Derek

Wow Jeff that's really looking good! Heck the car looks tuff just in the black primer. How's the arms holding up? Derek

Sanden style compressor These are the lines from the compressor leading into the core support. Running across the front with the custom clearance bend for the fan! Drier with high pressure cut off switch. Hard lines running into passengers compartment. I should probably put some insulation on the low side line. I'll say it again. This A/C upgrade has been the best thing I've done for my Z since I converted from the flat tops to the SU's and that was done in 82. I can comfortably drive the car in the Florida heat. Derek

Very cool! Derek

USE THE OIL!!!!!! I just changed to Illuminas on my 73 and the front tubes were rusted in so badly that I had to make a puller to get them out. The drivers side was so bad that I ripped the threads off of the end of the shock, then pulled the shaft and piston out of the shock tube. I finally had to tig weld a steel plug in the old tube to pull with. Derek

Wow nice find! Unfortunately they appear to be in France. Now do that same search magic for a place in the states and I'll really be impressed! At this point I'll probably buy a couple of kits from the guy on ebay and see if the stuff works. If it does the job then I'll try and source a larger quantity if I go into production. Thanks Derek

It's amazing what you can find with a little digging! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Tri-Power-Quadrajet-Carburetor-Throttle-Plate-Sealer_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33551QQihZ014QQitemZ330250253297QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW Alright now I'm sold on the sealer idea. Good enough for the "majors", good enough for me! And the data sheet from the MFG (I think) http://www.achesoncolloids.com/NR/rdonlyres/02BD7E6E-0BC8-41C3-93AC-EAA59144426A/0/Dag213.pdf I'll do some more digging and see if I can locate it in a little larger quantity. Derek

Check out this link to a patent. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5640942.html Scroll down to the description and it sheds a little light on it. Never heard of pre-sludging before. Derek

Aluminum against aluminum would be really sticky. Hot aluminum is even worse. The fact that I have aluminum against stainless will help. When I cut the plates on the angle jig the leading and trailing edges will have a chamferd edge that will aid in sealing. My plan is to get the best fit I can without the sealer. I'm then going to put the whole rig into an oven and let it heat soak. Then I'll check the fit and stick on the plates. At least that's the plan for now subject to change without warning! My client who makes the hot rod parts also told me about offsetting the throttle plate on the shaft. This lets the engine vacuum help seal the plate in the tube when it's closed. More stuff to chew on! Derek

If these products are hard then that could create problems on their own. My throttle tube is machined stainless. There really aren't any imperfections other than the ones I put in after the fact by mistake. I think my main problem is the inaccuracies in the machining of throttle plate. I talked to one of my clients who makes injection systems and carb parts for vintage hot rods. I described my angle jig for machining the throttle plates and he said that's exactly the way they did it. I guess for all practical purposes if I waxed up the throttle tube and painted the adhesive on the butterfly while it was closed then the adhesive/filler would stick to the plate and not the tube. This would create a sealed edge for sure. Derek

That looks like what Tony was talking about. The specs are certainly in line. Thanks Derek

Nothing much happening. Buried in work right now. But boy do I want it! Derek

Hi Joe Great looking setup! I'm casting my own ITB EFI manifold. I have an L28 with an E88 head. I'm trying to figure out my injector sizing and thought I had it nailed until I saw your post. The calculators I used are calling for a larger injector than the 14LB your using. I'm not quetioning your choice I'm wondering if I'm thinking a little too big. Can you give me a little info on how you made your choice? Thanks Derek

I've lived in Florida since 1968. I grew up here and learned to drive here. Rain and wet roads are a fact of life. The road conditions are poor and there's always one road or another under construction. If your only doing 5 over the speed limit you sure as hell better be in the right lane, so we don't consider 75 in a 70 speeding. A maneuver that you've made hundreds of times on wet roads before suddenly becomes an out of control spin for no apparent reason. It's happened to me a few times. It happened to my dad and he defined the description "slow and cautious". To me this would be tantamount to me criticizing some one in the north for loosing control of their car on a frozen road. We don't call it "Florida ice" for nothing. Jeff posted his experience here so people could gain from it, and because he wasn't contrite enough for some of you, some posters decided he was a menace to the roads. Most of you did it in ways that were guaranteed to elicit the types of strong responses you received. You can wrap it phrases like "tough love" or "trying to make you a better driver" but all it does is turn discussions into flamefests. Derek

Holy crap that's a little harsh. maybe you should try some decaf. One of the few times I wish I was a moderator! Derek

Hi Tony I'm absolutely not going to have any air gap on the butterflies. I can see the cumulative effect of a little gap on each one time six! I can also see the benefit of having the bleeder. I'm in a catch 22 situation on the butterfly jig. In order to make this manifold work I have to make the jig. If I go to the trouble of making the jig I might as well make the butterflies. I called Kinsler and they want $16.00 each for the butterflies. $96.00 is close to the tipping point anyway for me to MFG them. Can you go into a little more detail on this: Thanks Derek

Go with the vintage air kit. It replaces the heater and fan assembly. I'm running one in my 73. It's been in the 90's in Florida and it's cooling the car with no problems. Here's a link I posted on it. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=133709 Derek

Aw Jeff that really sucks. Is this going to affect your move? On the bright side you get to get rid of that Rustoleum roller job! Call me Monday if you get time. Derek

I'm controlling the idle with a IAC. The bores are 1.495. I just need to get through this one as I'm going to buy pre-made butterflies from Kinsler if I do any kind of production. They have a 1.523 as a stock size and they'll make any size you want. I'm also going to make everything work with their throttle arms and shafts. No need to reinvent the wheel. Their stuff has a really nice old school feel and will work well with the style. Derek

Yep I'm aware of the oval shape. If it's round it won't close as well and has the potential to stick. My problem is my mill isn't as fresh as it was when it was new. It has a little backlash and while perfect for pattern work trying to make a butterfly fit properly is a bit of a problem. I'm thinking of making a mandrel for the lathe that has a 14 degree face on it and 2 screw holes to hold the butterfly blank. I'll machine the blanks a little oversize in the mill and then screw them to the mandrel and make a finish pass with the lathe. This should also cut a knife edge on the leading and trailing edge of the butterfly. In theory this should work but of course we all know I live in theoryville! I wish I knew how much gap I could get away with but I figure it's easier to do it right and just be done with it. Derek

This is exactly how I describe my design concept to my friends. Like the "old CAN-AM cars" I guess I got pretty close then! Making the patterns for the rear manifolds aren't that big of a deal. All I do is mirror the design in the 3D program and add the additional bosses. Since there seems to be a fair amount of interest in this thing I'm making some changes so that the machining can be a little easier. The cost is going to be a little pricey. Most certainly more expensive than the TWM setups. But I like to think your getting a lot more for the money! Thanks again everyone for the kind words. It really does help on a large risky project like this. Derek

Luke.... trust your instincts in the 3d solids program. Alright, after looking at the pics again you made me go out and check with a square against the head. I'll have about 1/8" between the center horns. It sure looked like it was going to be collision city though. Because the throttle bodies come in at different angles along the horizontal plane, having horizontal shafts would be a real pain to machine. And besides I love the look of the linkage on the top. Repeat after me, form first function second! Derek

First off I know I could have picked a nicer head and valve cover but this is the best I could come up with. This is probably the last I'll be doing on the manifold for a month or so. I'm super busy right now and in this economy I better get while the gettings good. I will be doing the final design on the rear manifold in the meantime. Derek

Thanks guys. The biggest compliment you can get is someone interested in buying your product. I will be selling these assuming it works to my expectations. I will say though that it won't be a budget manifold. There's a lot of hand work that goes into this thing. Derek

Yea I can't wait to hear them run. At this time I don't have plans on streamlining the shafts. If I start producing these I may increase the shaft size to 5/16" diameter. this gives me more options on pre made components like levers and such. Derek

I think I have everything mocked up at this point. Here's a shot of the linkage with the throttle closed. And open This is just a practice butterfly. I need to make a jig for my lathe so I can make these as a turning operation. Milling them just isn't giving me the results I want. Say AHHHH And yes that is a giant step between the casting and the throttle tube. I have a fix for the next manifold. I just need to figure out what I'm doing on this one. This is the vacuum bleed for synchronizing the venturis. I need to lower the rear boss. Also the throttle shafts will be shorter. It looks a little shabby this way. At this point I think I have enough info to finalize the design for the rear manifold. Now all I need is time! Derek