REAL or NOT? The BLOWER question.

Post by **Blackonblack** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 3:26 pm

If I were a low-budget film director, I would take a car with an switchable blower only for one of this reasons:

1) Because it's already done, and someone sells it at a fairly low price

2) Because I'm mad about cars, and want to throw the whole money in such thing, letting the MFP police wear vinyl jackets

3) Because it's simply not true, and it was faaar more easy to put a fake over the engine, and get the film done.

You know, if there are different possibilities, chances are that the correct is the one that sounds simplier...

Well.....Number 1 can't be, because of the fact that such an engine would be anything but cheap, and that the cars seems to be a special work demanded to someone specially for the film...

Number 2 can't be, because, in case you had that amount of money, you wouldn't do with such a jewel what you see in the photos of this web. They surely have blown away a lot of money with the fast&furious 2nd part, but that's all plastic and alloy wheels...done in Hollywood ( not in Australia, in the mid 70's, and by an unknown director/actors )

So I guess you know the answer,right?

I would also love to believe that such a beast was real. I'm convinced that it COULD have been. But sadly I'm also absolutely convinced that it wasn't......

BTW: 200 bhp without blower is really enough for every-day cruising. My BMW M3 has 220 bhp and goes up to 152 mph top speed, doing 0-60mph in 7 seconds.... that's a muscle car here in europe already!

Post by **torinoscj** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 4:18 am

OK,time to settle some urbans legends.Phase four machining(if it ever DID exist)

LIED BIG TIME!!!!

Any reference to 'phase four heads....'instantly make US viewers think Poncho,hence Phase Four's LIE.Most americans don't know that in Oz,Fords were phase engines.

As for the on/off blower in the actual movie,you only have to look at the MISSING bearing plate(the 1 1/2" thick plate that goes between the weiand nose and the blower case) and the flat piece of tin for a rear cover to see that the blower on this car cannot have any rotors in it

Sadly people like Phase Four will spew their Bullsh*t and people believe it,just like that Bozo with 'car 17'.

Cheers,Bill

Post by **allan** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 11:46 am

what a load of rubish march hare

basic economic's mate $400thousand they had

1 stock xb gt 351 clevo

1 dummy weiand blower housing with guts ripped out and a frame made to place on the manifold and carbie

1 eaton(air operated hi-lo)switch for truck'sused for in car shot's new$75 from western star truck's in 1989 when i was in spare part's.

1electricmotor with braket's and a seperate switch to turn on blower for camera shot's around 50 buck's

total not bloody much for producer's but purfect for movie goer's

youre way 10 maybe 12 grand for same shot i dont thinkso beside's a triple rotor weiand blower has very little air gap's when assembled that's why they compres air into engine oooppps bugger me but then again their is no throdle linkage to operate buterflies to alow engine to rev maybe thats because it's on the 750dp holley under the FAKE blower and as documented else where it's fak on the mm2 car as well

regard's allan

Post by **torinoscj** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 11:25 pm

actually they didn't use

1electricmotor with braket's and a seperate switch to turn on blower for camera shot's around 50 buck's

They did it similar to how I did,just run a longer belt from the crank and A/C unit to include the idler pulley at the bottom of the swing arm.We have debated this for a LONG time,but the final consensus is:when the blower is shown turning on,they are actually towing the car and then starting the engine with the long belt in place,reverse sequence for shutting the blower off.When the car is shown with the blower off,the belt has been removed.That could also explain why the lipped upper puley is shown lip forward in some scenes and lip back in others.

You all have to remember that this was such a low budget movie that over half of the stunts were left out because of money and the Bongo van was actually Mr. Miller's own vehicle.Until Blair Witch Project came along,Mad Max was listed in the Guiness Book of World Recoerds as costing the least/grossing the most.

If the car builders had only thought a little more they could have made the blower work like mine,no electric motor,just an extra pulley at the front of the A/C unit with another belt and they could've been on/off on demand,like mine.The replica cars with the electric motor in the blower do not vary in sound with the RPMs like the movie car or mine.There was a lot of sound added but the blower whine wasn't.Mine sounds EXACLTY the same.The one thing that WAS added and sounds silly,was the venturi 'woosh' before the car even starts in the underground garage scene.Cheers,Bill

Post by **Blackonblack** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 12:02 pm

Oh, and the real car is at the Cars of the Stars museum in Britain. You may go yourself there and see what's under the bonnet, or mail them, if it is so important.

You could also contact with the people that restored the car.

Post by **5.7 Interceptor** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 3:46 pm

One more thing is that Grant Page, who was the stunt driver in the film, did a small interview with the film crew of "welcome to wherever you are". In this Interview he says that the car looked better than it ran as it took a mile or two to get the coupe up to the speeds

they wanted for filming. Had this car had a working blower I think the 'mile or two' would have been condensed to a few hundred feet. I also have a set up on my coupe that can be switched off and on with the A/C clutch but 6 months before that was complete I just added a belt from the idler pulley to the water pump and ... voila!

Instant fake blower with accurate sound.. I spent the next few months perfecting the setup by trying literally dozens of different pulleys to get the proper sound with the A/C clutch set up. It's easy to see after doing that why the production crew just added/removed a belt when needed.

Doug

Post by **AdrianUK** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 6:03 pm

Even if mad max would have had a UKP 100 million dollar bugdet, there still was no point in having a working blower. this was a movie not a drag strip!

From the small gap i could see down on the hood of the interceptor at the museum, it stll looked like it was an electric motor set-up to me, but i could be wrong.

Post by **AdrianUK** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 10:17 pm

Bill, what gives the whine on the A/C pulley set up for the blower?

I was very surprised after installing my blower to find a whine that increased with engine revs, then to my surprise found the same whine when i turned the lights on, it was the alternator due to the voltage pull, still, very effective but would now prefer your set up, although the pulley does increase with speed to a certain extent as the revs increase i feel it is slow in comparison to a direct pulley set up and also a severe drain on power.

Post by **Mad Max 2050** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 11:12 pm

Does this mean you are spending money on your car Mr Bennett??

I thaught you said no more!!!

Post by **5.7 Interceptor** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 11:16 pm

Heya Adrian, it would be very easy to change your set up to a constant drive so that you achieve the whine with hi-revs. The whine in mine and Bills case is from the belt going around the upper pulley (with teeth). The more tension you put on the belt the louder the whine.

Doug