FINDHORN CARS Supercharged 1800 Engine

Our recommended route to a quicker 1800 engine is super-charging, the traditional route for English sports cars.

Super-charging – or blowing – uses a blower to blow the air/fuel mixture into the engine, as opposed to relying on the engine to suck it in. The modern equivalent to a supercharger is turbo charging, an exhaust driven turbine impelling air into the engine; but we think it is a bit too modern!!

The great thing about a supercharger is that it is blowing all the time, so it is particularly effective at boosting low speed torque. Suddenly your car has become much more responsive and at the same time is not asking to be revved so hard. In the TF it is a much more relaxed experience; but that is not to say that you cannot put your foot down and surprise the drivers of modern boxes on wheels at this seemingly ancient machine appearing in the mirror and actually coming past..

The super-charger is available as a bolt on kit – just as simple as that. Off with the inlet manifold and a few pulleys and things and on with a purpose designed unit including replacement carburettor, blower and new manifold – complete backfire valve (perish the thought) and a bypass for re-circulating the mixture through the blower on light throttle. New pulleys on the front and that is about it job done!! She should fire first time.

To get a bit more technical, your engine may benefit with a rebuild before blowing. You can think about the compression ratio. The blower kit was designed for the US market where a lot of engines are 8:1 compression ratio. This is great because the blower warms the air a little and then the compression does not push the temperature up as the compression stroke ends too close to the detonation point. You can still fit the supercharger to your 9:1 engine; but what you can do with the 8:1 engine is to try a bit more boost with a faster pulley. By the way, you can change the pistons with a simple head and sump off exercise.

If you are attracted to a traditional English sports car, you are sure to be attracted to a super charged one!!

CLICK here for Standard 1800 engine

CLICK here for 3.5 Rover V8 details

CLICK here for 3.9 Rover EFI V8 details

CLICK here for other engines.