10-4 Highhorse, thanks. I didn't even think of that.

 

Another member on here messaged me an awesome yet simple idea for pressing in the needle bearings. I used a washer that was the same diameter and thickness as the gap between the needle bearing and the surface. I pressed it flush with the washer in place so that it's at pretty much exactly the position that the original bearings were.

I put the rotors back in the case and when I spin them by hand everything seems smooth. I got halfway through rebuilding the snout and had to stop because I don't have the attachment I need for my press. I'm going to the hardware store to get what I need and then I'll reassemble the supercharger completely later tonight. As I understand it I put the RTV that came with my kit between the snout and the rotor assembly so I'm thinking it should sit overnight before I refill it with fluid. I further presume that when filling the fluid I should have the supercharger on the work bench as level as possible?

I did what I thought was the easy part today also, changing out the heater hoses and PLB hose. It amazes me that the amount of force it takes to work on most parts is about 98% of the force required to break them. It's all done though.

One more note. I bought the supercharger parts from qualitysuperchargers on eBay and they have been really good at responding to questions and offering advice.

 

Would it be terrible to use a couple drops of superglue to hold the elbow gasket in place? The assembly is really pretty straight forward except I can’t get the gasket to stay in place. If the holes were easier to line up the gasket would not be such a problem but in maneuvering to get the bolts lined up the gasket moves out of place.

edit- never mind. A little piece of packing tape held it good enough to get the bolts started. I was able to get the whole piece of tape out before I tightened down the bolts. Victory!

Another edit -- I was always interested to know if changing the supercharger fluid while its on the car gave an accurate fill level. Many purists have claimed the only true way to change the fluid is to remove it from the car. Mine was completely empty since I just refurbished it and Eaton says it holds 7.3 ounces. On my workbench I got the supercharger perfectly level and it started overflowing before I hit 7 ounces, I'd say somewhere just past 6.7 ounces? Maybe?

After I mounted it back in the car (where it is decidedly NOT level) It took about another 1/2 ounce to top it off. According to what I have left of the 8 ounces I bought there is about 7.3 ounces in the supercharger now but that would not have been possible on the workbench. Not sure what all that means, if anything...but I found it interesting.

 

Project complete!!

I don't know that I've ever been so happy to finish a repair. Because of my work schedule I had one day a week to devote to the XJR so it took a month to finish the project.

It started with an attempt to diagnose a noise. My theory (based on no real automotive knowledge) is that the noise was so loud and shrill that, while I was poking around the engine with a stethoscope to find it, the sound overwhelmed one of the knock sensors (basically a microphone, right?). That led to a restricted performance to go along with the noise. So began the supercharger removal adventure.

Since I had to remove it I replaced EVERYTHING. I also rebuilt the supercharger snout and replaced the needle bearings. It was like a 1,000 piece puzzle and now it's all back together. I marveled a few times at the fact Jaguar does not require their design engineers to have any education, lol. I'm sure their job is difficult but it does seem that a high school level grasp of geometry and basic physics would prevent a lot of issues; I digress.

Ultimately the noise that started it all was the supercharger idler pulley. That was completely remedied with a well placed washer. Perfect and quiet now. So simple and cheap, yet it led to so much work!

Back on the road this afternoon; I had forgotten how amazing the car is to drive and how stupid FAST it can be! Made all the hard work totally worth it. Nothing leaking from anywhere, no codes, near perfect fuel trims, satisfying whir and kick from supercharger. I gave it a thorough washing and backed it back into the garage. I'm happy now.

Thanks for all the help and feedback ya'll

 

Great work
noises int he engine are always so hard to find, don't be hard on your self, I replaced a lot of bits to get mine going at least you know all is well with the SC
enjoy you are now another part of your car.