ON-Demand supercharges

["Joel M Brodsky" <jmbrodsky@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mark,
      I believe it is Vortec that has a clutch operated supercharger
available for Chev's. I was catching up with some friends in the dunes two
years ago, and one guy had a brand new Chevy pickup with the Escalade Dash,
and a clutch operated supercharger that kicked in when the vacuum started
to drop (IE, pedal to the floor).  It was really neat to watch, and it
kicked in pretty quick.

      They are out there, and you never hear them until they drop the
pedal.

JoelB



Mac,
This is a guess, but I'll bet they mean that the
engine had 115 hp before the turbo was added. There is
no on/off switch for a turbo, and I doubt there's ever
been one on a belt driven supercharger, though with an
electric clutch(similar to the one on an AC
compressor) you could probably make one. But if you
think about it, you could maybe adapt that to an
exhaust driven turbo with some fancy engineering.

Mark