I dread the day my supercharger wears out so I did a little research to see how much I might be looking at for a replacement or rebuild. I happened to run across a supercharger rebuild website who rebuilds R53 superchargers.
The site is: www.canadiansupercharger.com
I talked to a guy named Brian who quoted me $490 if I sent him a core. He said to call him to get that price at 866-430-2137
I thought that was very reasonable.

How do you know when your supercharger failing or starting to not work as efficiently?
Will there ever be a factory style replacement supercharger that is better?
When is everyone else replacing or rebuilding theirs and how much did it cost them?
Is there preventative maintenance?

Thanks!

 

How do you know when your supercharger failing or starting to not work as efficiently?
*You'll likely hear grinding noises as either the water pump gears get chewed up due to lack of oil, or if the front gears start to 'go'

Will there ever be a factory style replacement supercharger that is better?
*Not likely, at least not plug-n-play. Unless you count ported/polished

When is everyone else replacing or rebuilding theirs and how much did it cost them?
*No personal info here. I bought a used one on ebay 'just in case'. If the time comes, I'll check it out and decide if I want to port it, but likely I'll just throw it in. The rotors look perfect.

Is there preventative maintenance?
*You can R&R the charger and replace the rear gear casing oil - that has been known to seep out, leading to their destruction. Of course you'd drain/fill the front, too. AFAIK that's about all you can do. But for the cost of a used replacement, depending on mileage, just swapping it may make more sense depending how much you like to work on it.

 

I imagine the shipping costs of the SC to Canada won't be inexpensive. I wonder if there are customs fees as well?

I bought an '06 SC from the Marketplace--for $600 I think shipped. It had 0 miles.

Keep your eyes open and purchase one for a spare, lol.

Richard

 

Wow Eric, thank you for the write up! You would have to ship it to Florida where they do the Mini superchargers. I'll look into the preventative maintenance. Is that a difficult procedure?

 

getting to the waterpump side gears is no walk in the park! And thats where most of the damage can occur.

 

I think people planning on keeping their cars are buying up superchargers instead of planning on a rebuild. The prices are slowly going up. I have bought and sold and recently found another one for a good price to keep on hand. Prices on used ones range from $300 - $600+ depending on how many people see the auctions and the condition. Cheapest I have seen for a good condition was $150 which was a fluke.

 

One thing you really want to make sure of with a rebuilder is whether or not they can get the water pump gears. My understanding is that these parts ARE NOT AVAILABLE to rebuilders. Thus all you can get done is to have the SC parts done. There is also another option, PSE Superchargers also offers a rebuilding service.

There is a thread here about some SC's. Really a good read.

 

It's described here on NAM somewhere. It's pretty involved - you need to put the front end into 'service mode'.

 

what im going to do when my Sc goes.......stroker, head, gt35, nough said!

 

Actually along the same line as EL_Griton, if the water pump gears on your SC are the things to go, I see no reason you couldnt just cap that part off and swap to an electric water pump. The capping off of the water pump side hasnt been done before AFAIK, that said it has been discussed. The electric water pump is synonymous with Turbo only conversions, so anybody with that kind of setup could tell you what is involved there.

 

Some Guy That is a good idea but the price of the electric water pump is almost as much if not more then a good used SC. I know I am playing with one now on my MCS.
http://www.stewartcomponents.net/Mer...Code=ElectPump

ScottinBend the gears may be available now? Check with ENDYN. http://www.theoldone.com/

ClintTheMiniOwner While some have water pump gear failure a large number fail because of the coating coming off the rotors.
A good place to call with good low milage SC is Mazda/Mini recycle
http://www.mazdarecycling.com/

 

I figure when mine goes, I'll go Rotrex or make the jump to a turbo only conversion.

 

The 2004 supercharger I actually just bought was from a guy who planned on using it for a different project. He actually machined a metal plate to "cap" the water pump side. He never finished the project and decided to sell the basically new (<1000 miles) SC. Anyways people who buy these for other projects have capped them off.

 

Does the R56 use an electric water pump? If so possibly they will begin to show up on the aftermarket and used markets.

 

Funny, I can't find anything on rebuilding SC's there.........

 

http://theoldone.com/components/cyli...ead_modifi.htm

"Endyn's been reworking Eaton Superchargers for the public since 1996. The M45 used on the Mini Cooper responds quite well to our efficiency-increasing porting. Below, you'll find a series of pictures showing our modified superchargers. The modifications consist of porting the case to provide precise 120 degree rotor-to-port intervals, as well as welding bridges and then filling the pressure-relief ports, and treating flow entries and exits to flow-friendly radiusing."

 

.....and nothing about the water pump gears/oil.

Thanks.

 

ScottinBend,

Call ENDYN for more information. The Dr. and k-heuvo have bits from them so they may have talked to ENDYN also.

 

Is there any setup (rotrex? turbo?) that completely eliminates our stock unit?
If so does anyone have pictures?

 

Find the "Project X-300" thread in this forum and you will get much drool-worthy material.

 

My understanding from talking to people who know better than I, is that Eaton will not sell waterpump gears. Only whole units are available. Unless there is another supplier out there that fabriates them we're stuck.

Regarding the blower itself, as Nitrominis said...the coating on the vanes can delaminate too. Both the teflon and the ceramic coatings fail presumably due to high IATs.

Here's a teflon coated one from a freinds car. 44K on the blower. Water pump gears were fine.... blower? Not as fine.

These vanes were black teflon coated....



Video




On the other hand, my water pump gears are wearing but the vanes in the teflon coated S/C are perfect.

 

So if nobody can buy the waterpump gears, what does a rebuild consist of? My fear is that my car will slowly get slower. I hope I catch it before it gradually dies. I hope there will be something capable of 16 plus PSI with driveability in the future. I love the unique-ness of the supercharger and of course that sound. I think that is what makes the R53 special. I heard word of a possible non rotrex RMW replacement supercharger?!...?

 

ooooohhhh...really???

 

The rebuild is basically just the main SC itself, no auxiliary drives.

 

This is really not going to be a problem. Not only does BMW/Mini over 5000 new units and still building for over the counter,warranty and backup stock as per the feds but have to consider how many are out there on the road from 2001 - 2008. Recyclers are getting more in and the aftermarket guys will sooner or later have a replacement (if not already) for the M45 gears. So don't worry. It is this fear that is pushing the price of good used ones on the market. A year ago I could get a low mileage S/C in perfect shape for 100 - 150 now they are 200 - 400 .