07/02/06  

I visited Pace Products last Friday. Hopefully I should have a quote soon on some of the items they are making for me. I am going back to the drawing board wih the chargecooler design as there standard core will not handle the kind of power my engine will produce. They will use oil cooler core inside the new chargecooler as it can handle the power. I will try and CAD a new design soon for both the chargecooler and the pre-rad. They are also making a new coolant swirlpot for me as the old one has its inlet on the wrong side. I have had to come up with an idea for the inlet for the supercharger. This will be made of a carbon inlet snorkel and an aluminium adapter. A hose will then link this to the airbox in the left hand pod. The inlet of the supercharger is quite close to the exhaust manifold so some shielding will also be added.

10/02/06 Pace products order in

My quotes came in from Pace Products and I have put the order in. I Have also ordered two carbon fibre intake snorkels from Reverie Ltd. I hope to cut out the bulkhead this weekend and remove the old fuel pump mounting plates. I will then make up two new fuel mounting plates. The new engine block and pistons should be here next week.

12/10/06      bulkhead cut out

I carefully marked out the area of the bulkhead to be cut out. Used a cutting disc on the Dremel to cut through the fibreglass. In the photo below you can see the rather large hole in my bulkhead.

Before I make the new aluminium panel to fit the hole, I will fit my spare engine with the supercharger to make sure there is sufficient clearance. I don't want to run into any problems later with things touching things they should not.

16/02/06 Things are arriving

Good news! Things are starting to arrive. The block arrived at he supplier yesterday so I will pick it up tomorrow or Saturday. The pistons and rings are being delivered tomorrow. The cam has arrived. The injection system will be here next week. I will be taking the block for maching next week. All things being equal I now have a chance of getting the engine back in the car next month. Fuel pumps and filters should be here in just over a week. I will post some pics when I have the parts. I hope to get to grips with my new TIG welder next week. I bought it last spring but don't seem to have had much chance to use it. I Have done a lot of MIG and ARC welding. I instructed MIG welding while working in Africa. TIG is a lot different though so we'll just have to see how it goes. It's the new bulkhead panel that I will be welding together. I also plan on making a shelf that will hold the EFI pump and the fuel swirl pot.

17/02/06 New block and pistons

The pistons arrived from the US this morning complete with new rings. They are JE 23° Extreme duty inverted dome forged pistons. They are designed for forced induction or nitrous use. Here's a pic.

I collected the new Dart little M block this morning. Here's a pic.

And another one.

19/02/06 2nd Trial fit

Been busy today trial fitting the spare engine to check on clearance for the supercharger. I started by removing the supercharger from the spare engine. I then fitted the second cylinder head to it, removed the oil filter, sump and oil pump. I then fitted the sump designed to fit in the Ultima. I rolled the car outside and fitted the engine. Next I fitted the supercharger to check for clearance. I was glad I did this as I need a little more room on the left side. I need the extra room to allow the engine to move under load. An extra 7-8mm should be ok. Here are some pics of the end of the days activities.