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I've put together some guides for the Pentax Super Program over on iFixit. Just wanted to share the resource and mention a couple interesting things I found while exploring the camera.
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Pentax_Super_Program
A fancy ME Super: The simplest way to think about the Super Program is as an ME Super with a few more bells and whistles. The basic structure of the cameras and many of the primary mechanisms are very similar. If you've worked on an ME Super, you'll find a lot of familiar real estate in the Super Program. They even share the same main failure point, the gooey rubber dampers in the mirror mechanism.
Production changes: The Super Program had a pretty major design change at some point in its life. The main flex PCB was redesigned to remove a bunch of the hand soldered connections in favor of a single unified screw down connector. The overall teardown procedure is very similar but the amount of soldering is greatly reduced. The iFixit guides try to cover procedures for both versions where applicable.
Electronic mirror release: The Super Program uses a solenoid to release the mirror and begin the exposure cycle. Normally, this can only be done with batteries in the camera, but there is a way to release the mirror manually if you just want to check mechanical functionality. Take off the bottom plate and find the slot just behind the front plate. If you reach in with a pair of tweezers, you can find the release latch and push it as the solenoid normally would. That will release the mirror and fire the shutter.
Viewfinder: The ME Super has a really annoying viewfinder. It's full of crusty old dust seals, takes a lot of time to clean out and is a pain to reassemble spec-free. The Super Program has a removable focusing screen, so cleaning is easy, and *no dust seals*. It needs basically no attention during an overhaul, which I love.
Tuning the shutter: There is actually a reasonable way to tune this shutter without the mysterious "T-Adjuster" mentioned in the service manual. The basic idea is to use jumper wires to connect the shutter to the front block but don't fully assemble the camera. In this state, it's electrically "complete" so you can start the exposure cycle with the shutter button, but you trigger the opening shutter curtain manually. And with the shutter exposed, you have easy access to adjust the curtain tension and even the curtain delay, which will tune the fastest speeds. It can feel a bit unwieldy with all the extra wires and having to actuate four separate things to complete an exposure cycle, but it is manageable.
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Pentax_Super_Program
A fancy ME Super: The simplest way to think about the Super Program is as an ME Super with a few more bells and whistles. The basic structure of the cameras and many of the primary mechanisms are very similar. If you've worked on an ME Super, you'll find a lot of familiar real estate in the Super Program. They even share the same main failure point, the gooey rubber dampers in the mirror mechanism.
Production changes: The Super Program had a pretty major design change at some point in its life. The main flex PCB was redesigned to remove a bunch of the hand soldered connections in favor of a single unified screw down connector. The overall teardown procedure is very similar but the amount of soldering is greatly reduced. The iFixit guides try to cover procedures for both versions where applicable.
Electronic mirror release: The Super Program uses a solenoid to release the mirror and begin the exposure cycle. Normally, this can only be done with batteries in the camera, but there is a way to release the mirror manually if you just want to check mechanical functionality. Take off the bottom plate and find the slot just behind the front plate. If you reach in with a pair of tweezers, you can find the release latch and push it as the solenoid normally would. That will release the mirror and fire the shutter.
Viewfinder: The ME Super has a really annoying viewfinder. It's full of crusty old dust seals, takes a lot of time to clean out and is a pain to reassemble spec-free. The Super Program has a removable focusing screen, so cleaning is easy, and *no dust seals*. It needs basically no attention during an overhaul, which I love.
Tuning the shutter: There is actually a reasonable way to tune this shutter without the mysterious "T-Adjuster" mentioned in the service manual. The basic idea is to use jumper wires to connect the shutter to the front block but don't fully assemble the camera. In this state, it's electrically "complete" so you can start the exposure cycle with the shutter button, but you trigger the opening shutter curtain manually. And with the shutter exposed, you have easy access to adjust the curtain tension and even the curtain delay, which will tune the fastest speeds. It can feel a bit unwieldy with all the extra wires and having to actuate four separate things to complete an exposure cycle, but it is manageable.