Eaton (BINI) Supercharging

[Vikram]

Ive hijacked Bryan's thread enough so I'm posting in here.

If you do the kit yourself or with a local machinist it's far less than £1800. Used supercharger is roughly £200, ditch the decompression plate and enlarge the combustion chambers which is quite inexpensive labour around where I am, been quoted £100-150.

Then all you need is to mod the intake to take the charger on as short a manifold as possible to prevent icing, and build an inlet manifold. Small pulley mod to get the belt in line with the fan belt, and away you go!

It might not be the most efficient way to get power, but the belt driven setup looks neat in my opinion! For a weekend warrior, 100 bhp is more than enough to get yourself in trouble!

Am I missing anything? I'd rather have my mistakes pointed out here than half way through!

[94touring]

If I were to add forced induction, I'd build a motor identical to mine, same head, but low comp pistons and do a small turbo.  You only need to size the turbo to the power output you want.  Little unknown trick to making a small turbo that will spool quick but provide more power like a big turbo is pre injecting water or ideally 50/50 water meth directly into the turbo. It reduces internal heat of the turbo and moves the turbo maps further back. If you do the injection at say 5psi and max psi at 10psi, you get the quick spool up front and then the turbo expands in efficiency when the injection kicks in at 5psi. Also, if the turbo previously hit max power at 10psi or safety zone on pump gas, you can now run 15 or more psi.  You're essentially running race fuel equivalent at that point as water kills any pinging and meth increases octane while simultaneously adding a fuel source which helps counteract minimal power losses with straight water.  Can't run straight meth safely as a detonation will blow the top of the engine off.  This is how I get away with running 23psi on a rotary that typically can't be run safely over 15psi on pump gas, and on a small turbo that would hit max power around 18-20psi on race fuel. I could run 30psi on it but my injectors are maxed out and it's insanity fast at 23psi and I'd rather not break trannies and rear ends.  Don't forget proper gearing will keep you on cam AND on turbo spool.  If I added a tiny quick spooling turbo to my setup with my gearing and ran it all on water meth, holy smokes.

Edit:  oh and turbos spool quicker with bigger exhaust, so I'd go to a 2" id or maybe a pinch bigger and ditch the center muffler.

[jeff10049]

most of these are set up to suck through the carb. the fuel ruins the charger from what I understand so you have to replace it often in a suck through setup.

[MiniDave]

I don't know why drawing the fuel mixture thru the supercharger would hurt it, it sure can't hurt the metal vanes in any way, and if the gas could get thru the seals and into the bearings, you'd think the opposite would be true too - that the oil could be sucked out of the bearings. I don't think it's an issue. On top of that, I know of only a very few people who drive their Mini more than a few hundred miles a year.....maybe a thousand.

[MPlayle]

It was my understanding from many past articles about using the Bini supercharger in a suck-through configuration on classic Minis, that the vanes were coated in something similar to teflon and the fuel mix being sucked through would cause the coating to deteriorate and rusult in further damage inside the supercharger.

[MiniDave]

Nah....first of all, only the latest superchargers had the coating on the vanes (and JCWs), but that said the Teflon coating would not be affected by gasoline.

[Vikram]

I have heard that over time the teflon coating gets worn away, but given that it applied in a couple micron layers thick I don't think it would do much.

As Dave said, you can just get a non coated one to be safe!

[jeff10049]

non coated may be fine I just remember reading about a lot and I mean a lot of real issues with gasoline messing them up this is probably from 7 to 10 years ago so I don't think it was only newer ones. Most guys back then had two or three on the shelf for replacements and that was as mini Dave pointed out only driving a few hundred miles a year so whatever it was. It was a BIG problem and ruined the charger not just made it less effective but useless by causing further damage as mplayle said.
I'm not saying don't do it just make sure you know what you're getting into unfortunately That other forum was/is too cheap to keep threads that are over 365 days old without new posts so most of that info is gone. I also remember it ruined an engine or 10 when the charger went bad as debris went through everything. I remember lots of pictures of totally disintegrated chargers It was actually so bad at one time that the consensus was don't do it things may have changed since then.

[MPlayle]

The information jeff10049 posted about is the same as I am remembering.

[Vikram]

I've heard mixed reviews of this happening, but the fact that its happened before and ignoring that would be foolish.

These chargers are widely and cheaply available, so if I get one I will get it serviced and could have the coating removed. However it would need to be replaced with a fuel friendly alternative, any ideas?

There are plenty of other options available, but budget is an issue. I've heard of rotrex chargers being used as well as an AMR500. Any other options?

[MiniDave]

There is nothing inherently fuel unfriendly about the Teflon coating on the vanes, just run it without the coating if you're concerned. Or.....

This, plus a GT1752 turbo off a Saab 93 and you're most of the way there.....

https://www.fusionfabs.co.uk/mini-turbo-manifold-and-downpipe-kit

Talk to this guy for more info....

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/user/229-turbo-phil/

Here's his website   http://www.turbo-mini.com/

[Vikram]

Thanks for the information, I have looked into that website.

I don't want to go down the turbo route, I'd have to get into plenums and pressurising the float chamber. I think the weber is a fantastic looking carb and doesn't deserve to be hidden away. I'd rather have it on display with a simple blower setup.

I'd like to go down the custom route, so I'm very keen on designing a intake manifold and having it cnc machined. I can generate the files in CAD, and simply export the files to the manufacturer. Would be a great little project.

Therefore, I'm quite open to other suggestions if there is a better alternative to the m45.

[Vikram]

Also on my radar is the smaller eaton for the 1.4 TSI VW/Skodas. Some are much newer units at 2006-2010, so I assume would be quite efficient especially the later ones.

They're also far better suited displacement wise to the 1275. However on the 1.4 units they are compound charged, so super for bottom end and turbo for top end.

I've heard from one source that the m45 would work less hard than the smaller unit, generate less heat and be more efficient as a result.

Any thoughts on this?

[Vikram]

After some more reading, the smaller m24 isn't suited for a 1275. It displaces 393cc per revolution, so it's going to need to spin above its red line to deliver the required flow.

I've comprehensively gone through the eaton range and the m45 is the best suited, which is why it's the go to charger for most A series. Good to confirm the information for my own peace of mind.

[MiniDave]

Are you "Brucey" on TMF? I'm Magneto there....

[Vikram]

I am!