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And the start of the manifold should be as straight as possible for as long as possible. Good for Locost kit cars but the Escort bay is very restrictive. I'm aiming for a 5 to 10cm of straight before the first bend. Still don't know how long the starter tubes will be though
After a bit of hammering its starting to look a bit better. The welder at work started to act up so can't bash them to the final shape untill I can weld the tubes to hold them still while hammering away.
Finished the primaries today. These things take up ridiculous time. I've spent over 15 hours with the four pipes alone. And several more on the flange, collectors and starter tubes. No wonder one needs to pay big bucks for quality manifolds. I believe I'm somewhere near 20 hours in with this manifold and its not even done yet. Rolling road will tell if this has been just a waste of time and money.
The manifold is now ready for tig welder. But that has to be put on hold for now. Yesterday as I got the manifold tacked I re installed the rear axle and lowered the car on its feet. The car has been standing for a long time with its rear on stands. The oil from the reservoir has migrated to the engine and revealed an oil leak
On closer examination I found it was the darn oil pump housing thats cracked again. This is due to my alternator installation (again). Its bolted to the oil pan which in turn is bolted to the engines original oil pump ( only cover left in my engine). Previously the upper alternator bracket had sheared and that stressed the pan / pump. Now the upper bracket was missing a vital bolt and again the vibration cracked the oil pump shell.
So I sepnt the whole evening changing the oil pump cover and improving the alternator brackets. I also replaced the washers I've used as spacers to align the the alternator with nylon ones to absorb some of the vibration. The lower bracket is now extended to spread the load along the oil pan instead of just jerking off one corner. Oil leak cured but I now have to re time the engine as I had to remove the timing gear to remove the oil pump cover.
As for now it seems I won't be using the new manifold in the next race which is on a week. I still need to take it to tig welder, build a suiting exhaust pipe for it and make an appointment on the RR to see if the mani is any good.
Anyway, yesterday i finished the final collector and its now ready for welding.
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