Has anyone seen this? Does anyone know why it happened?

[OUTLAWCUTLASS]

Hello, I am a little confused about my recent supercharger failure! I figured I would post a thread where others who use this same style charger might have some input. I have a BBC with a ProCharger F3R, and its not being oversped. It also did NOT get any foreign material sucked into it. It exploded at about 1100 feet. There was no warning, it just went boom! Please examine the pics........this car is primarily a "street car". My charger is at ProCharger now, but there is a backlog in the service dept. Just hope to learn if this is a freak failure......or if I may need to review my options. I will say that in 6 years of running various ProCharger models, this is the FIRST failure I've ever had! Thanks to Jim Summers and Sergio Shiftman, for there continued help and tolerating my annoyance! Thanks in advance for any help given. Joe

[BlownBird]

It will need inspection to find out exactly what happened, but it could be any number of things. Most likely it's bearing failure, and that can happen from inadequate lubrication, inadequate bypass, free reving, overspinning, etc...
Send it to Procharger, they should be able to tell you what made it eat itself up like that.
Good luck,
Don Barnett

[OUTLAWCUTLASS]

THANKS Bird! I was worried that no one would respond. Just to address the possibilities you outlined...It was full of the correct ProCharger oil. I had two of the big red dump valves from ProCharger in the main tube. Finally, as I had said, it was being spun slowly...around 46k at max engine rpm. The one thing I hadn't considered is the effects of free revving. I did buzz the tires pretty hard on the leave, actually through second gear. I wonder if that contributed to the cause? I know by the datalogger, the engine never saw more than 7400 rpm. Thanks again, hope to hear from ProCharger tomorrow!

[ERIC LAFERRIERE]

I would almost bet the volute bolts loosened up and thats what caused it .

I"ve seen it before . Many racers have come up to me in the pits and have showed me the same thing .....I've even had it happen ...once

When the impeller touches down from a bearing failure it usually just scuffs
the outer edge of the impeller and the volute .

The bolts on these things must be checked all the time . Harmonics will
loosen everything on the car ..... Just my opinion ERIC

[OUTLAWCUTLASS]

......Thanks Eric. I heard from the folks at ProCharger, and the lower bearing exploded. This was a used unit, and had been BEATEN up by several previous owners. I had no way of knowing this, so in the future I'll stick to my original policy of NEW ONLY! I shoulda just bought a new one from Turbo People, like I had done the last 3 times! I would also like to say THANK YOU PROCHARGER staff. They have been great, and I appreciate their insight on how to properly maintain these big self contained superchargers. Thanks to Jim, Sergio and James. I am definately staying with their product.....I can't imagine my Olds without one!

[mtpturbo]

Eric is probably right regarding the cause. Usually a bearing goes out as a result of overspeed, surge or lack of oiling. A failure as violent as that one is radical overspeed (which sounds unlikely based on your 45K redline) or a loose volute. When a bearing dies, the impeller usually rubs the volute (and subsequently damages the impeller).

I am actually the guy that designed that blower and most other ProCharger units so I have seen more than a few failures. For anyone else w/ ProCharger questions, feel free to post here and ask them..

I have moved on from ProCharger but am now doing some freelance writing for FSC, let me know if I may be of assistance.

Chris Spies
www.mtpturbo.com

[K9Kev]

Hey Chris,

I followed the link for contact on your website but...no worky. I sent ya a PM.

Kevin

[Greg StickaDude]

Wow..............Thats messed (edited by NMCA SCOTT) up!!!!!

[sprayit67]

Wow..............Thats messed (edited by NMCA SCOTT) up!!!!!


POOPY MOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: