Well, blow me down with an AMR-500
With the engine finished barring a few wee bits of fettling it is looking braw and it's a rather neat kit but some aspects are a little disappointing.
The welding on the bracketry and inlet manifold could be a bit neater and the inside of the manifold tube seems to have surface rust when the rest looks like its been passivated. The instructions are clearly written but could be 1,000 times better with a few photos or even a wee video on the website.
One thing that is a serious pain in the arse is the clerance between the carb and the alternator. For sure an old style VW generator is smaller but if it could be rotated by 45deg then there would be no issue about shorting out the electrics. I'm going to cut down the +ve terminal by 5mm and fit a strong rubber boot to avoid the immediate isses and to aid easy engine removal, an anderson connector will split the main +ve leads at the side of the engine so I'm not having to access the 2 terminals.
The supercharger mounts on 2 bolts and can be rotated for adjustment/placement. You'll see from the video below that there's a wire rod running from tinware to carb. This is to mock up the support rod I've designed (I'm waiting for parts, as ever) which will 'square off' the mounting to reduce the chances of the supercharger moving which is especially useful when driving like a loon in the desert!
Final touches are blocking off the space where the original oil cooler was, changing the alternator pulley with a chrome or silver one (if I'm feeling cheap, I'll simplpy paint the steel one) and swapping out the oil sump plate with one with a sump plug.
Job list before road testing
The welding on the bracketry and inlet manifold could be a bit neater and the inside of the manifold tube seems to have surface rust when the rest looks like its been passivated. The instructions are clearly written but could be 1,000 times better with a few photos or even a wee video on the website.
One thing that is a serious pain in the arse is the clerance between the carb and the alternator. For sure an old style VW generator is smaller but if it could be rotated by 45deg then there would be no issue about shorting out the electrics. I'm going to cut down the +ve terminal by 5mm and fit a strong rubber boot to avoid the immediate isses and to aid easy engine removal, an anderson connector will split the main +ve leads at the side of the engine so I'm not having to access the 2 terminals.
The supercharger mounts on 2 bolts and can be rotated for adjustment/placement. You'll see from the video below that there's a wire rod running from tinware to carb. This is to mock up the support rod I've designed (I'm waiting for parts, as ever) which will 'square off' the mounting to reduce the chances of the supercharger moving which is especially useful when driving like a loon in the desert!
Final touches are blocking off the space where the original oil cooler was, changing the alternator pulley with a chrome or silver one (if I'm feeling cheap, I'll simplpy paint the steel one) and swapping out the oil sump plate with one with a sump plug.
Job list before road testing
- fill charger with oil
- fit electronic ignition when it finally arrives from Oz
- fit support rod
- fit exhaust
- check seat belt fitting
- check seat runners
- tidy all wiring - especially at the rear
- Ideally fit new front suspension parts
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