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B-Body Roots Supercharged Thread

35K views 122 replies 30 participants last post by  rodney 
#1 · (Edited)
For those of you who dunno there are a few B-Bodys out there with a roots supercharged set up under their hoods. The only reason I am putting this is up as appreciation for the lucky few people that have it.

The originator of this was a Mr. Keith Mease like alot of car people who run their own business you either A: Are a great businessman with sub par craftsmanship. Or B: A crappy businessman with excellent product and craftsmanship. Keith was the B in this one. He was primarily know for his work in the Turbo Buick scene (more known for taking peoples $,$$$ and not giving them the parts.) but he branched out and tried his hand at the 94-95 Impala. From what Ive gathered he made 3 kits not counting the one on his own car. If you haven't seen them they are truly a work or art and ingenuity. You might be asking yourself "Self... why does it say Ford SVT right on the supercharger..." Thats right boys and girls Keith pulled the M112's off the top of Ford SVT Lightings and hand crafted his own intake manifolds to make it work. All while being able to fit under a stock hood.

Some how I was able to get access to Keith's Personal Webshots account. Don't remember how i found it, or if id be able to again so be glad to see these. From what I know this is Keith's personal DCM Impala SS (no word if he still has it):












These photos were from Buffmans post on Ls1tech back in early 2006 it is a picture of a Keith Mease setup on an Unknown BBB Impala SS: http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/lt1-l...l-hope-us-roots-blower-guys-magnacharger.html




 
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#2 · (Edited)
And last but certainly not least is a good friend of mine Nick. He has Pimpala/Tarheels LT4/Keith Mease Boosted motor. Sense its his baby im not going to reveal much about it only its capable of alot of power. And Tad has gotten his hands on it ;)












You can clearly see it is a "air gap" design and it was hand crafted with exelent welds.




The Pulley Bracket and Pulleys are all of high quality and look like show pieces on Nick's car. Goes right around the stock hose and waterpump so nothing needs to be changed.


And then we have the massive pulley borrowed off we dont know what. But you can see you can see 2 belts must be run. One for the Supercharger the other for everything else


FAQ Section: :D
-No, there wasn't a company made this for our cars
-No, they don't make this anymore
-No, I don't have it on my car
-No, I have no idea how much power any of the cars make (Nick is still working on his)
-No, noone has been able to make contact with Keith Mease for I believe 5 years

-YES! There is some hope that we can make these again!!!!!! REFER TO POST 20 on page 2!!!!
 
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#8 ·
I think Nick has a responsability to the forum and B-body crowd. (I only say his name because I dont know who has the other two kits. lol) Next time that motor comes apart to be worked on or comes out to be remoddeled or something that intake manifold needs to come off and be looked over by some important people. lol

I dont know much if anything about design but that intake needs to be "graphed" into a computer so that the pieces needed could be formed through modern machinery.

Im not saying its simple but with some already being out there it is far from impossible. the least he can do is pass on the design.

I had only seen a few of those pics, and until recently I hadnt seen them for a long time. Thanks for gathering and posting that info, as Im sure we all appreciate it.
 
#9 ·
Before that kit was installed on my car, and while I was building the forged LT4, I took the intake manifold, fuel rails, pulley bracket, and plenum to a few different machine shops around here.


the least expensive one I could find to duplicate the parts was in the $3,000-$4,000 range, and none of them would give me an exact price.


once that is done, you need pulleys, and a host of other things (including the blower) to complete the project, including someone with lots of tuning experience, and dyno time.


I didnt see anyone standing in line to pay $6,000-$7,000 for 6-8lbs of boost. lol


I sold the LT4 with the complete kit very cheap for what all I had in it, and for it being one of 3 kits out there... but it was time for me to move on to something else. I cant wait to see the dyno numbers!
 
#15 · (Edited)
I didnt see anyone standing in line to pay $6,000-$7,000 for 6-8lbs of boost. lol
Ive talked to Nick, and the shop he goes to said they could replicate that manifold. Wouldn't be cheap but he knows he can do it. The bracket and pulleys would be too difficult either. You could pretty much just use Nicks as a template and cookie cut out your own. Id say $3000 in parts $1000 to a cretin someone(Tad) for tuning and you would have yourself a roots. Its having the right bottom end to go with it that gets things real costly. Then as you said get in the 6-7k range. cwm3

As for 6-8lbs. I know they can port the stock eaton from 1.6L all the way up to 2.2L for a couple hundred so the power all there if your looking for it. Makes it sound a whole lot louder too.


With: The right motor, ported eaton w/2.5" or less pulley,Proper Tuning, meth/h2o injection, and a really nice piggy bank... I don't see why its not possible to get 600-700rwhp. :D

though the rest of the car wont hold up to that..... haha
 
#13 ·
Dyno tells no lies.

Nick wanted "something different.. something cool"

the ruling is still out is it a good option to be quick
and how quick and powerfull is it per dollar
DYNO - DYNO - DYNO - TRACK!

now .."something different.. something cool" IT iS!
drive int to the local car show ant the whole place is standing in front of Nic's car b4 the motor is off!!

My Impala is pretty damm fast for SoCal
and when I drive into the SAME car show
1 out of 10 guys might peak over ther shoulder. cwm1
 
#17 ·
Thanks man, thought I had enough knowledge and posts to do something worth while on here.

My Impala is pretty damm fast for SoCal
and when I drive into the SAME car show
1 out of 10 guys might peak over ther shoulder. cwm1
If we could roll it out on a rotisserie and people could see whats under there....I bet my keys you'd get a WHOLE lot more.
 
#18 · (Edited)
**Edited 2nd post in FAQ section.**

Stumbled across this in another thread http://www.corneltechweb.com/
He is willing to make manifolds for people on the side, they will be billet so pricey but takes less time to make. If you are serious about doing this and want more simplicity to your build I would contact him. What hes done is cut he top off a stock LT1 manifold and mocked up a section so it can directly bolt to the bottom of the M112. Which looks a whole lot cleaner IMO and leaves no worries on if it will line up with the ports, bolts, or injectors.

Another item worth mentioning is Cornels Belt drive system. Unlike Keith (2 belt system: 1 for the blower, 1 for everything else) Cornel uses 1 belt for everything making things look alot cleaner and would save you on the bracket/pulley set up Keith has. But to do this you must modify the Blower nose so that it lines up with the stock accessory system. You will stll have to run what appear to be 2 pulleys so that the belts dont contact anything. So it is give and take.

As you can see in the comparison from Keiths manifold and Cornel's Manifold they are of completely different design yet still utilize the same M112 Eaton Blower. Reason being is Cornel had to fit his in an F-body where we have more spacious engine bays.





VS.






My only hope in all this is that this might spark some motivation to any of you. This is something I really wanted to do with my car so I did alot of research on it. Unfortunately I do not have sufficient funds or time to accomplish such a feat. But please if this at all interests you contact Cornel, PM me for more pictures or questions, know that if you build it TAD will tune it! DONT LET THIS END WITH JUST 3 B-BODYS!!!
 
#19 ·
A couple of pointers from experience:

- Either manifold has to position the blower forward to clear the firewall. This means that the Eaton, which has a front air exit underneath, will blow directly into the front four cylinders, creating a lean condition there and a rich condition on the back four. Unless you want to go Jeff Green style and use 8 wideband O2 sensors on an engine dyno, along with an aftermarket ECU, you're going to have major problems. Ask me how I know.:mad: I burned through two front pistons because of this issue.
- The Eaton porting (basic) is in the $500 range. It goes up from there. I was fortunate enough to talk to one of the Eaton engineers at the PRI show in Orlando one year. I brought my blower case in and he showed me what to do and where. It takes a lot of time to get it right! Not for the beginner.
- Since there is no room for an intercooler (air to water) you need to use Water/Methanol injection to keep from blowing up the motor. I used the Snow Peformance system and was very pleased with it. You also need larger injectors (42lbs.) and the Walbro/Racetronix fuel pump setup.
- Using the same serpentine belt to drive the blower may look cleaner, but it hampers the performance of the system. You can only use a 6-rib belt and it will probably slip if you go to a smaller pulley for more boost (which Nick has). Keith used an 8-rib. You're also limited to the stock crank pulley, which will limit how much boost you can achieve. BTW, in the pictures of Nick's car it looks like there's a serrated pulley on the blower snout. Get rid of it if you want the belt to last more than 50 miles. Those are for high-boost race only applications. Lose it and get a normal one. The link I provided to RPM outlet is the source to use.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Well, if you read what the makers and blower manufacturers say, I'd stay away from them. There's really no need for that style pulley on a system that makes 10lbs. or less of boost. The two idler pulleys that pull the belt to a tighter wrap around the blower pulley are good enough. Caveat emptor.
 
#27 ·
I like this thread, a lot of great information...
 
#29 ·
ive got a couple thoughts brewing my head, and none of them invlove a full blown fabbing of a custom manfiold i think we can get away with some other options. i am going to head over to my local speed shop where i know the general manager and i going to do a couple comparo's i think i have a plan. some welding some drilling but alot cheaper then a billet alternative ;).

i will keep you guys posted i think :D
 
#32 ·
Good thread nick!! Well in the past two days I've driven the car a total of 170 miles. It's a great running car. At bates I was able to take a few friends on passes. All came back with a smile. That blower belt probably has 1100 miles on it so far and no real signs of wear. We have hooked up a dynojet wideband for tuning and on the last plug swap there were no lean/ rich spilt conditions shown. So we will see about that. We are on a two bar map/ speed density tune now. Misty has great street manners and can get when the throttle is pushed down. It's almost like two different cars. Tad is an unbelievable tuner. He has made quik progress and there's still more hidden. We r waiting on an ltcc and a fuel cell/ lines to take it to dyno. Bad cherry I want ur fuel cell! We are always moving forward. It now has stainless radiator hardlines and a new pwr steering res and heater hard lines are in the works right now. I will keep driving it and working out bugs till it's ready for paint. Thanks nick for starting this thread. Anyone in socal to Vegas will see this car in person through the next months. It will go to all our cali-ss events that r planned. I'm loving her abunch the hard work keeps paying off and she will never be a garage/ trailer queen. I build them to drive them!!
 
#33 ·
Good thread nick!! Well in the past two days I've driven the car a total of 170 miles. It's a great running car. At bates I was able to take a few friends on passes. All came back with a smile. That blower belt probably has 1100 miles on it so far and no real signs of wear. We have hooked up a dynojet wideband for tuning and on the last plug swap there were no lean/ rich spilt conditions shown. So we will see about that. We are on a two bar map/ speed density tune now. Misty has great street manners and can get when the throttle is pushed down. It's almost like two different cars. Tad is an unbelievable tuner. He has made quik progress and there's still more hidden. We r waiting on an ltcc and a fuel cell/ lines to take it to dyno. Bad cherry I want ur fuel cell! We are always moving forward. It now has stainless radiator hardlines and a new pwr steering res and heater hard lines are in the works right now. I will keep driving it and working out bugs till it's ready for paint. Thanks nick for starting this thread. Anyone in socal to Vegas will see this car in person through the next months. It will go to all our cali-ss events that r planned. I'm loving her abunch the hard work keeps paying off and she will never be a garage/ trailer queen. I build them to drive them!!
hell yeah nick!
shotgun next meet lol
jk
 
#35 ·
Saw his shotgun and figured he would be a good guy to have only side!! Plus we share the same name. J/k. Nick is a good guy and a good friend. Hell he made this thread. Gotta show love to anyone dropping props like that.
BabyBlue, all u had to do was ask. Danny Juana little cousin was waiting for a while. He saw the vid of first start up and was wanting a ride since. Malibu well have to take a little spin. The smart thing to do would be to put the back seat back on so I could take more than one at a time. Lol. I guess that just means more seat time for me too!!!
 
#38 ·
That's the one I told u I saw in an article. See the cogged blower belt. Also did we figure out who's that other black one in the first page that has that yellow battery?
Haha. thanks fast Nick. Lol
 
#40 ·
Tenor39 got it. Your engine comp is clean!! I saw those pics and wanted to make mine look as nice as yours. Top notch.
 
#41 ·
Hey Mike.
Since you sold that Mease set up, what intake are you gonna use to run that Kenn bell lung on? Did you have the Mease one reproduced before you got rid of it? If so maybe they can make more.
 
#42 ·
Hey Mike.
Since you sold that Mease set up, what intake are you gonna use to run that Kenn bell lung on? Did you have the Mease one reproduced before you got rid of it? If so maybe they can make more.
Well, Keith has been working on a new one for over a year, but that's fine with me since I'm currently unemployed. He had the KB on his car a few years ago and is making up a new drive setup, as well. He's no longer making 'kits' for the Impala.
 
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