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View Full Version : Got my hands dirty on a Magnussen last night...



Breadfan
05-18-2006, 06:29 AM
Last night I tore into a Magnussen roots blower on a C-5 Vette.

My roommate had this installed in his '99 C5, and only a few hundred miles later one of the internal bearings went bad. It started to make rattling noises.

This unit was used when he bought it, as a kit someone had removed to replace with a different setup (turbos i think), and had just come back from Magnussen from either being checked out or rebuilt. He got a really good deal on it from someone. I don't think this is a result of a bad used unit or bad rebuild, apparently a fair number of folks have had this happen. Some shortly after installing their brand new units. I think it has to do with the shaft drive unit they have, since the blower assembly sits phyiscally 180deg the other way than say an Eaton 112 on a Ford motor.

Anyway, he got an RMA number and was told to ship it back and they'll fix it up free of charge. So last night we tore into the LS1 and removed the assembly.

It only took about an hour to remove. There were a few interesting differences between that and our motors, plus how that roots blower setup differs from the Trilogy one.

First off, the lower intake is much more shallow than it is on our cars.

Second, the blower assembly is actually a single piece consisting of the blower, adapter plate, lower intake, and intercooler. When we pulled the bolts the whole thing came off. (That's how it comes shipped according to the install manual, so I was expecting this to occur.)

The C5 belt tensioner is place in such a way that all you have to do is put your hand on it, and use your body weight or muscle to push down. No tools needed to remove the belt. Sure maybe it's recommended, but I didn't need anything but my arm.

The fuel rails on the Magnussen unit come with the kit and replace the stockers. From what I could tell, it had no schrader valve. I didn't know how to releive the pressure in the system since I could not find the valve. I spent 20 minutes trying to find it. In the end I just slowly unscrewed the fuel pressure sender for the FP gauge. I guess I thought all rails had schrader valves...I saw a spot that could've had one but all it had was a block-off piece.

So anyway, it was fun to get on another system like that. He's going to ship it off and when it returns I told him I'd reinstall it for him. So, more supercharger fun for me. I almost wish I had waiting to install my Trilogy kit until the warmer weather instead of in mid January, but I don't think I could've waited that long. :D

Oh by the way, his setup is very similar to this, though his car isn't a Lingenfelter. I think Lingenfelter uses the same Magna-Charger kit on their cars though, probably with more boost though. http://www.neuralimpulse.com/bkpics/100_0269.JPG