We’ve always dreamed of making the beautiful scale models we have on our shelves move and make sounds like real vehicles. And we’ve always loved V8 engines – whether they’re naturally aspirated, twin-turbo, or supercharged. Today, our dreams may finally come true with the stunning new V8 scale engine.
What you see in the video at the top of this page is a tiny V8 factory by Toyan. The company sells weighing machines that can be delivered as DIY kits or pre-assembled for you to install in your project. One of their engines now gets a supercharger. And yes, it works as intended and even keeps that familiar whine loaded.
The nine-minute clip here begins with supercharger installation. We don’t know if this is an upgrade kit coming straight from Toyan but it looks very professionally made, which leads us to believe this was not a DIY project by someone. Putting a tiny supercharger on a tine V8 engine might sound like an easy job but in reality, it requires some tweaking to fit. A new water pump cover, for example, will need to be modified otherwise the screw heads will interfere with the belt.
After the supercharger is installed with all the supporting components, it’s time to install the timing belt. It’s not nearly as difficult as in a true full-size supercharged V8, but it’s still a tricky job considering the number of rollers and shafts that need to be connected. Final check on the markings and the engine is ready to start for the first time after installing the supercharger.
The first few attempts to start the engine were not quite successful as the start button stuck and the starter caught fire. The engine finally started up but something went wrong with the air-fuel mixture and the V8 stalled slightly at full throttle. The engine ran steadily at idle but further adjustments to fuel delivery in the upper half of the rev range and ignition timing were required.
