Entire supercharger and clutch assemblies are readily available from low mileage, wrecked cars on the used market in the $500 range. The supercharger and clutch are actually quite robust though. Both are commonly rebuilt and available in rebuilt form.

MB does not list a service interval for the supercharger, but many other mfgs with the Eaton supercharger list an oil change at 100K miles. The oil in the gearbox is a special oil and costs about $20 for four ounces, enough to change the oil.

Removing the air box provides easy access so that the old oil can be withdrawn and replaced with a syringe. If this is done every 100k miles and the engine does not live it's life at high RPM, it will last a LONG time.

The 230 engines themselves have also proven QUITE robust, with no known achilles heels like many other engine families.

The cars themselves, with a manual transmission, if you can find one, are a HOOT to drive as long as you have a rear sway bar. The rear sway bar was standard in the 2001 models and beyond. The earlier cars are a pain to retrofit, and in hard cornering, it does have some understeer without enough power to eliminate it with the loud pedal.

You could stiffen the rear springs and accomplish the same handling improvement if you are willing to deal with the obviously stiffer ride.

All in all, there are lots of these little cars around to be had for cheap. I paid $6500 for mine and have not had to put anything into it except fresh fluids, spark plugs and filters like I do with ANY used car I buy, plus I rebuilt two of the top hydraulic cylinders for $55 each.

It now serves me as a really fun and economical car to wind out the 20 miles of lightly traveled, winding, hilly road to and from work every day.

Anyone condemning these cars as problem ridden either had bad luck, or just don't know what their talking about. My brother in law, a long time MB dealer diagnostic tech, says that these are as trouble free as any MB he's seen introduced in the last fifteen years or so.

Fool them all-get a supercharged Buick 3800, a larger supercharger, and gut the interior. I found even the NA 3800 to be impressive in stock form.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Perhaps a stripped-down Park Avenue Ultra?

Buick?

ahah pooey!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The supercharger clutch bearing is easily replaceable, unfortunately its not the only wear part. The clutch is like a standard delco-style A/C compressor setup, the extreme front part of the clutch is the hub and spring-plate assembly that flexes to engage the drive plate. The flex plate is joined to the hub with 3 rivets - over time (and thousands of engagements) the flex plate mounting holes begin to deform and the rivets loosen up. One my C230 with around 165K mile on the clock there was about 10-15 degrees of free-play before the flex-plate engaged the hub assembly. Not sure how much longer it would have gone but I'm sure it eventually would have rounded out the holes to the point where the rivets would have failed.

As I recall in the service manual documentation the flex-plate and driven plate are supposedly a matched pair so they didn't recommend replacing one side of the parts assembly. I would have taken the chance and replaced the flex plate but I couldn't find an aftermarket parts source for just the flex plate. I ended up buying an new MB clutch assembly wholesale for around $460 as I recall.

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98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (123k)
13 GLK250 (135k)
06 E320CDI (323K)
16 C300 (62K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)

I see these engines all the time at my yard. $50 for a super charger.

I just did my MINI's SC oil. It has an Eaton SC and I used two 4 ounce (6 ounces in ghe snout, 2 in The PTO) bottles of AC Delco supercharger oil. $12 each on amazon or around $10 at your local GM dealership.

I might end up with another Miata. I almost didn't sell my other one. I even called the guy who bought it and told him to give me a chance if he wanted to sell.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The most fun I've ever had autocrossing an MBZ was with a 190e 16valve.
Find yourself one with worn out suspension and ragged seats,,,,,throw the seats out and put in some light weight comp seats.
Add a good rear sway bar,a set of clk wheels with good tires, and get a suspension set up from Ground control and you'll have a blast.
They also make uber fun track day cars.
I love driving away from the s2000 guys and then opening the hood to show them the bone stock 170k dirty engine under the hood of my 16v, when they come up to me in the paddock and ask about it.

I have all of about $5 grand invested in this little toy(did all the work myself) and I drive the living stink out of it.
190e Trackday Project Slideshow by MotorsportLegends | Photobucket

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Alain
independant MBZ tech since 1981
http://www.motorsportlegendsks.com/

Looks like fun!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Its interesting that MB has now gone away from supercharged motors. Given their long history with superchargers it is surprising that they have discontinued them.

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Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

Thanks for the education. It sounds broadly similar to what we see on the 55K engines, though the economics are different. I hear pricing in the vicinity of $1K for the clutch assembly and there is not a plentiful supply of kompressors & clutches from recycling yards. As well many AMG bearings fail before 100K miles, likely a consequence of how hard the cars are driven. At that point it makes sense to replace only the bearing, as there is plenty of life remaining in the clutch.

Not truly surprising since kompressors have some design challenges, like parasitic power loss and decreased mpg on smaller engines; mounting profile effect on design; belt driven. Improved turbo technology also reduced their downsides.

Twin scroll turbos have virtually eliminated the benefit of superchargers (turbo lag and spool threshold). The BMW N54 twin turbo and the N55 twin scroll turbos both have nearly imperceptible turbo lag, and spool up thresholds below 1500rpm. For bolt-on kits to older engines, SC's are decent because they are arguably simpler in most applications. There is a reason you see new cars with turbos everywhere and very few if any supercharged cars.

Then there's the VW "twincharge" which was a SC fed turbo setup, sold outside of the U.S.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Actually Jim, when I bought my SLK I was googling around looking at used Supercharger/Clutch units, and they seem to be quite plentiful on the used market in the $500 to $600 range. I have considered buying one while they are available and pickling it for future use, but it appears that they actually are quite robust unless the car sees a lot of high RPM or hard driving.

You know it's the best decision for auto x.