Mustang fans are used to being showered with new go-fast trinkets, but even by Mustang standards the new Techco blower is a blind-side hit. Fairly bursting onto the market with minimal advance notice, not only is the Techco supercharger all new, so is its general layout and the company that makes it.
At first glance the Techco...
At first glance the Techco blower might look like a fancy intake manifold and a cold-air kit, but we think fans will be quick to spot the identifying curved runners for what they are. The front air inlet is far shorter than other superchargers, picking up less underhood heat.
The organization is new, but the Techco personnel brim with Mustang experience. The Techco Reverse Revolution supercharger is new too. It's a clean-computer-screen design; a 3.0-liter, water-to-air charge-cooled, twin-screw for Three-Valve Mustangs. Its place in the market is at the top, a fact immediately seen in its $7,500 price. At that price it's obviously playing for keeps and delivers leading-edge performance. Also, for that price it includes absolutely everything needed, including fuel injectors, fuel rails, charge cooler, pumps, hoses, brackets, the works.
Techco's blower has several unique features, the most obvious is it ingests its intake air through the front, hence the Reverse Revolution name. This eliminates the need to turn the incoming air almost 180 degrees to reach the rear of the supercharger, as is done on all other twin-screw Mustang blowers.
Because the inlet side of the supercharger is naturally aspirated, forming a straight shot into the blower is a meaningful step forward in blower efficiency, especially at high airflow. This arrangement also allows rationally sized inlet plumbing, devoid of over-sized elbows that flow air but require so much cross sectional area airflow gets lazy at lower speeds.
Now, because much of the blower's front case is dedicated to inlet air there is insufficient room for conventionally arranged drive gears. Other blower makers have accommodated such packaging concerns by mounting their twin-screw backward, so air can enter the supercharger in the same place, but without having to make a big turn. The supercharger drive would then be taken to the rear of the blower via a jackshaft, which works, but introduces another shaft, more bearings, plus a small drive belt from jackshaft to blower drive. It's monkey motion, adding weight and complexity.
Techco's solution is more elegant. The blower drive still enters the front of the blower and drives the female rotor directly. The female rotor is then used as a driveshaft and fitted with a gear at its rear, which mates to the male rotor gear, driving it. There are thus no extra drive gears or other parts than with a conventional drive; the usual players are just arranged differently so weight and complexity are unaffected.
Another defining characteristic is the Techco's separate drive belt. Instead of piggy-backing the blower drive onto the engine's existing serpentine belt, the Techco blower adds its own eight-rib crankshaft pulley, belt, idler, and tensioner.
The separate drive was chosen for several reasons says Bill Tally, Techco's chief slide-rule jockey. He wanted no belt issues--ever--and with a high-output 3.0-liter blower this meant an eight-rib belt; a locked-down, manual belt tensioner; generous belt wrap; and no sharing of drive loads with the water pump, A/C compressor, and so on. All of this was much easier to achieve with a dedicated blower drive, even if much of it is academic at the silly slow blower rpm and boost pressures the Techco gets by with to whip out a mere mid-400 rear wheel horsepower. Everyone knows more boost and power are always in a supercharger's future.
A dedicated drive belt also gives two pulleys--the supercharger and crank--to play with when dialing in blower speed. Another advantage is it makes adding a cog belt a cinch when some crazed individual decides they want to make 1,000 hp. And the Techco will flow that much air in case you feel so compelled.
 Techco blowers are sold assembled,...  Techco blowers are sold assembled, as shown. The drive snout, pulley, front cover, and fuel rails are CNC machined; the runners and intake tube are castings; and the supercharger case and charge-cooler housing are extrusions. This results in subtle differences in surface textures for visual interest, and a good setting to showcase the impressively smooth cast texture. |  The braided stainless-steel...  The braided stainless-steel fuel hose is typical of the Techco superchargers' upscale specifications. Curiously, this normally hidden rear view is the only angle where the actual supercharger is visible. Also seen here are the Techco fuel rails and fuel-line adapter. It mates with the stock fuel line. |  Take the cover off the front...  Take the cover off the front of the A-frame charge-cooler section and it's obvious how it got its name. The two angled, bright-aluminum rectangles are the ends of the charge coolers. The blower discharges upward into the large plenum area under the cooler cores. The A-frame concept is sufficiently different from other superchargers for Techco to patent it. |
 Partially removing the 18-inch-long...  Partially removing the 18-inch-long charge cooler cores shows how they slide in their extruded housing. Their only retention is in end caps, which also feature internal water passages. The round black gasket centered on the end of the cores, as well as the thinner O-rings nearby, provide the sealing. |  Techco's twin cooler cores...  Techco's twin cooler cores combine to provide 118 square inches of surface area. The shorter charge cooler at top is a Saleen Stage VI core, heretofore the largest cooler in the Ford world. |  At just 1¼-inch deep,...  At just 1¼-inch deep, the Techco charge cooler cores are efficiently thin. This is the back end of the core, showing the large water outlet at center and the smaller bleed hole fitting at top. The bleed hole is at the highest point in the coolant system, save for the reservoir. Thus, these bleeds can continuously vent air to the tank. The cores are hand welded in the Techco facility. |
Horse Sense: Techco durability testing included a 35-hour road trip from California to New Jersey and back last Christmas. Two Techco engineers had family in New Jersey and rather fly home for the holidays, the pair expropriated a test mule. A southern route was taken eastbound and a northern route westbound; this gave cold temperatures and up to 11,000 feet of elevation. Besides environmental testing, the engineers worked on the calibration during the 6,000-mile trip. The blower "never missed a beat."