bob

Hey all, I started hearing a change in pitch and a rattle coming from the suprcharger on my engine.

I had heard it for a few days and thought it might be something in the driveline but decided to check under the hood tonight after getting back from the movies and its certainly the SC making the rattling and different sound as the gears mesh. The SC seems to build boost fine and checking over some posts on various SC Grand Prix web sites (rattle and GT500 only seem to invoke links to people comaring thier cars to snakes ), the rattle seems to be coming from a worn plastic coupler in the snout of the SC? Checking around, I havent really found anybody who sells a replacement coupler kit or a rebuild kit for the M122 Supercharger.

Will continue to check it out tomorrow during the day as another indicator is excessive backlash at the pulley when the belt is removed.

2k7gtcs

I'm assuming the M122 is the stock SC.

Aren't these easy to find as some replace them with the TVS and the stock SC isn't very useable to anyone that doeant have a 5.4L 32V?

bob

Yep

might be, but I did some more digging and found one of Eaton's factory authorized rebuilders

http://www.stiegemeier.com/rebuild.html

If I read correctly they will rebuild and check the blower starting at 400 bucks which honestly I'm more comfortable with than just grabbing somebody's take off blower and possibly encountering the same problem or worse.

Also might check into porting the blower - not so much for the airflow gain, but if it can lower the discharge temp I'd consider that a plus as well.

bob

Well got my blower back and no rattling in the case anymore, I had them rebuild the blower and port it to reduce discharge temps a bit as well. Inspecting the blower this pretty much amounted to smoothing the entry behind the throttlebody spacer and radiusing the discharge holes at the bottom.

The removal and install was pretty straight forward with the exception of the EGR, PCV bubbler hose and injectors. The instructions I have listed all torque values in inch pounds so I had to get a few new torque wrenches (I have a 50-250 unit but had to get an inch-pound wrench and a 20-100 foot pound wrench)

The EGR uses a metal gasket that clips to the bolts that secure the valve to the supercharger, removal was a snap but I had to set the gasket on the tip of the bolts during reinstall and thread the valve and bolts down. If it had been a straight shot to the EGR this wouldn't even have rated as a problem, but your working in a tight space with the steel EGR line trying to **** the valve even though its not connected.

The PCV bubbler hose because it had one of those spring type hose clamps and it was against the firewall (note to self, just go out and buy the right tool instead of using a pair of slip joint pliers to install the clamp).

Other than trying to discharge the remaining fuel in the rail, the most problematic issue was trying to get the injectors to pull out cleanly with the rail. Some injectors stayed with the manifold, some came out with the rail. I didn't want to take a chance with the pressure side O-rings so I replaced them with new Ford pieces (they sold me a bag of 10 @ 2.50 each , could have gone the parts store route but I figured it was important enough to get the Ford pieces because I have an aversion to doing a Ghost Rider imitation going down the road).

I reused the blower, spacer and throttlebody gaskets since they are all of the O-ring type (per Ford's instructions the blower gasket should be replaced) but I havent had a problem so far with any vaccum or pressure leaks.

I let the car warm up before taking it for a nice extended test drive to see if any problems cropped up with leaks or mechanical failure and I plan on checking the bolts this morning to see if they have loosened up.

I cant qunatify any power increase since I took the blower off during 90+ degree heat and the reinstalled it in 70 degree weather and I've been driving around in both 07 GT and 11 V6 F150, both cars have roughly half the horsepower and stepping back into the GT500 was huge difference

2k7gtcs

Nice to see you got it all worked out even though it sounds like it was a bit of a PITA.

bob

Just those few bits, otherwise its no harder than say replacing a valve cover gasket. I think I spent maybe 3 hours total removing and installing it and I tend to be pretty slow as a mechanic.

Defintely good practice for later on down the road when I plan to upgrade to a TVS