I have an old 2.3l whipple blower that I replaced due to 150k miles causing a front bearing whine. I was thinking of turning it into an air compressor, but whipple only rates it at 40psi as a blower. Has anyone tried such to repurpose one of these units? I could add a frame and electric motor for far less than the cost of a rotary screw compressor from any purpose built supplier. However, most air tools are rated for 90psi, so I have no idea if it would work. Any thoughts or opinions are welcome.

 

Or sell the whipple for enough to buy a compressor?

Bearing is replaceable IIRC but its been a long time..

 

Resell value is next to nothing on a 150k mile used older generation whipple. Bearing replacement was at that particular time not viable for the constant use of the vehicle. So I have had a 2.3l whipple head unit taking up garage space for years. I have the resources to weld up some frankensteined sort of usefull compressor out of it , but I do not want to waste my time if 40psi really is a hard limit.

 

Would something like this not rebuild them?

FULL REBUILD KIT FOR EXTENDED DRIVE GENERATION 2 WHIPPLE

Full rebuild kit for extended drive Generation 2 Superchargers. These superchargers have a 52mm outer diameter for the front rotor bearings. This is a complete rebuild kit.

Includes the following parts:

• Quantity 1 SKF Viton front seal.
• Quantity 2 SKF front and rear drive snout bearings.
• Quantity 1 JB Performance carbon fiber coupler.
• Quantity 1 8 ounce bottle of JB Performance Supercharger oil with Tribodyn.
• Quantity 1 Permatex anaerobic gasket maker.
• Quantity 2 front rotor bearings.
• Quantity 2 front rotor JB Performance PTFE seals.
• Quantity 2 rear case INA needle bearings pre-greased.

 

You may be correct (I don't know), but my question is whether 40psi is really a hard limit, or if I could repurpose this into a 90psi shop compressor.

 

This is a neat idea but not feasible IMO. How are you spinning it? What is the size / volume of the air passages and tank you will be using? What RPM do you need to spin the blower to? How long can it spin continuous?

None of Whipple's blowers are rated past 18,000 Max Continuous RPM or 30 PSI in their normal usage. Not knowing how this setup will be built or plumbed it's hard to determine if your idea will get you the 90 PSI needed for your shop / tool usage and the CFM required by some tools.

As much as I like good 'ol ingenuity, I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze here. Figuring out the electric drive motor setup, pulley sizes, wiring the pressure switch to kill the drive motor, mounting and fab, etc etc all in the hope that it isn't a failed project seems like a lot compared to saving up for a Ingersoll Rand that you'll probably use for a decade or more. Not to mention you're already telling us the blower is a little FUBAR to begin with. You'd probably need to fix it if you intend to use it so that defeats the purpose of this whole "cheap" idea IMO.

 

I'm sure given the application, rotor design, tolerances etc would be very different to that of a workshop air compressor.

Just how bad is the unit ? And how cheap is it ? cathedral ?

I'd like to try blowing my turbos through one lol.

 

Rotary screw shop compressors are incredibly quiet compared to piston compressors. They are also incredibly expensive. In most cases the electric motor makes more noise than the compressor. Motor, pressure switches, pulleys, mounts, etc., would just be interesting fun. The blower is far from FUBAR. I just no longer trusted it on a work truck that racked up 280K miles in 6 years. In case that math does not seem to add up, it is because the truck had somewhere between 120 and 130K miles when the blower was installed. It is still running with the new head unit and has over 330K miles to date.

 

Just do what I did, I built a wall around my compressor and insulated the side walls and left the top open, When the compressor kicks on it turns on a fan to help keep it cool. It cut the noise by probably 2/3rds. It's not as quiet as a screw compressor but it also doesn't run constantly like a screw compressor is designed to do.
My buddy put his compressor head and motor in a small shed next to the shop and the tank is in the rafters of his shop. He doesn't hear anything lol.

 

Some cheap foam insulation around the compressor ( still allow it to breathe of course ) will cut any noise down massively, for little effort/cost.

 

I think you guys may be missing my point. I have an item taking up space in my garage in a useless manner. I wish to repurpose it in a useful manner. If this involves playing with my plasma cutter, my tig welder, my bandsaw, my grinder, my 3d printers, or whatever, it could be fun. I just wanted to know if anyone could tell me for sure that it would not work. Since nobody seems to have done this before, I will carry on as time allows. If it works I will post results. Thank you for the responses.

 

i think it could be made to work but i'm not sure it would work as intended for your needs.
mainly guessing here but the unit you have is a high flow / low pressure unit and a work shop compressor really needs to be a low flow / high pressure unit
in addition, the bearing arrangements between the two would be pretty different as well...the auto is lower load, lower duty cycle relative to the high load, continuous duty of the compressor.
one other thing to note is to get to the higher pressures, some of the screw units are 2 stage and intercooled as gettting to the pressures required in one stage is more than one set of rotors and bearings can handle.

 

On a vehicles it's feeding a large volume of air to something that's consuming the air as fast as it's being produced. You really won't know what pressure it will produce if deadheaded until you plumb it to a reservoir and spin it. I think you'll see considerably more than 40psi but how much will depend on how much wear there is on the rotors and case. If I were to attempt it I would just buy a used broken compressor so I would have everything I needed, Reuse the reservoir/one way valve/electrical pressure switches and so on, I'm not sure how well the motor will work or if it would at all because you don't know how many HP or RPM you'll need for that application.


You might be able to make plate for the bottom with a gauge to test it but it could be dangerous without a reservoir to let pressure build slowly.
You'll need to figure out the ratio to spin the blower, It will be much slower since consumption will be considerably lower with air tools.

Just remember one thing., anything above a few PSI is enough pressure to kill you if something should burst and that includes the whipple case itself.

 

I PM'd you

 

Sorry, I had a pm from some guy in Vancouver, BC, and I did not notice the difference. I will think about it.