I am an "In my garage Mechanic" having tackled jobs that I never dreamed I would do. I figured out a way to install Chevy Cobalt SS Brembo calipers on my R52 MINI, assembled my own Meth/Water injection kit, made a larger GP1 intercooler by putting two intercoolers together and just recently changed my supercharger.
I was ready to order a Harrop's TVS900 supercharger when I got talking to guy I know over in Europe that had a 900 but had sold it. During our discussions I pulled up a site that listed all the different Eaton Superchargers and what cars they were on. Now the 1st Generation MINI came with a M45 Eaton that is good for about 0.7 liters with a 2 bar limit where the TVS900 is a similar size unit but with updated lobes it can produce 0.9 liters with a 2.4 bar limit. I got looking into the the M62 that is the next larger size and is rated for 1.04 liters with a 2 bar limit. Eaton stopped making 3-blade rotors when the TVS came out with 4-blade rotors. The M45, M62, M90 and M120 are all 3-blade rotors with 2 bar limits.
I did allot of research on the M62 as it is used on Miatas and was OEM on the Chevy Cobalt SS back in 2005. The Cobalt version was a Gen5 Eaton with a higher rev limit due to better needle bearings and also had Teflon coated rotors. An attempt was made to produce a kit for the 1st Generation MINIs back in 2006. It appears a total of four kits were fabricated using a MP 62 that is a Magnuson unit that uses Eaton as a base. At that time modding of the newer MINIs was not far along as there were really no good big valve/ported heads, no headers, no larger injectors and no really efficient ECU tunes. Of the three test mules a couple of guys posted about their journey. DDM that was making the kits had their prototype unit but never posted any data. The M62 made allot more boost than the M45 and attempts were made to address this boost but each solution cost more money so the kit was scrapped. I read where one guy had 20.5 psi of boost on a mildly ported head and header but that the heat produced was a big factor. Here is a picture from one of the four kits made.
So I set about figuring out if I could adapt the Cobalt M62 to my MINI. The same guy in Europe I was talking with has his own garage and is very talented with fabricating parts as well as tuning. We got talking more and as he is big time MINI guy with a following so he was very interested in creating a kit using the Cobalt M62. I bought a recycled one off Ebay. Here is what the Cobalt M62 looks like.
My journey began and I waited for the Cobalt supercharger to arrive.
Oh and yes I have a M62 and I will document my efforts over the upcoming days.
