Seeking enlightenment from any 8-71 Gurus

I have seen a number of 8-71 supercharged cars in TD, some are much faster than others.
We ran one for a while, but I felt like I was getting diminishing returns so we switched to a 14-71, and the temptation was too much as we ran over our wallet.
Judging from the amount of fuel I had to add to make it work, the 14-71 makes about 100HP --beyond what makes us faster-- that we do not get to use. My guess would be that the extra HP is being used to run the blower itself.
Since we can't afford a screw, it would seem our best option is a GOOD 8-71 as the power to turn it is lower and the output is self limiting, unless there are some 2500 HP 8-71's out there.
But that brings me to my question...which one? All of the manufacturers say theirs is the best, but none give me numbers, except for price.
Here in div2 Fast Eddie had a high helix 8-71(Littlefield I think) that ran 6.17 on a good day, 6.30's regularly, but I have seen others 50% over that would just barely crack 6's, and there is apparently more than 1 type of Hi-Helix arrangement.
Can anyone spell it out for me?

 

We ran in the 5's with an 8-71, this is in legal top dragster trim. We used an 8-71 PSI HH, had an SSI 8-71 prior to that and the PSI was better undoubtedly. Now with all the billet converters I know we could hit 5.70's (high) or low 80's with it.

Brandon Booher
NHRA TAD #34

 

Wow, very impressive, are you alone in this level of performance?

 

As far as in the 5's there was one other that I know of; only because we both ran in the 5's at the same time against each other. I question the validity of the time slips because my car had knocked the strips out of the blower on that run...but the slip doesn't lie I suppose. We went 5.94 @ 234 and Tom Mueller (481X M5 8-71) went 5.96 @ 229. We had a lot of work done to our 8-71; working with PSI and Carl @ ERD. Our boost curve was as strong as most 14-71's we compared it to and we were at 42%.

Here's our 5.99 pass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtS_p0MQLFc

Brandon Booher
NHRA TAD #34

 

i think Snyder ran a few 6.0's with their small block, but i think they had a 10-71 on the car for the IHRA Pro Outlaw\ Super Eliminator deal. however, that was about 12 or 13 years ago......the blowers are a lot better now. 5's are definitely within reason with todays parts.

 

the blowers made today from "most" of the manufacturers are more efficient than they were about 5 yrs ago. In blowers there is "parasitic loss"this means what it takes to turn it with the increase in power it makes, the efficiency now is, less parasitic loss, cooler manifold temps, more runs before rebuild, and a by-product of all this is more boost, I know that with our LB-20 at Littlefields, we have found about a 150 horsepower gain in less parasitic loss alone, about 50deg less manifold temps and more boost. I hope this helps you on your decision, you can always call me at the shop with anymore questions