As more and more of us get into our aging superchargers, it would be nice to consolidate a little of our knowledge. It is pretty hard gleaning all the threads for some very basic info. It is harder still to find the info on our own from technical sources.
So my question(s) is(are) pretty straightforward:

What are the torque values for the rear bolts of the s/c (I inspected my gears and they were in great shape)
Oil capacities for rear & snout (GM s/c oil, 2 bottles, cost about $10 each)
Snout = 4 ounces (1 bottle)
Rear = 2 ounces
(These values were gleaned from posts)
Allen bolts for oil drainage/replenishment
(8 in/pounds)
Allen is NOT metric! 3/16"
(Drove me nuts trying to get it off with metric allens!)

Ha ha I said get it off

Does there need to be any sealant between the s/c and the rear casing when it is closed up?

Any other very basic things that are buried in the threads?

 

When I filled my supercharger on the work bench (blocked to keep it level) it took about 6 oz in the front and 1.5 oz in the rear before it began leaking out the fill hole. I added about another ounce or so to the rear since the 1.5 seemed so little.

Eric

 

I'm in the midst of a complete rebuild of a salvage 04 MCS..while I had the entire front end off I decided to do a little preventative maintenance....new O rings, seals and inspection of different items. I did pull my sc off and tear apart to inspect gears and oil levels. I have 92000 miles on the car but oil levels were good on both endsupon inspection and gears were pristine condition. I noticed when I inspected all the mated surfaces that no piece seemed to have any sealant/gasket. I called Waylen at Way Motor Works in Atlanta and this was his recommendation. First off, he chastised me for opening up the sc to start with. Hindsight being 20/20, I can see the logic. Needless to say, I had already done it so I was looking for reassembly advice. Waylen told me to use Yama Bond from my local Yamaha dealership and follow instructions on tube. This product is amazing. It is the perfect product for the SC. Very thin application on each mated surface and careful reassembly will get you very nice, tight, professional and reliable seal. Put it all back together along with a good engine cleaning and multiple seals replaced around sensors and waterpump/engine block port and all was pretty and new looking. Used approx. two 4oz bottles of SC oil for filling both sides. As previously posted above, about 4 to 4.5 oz in pulley side and about 2 to 2.5 oz in waterpump side. All is good!!!

 

So how are we suppose to inspect the gears if we are not suppose to open it up?

 

Well, I guess its a case of "If it's not broke, don't mess with it". I think the idea being, just do the maintenance and it'll last. I'm a bit OCD about such things. I'm a tinkerer by heart and I want to see and understand the workings of such things. Besides, if you take the time to do it right and are meticulous about the inspection and reassembly I would think all will be ok.

 

I used anaerobic sealant on machined aluminum contact faces.

22 ft-lbs for the M8 bolts. 18 ft-lbs for the 4 short M8 output duct bolts.

Jeremy

 

Thanks, guys, this has a lot of it covered. Hey, Moderators, is it possible to make "Superchargers" a sub-forum? There is little to no info on them in the shop manual, and like the POS H/K amp any reliable info on it is very hard to find. Searching is OK, but it really gets distracting.
One thing needs to be mentioned:
Since the oil plugs are NOT metric, maybe more of the s/c is not metric also. I did not take mine totally apart, just the water pump side, I did not find any others.

 

This was my first time to encounter the phrase "anaerobic sealant" so I found a pretty good discussion of it on another thread.

http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=128171

I used Yamabond, I will now look to see if it meets those criteria.

What is your source for the use of anaerobic sealer? I am not hard-checking, but again, the lack of information on tear down & rebuild of this very expensive engine component is staggering.

 

I somewhat disagree with the idea of "If it aint broke, don't mess with it" as I do believe in preventive maintenance, especially with a MINI. I peruse these forums to get an idea of the problems that folks are seeing as the R53s get older so that I can check them out. In reading the forums, I did see a trend in supercharger failures, especially on the water pump side. My mileage was at 50k, so I thought it wise to check out. Sure enough, I only got about a tablespoon of oil out of the waterpump side (the pulley side was about 4 ounces). One of the telltale signs is the amount of dirt near the seal as oil weeps out. Yes, it was a bear to get to and check and I wish MINI had made this procedure somewhat more mechanic friendly (ie-dipstick?). But in my case, I am somewhat happy that I did....Keeps me Motoring....

just my thoughts....

 

From what I have read about the supercharger issues, it is most likely due to an issue with the machining of the supercharger and cover. I don't know if this is verifiable, but it seems like the older mini's were machined better and were less likely to develop a leak which would lead to a gear failure. I would think that if the leak is due to poor mating between the cover and charger then removal of the cover seems to be a pretty bad idea.

However, there is something to be said for PM. My mini is an 04 with around 130k, so I am in the same boat. I am tempted to clean everything off, top off the oil and keep an eye out for leaks. But that is just MHO.

 

I added more to the rear than 1.5 oz, I had the supercharger off the car to do it though.

 

When I disassembled my nearly-new spare supercharger, I was looking for machining marks on the rear sealing surfaces. There were definite milling marks on both surfaces, enough that you could slightly feel them with your fingernail. Also, whatever sealant the factory uses is extremely thin: there was virtually no sealant on either mating surface that needed to be removed.

I cleaned up everything thoroughly (was nearly mint to begin with) and used Loctite's Anaerobic flange sealant with a primer. I'm now 100% certain there won't be any leakage from between the end plate and the body of the supercharger.

As an engineer and lifelong mechanic, I see no reason not to remove the supercharger endplates to inspect/clean the insides and renew the sealant along the joints. Good preventative maintenance in my opinion.

Of course, if you're a real dufus and have trouble tying your own shoes, perhaps professional assistance would be advisable.

Eric