markrolston@mac.com

Welding on the plenum is done. We need to bead blast the surface to give it an even coating. I like that look better than the bling of a polished surface. The flange for the plenums are also attached. They are glued in place.

The end tanks for the intercooler are done. The pic here shows the twin outlets at the top of the intercooler that divert air to the plenum.

My new (used) shift knob arrived. It's in Alcantera. If the CF dashboard fails then I plan to do the dash also in Alcantera. The Sparco CF DTM seats I hope to use are also in the same material. I'll need to replace the hat with a new hat with the appropriate shift pattern. I need to figure out how to get that done. I assume I can find someone to laser cut a graphic into a shaped piece of aluminum. Other than the shift pattern, perhaps I'll put a nice big "Z" on it.

The rear suspension rocker is installed. The transmission with the new shifter is in. I bought a porsche GT3 knob to place on the rod. I'll cut a new shift pattern into a hat to replace the current knob hat. And the engine bay is coming along. I'm showing both of my Z's at Austin's Wekfest on September 30th. Come check it out if you're in the area.

The rear suspension rockers are mounted now. They fit much better. The new shifter is installed. It sits a little far back but seems to feel fine sitting in the car. I'll need to test fit the center console. I plan on the console being stock (but made of new materials- CF or leather) so I may need to move the shift hole in the console. Not a problem. We also found some nice, reasonably priced clamps for the turbo plumbing. This will allow us to go (almost) entirely without silicon connectors. Also shown here is the end caps for the intercooler almost ready for welding up. The piping will interface where the two humps are.

yeah, the blue was cool. I have a collection of aluminum parts that will wait until we're further along to decide whether to anodize or not.

The new rocker arms for the rear suspension came in today. The original ones (blue) did not extend enough and caused the shock to hit the frame on extension. These new ones should alleviate this.

I started with the desired hub-to-hub width (~57.5") and then subtracted from that to come up with the frame rail width (28") for mounting the corvette suspension arms. So the corvette parts remained stock. Art morrison mounted the suspension to a frame rail for me. They typically do this for hot rods. The design I made is here: http://www.rolston.me/NewSite/New_Z_Blog/Entries/2008/9/27_Front_Suspension.html

The engine plumbing and plenum are coming along nicely. The silicon bend will become an aluminum piece soon.

Here is the first shot of the turbo downpipes. The fit is tight but is working according to plans so far. Also, final parts for the dry-sump pump arrived so that's getting installed. And lastly, we are just starting to work on the rear diffuser design. Note how the transmission bellhousing sticks way down below the dry sump. We will have to make a cover for this. Also, the front splitter will cover a lot of this to provide good aero. The goal is to have most of the underside flat and smooth.

Hood clearance is tight but we trimmed the tops of the original foam plenum mold to clear the hood so any further shaping would still fit within. The plenums are completely clear of the coils. The turbos are on the sides of the engine (see older pic) and so the charge pipe runs low and forward to the intercooler, then out of the intercooler straight into the TBs as shown in the mockup render. And yes, it'll all clear the belt assembly easily. The whole engine bay is pretty open and easy to package within since there are no inner fenders to contend with.

Thanks. It's been a long haul- 4 years and another year to finish. Here's a quick mockup of where I'm headed. It's just a rough render and the TBs are not included.

The oil sump position all the way in back meant the lines were too long. It will now be on the passenger side in the engine bay. The plenum is coming along. Here's a first shot of how it will sit atop the engine. Lastly the diff is now installed. Up next is the finished plenum, intercooler, radiator, and turbo plumbing.

Plenum is coming along. Here are the parts before we pull the foam out and add one more layer of CF for cosmetics. Also, oil tank is installed and intercooler core just arrived.

at least 3 layers cold and bagged. likely 4. then we cook the assembly in an oven to cure them above engine operating temps. That makes the material stable at those temps. Then one more layer for aesthetics. It'll hold way more pressure than what turbos can produce. yes, pull the aluminum flanges and the internal foam and clay is accessible. not too hard. internal walls will be smooth. then those flanges will be welded to the tubes and horns and the assembly bolted back to the CF plenum body with a gasket seal. The inlet has an aluminum tube so we can weld a flange to this to bolt on the TBs.

first layer of CF.

some really cool news to share as well- one of the guys in my studio has a long history in the automotive industry (he was the project leader for the Porsche GT) and he shared my plenum design with the Ferrari engine design team just to get some advice (good friends to have!). I got word back this week that they think the plenum design looks just right for the engine and it's purpose. Kinda cool to get the thumbs up from such esteemed sources.

some small progress on the plenum. foam now covered in clay. Symmetry was (as predicted) a b!tch to get right. Next step is carbon fiber.

3D printing certainly is an option but to make it a CF part means I need to be able to remove the material once it's wrapped, and the printer plastic would not be so easy to extract. The foam is relatively easy to remove. I am also integrating interior aluminum horns, which is why there is an aluminum plate on the inner side of the plenum.

yes thanks but both his method and the final product aren't really what I'm looking for. But thanks for the help.

a little plenum progress. Roughly shaped. Symmetry is a b!tch.

The car is at a friends shop- Laivins Race Cars. I'm sure he'd be happy to show it to you if I'm not there. Just give him a heads up. I'm in/out of there during the week at odd hours so it's hard to say exactly when you'd run into me. http://www.laivins.com/contact.html I keep my RBZ at home. I live in the downtown area- clarksville.

working on the plenum. Now that I have a foam mold of the outer dimensions, I will start to shape it down this week.

Plenum turning out harder than imagined. Regardless, still working on it. In the meantime, a few minor things: A shot of the Borg Warner 6758 (http://www.turbodriven.com/files/pdf/179388-EFRTechPages.pdf) that I plan to use. And a shot of one of the manifolds nearly done.

thanks. design constraints (hood) require I curve the runners in order to lay the plenums down on their sides. Horns will be mounted ~1/2" off the backing plate in the plenum. You can see the horn itself in some of the pics sitting free. Likely to switch to CF for the plenum since aluminum is turning out a PITA to shape the way I want it. Lastly, since this is estimated to be ~700hp turbocharged motor when done, the +/-5hp variable from minor design flaws isn't my concern. I'm just trying to trap major issues while at the same time keeping it an attractive design.