This is the follow-up to my went to the dealer to have them diagnose the noise coming from the front of the engine thread.

Lost the original thread, but the sequence of events went something like this...
Took it back to the Honda dealer I purchased it from, they said they didn't know enough about Minis to give me an answer. They sent me across the street to the BMW dealer. Dropped it off on a Mon. morning. drove a 328 loaner for two days, then they told me their computer couldn't speak Mini.

I waited several more weeks until the end of the 60 day AutoNation dealer warranty was approaching and finally took it from here in Tucson to the dealer inTempe 90 miles away.
Svc manager took one look, called one of his techs, tech took one look, pronounced the supercharger bad. Then he retrieved a stethoscope and confirmed the diagnosis.

To shorten the story somewhat, the svc mgr strongly suggested I leave the vehicle and offered a loaner (2010 Mini). I said let me see if I can find a way to get it paid for. I called my rep at the Honda dealer, told him what was going on and he said,"you have warranty on that car". So, I left it to be repaired.

Now, two weeks later to the day, I picked it up, new Mini reman supercharger installed by the dealer warranty. I had the water pump replaced also, while they were in there, at my own expense, but much less that it would be with labor. So, $269 later it's running like new again.
More good news, I was also able to refinance through my credit union at an even better rate and included a 3 yr 36k extended warranty.

So, kudos to Dobbs Honda of Tucson and the AutoNation Warranty, and to Mini of Tempe for a job well done.