Having substantial vibrations through the steering wheel under WOT above 6k or so. Don't hear anything amiss; feedback only through steering.

A quick search suggests motor mounts and incorrect bracket tightening as potential causes.

I re-installed the brackets according to SoS's directions, with grease on the bushings since they felt a bit hard and dry. Also felt around the outlet for clearance from the crossmember; had perhaps .25" in the front, and felt no markings indicating contact. Not sure how much clearance is needed for movement under load.

I've had the supercharger on the car for approximately two years, always had some vibration. Feels more severe now than in the past, though. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Running 3.8" pulley now, which I realize is at the top end of the acceptable range for the 1220. Car is a 2003 with 70k miles.

 

How are the motor mounts? They can be cracked and you would never know without removing them to inspect.

 

My first guess would be motor mounts as well. Mine were completely shot, totally separated in the middle... basically only supporting the motor due to gravity, and I couldn't visibly tell until I removed them. The underside of the blower cover was contacting the cross member at the time and it was pretty noticeable sound-wise. I can't remember there being any steering issues because of it, but its possible. Its worth it just to get under the car, support the engine with a jack, and remove the mounts to check them out.

 

No clue on condition of the motor mounts; I visually inspected them from the top as best I could, and they didn't look obviously bad. But, frankly, I'm not really sure what to look for other than severe cracking or fluid (they're fluid-impregnated like the diff mounts, right?).

The steering vibration can be felt, but doesn't affect the handling itself. Only reason I can think of that could cause such a feedback would be chassis vibrations from the engine. Seems common for the mounts to go around this time. The car was sole daily from 2006 to 2013, at which point it transitioned to 50% duty, and saw pretty extreme conditions in both summer and winter; reasonable to assume various rubber components may have experienced accelerated wear. Odd that I don't hear any metallic rattling, though. How much clearance should I have between bottom of the supercharger and the crossmember?

I recall CoolGuy094 replaced with Meagan bushings and solved his vibration issue. Will start there.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

 

Yeah they have the fluid goop inside of them as well. But like I mentioned, I couldn't tell mine were bad until I removed them. I couldn't see any cracks or fluid from the top with them installed.

And just as another note; I did switch to the Megans when I replaced my old broken mounts, but I ended up going back to OEM mounts just because my car was 90% street use at the time and the slight additional NVH was a little annoying. Swapping in new OEM mounts (or just ones that weren't busted) would have solved my vibration issues just as well.

I remember having at least a finger-width gap between crossmember and bottom of compressor cover after the mount swap. At least.