1972 Chevy Nova - Boost Up

Vortech's Robert Endress shouted, "Hey, Bob, take this Nova down to the end of the street and when you turn around, nail the throttle."

"OK," I replied. In this line of work, believe it or not, I get asked to do things like that a lot. Since our '72 Nova had just received Vortech's new Carbureted Centrifugal Supercharger Kit atop its 350 engine, I was eager to experience the results. After getting behind the wheel, I fired it up to hear the newly installed Vortech supercharger whine, and drove down to the end of the quiet street. Once I had the Nova turned around I took a quick survey of the business complex, saw that it was clear, and dutifully nailed the throttle.

Instantly, a huge level of power rushed from the engine as the Nova's front suspension rose, the exhaust roared, and the burning rear tires desperately attempted to gain traction. As the engine powered the automatic trans deep through Second gear, I released the throttle and thought, "Holy cow, this centrifugal supercharger system is a blast and easily smokes the tires!".

The big increase in power that the Nova exhibited is derived from Vortech's blow-through system, which uses a beltdriven centrifugal supercharger with plumbing routed into a pressurized box containing the carburetor. The base kit includes a geardriven V-1 S-Trim head unit that produces about 5 psi of boost, the aluminum carburetor enclosure (box), the oil feed and oil drain assemblies, a 6061-T6 billet-aluminum supercharger crank pulley, a spacer, and a fixed belt tensioner. As boost is generated from the blower, it travels into the enclosure and through the top of the carburetor, then the air/fuel mixture is force-fed into the cylinders, thus improving combustion and substantially raising power.

350 Engine Details