Ive been thinking of using a truck alternator with the rear airpump to run
a hydraulic oil pressure driven pump (modified power steering pump) instead
to power a supercharger sitting on top of a modded manifold similar to the
original manifold but more capacity.
Could the speed required be too high for hydraulic? Id like just a pressure line
going to the supercharger instead of a complex pulley system.
the SC would have to be spun to 5000rpm for 10psi and the problem would be
to get the drive to mutliply the speed of the pump from say 2000 to 5000rpm.
Can anyone think of why it wouldnt work?
Otherwise would it be just easier to use a cogged pulley at the rear such an
alternator and drive the supercharger directly (balancing the alternators strain
on the front pulley and sending it to the back)
I want to use the early block a12 and the alternator only mounts on the bottom
on the passenger side where modern A12 have the dizzie in the centre of the block
and the alternator sitting high on the drivers side.
So if I can put the SuperC on top of the manifold directly feeding it and the
pulley at the front directly connected to a pulley at the back of the alternator
it will allow me to have the simplest way reducing brackettry and mounts.

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converting energy from one type to another and back again is highly in-effiecient

would creat a lot of power loss for aesthetics?

would mean the power benefit of supercharging would be fairly well eliminated

I agree. It does however depend on (for the lack of a better word), "gearing" of the hydraulic pump. Some can spin faster due to their design/number of vanes in it.

But getting it to act like a centrifugal (correct me if im wrong) type super charger would not be possible as hydraulics always run at a specified pressure i.e, speed. The downfall with that is that when its used, pressure/speed drops until its fully working. That why you generally only find them in places like RAMS on trucks, tractors and implements which is where most of my experience from hydraulics comes from...

I suppose you could try to somehow plumb in a sort of pressure relief valve like a wastegate to control the amount of oil...?

However my main concern would be the fitting of an oil cooler because you would be looking at one the size of a small intercooler to be able to cool the oil... No matter what you do you will need a cooler. Hell, even my ride-on lawnmower which is hydro-static (hydraulic) has an oil cooler and its only used on a Kohler 25hp V-twin!

I figured it will need some kind of cooler but the temptation
is to use a reservoir to store pressured oil so when required
you can release the energy stored as pressurised oil and also
a simple valve could be used to adjust the amount of boost
pressure you need. The main thing is the storage of oil will
act like an ultra-capacitor ready to unleash the juice and
spin that baby up.

Aesthetics is part of it by simplifying the connections but the
pressurized tank will need space somewhere. But how cool will it
looks with a Steampunk finish of brass, copper and stainless :)

Keep in mind the energy required to spin the pump via belts. I wouldnt go anything else other than gilmer drive setup on such a small engine. Its an exercise in ingenuity... But like 1200 said, by the time you are able to put to use that power from SC, it will very well negate the use of it, possible worse.