
Something to remember about the Flathead port design seeing high boost readings is not truly an indication of the pressure the cylinder is seeing. The poor port design is actually a choke to the boost so the high readings are caused by a backup of flow.
Back when i ran my 671 GMC combination I would always see over 20 pounds of boost with no ill effects to the engine even in street driven form as long as a good octane gas was being used when the boost was getting high. That old reliable 671 combination is waiting for a new owner complete bolt on for the Flathead as some say go big or go home. LOL
Ronnieroadster

 

[jrvariel48]

Joe while i have no experience with the camden blower I remember years back when they were first offered I spent time looking them over. Since your getting 4 lbs of boost at 4 grand at this point thats not to bad. To gain more boost the drive ratio needs to be adjusted so going down 1/4 inch in diameter on the blower would give you another 2 to 3 pounds. If going smaller on the upper pulley is not possible doing the same by increasing the lower pulley diameter would also give you more boost.
Something to remember about the Flathead port design seeing high boost readings is not truly an indication of the pressure the cylinder is seeing. The poor port design is actually a choke to the boost so the high readings are caused by a backup of flow.
Back when i ran my 671 GMC combination I would always see over 20 pounds of boost with no ill effects to the engine even in street driven form as long as a good octane gas was being used when the boost was getting high. That old reliable 671 combination is waiting for a new owner complete bolt on for the Flathead as some say go big or go home. LOL
Ronnieroadster

Hey RR thanks for your reply. I contacted Atkins Rotary which is the company producing the Camden superchargers. They make a blower drive pulley that they told me would produce 10lbs. Do you think that would be safe in a fresh built motor with no heavy center crank cap? Is there anyway for me to come up with an idea on what the cylinder pressure would be?
Thanks again, Joe

 

[Ol' Ron]

The Magnason blower kit for the Flathead uses an Eaton ny-pass blower. On My friends 294 engine it produces 235 hp at 4500 (red line) with only 3 1/2 to 5 lbs boost. Blower comes in at WOT around 3000. The engine could probably produce more power, however the cost of building it doesn't justify blowing it up just to see how much power it could make. Runs great on the street driving a C4 auto into a 3.08 rear giving great gas milage in cruise.

 

[revkev6]

Hey RR thanks for your reply. I contacted Atkins Rotary which is the company producing the Camden superchargers. They make a blower drive pulley that they told me would produce 10lbs. Do you think that would be safe in a fresh built motor with no heavy center crank cap? Is there anyway for me to come up with an idea on what the cylinder pressure would be?
Thanks again, Joe

joe, I'm in the process of building my own eaton based unit. joe abbin has a nice formula for determining rough boost levels. i would input your current setup and run the numbers to see how accurate they are to your setup then modify his "fudge factor" number to match your setup. after that play with the target boost numbers to get you a ratio that will work for you.



I don't know who I would trust more with a boosted motor, the guy who builds and dynos them and literally wrote the book, or the guy who just broke his own record with a blown flathead on the salt AGAIN.....



we really do live great times to have this sort of blown flathead experience at our fingertips!!


here is Joe's formula copy and pasted from www.roadrunnerengineering.com
There is no simple, accurate relationship for estimating boost and pulley size because of all the variables involved. Roger Huntington in his 1950 book Souping the Stock Engine had a reasonable estimating equation:
R = (A x D)/(K x V) where,
R is the blower drive ratio (crank pulley dia/blower pulley dia)
A is the desired manifold pressure in atmospheres (14.7 psia = 1 atmosphere)
D is the engine displacement in cu.in.
V is the Roots blower displacement in cu.in./revolution
K is a constant determined by experience. I use 1.8 .
For example, assume a 276 cu.in. engine, a 142 cu.in./rev blower (e.g. Weiand 142) and 6.6 psi boost,
A = (14.7+6.6)/14.7 = 1.45
R = (1.45 x 276)/(1.8 x 142) = 1.56
Not too bad compared to 1.5 in the example on page 49 of Blown Flathead. I use Engine Analyzer Pro software for more accurate estimates. A more complete engine analysis can be done using the Analysis Worksheet included on this web page.

 

[Ronnieroadster]

Hi Joe
I would use Joe Abins formula for a guesstimate on what you would get like Revkev6 has written. However i would not be to concerned with the potential of 8 to 10 pounds of boost on your engine. Revkev I not only reset our record on the salt but also have many thousands of miles on the roads with three different blower combinations. Average HP on the street over 300. All trouble free miles even when using the options. that being the loud pedal. Returning again to the salt this year to see if more speed can be added to my top speed to date with my old trusty valve in block Flathead Ford V-8 block. More fun to still to be had i hope LOL
Ronnieroadster

 

[jrvariel48]

joe, I'm in the process of building my own eaton based unit. joe abbin has a nice formula for determining rough boost levels. i would input your current setup and run the numbers to see how accurate they are to your setup then modify his "fudge factor" number to match your setup. after that play with the target boost numbers to get you a ratio that will work for you.



I don't know who I would trust more with a boosted motor, the guy who builds and dynos them and literally wrote the book, or the guy who just broke his own record with a blown flathead on the salt AGAIN.....



we really do live great times to have this sort of blown flathead experience at our fingertips!!


here is Joe's formula copy and pasted from www.roadrunnerengineering.com
There is no simple, accurate relationship for estimating boost and pulley size because of all the variables involved. Roger Huntington in his 1950 book Souping the Stock Engine had a reasonable estimating equation:
R = (A x D)/(K x V) where,
R is the blower drive ratio (crank pulley dia/blower pulley dia)
A is the desired manifold pressure in atmospheres (14.7 psia = 1 atmosphere)
D is the engine displacement in cu.in.
V is the Roots blower displacement in cu.in./revolution
K is a constant determined by experience. I use 1.8 .
For example, assume a 276 cu.in. engine, a 142 cu.in./rev blower (e.g. Weiand 142) and 6.6 psi boost,
A = (14.7+6.6)/14.7 = 1.45
R = (1.45 x 276)/(1.8 x 142) = 1.56
Not too bad compared to 1.5 in the example on page 49 of Blown Flathead. I use Engine Analyzer Pro software for more accurate estimates. A more complete engine analysis can be done using the Analysis Worksheet included on this web page.

Thanks for the response Rev. I'm using Joe's formula and actually spoke with him a bunch of times. He's a great guy to talk to, very helpful and friendly! With his formula I'm coming up with about 3.7 lbs of boost using a 1.3 as a constant because this motor is a stock 59L. My boost gauge shows 4lbs at about 4000 rpm so I'm comfortable with that formula. At light throttle, going uphill, I get a pound or two of boost depending on how much I put my foot in it. I'm also running a four barrel Holley 4160 carb. The torque is awesome. I'm building a 4" stroke motor now with all the goodies except the heavy center main cap and I wanted to give it a little more boost. The only pulley I can find to fit my blower is said to give me 10lbs of boost so I'm a little scared of blowing it up!!

 

[jrvariel48]

Hi Joe
I would use Joe Abins formula for a guesstimate on what you would get like Revkev6 has written. However i would not be to concerned with the potential of 8 to 10 pounds of boost on your engine. Revkev I not only reset our record on the salt but also have many thousands of miles on the roads with three different blower combinations. Average HP on the street over 300. All trouble free miles even when using the options. that being the loud pedal. Returning again to the salt this year to see if more speed can be added to my top speed to date with my old trusty valve in block Flathead Ford V-8 block. More fun to still to be had i hope LOL
Ronnieroadster

Thanks Ronnie your input is always appreciated and implemented. You were instrumental in helping me set-up and tune my blown motor! I think I'll order that pulley for shits and giggles and give it a whirl when I put the new motor in. I'm going with a Unilite 3727501 distr. and a CB Performance black box for laptop tuning. While it was real fun and challenging to set-up the advance on the small block chevy distr., I'm done with that and want to be able to retard timing under boost, etc. I want more tune-ability. The black box has a built in map sensor also.
Thanks again, Joe

 

[jrvariel48]

The Magnason blower kit for the Flathead uses an Eaton ny-pass blower. On My friends 294 engine it produces 235 hp at 4500 (red line) with only 3 1/2 to 5 lbs boost. Blower comes in at WOT around 3000. The engine could probably produce more power, however the cost of building it doesn't justify blowing it up just to see how much power it could make. Runs great on the street driving a C4 auto into a 3.08 rear giving great gas milage in cruise.

That sounds like a nice set-up Ron! I wonder if the pulleys are compatible?!
Thanks for your response, Joe

 

[revkev6]

Hi Joe
I would use Joe Abins formula for a guesstimate on what you would get like Revkev6 has written. However i would not be to concerned with the potential of 8 to 10 pounds of boost on your engine. Revkev I not only reset our record on the salt but also have many thousands of miles on the roads with three different blower combinations. Average HP on the street over 300. All trouble free miles even when using the options. that being the loud pedal. Returning again to the salt this year to see if more speed can be added to my top speed to date with my old trusty valve in block Flathead Ford V-8 block. More fun to still to be had i hope LOL
Ronnieroadster

Dont I know it Ron. Think I was twelve the first time I saw your roadster and your wifes 5 window at the summer nationals in Worcester 92 I think? You probably still have my drool on those ardun heads! We road all the way there in the rumble seat of my dads 8ba powered white 28 roadster.

 

[Randy]

A sidebar, but possibly of interest, John Camden built his superchargers here in Austin. I remember when he developed the kit for the flathead. He is still around, super smart innovative engineer, in his 80s now. As a kid he worked on Model Ts moving up into VWs that he and buddies would remove the bodies from and race around. He worked as a mechanical engineer for the GM institute in the 1950s and GM invited him to work on the design of the early 6 cylinder Corvettes, worked on a '55 Chevy that set a Pike's Peak speed record, raced and crashed a '56 Corvette at Sebring, ran a speed shop in Utica, NY, where he built and installed supercharged small block Chevy's in small foreign cars, designed industrial chain drives for Borg Warner, designed a propeller reduction gear for a 460 Ford mounted in an airplane, got into aviation design at Mooney Aircraft in Kerrville, leading to working as chief mechanical engineer for a project at Learjet, was partners in building a car called the Cumberford Martinique, after which at some point he began developing his supercharger, and I'm sure there's lots more to his story. He is retired and the last car that I know he built was a soap box derby car that his wife drove to a win at the "adult" soap box derby races in Marble Falls, TX, also winning "Best Of Show", in 2016. He's a true hot rodder!

 

[jrvariel48]

A sidebar, but possibly of interest, John Camden built his superchargers here in Austin. I remember when he developed the kit for the flathead. He is still around, super smart innovative engineer, in his 80s now. As a kid he worked on Model Ts moving up into VWs that he and buddies would remove the bodies from and race around. He worked as a mechanical engineer for the GM institute in the 1950s and GM invited him to work on the design of the early 6 cylinder Corvettes, worked on a '55 Chevy that set a Pike's Peak speed record, raced and crashed a '56 Corvette at Sebring, ran a speed shop in Utica, NY, where he built and installed supercharged small block Chevy's in small foreign cars, designed industrial chain drives for Borg Warner, designed a propeller reduction gear for a 460 Ford mounted in an airplane, got into aviation design at Mooney Aircraft in Kerrville, leading to working as chief mechanical engineer for a project at Learjet, was partners in building a car called the Cumberford Martinique, after which at some point he began developing his supercharger, and I'm sure there's lots more to his story. He is retired and the last car that I know he built was a soap box derby car that his wife drove to a win at the "adult" soap box derby races in Marble Falls, TX, also winning "Best Of Show", in 2016. He's a true hot rodder!

Randy, That's some awesome info!! Thank you, I'll definitely take a look!