Bearings are inspected both visually (for scratches, scoring, burning, or metal filaments attached to their surface) and by turning each bearing along its shaft. Greg detects roughness in the case-side lower bearing on our supercharger's impeller shaft, which means there could be some metal inside the bearing or it may be wearing out. A tight belt and high pulley speed are forces that affect bearing wear. It's good that we're catching it now.
Greg uses Paxton's proprietary bearing tools to remove and install bearings for our Novi's freshen-up. The fixtures are all produced in-house and are essential to this part of a blower's build process.
This is the collection of parts included in Paxton's Novi 2000 Minor Service ($424.95 for parts and labor). The maintenance kit includes all of the bearings, seals, O-rings, shims, and fasteners necessary for making a blower look and, more importantly, function like new. Unfortunately, the freshen-up procedure isn't one that we suggest you try and handle yourself. Leave this job to the experts at Paxton. Having your blower returned to its original condition by a trained technician is well worth the reasonable investment (compared to the price of a new supercharger). We're told it takes about 7 to 10 days from the time a blower is received, then it's back in its owner's hands and ready to reinstall on an engine.
Before reassembly, the blower's case and innards are thoroughly cleaned in a 140-degree, high-pressure cleaning tank...
...and inspected again for any damage that may not have been discernable during disassembly.
The blower housing is placed in a 225-degree oven for about 15 minutes to heat the supercharger housing's bearing bores. This ensures that the bearings will fit properly inside the bores.
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