I have found that H.A.M.B. website is full of information regarding Latham Superchargers. Have you been there yet?

 

Hi yes, I've seen that its very interesting..

 

I may have been mistaken thinking that six carbs were never available for the Latham. In reviewing the literature, it appears that more than one person aquired this set up somehow.

 

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a 6 carb manifold shown above..

 

The determining factor will be the amount of airflow through the inlet ports of the chosen supercharger because they came with different configurations as the years passed. The early ones used a single round hole on either side, but eventually grew to ovals nearly 2 1/2 times the original size.
Log manifolds did not necessarily flow well, but increased the potential for flow by introducing extra carb venturi area. For a race car such as yours, the revs will often be up and down near the top rpm range and could use as much flow as you can give it. If you intend making six carbs work well, I would consider constructing your own manifold to take advantage of flow and maximizing draw through all of your carbs unless you are just building this car for show. This should surprise the competition who may not realize the potential of this little old supercharger.
Latham's four carb arrangement has an awkward airflow pattern that does not do justice to the four available carbs. Even just taking it apart to see how restrictive it is will help you to imagine where more power can come from. If you have the room for six, then why not? Because there were so many fueling options in that era, one could really open up a can of worms.

 

Hi, how did your new version work out? I have a couple myself and would like to hear some details about your build and what results you have gotten.

 

Hi Knobbly,
Richard Paul would like to talk with you about your car and supercharger combination. His email address is [email][email protected][/email].
Would you be so kind as to share the information with me? I love to learn more about these superchargers every chance I get. Please copy me at [email][email protected][/email]
Thank you

 

will do, you have been very helpful!

 

I started this thread a few years ago when I obtained my first Latham supercharger, I have two now and finally enough parts to start the build. The tipping point came last year and I'll update this thread a little at a time until I get up to the present. First is a log entry from September of last year.

September 17th 2020 Had a false start on getting my ambition back. It's a process. My deep ponder mode ruminations tell me that one day of work in the shop is an anomaly, three continuous days, a pattern, six days a trend, twelve days a habit and twenty-four days a discipline.

On Labor Day, the daily heat wave temperature dropped a couple of degrees, just enuf to jump start garage activity again.

Found a vertex magneto for the nailhead build and bought it as a birthday present to myself. I've been looking for one of these for a few years now. I was beginning to fear Tommy Ivo had used them all up. This thing was new in the box. A couple of bronze gears were included as well.

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September 23rd 2020 Getting back in the saddle. Baby steps. The magneto spurred me to fiddle with the nailhead a bit. I pulled number one piston. no ridge at the top of the cylinder so it tapped out easily with the help of brass hammer and drift and wooden block. The rod bearings look like they were installed yesterday. Put the piston assembly in the parts washer oileater soup for initial cleaning. The wrist pin is semi-floating with a pinch clamp at the top of the rod. Still have to figure out how the pin retainers work.

Also picked up a set of solid lifters for the Isky Street/Strip cam from Northwestern Auto Supply Inc. They arrived today and I took a cursory look at them.

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September 29th 2020 Scored another hard-to-find nailhead part. Fellow who goes by "Gear-Drive" has cast a hand full of 264-322 nailhead 4-71 blower manifolds and I managed to snag one. I'm gambling this to be the easiest path to mounting the Latham supercharger. My two Lathams came with small block Chevy manifold adapters. I'm guessing I can adapt the Latham to the blower manifold with some aluminum plate when the time arrives to mock it up.

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Sure did and another feature of the Latham is that if the belt breaks, the engine will still run.

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February 22nd 2021 A body at motion tends to remain at motion. A body at rest remains at rest and, lazy slug that I am, I am the poster boy for remaining at rest. I got an e-mail at work on Thursday morning from my landlord telling me they wanted me present to check for water leaks. I went back to the shop and while I was waiting, continued to tear down the nailhead. This may be the catalyst I need to get my ambition back.

Took out the remaining seven piston assemblies, balancer, timing gear cover and timing gears and chain. Only problems I had was getting the timing gear off the crankshaft. I took this progress as a good omen.

On Saturday, the crankshaft and bearings were removed, along with the camshaft. The only things remaining on the block are the cam bearings, freeze plugs and oil galley plugs.

Also gave the block it's first cleaning with Oileater and rags. That got ninety percent of the dirt and grease off. Beer of the day was Payette Brewing Company's Mutton Buster Brown Ale.

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Crankshaft is forged as are the connecting rods. Pistons are cast, .040 over.

 

March 6th 2021 Scraped gasket bits off the block with a razor scrapper. Sent for a specialized tool to remove the freeze plugs but that was a waste of money. The removal tool wasn't any easier than a common chisel. Some days are like that. Removed gobs of loose rust from the water jacket with a telescoping pocket magnet. Removed the drainage petcock from the driver side bank and cleaned the rust from the hole where the passenger side petcock once was, I presume.

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Somewhere in the neighborhood of 625 pounds.