Wade Supercharger on a Bagheera

[andyowl]

I have just started work on fitting the larger Wade Supercharger to my competition Bagheera, "Baggy Joe".

I plan to take lots of photos and keep you up to date.

The Shorrock Supercharger has done me very well and I plan to fit it to "Chalky" the competition Fiat 126 (1973 edition) we use in AutoSolo events. A 650cc Fiat engine with a blower for a 1600cc Ford engine. Should be interesting but it is not a Matra! I may sneek a picture in later if I might be excused!

The Wade Supercharger (around 1965???) was intended for a Rover/USA based 3.5litre V8. The plan is to get more mixture through the standard Simca 1.6 valves and see if we can get more power.

Back on the case!

Andy Owler

[andyowl]

This message is also on the Murena section - it will be obvious why!

I am having a struggle with a (single) 1.4 Bagheera carb fitted onto my new Wade Supercharger. I cannot get the engine to run below 2,000 r/m and the choke is 50% on at that time.

Reduce the choke below 50% and the engine slows down and dies. I have opened the idle jet adjusting screw to the point where it is almost falling out and it did allow the engine to slow down from the 3,000r/m speed which was the slowest I could get it to run when I started.

Over the month since it last ran I have improved the gaskets to the point where I can be reasonably confident that there are no inward air leaks. The manifold gauge is showing about 50% vacuum at 2,000 r/m.

Could somebody tell me the jets used by the 1.6 Murena engine please? Maybe I need bigger main jets??

Thanks.. Andy

[JL]

Hi Andy

Larger mains will not help at idle, I would try and use a single carb or even better be adventurous - fuel injection - this can be mapped very accurately for fuel delivery and ignition advance!

Good Luck
John

[andyowl]

"Main jets are not the solution".... somebody else told me that too!

I will try and fit the jets from an old Murena carb I have and see if that helps. Southern Carburettors in Wimbledon should keep new jets I am told, but Wimbledon is a place to be avoided at the moment! (Something to do with tennis I expect!) Next week will be better but I am getting married on July 14th so I may have other things to do too!

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Fuel Injection on a supercharger, there's a thought.

Andy

[Anders Dinsen]

Joining the "larger jets is not the solution", I too will suggest that you might be on the wrong path here. For starters, I dont recall you posting a photo of your setup. But since it seems you're using the standard bagheera carbs, I assume you have the carbs under pressure. Lotus did get a twin Dellorto setup like that to work (though with a turbo), but only with rubber gaskets to completely seal the carbs to make them air tight. I recall you got your previous setup working with an SU carb on the inlet side. Can't you reuse that setup?

Congrats on your forthcoming marriage!

Anders

[Anders Dinsen]

I just saw your photo of the installation on the Murena thread - ok, so you have got the carb on the inlet side of the supercharger. The problem with using the standard carb is that it's not only designed for the engine size, but to make correct emulsions with the specific pulsations etc that the Bagheera engine has. You can't put a turbo or supercharger after the existing carb and assume it will still make the right mixture. In this case it's obviously too lean. I'm sure you can get it set up right - but you might be better off with the SU carb. The way they are designed make them much easier to set up without a rolling road. Theoretically, you might get better performance with the Weber, but probably less so with the supercharger.

So my advice here is to fit another SU carb on this installation - or go for a larger downdraught Weber (a 40 or 45) and have it set up professionally.

Have you considered fitting a lambda meter in your exhaust?

Good luck, Andy

/Anders

[JL]

Injection !!

http://www.msextra.com/feature-xref.html

Regards
John

[Spyros]

Hi Andy,

Congratulations ! 
I've allways heard that highly tuned engines have higher revving idle speed, like 2000 rpm.
Did you try to adjust the ignition ? I believe it might help a lot.

Regards

[andyowl]

Baggy Joe runs OK!

I took him out this evening with the old 2" (50mm) SU carb fitted.

We are getting 0.8bar boost pressure compared with the 0.45bar with the Shorrock blower and the same carb. That is a 78% increase in boost pressure!

The noise is better too. Less mechanical thrash without the eccentric rotor of the Shorrock and the lack of two universal joints and two lay-shaft bearings must also help.

The carb top is very close to the glass inside surface and there is a witness mark where the float chamber has impacted the rim of the hatch. Extra clearence needed! Right above the exhaust manifold!

Pics attached.

Andy

[Anders Dinsen]

That's great to hear, Andy!

It looks, hmmm..., powerful!

/Anders

[andyowl]

[quote author=Anders Dinsen ....... "Have you considered fitting a lambda meter in your exhaust?"

This will tell me the Air fuel ratio or the oxygen content of the exhaust???

Andy

[Anders Dinsen]

This will tell me the Air fuel ratio or the oxygen content of the exhaust???

It will give you the air/fuel ratio. There are several available on the market, some with computer connections and other logging features (so you can correlate with RPM and throttle position, for example), others just have a lambda display which you can leave in permanently in your car.

/Anders

[andyowl]

We have a working Wade Supercharger at last! Rolling Road test figures below.
The Boost pressure at the moment is 12psi (0.82bar) whereas the Shorrock blower produced 7.7psi (0.5bar).

We should be able to increase the boost pressure by having a smaller pulley on the blower and/or a larger crankshaft pulley. A good free-flowing exhaust system will help further still.

Fuel injection we are told will give another 10 hp and water injection when on full boost would allow a higher compression ratio and more power without burning pistons.

I am pleased with the 37% power increase over the standard Murena 1592cc engine fitted with the Bagheera twin carbs. More would be better still and a 50% increase remains my objective.

But for now we are off to Etretat tonight for the Hill Climb on Saturday and Sunday. Keep it on the Black Stuff!

[andyowl]

Sorry, image too large. A new smaller version below!

Andy

[Spyros]

But for now we are off to Etretat tonight for the Hill Climb on Saturday and Sunday. Keep it on the Black Stuff!

And ? Good results ?