A neat look at how the supercharger system on an MR2 works

Kinja'd!!! by "MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
Published 01/12/2017 at 14:39

No Tags
STARS: 2


!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!


Replies (9)

Kinja'd!!! "Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap" (ddadragon)
01/12/2017 at 14:46, STARS: 0

More mechanical noise. But isn’t half the point of a supercharger the whine.

Kinja'd!!! "SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie" (sidewaysondirt)
01/12/2017 at 15:13, STARS: 0

Am I reading that right that there’s a bypass valve that can be closed for more boost?

Kinja'd!!! "crowmolly" (crowmolly)
01/12/2017 at 15:17, STARS: 0

That’s really nothing special, a lot of blowers have a bypass valve. You don’t always need boost.

I think the electric clutching is pretty novel.

Kinja'd!!! "SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie" (sidewaysondirt)
01/12/2017 at 15:30, STARS: 0

DON’T TELL ME I DON’T NEED BOOST ALL THE TIME!

Kinja'd!!! "crowmolly" (crowmolly)
01/12/2017 at 15:36, STARS: 0

Boosting in R is fun at first, but then you quickly realize it’s not necessary.

Kinja'd!!! "SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie" (sidewaysondirt)
01/12/2017 at 15:43, STARS: 0

It’s still necessary in an MR2 even though they’re magic without. One day I’ll get around to that twin-charged build for mine.

Kinja'd!!! "MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
01/12/2017 at 16:11, STARS: 0

Kinda. I guess it worked, though - my supercharger is pretty quiet.

Kinja'd!!! "MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
01/12/2017 at 16:13, STARS: 1

Not exactly. The bypass valve allows air to go around the SC when it’s not in use. It’s a clutched pulley so it turns on/off depending on engine load/vacuum. If you drive really gently, the SC doesn’t engage, air is bypassed, and you get good MPGs. Put your foot down just a little though and the pulley engages and the SC starts doing it’s thing.

Now, if you swap pulleys around and exceed factory boost levels, there is another Air Bypass Valve that will bleed off the extra. If you were to google “MR2 ABV Mod” you’d see it’s a simple matter of putting a T fitting into a line to let the SC overboost, if you have aftermarket pulleys. But the ABV mod doesn’t do anything on an otherwise stock engine.

Kinja'd!!! "Nauraushaun" (nauraushaun12)
02/02/2017 at 05:38, STARS: 0

This is really awesome. You’d think being able to disable the supercharger is something we would’ve have seen in the 80s. Fuel wasn’t that bad, especially for a 4cyl.