I spent some time mulling over different ideas before making mine. I discarded some ideas that involved welding onto the very end of the arm. I've no scientific evidence that it's a bad idea, but it didn't make me completely comfortable. Of course it'll 'hopefullyprobablypossiblymaybe' be fine!

Without destruction testing an original arm and my replacement, I couldn't say exactly how they compared, so I made something that I was sure was stronger.

[quote="Harley"][quote="ken"]Pete,
but did those modifications involve welding any high strength bolts?

These are interesting mods,I often am concerned where people alter critical components, having spent a few years as a technician in a university metallurgy lab, such things worry me.
However I wonder in this case re the welding of HT bolts as the stress is likely to be more a sheer than a tensile one, would this make a difference? When you consider the increase in size of the bolt over the original neck on the ball.

We used rose type joints on track rod ends on karts when I was racing,I guess they still do these were much smaller with a 8mm bolt/stud fixing.I never had one break nor recall anyone else either.Even after a visit to the straw bales which bent the track rod but not fracture on the rose fittings!

Just the view of an old bloke who still worries!

I wouldn't worry about the strength of rose joints from the likes of Mid-West Control Systems or Heim. I'd be more concerned about the steering arm itself. None of these parts seem to be made by Citroen any more - unless it is proven to be New Old Stock. They are all pattern parts made in China, India, Taiwan or Vietnam. I have been involved with outsourcing in all of these countries and there is no QA of any sort. QA data is usually faked unless the sourcing company actually sends its own QA people out there on secondment.

The view of the Chinese, in particular, is that if stuff breaks then they will supply replacements and review manufacturing techniques only if legal action makes it necessary. Bolts are marked with grades but they are not tested. To be sure if a batch is to spec then it needs to be tested in the West. Buy critical application stuff from suppliers who are able to give you a test certificate or if it is known to be made in Europe, UK or USA.

If anyone tells you that their parts are made in the Far East to original specifications, ask if they send Western staff out there to monitor quality on a regular basis. If the answer is yes then you can be reassured. If the answer is no then chances are that the part is far from original quality.

A scary concept we have gone full circle with crap made in china,I remember a good few years ago when all the stuff imported from here was crap anything metallic was made of what we called monkey metal soft as sh** and a danger to anyone using it.Here we are with our wonderful government promoting trade with these clowns!

The Chinese factories will do exactly what you want them to, but you have to seriously monitor what they're doing. If you do not monitor them closely then they will think you aren't bothered what they send as long as it's cheap. Unfortunately, that's just the way some Western companies want it.

Here begins the latest unnecessary modification..... Just bought this on eBay;



I was originally looking for an Aisin AMR 500 from a 600cc Subaru Vivio. The one I was bidding on went for way over £500.

This is from a Nissan Micra SuperTurbo (1000cc) and went for £100. It's much smaller than an Eaton M45 or or M24 but not as small as the AMR500. However, I can play around with pulley size. It currently has an electric clutch but I think I will ditch that and run it full time in a draw through style.

I need to lower the compression of my engine and I'll having some spacers for the bottom of the barrels laser cut. The carb is easy to set up as it is an SU and there's a huge choice of needles.

The real difficulty is sorting out the drive to the supercharger. I think I will relocate everything off the top of the engine and stick the supercharger there. Oil filler/breather can go almost anywhere. Carb no longer needs to sit in it's original position as it now needs to be on the inlet of the supercharger and that can be accomplished with a flexible pipe (may be the hand-bendable stainless stuff). I may be able to put the alternator down low but it might also be possible to run it off the driveshaft or the rear wheel. We shall see.....

from a modern micra or a march MA09ERT?

The older one - I tried to get one off a new one (or off the new turbo + supercharged Polo) but there aren't any in the scrapyards as yet I guess.

I'm surprised it went for as little as £100 then, MA09ERT engines and their bits are fairly rare.

Ed at Fusion motorsport (http://www.fusion-motorsport.co.uk/) is your man if you need any advice on the supercharger its capabilities and problems.

Nice one BJ!

The Vivio had the smaller AMR 300, 300cc displacement per rev. They are quite common here in Aus. In fact some one else here in Aus bought one just today for their 2cv!
If you want an AMR 300 or the larger 500 I can post one to you.
There are 6 AMR500 on ebay atm

Looking forward to see how this progresses

Harley