TheSamba.com :: View topic - Finally got my AMR supercharger adapters done

Wed Aug 20, 2025 7:55 pm

been working on these adapters for most of the year. 3D printed a few initial test pieces then 9 variations of this one until it worked like i wanted ( really not too bad i dont think ). Then had to teach myself how to cast aluminum from there, which i think i have 3 months of failures and probably 20 attempts. These pieces aren’t 100% perfect but they are close enough. Had a buddy surface the mounting surfaces , and on they went!
I wanted to make simple adapters so anyone can mount an AMR to regular ‘ol run of the mill VW intake.
The 32/36 intake made the most sense as it was sized more similarly to the AMR, already had a support brace ( which did need to be reinforced) and it gets it up high enough to get the supercharger above the alternator.
I also wanted the ‘vintage’ look and the supercharger to be more centered and a focal point. i had / have no concerns about it fitting under the engine lid, but i think the AMR sits far enough forward that it’d clear the cowl under the back glass. Either way this wasn’t a big concern to me, i wanted to make adapters , not a kit, so that someone could build their own set up.
I do have other carb adapters in the works, IDF ( of course) and a PICT too. Considered making one to run a DCOE , thought that’d look cool staring at you from on top of the AMR.

As far as this engine, it’s just a bone stock 1600 with the exception of some old 1.4 Sig Erson rockers and HD springs. Need them? No , not really, but they do add a little lope to the idle.

And yes i did design and print the velocity stacks for the 23/36 too. They fit with chokes in place and also fit under the generic air cleaner too. And they do bring the mains in sooner so they are functional.

In another couple months , after I perfect the casting process better i plan to offer the adapters for sale. Im sure I’ll put a list in the classifieds.
Hope you bastards enjoyed the post!

Oh yeh, i had that oil pump cover custom CNC’ed too. Heh heh!

Thu Aug 21, 2025 4:35 am

BFB wrote:

"...Thou shall not worship false [idles]!!"

Ah, maybe we'll make an exception!! That thing is beautiful. What is that coil you're using?

Thu Aug 21, 2025 4:40 am

Thats pretty cool., good work...following

Thu Aug 21, 2025 4:40 am

Thats pretty cool., good work...following
Sorry duplicate

Thu Aug 21, 2025 6:08 am

thanks. the coil is from C.B. Performance

Thu Aug 21, 2025 8:16 am

8) Following!
I should really put my AMR to use someday...

Thu Aug 21, 2025 9:13 am

Latest Rage castings?

Thu Aug 21, 2025 9:17 am

Purty cool. Thanks, now I'm looking into these AMR's. :-k

Thu Aug 21, 2025 9:18 am

Thats one of the nicest supercharger builds ive seen. :thumbsup:

Thu Aug 21, 2025 10:03 am

Schepp wrote: Latest Rage castings?
intake end castings? if so, no, these are chrome plated oe vw.

Thu Aug 21, 2025 10:37 am

I was trying to talk shit about your casted parts but it didn't work. The force is strong with this one. Good shit mate.

Thu Aug 21, 2025 11:26 am

Glad to see someone is developing mounting solutions for the AMR. In its current configuration, it may try to break your adapter castings and bend the cylinder tin.

Since you’re doing your own casting, how making about a split collar, kind of like the big end of a connecting rod, to go around the body of the alternator and/or stand and cast a nub into the top of it to bolt down the other side of the supercharger body? That would put some of the counter-rotation torque load on the alternator stand and reduce its tendency to try to twist the manifold and bend the cylinder tin.

Thu Aug 21, 2025 3:04 pm

Rob Combs wrote: Glad to see someone is developing mounting solutions for the AMR. In its current configuration, it may try to break your adapter castings and bend the cylinder tin.

Since you’re doing your own casting, how making about a split collar, kind of like the big end of a connecting rod, to go around the body of the alternator and/or stand and cast a nub into the top of it to bolt down the other side of the supercharger body? That would put some of the counter-rotation torque load on the alternator stand and reduce its tendency to try to twist the manifold and bend the cylinder tin.

Unlike what Schepp said, i think im picking up what you’re putting down. ( i never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed and sometimes shit just goes RIIIIGHt over my head ! I get it now though, duh. Latest rage huh, haha… i was going to send you a free set but i guess not now! Heh heh )

im not sure why youd say itd bend cylinder tin though?

And this is why i wanted to do adapters and not a kit, i mean how many of you have bought a kit and not only had to modify it but also said to yourself “ i can make this better” and ended up doing your own thing? A lot , right? Then your like “ why the hell did i buy a kit, I could’ve built this. Hell, i rebuilt half of it”.

Thu Aug 21, 2025 4:34 pm

I'm looking at the rearmost down rod coming off the supercharger mounting point on its case. Tying it to the cylinder tin may not be quite strong enough to brace the supercharger because once you load it up, it's case is gonna want to rotate counterclockwise. The down rod/strut will, to the best of its ability, transfer at least some of that extra load into the weld nut in the cylinder tin. And yes I did note the second down rod going into the fuel pump mounting location.

I'm no engineer, and maybe one in the community will chime in, but because the supercharger is the displacement device, I'd suspect quite a lot of torque load will be present on that mounting system, at least at max output.

So the weld nut might tear out of the tin or the tin might twist if the nut holds up. That's a tough piece of metal but I don't know if it's that tough.

I could be wrong of course.

When I did mine, I ran a brace strut down from the mount to a fortified cylinder (about 3/4 inch diameter and M8 threads internal to the cylinder - it was pretty stout) I ran through the fan shroud where the 3-4 flaps would be, then bolted the strut heim joint to that fortified cylinder in hopes of countering the torque. I was also going to pick up an MST alternator stand and I had a Baja racing duty alternator strap (WIDE) to firm everything up and transfer at least some of the load back through the fan shroud, to the alternator stand, and into the case with a mount point other than the fuel pump mounting location. I suppose it could have bent the fan backing plates but that would be pretty extreme, so I was willing to chance it.

But, my project was never completed because of some heat warpage damage I did to the mount/intake manifold assembly, and other fitment issues that would still be present after I fixed the manifold, like the carb hitting the alternator and not being able to close the decklid even after the carb/alternator clearance issue was fixed, so I cut my losses and bailed out of the project. So I really don't know if the strut linkage, combined with the strength of the Scat fan shroud and down through the alternator stand, would have controlled the torque.

Hopefully that made sense...

EDIT - and you're right, it seems all the kits leave at least a little to be desired, in terms of mounting strength, anyway, so we end up doing our own thing.

Thu Aug 21, 2025 5:32 pm

To me, it doesnt look like that down rod is attached to anything. Looks like a bolt is going thru the heim joint with a nut on the end. I figured it would be attached to a head bolt.

There isnt a captive nut on the other cylinder tin either

Fri Aug 22, 2025 7:33 pm

Heh heh, yall need to zoom in more, get a bigger screen or something. Or ask for pics from a different angle maybe…
The foremost support rod is attached to a bracket welded to the intake heat tube block off plate. The other one attaches to a bracket thats bolted to the top of the case by using the distributor mounting stud.
With them this way it triangulates the supports giving it support both left & right , and fore & aft. Not to mention I reinforced the standard support bracket with 1/4 round rod on the backside. It’s pretty stout, you can grab just the supercharger and shake the whole engine on the stand. Especially considering this stupid intake doesn’t have the lower mounting point thatd use one of the top case studs. I wanted to use this one as it seems majority of the 32/36 intakes dont have this mounting point, so i wanted to make sure it could be sturdied up enough even without it.

I messed with it a little more today, Im not sure how other’s builds have gone but this thing seems to have a little blower surge, not a lot but it revs up and down about 400/ 500 rpm ( about 1000 - 1400 rpm ). With a 009 it would occasionally idle down enough to die , so i added the vacuum port, switched out the 009 for an SVDA running on manifold vacuum so timing at idle was like 20* and while it did surge it wouldn’t die, seemed like the surge smoothed out a little but i think it was just because the bump in timing didnt let it idle down near as far. Sounds pretty cool, I’ll upload a video sometime, wish we could save videos other places besides YouTube..
I dont really remember seeing videos of these AMR’s on vw’s that surged, seemed like most were pretty smooth?

Fri Aug 22, 2025 7:49 pm

This will give you a better idea of how they’re mounted.

Fri Aug 22, 2025 7:58 pm

Ok that looks better than I was expecting. Nice work! That kinda explains your question about why the cylinder tin would bend...

Hopefully it stays really sturdy.

As to timing, you've posted about setting up several black boxes so I don't need to sing the praises of programmable timing, especially with forced induction, to you. Why not make life easy on yourself and hook one up?

You may or may not tune the surge out of it with timing controls (might be fuel related), but you will have nearly unlimited options to optimize your timing.

Sat Aug 23, 2025 9:14 am

Thanks and yeh me too.

And im sure its fuel related, everything ive read on blower surged says its caused by a rich - lean condition.

I could use a BB but i think that the guy this engine is going to would prefer the simplicity of a normal dizzy. And with the low compression of a stock engine & low(er) boost of the SC i don’t think the BB is really needed, i think i can just limit the total advance and it’ll be good. Ive done that on several ‘simple’ turbo builds before. If there were any issues or he wants more out of it , id definitely present that as an option.

I also have this ‘problem’ with wanting to see what i can do with normal / everyday vw parts. I feel like i learn more trying to do things the hard way and also if i do end up selling these that i could confidently tell someone that it is doable with a vw dizzy.

Tue Sep 02, 2025 5:22 pm

It’s really amazing how much the belts seems to stretch and the play you get on the slack side. Because of that play i made a belt cover / guide on the compressor and i 3D printed a new idler pulley. The original idler pulley was from C.B. and im sure it was for a 6 rib, which let the 4 rib walk around. I tried a couple others from the parts store but wasnt really happy with them so just printed a new one with thicker and taller ‘walls’ which also made a narrower valley. Probably has 30- 40 minutes run time on it now, we’ll see how it holds up ups ( printed out of glass fiber ABS ).
Owner is supposed to pick it up this week and get it stabbed in soon ( hopefully) I’ll post pics of it in when i see it.