Send it back, i have a novi 2000 and it is a very quiet blower, the only noise you should here is the slight whine of the gears at idle after 1800 rpm is should be silent. There is definately some grinding in the casing
Edge, I now have about 3000 miles on my Vortech. The noise is definately noticeable but doesn't seem as bad as when i first put the blower on. It is still making full boost, no oil leaks and i've just done a 1100 mile round trip down south with some fairly sprirted driving. I've also done an oil change and nothing was out of the ordinary with the oil I drained out. One thing i have noticed is the gear noise gets louder as the blower warms up also with more miles on it the whistling sound is getting slightly louder. I think if anything was wrong with the blower it would have blown up by now! Hope this helps.
I actually email paxton earlier today, I asked them to check out the video again and see if it needs to go back or a service? I'd feel happier if they looked at it and said it was ok...
dude let me tell you.. 3 months ago when i installed mine it made the same sound yours does.. you can look at my vid here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6841852673207545876&hl=en
i thought i already posted this but mabye it was somewhere else? anyway i've been driving the car since it installed the novi in end march getting on boost 30 times a week 350miles a week in city traffic and after at couple of having to tighten the belt 'real real hard' the novi does sound as bad anymore.. i've been thinking that it just needed to be run in.. i'll try to record a new video soon so you can hear the difference..
oh by the way its still on the factory maf so i'm only getting 5-6psi of boost.. guess its a good way to run it in.
well.... better a late update than never i guess....
Currently the car is still making the same grind grind grind noise, thanks for the video danish.
My mapping is still a little off so I STILL haven't got on the boost yet but I will finish that up shortly and then get back on it. Weather here is atrocious at the moment so I haven't been out in the car for months.......
The sound still concerns me but I'm hoping to use the car a lot more this year so hopefully I can get some miles on it! Still.... with gas being £1.10/litre (that's about $10/gal) its a pricey game running this thing around..... feels awesome though!
Where I work, or am employed, when we have trouble finding a bearing problem from a noise we sometimes use a Stethascope (sp) if you will, with a 1/8 brass rod on it to pin point the whereabouts of the noise. Dont know if this helps but we use it on high speed compressors and such.
another small update...
i found another video on youtube where you can hear the blower on some other guys car making the same noises...
i think im gonna try finishing the tuning first and then put some miles on it to see what happens... either way, its out of warranty now so if it does need a repair im gonna have to pay out for it...
i would call paxton and make your case. The only reason it is out of warranty is because of time, not wear from being used. I would politely ask them to inspect it in the interest in keeping a customer. Its one thing to run the blower for 5K miles than have it junk out, but its another to have it sitting in a box for a year them bolted on with 0 hours of runtime and immediately having a grinding noise. send it back
if you can afford to run around town at $10/gal, you can afford to send it back lol
Talk about draggin a post up from the depths !!!!!
I thought I should really update it to help anyone else out in the future who may end up doing a search and coming accross this thread...
ITS ALL GONE QUIET !!!
I got REALLY fed up of not being able to drive the car due to the noise, it concerned me so much that I drove 3 miles in it last year, that was 1.5 miles to the annual inspection and 1.5 miles back home!
here's what I did.. it sounds so STUPID now but when you're clutching at straws... well.. anyway;
while the motor was idling I hooked a 3/8 ratchet with a 2" extension in to the tensioner and leant on it, the bearing noise completely disappeared!! This is the first time I'd tried this and I was SHOCKED! I called paxton immediately and they confirmed that the 113' belt supplied with the kit was correct and should be fine.
I figured that the belt was too short, the tensioner was to wound up and applying too much tension. Shorter belt needed....
I called summit to order whatever Goodyear belts were available in the next lengths. 114 and 114.5 are all they do, then its 117.5. I ordered all 3. $120 of UPS shipping later they arrived on the door step.
I tried the 114 first hoping it would work but knowing i had the other 114.5 belt if not. If i had to use the 117.5 belt i'd have to space the alternator up or something, maybe fab a new idler somewhere, not looking forward to that.
To get the belt on you need to remove a bolt from the bracket holding the blower so all in all, with VERY restricted access a belt change is 30 minutes at least! Fired it up with the 114" belt, an inch longer than supplied and BINGO, noise was barely there at all, i wrenched on the tensioner a TINY bit and the noise completely disappeared. I swapped over to the 114.5" belt and there's now no bearing grind at all...
The belt was too short, the tensioner was to wound up and it was leaning on the belt too much. This was pulling the pulley on the blower out of square with the bearings and causing a slight grind.
Now to map it with the PRP at the dyno... the dynos here are $200/hour, dont know what theyre like over there, i figure i need the best part of a day to sort the new fuel/ignition and then confirm the meth inj is working as I want it to..
So, all in all, a happy ending, eventually.... I ordered the blower before Christmas 2006, started stripping the motor for install Christmas day 06, figured out it needed a longer belt and fitted it.........October 09...
The paxton manual figures its an 8 hour install...... i beg to differ....
A little late on this but did anybody ask you to check the run out on the crank damper? I had a problem with the idler pulleys making a repeative squeak. Turns out that the outer ring of the damper was old and shrinking. This made the outer ring have a slight run out. Causing the tensioner to adjust constantly (the squeak).
Perhaps it doesn't matter at all. Look at the tensioner. If it is moving all of the time, something is out of round.
Your lucky you have an easy belt length to find. Mine is an 8 rib 107.4 Gates belt. Have to special order it. Mine is also a novi but I'm running a much different pulley set up. I don't understand how a small belt caused that noise. My belt is so tight that it takes 2 people to change the belt. Just a piece of advice grind the bracket near the idler pulleys so you don't have to unbolt the bracket during belt changes.
my belt was REALLY tight, it was a strugle 2 man job to change it, had to slip it over the water pump as its the easiest smooth pulley to get to.
the new belt is still very tight but obviously just right. The old belt was so tight the tensioner was exerting maximum force on it and pulling down on the supercharger pulley. This was causing the bearings in the blower casing to make the noise.. A friend of mine over here with a bullit had the same issue. Paxton told min to do a few hundred miles, he said the noise got quieter (now ive figured that's due to the belt stretching a tiny bit). I guess he should have a bigger belt too, to save any damage, although it maybe too late for precautions. That's why I've not driven the car at all, I was worried that whatever that noise was could do some damage!
Regarding belt length, yeah, you're right, at least it was an on the peg item. However, Goodyear don't suply belts that long to the UK, nor can they order them in, I spoke to the Goodyear warehouse over here and they said there's no application in Europe for a belt that long. I had to order them from summit and pay over $120 in shipping!!!
On the belt tensioner moving point, the tensioner on the car hardly twitches at all, its pretty stationary... However, the tensioner on the fox body hops all over the damn place, i should check the pulleys on that motor... thanks for the tip