Paxton set up questions

[Runningriot]

I know a guy that has a used paxton set up from paradise wheels for sale and I'm curious if it would work with my motor. I can't beat the price he's offering and I don't want to pass up the oportunity if it would work.

The set up includes the old school air box like this:

a sn93 supercharger, carter fuel pump, pulleys, tension bar and intake hose. He is also including a race prepped, no choke, 750 DP Holley that is tuned to work with this set up.

My motor is a 87 GT 5.0 roller block with, 93 gt-40 heads, Edelbrock Air-Gap intake and Cran's 1:6 Roller Rockers.
My cam is a Trick flow stage 1
duration @ .050" = 221 int./225 exh.
Valve Lift with 1.6 rockers = 0.499 int./0.510 exh.
cam lift = .312/.319

I'm also concerned with clearance for the air box as well as mounting the supercharger because my valve covers are 5.5" tall (I previously had clearance issues with my roller rockers)

So with my motor set up, my cam and valve covers, would I be safe and capable of running a Paxton?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Horseplay]

Are you using a stock bottom end? What is you final compression ratio? That will go a long way in determining the level of boost you can run (you can use a different pulley combination to alter the boost level). Take a look at the total cam specs and pay close attention to overlap duration as that is the biggest difference between a normally aspirated cam and a blower cam. The cam you have is not that radical so it will work but certainly not the ideal grind. You can take a few simple measurements to see if the hat will fit but I would guess that not to be an issue.

The short answer is sure, you could use it on your engine. Whether it is correct or will give the performance for the money spent depends on the answers to the earlier questions.

 

[Runningriot]

It is a stock bottom end with a fresh rebuild and has the factory forged pistons. I do not know what the final compression ratio is.

 

[68EFIvert]

I had a cam that was very similar to the TF stage 1 cam that you have and it worked fine. That cam is pretty common for supercharged applications so you should be fine there. The stock roller 302's are good little engines. I would guess you would be I'm the range of 350 rwhp with that setup depending on the level of boost you have. In the future you may want to consider going fuel injection toile the most of your setup.

I don't think the original supercharger set ups produced much boost, 5-6 psi. You should be safe going up to about 10 psi with a proper tune. Beyond that you will need to consider an inter cooler or water/methanol injection.

I have no idea if the valve covers will be a problem but I doubt it. If they do I am sure a solution couldn't be that hard to troubleshoot. I would think hood clearance would be the biggest issue. Perhaps some dropped motor mount to fix that one.

Overall, boost is a blast but you will have a lot of extra expenses that will creep up. Be ready for that and budget accordingly.

 

[Runningriot]

Thanks for the info!

I used a motor build write up from mustang monthly, if I remember correctly, as an outline for my build and they got around 350hp at the flywheel. I think I'm safe as far as the other systems being able to handle the supercharger. I'm not expecting anymore then 5-6 psi from that sn93. I have a Griffin 3 core aluminum radiator rated to 600hp, high flow thermostat, a trans cooler set up, 7qrt Moroso front sump oil pan and a ford racing high performance oil pump. As is she runs 180-190 degrees all day.

Unless there is something else I might be missing, the weak spot I'm seeing is my axles and or fuel delivery. It was an oversight on my part but I kept the 28 spline axles. They fuel lines are stock as is the tank and sending unit.

 

[68EFIvert]

I built my rear end before I went with a more serious setup. I am putting down about 600 at the wheels now and I still have 28 spline axles. I don't have traction when I get into boost so I think I am fine. If I ever brake the rear end I will step up to 31 splines at that time. You should be fine with 28's unless you have sticky tires and like to drag race.

My old engine was a stock 5.0 bottom end a ford e cam (very similar to tf1), AFR heads, 10 lbs of boost 1.7 rockers and it was a little over 400 at the wheels. My car is injected and had a conservative/moderate tune. It was fun to drive and more than enough power for a street car.

Sounds like a fun project. Just make sure you have plenty of fuel coming to the engine.

 

[LATAMUD]

You won't have any issue bolting this supercharger on your engine. I bought the same kit from Craig about 10 years ago. I've had a supercharger on my cars ever since.. If this is coming with a set up 750DP carb you're in good hands. It'll run about 6lbs boost and you will feel it the difference. One important piece of information you want to remember with this kit, ALWAYS only run ATF type F transmission fluid in it. Do not use anything else, do not use synthetic fluid, just the cheap over the counter type F fluid, and change it out with every oil change. Anything else will cook your bearings and score the races. You'll know it's happened it the blower sounds like a siren off an old 50s cop car.