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Supercharger Diagnostic Information: Kenne Bell or Whipple

IMPORTANT: If your Kenne Bell or Whipple Supercharger starts making noise, take the belt off immediately.

Worn or failed Spider Coupler (a.k.a. Universal) A clacking noise indicates that the Spider Coupler is worn out or all together gone. (See Picture A) With the belt off, try to rotate the drive pulley backwards and forwards. It should have no backlash. Any backlash can knock the rotors out of time, quickly ruining the supercharger. Also, the small pieces of Nitrile from the damaged Spider Coupler can run through the bearings, which ruins the bearings.

Hot engine oil melts Spider Coupler Running Engine oil through the supercharger can cause catastrophic supercharger failure. Many Kenne Bell Superchargers have come in for repairs that have a melted Spider Coupler. The Spider Coupler can only take 405 degrees Fahrenheit. Some of these superchargers use engine oil, pumped directly from the oil pump. This is a problem if the oil is not run through a cooler first because it can exceed 405 degrees Fahrenheit during a sustained wide-open throttle run. (See Picture C) Our solution after the supercharger is repaired correctly is to locate a fill plug and fill with 20w50 full synthetic oil. Then plug the oil feed and return openings to seal off the engine oil system.

Dust Cover failure There can be other causes for a Kenne Bell or Whipple supercharger failure. Superchargers that do not use engine oil to cool the supercharger can also lose their Spider Coupler. In this case, there was another cause. A bearing dust cover failed at the rear of the rotor. The supercharger shown here had the dust cover walk out of its bore, causing it to contact the case. Debris went through the rotors causing drag on the rotors, which only have .003 to .004 clearance between them. This extra load caused the Spider Coupler to disintegrate from heat or load. There can be other component failures that can initiate a similar failure of the Spider Coupler. When the Shop Foreman dismantles and examines a supercharger, he is looking for the mechanism of failure. He always finds the root causes of failure upon which he bases his recommendations for rescue and repair services.

Leaking Rotor Seal Rotor seal leaks if oil is missing but no oil leak can be found on the outside of the supercharger. The fix for this is to polish the rotor seal bushing. Then use a upgraded replacement, Viton Seal with a higher SFM rating.

Out-of-time Rotors with damaged Spider Coupler This Rotor phase problem is sometimes caused by small pieces of the Spider Coupler going through the gears or ball bearings. Neither has any give or clearance for the particles. This forces the rotors out of time or phase.

Out-of-time Rotors with undamaged Spider Coupler (See Picture A & Picture B) The Kenne Bell or Whipple superchargers do not use a key or press to hold the rotors in time. Instead of using these tried and dependable methods, they rely on a bolt that goes through the gear, ball bearing inner race and seal bushing, to be torqued down to a softer Aluminum rotor. That is a problem because if the rotor deforms just a little then the bolt loses tension and the rotors are out of time. You can see in the picture, the hardened steel bushing imbedded in the rotor’s mating surface. The root-cause is the extreme load-change during a gear-change or heat.

Important message from the Shop Foreman:
It is ok to call and ask questions to get an estimate for your supercharger’s repairs. I will not just keep answering supercharger disassembly questions because I would be on the phone all day. And then the caller will only know enough to break a few of the parts, so that even I can’t repair it in a cost effective way. I am sure of this because it has already happen when I tried to help a very talented maintenance machinist. Even still with his skill level, it ended in disaster. And, I do not have replacement parts for these superchargers. (See Picture A) Notice the bolt that had to have the head removed to get the gears off so at least they could be salvaged. So please do not try to repair any Kenne Bell or Whipple superchargers yourself, with the exception of replacing a front snout seal or pulley. Thank you.

Picture A

Picture B

Picture C

Ask for Wade Embree

Sales@thehighspeedlab.com or (314) 277-7414