DetritusMaximus wrote:It's funny how people argue about whether or not the blower can be switched on/off. Yeah, it's a 671 Roots, in a typical installation you can't. But, it is conceivable to build a bypass intake to circumvent the blower and reroute the incoming air to avoid it. Engineering-wise, it is possible. Toyota made a switchable blower for the MR2 (88-89).
For those that say this engineering would be unlikely to be done in a society falling apart, you have to remember that we do not know what motor was in the BoB. Sure, the movie car had a 351, but it also had a fake blower. The car in the script had what? Phase 4 heads? Some think that is a reference to the Phase 4 Falcons that weren't really produced, but that would be wrong. As I recall the Phase 4 heads (in real life) were over head valve motors. As stated in the movie this car 'has' multiple overhead cams. Going by that, saying that a switchable Roots blower is unrealistic in the Mad Max world is silly. Can it be done? Yes. Has it been done....not in a regular production car that I know of. In the context of the script, yes, someone did it.
You cant do it in roots blower and yes you need to bypass the blower. This would mean an even taller intake adaptor and an alternate intake system and an alternate carburation system. That would man two sets of throttle cables, two sets of carbies, two fuel lines, return lines, list goes on and on.
Switching on and off and co-ordinating the shut-off of the intake by purely mechanical means (because remember no electronics) would be incredibly complex system.
As said before the MR2 wasnt a roots blower. So NO it hasnt been done ever,
even today no one has been able to do it.
The Phase 4 heads reference is ambiguous i know and was possibly just added there as a reference to the GT HO series of Australian cars yes. Maybe they were looking into the future a lot because the DOHC Ford engine was inevitable.