Patent ID: 7426921

Claim:
A supercharger and air inlet assembly for mounting between the cylinder heads of a V type internal combustion engine having a crankcase, first and second banks of cylinders, a first cylinder head on the first bank, a second cylinder head on the second bank, each cylinder head having a respective head inlet face and a set of head inlet ports each extending from the head inlet face into the cylinder head, the supercharger and air inlet assembly being mounted between the cylinder heads, the assembly comprising: a supercharger having a rotor casing which includes a supercharger outlet face facing away from the crankcase and defining a supercharger outlet and including sides which face towards each of the banks of cylinders; a pair of air inlet casings, each air inlet casing being mounted to a respective one of the head inlet mounting faces and having a casing inlet opening and casing outlet ports, with at least one casing outlet port being aligned with a respective head inlet port; a cover having a cover inlet face by which the cover is secured to the rotor casing at the supercharger outlet face and a pair of cover outlet faces by which the cover is secured to at least one air inlet casing, the cover extending over the rotor casing to form, together with the rotor casing and the air inlet casings, a plenum, where air from the supercharger outlet enters the plenum and flows from the plenum through at least one of the air inlet casings and into the head inlet ports; and a securing fastener coupling at least one air inlet casing to the rotor casing at a respective one of the sides of the rotor casing.