Derek

Well the news is not good. I'm sick as a dog right now. I've been afraid to work on them because I can't concentrate and I don't want to make a pile of scrap! Went to the doc today and got some meds so I should be back on track next week. Sorry again for the delay. Derek

Be careful Chuck or you'll end up like me!

I left the throttle shafts long so I can add torsion spring on the bottom. Braking induced movement (news to me but makes sense) works to my advantage. Sick as a dog right now but managed to get the parting lines cleaned up on the rear manifold. I shipped it back over to the foundry for shot finishing. I'm heading down to another foundry on Friday to cast the vacuum log. MUST FINISH MANIFOLD (In my best William Shatner impersonation) Derek

Springs......We don't need no stinking springs!!! Unsure how the throttle is going to work. Originally I hoped to make the stock bell crank work but I won't really know until it's on the car. That's the only thing I'm leaving till the end. Besides I don't need an accelerator pedal to start it! I see a few over night deliveries in my future. Derek

It's big, it's heavy, it's wood. Ok it's Corian and it's not really heavy. Got the pattern done for the log today and I'm about halfway through with the core mold. The X axis motor on my router decided to take a crap on me and proceeded to start to chew up the pattern. Nothing that a little duraglass couldn't fix. The protrusion to the left is the core print and won't be part of the casting. Derek

Thanks for the vote of confidence Tony. I feel like I've addressed most of the problems with my design. But the devils in the details. I'll make castings available on a case by case basis. I'm worried about someone having problems with the machining and then creating a bad name for the product. Made the big order with Mcmaster Carr today. Brass sheet for the butterflies (easier to machine than stainless) Stainless steel seamless tube for the injection lines, fittings and a really cool knurled screw for my main idle air bleed. I also ordered up all the stuff for from UNI Filter for my air filters. Time for the big push. I'm carving the vacuum log pattern and core box tomorrow. Then I'm getting started on the rest of the handwork on the manifolds. I'm having trouble coming up with the DAG 213 for the bores. The guy on ebay is out and he should have it in a couple of weeks. I found it from a distributor but I have to make a $500.00 purchase!!! At this point I'm feeling pretty good about where I'm at with everything. I'm really hoping to have this on the car the beginning of January. I mean really hoping! Derek Oh and thanks a lot I see I'm now "That Horny Z Guy" But of course I'm from Ocala where the men are men and the sheep are nervous!

Well in my mind Mikunis are worth more than that:-| Originally I was going to sell the raw castings but these are only as good as the machine work. I see lots of potential for problems if they're not done properly. We're really getting ahead of ourselves here. These things may run like crap and not idle at all. Here's all I'll say about pricing until they're running on my car. They won't be cheep! No more talk of pricing as it will suck all of the fun out! And there's a long way to go before they're running! Derek

Thanks Well considering a used set of Mikunis goes for $1300 -1500 I don't think your going to see a three figure price! There's a lot of work in these things and realistically there's a very small market for this stuff. I'm not ready to throw any prices out yet but I can guarantee you they will be more expensive than a used set of Mikunis! A lot more. Thanks Derek

Well I just priced some brass sheet .063 thick. 12" x 12" $40.00 Yikes. I may have some .080 brass but that's getting a little thick. I have a bunch of 316 16 gauge stainless that I'm going to try first. The bores have a stainless liner so wear won't be an issue. derek

Hi Tony I originally chose the aluminum for the butterflies because I saw that Kinsler used 2024 for theirs. Of course this was for a race application not street. What started me thinking on this was since there are no throttle stops it's just the butterflies slamming shut each throttle closing. I could see the aluminum deforming over time. I think I'll go with stainless first and if it becomes a pain to work with I'll switch to brass. The alodine is a good idea. I've used it before on other applications but always under paint. One method I've used on sculptural applications is to heat the aluminum and then brush on butchers wax. you then give it a good wiping down. This keeps it an aluminum color. I'll order up some alodine and do some tests with both and see which one I like best.

Well when words fail cash can usually get the message across! Yes it's going to be pretty tough around here if this thing actually runs! I ordered up the bore polishers from MSC so I can get the insides finished off. Then I can finalize the butterflies. I'm starting to lean towards stainless steel for the butterflies as opposed to aluminum. That way all of the components will be stainless. Derek

Thanks! No problem. The end of the bells are where the face of the SUs are so they don't come very far out. The rear bell might be a tad close to the accelerator mount coming off of the fire wall but that won't pose a problem. Derek

Well truth be told I couldn't wait either! Making chips The new clamping arrangement worked out perfectly. Now I really have to go back to work. I have the head setup in a prominent place so I'll keep motivated. So far it's looking exactly like I wanted. I'm really happy. Thanks Derek

Thanks guys You don't know how bad I want to see it happen as well! I'm going to try to knock out the machine work on Friday. I'll be able to bolt it up to my mockup head but that's the best I can do. Like Phar said. I'm in no hurry to take down my daily driver. I'm having too much fun, and tooling around in the F250 diesel just isn't the same. I still have a ton to do. Pattern and core box for vacuum log Machine rear manifold clean up the bores make jig for machining butterflies machine butterflies finish linkage make air cleaners make injector hold downs fabricate fuel lines machine fuel distribution block make surge tank YIKES!! I probably shouldn't have done that. That's a mighty big list. The flanges are identical to the stock manifolds so they will use the stock gasket. Derek

Hey Jeff how you been? I know, can you believe how long this is taking? When I showed you the first pattern at the Daytona convention I had no idea it would be this involved. Derek

Well the pour went really well except for the bosses on the top for the throttle shaft bushings short ran. No big deal as I'll tig weld them up and they'll be just fine. The inside came out much better than the first one. The stainless tubes match the aluminum really well. I won't be doing any machining for a few day's as I have a pattern that I need to get done. Derek

Thanks! Actually if you go back to the original design thread http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=121021 You'll see that I really don't know too much about manifold design. I did some searching and got some input from other hybrid members. At this point if it runs better than my 25 year old SUs then I'll be happy! Hi Phar The PVC sheet that I use as the base is great except it's a lot like wood in that in order to get a good finish it needs to be painted and sanded. If I use the gel coat I can eliminate that step. I ended up painting and sanding the manifold anyway. I wasn't very happy with the finish. I'm not sure where garage queen came from as this is my daily driver! And I hope to keep it that way. I rescheduled the pour for next week as I have some machine maintenance to do. Thanks for the support. Derek

ok that's the good news. Unfortunately I won't be able to do any machining this week as I'm heading over to the foundry to cast my rear manifold tomorrow. The castings look great. I'll be doing the machining the first part of next week. Derek

Well if the foundry gets a decent core today I'll be heading over there tomorrow to pour the rear manifold. Here's a shot of where I'm at now. I still need a little touch up an I need to get it mounted to the board. WAHOO!!! Derek

The hubs are going to made from Almag 535 which is an aluminum magnesium alloy. It has a very high tensile strength. It machines really well. It's used a lot in the aircraft and medical industry. I do a lot of patterns for a helicopter company and they have everything done in Almag. The nice thing about it is it's right at a T6 hardness with out heat treating. Using castings is going to save a ton of machine time. I'll still machine all surfaces but it will all be finish passes. I had about a whole day of hogging on the first one I made. Derek

No problem. I'm waiting for the hub blanks to get back from the foundry. I'll do the machine work on them right away and then we'll have the prices. Shouldn't be too long now. Derek

It's a good thing I don't do this for a living!....Oh wait...I do do this for a living. I went back and checked. April 2009 will be 2 years since I started the design. I better get this thing done! As I was finishing up the Hemi manifold I was struck how much more involved an ITB setup is. I feel I'm on a roll now though. I'm heading into my slower season (although I'm still slammed) I think I have the majority of the issues solved. I'm sure when I see that second manifold machined and mounted on the mockup head it will be full speed ahead. Thanks again for all the support and encouragement. Derek

I'm using a new procedure on a lot of my patterns and core boxes. I carve the piece out of sheet PVC. I make it about .015" undersized and then spray a few coats of tooling gel coat on it. I then put it back in the machine and do a final finish carving of the gel coat. Here is the carved core blank with the gel coat sprayed on Here are the blanks for the rear manifold. We're talking boss heaven! I'll be able to bolt everything on here but the kitchen sink! The square towers with the small squares on them are something I've added. These locate the manifold on the angle table for machining. this should make the setup a lot easier if I go into production. I'll then remove them with the gating. Derek

I just got started on the rear manifold on Friday. I'm roughing out the core box and then I'm on to the manifold pattern. I'm hoping to head over to the foundry right after Thanksgiving to do the castings. There is no fuel rail. I'll be using individual lines to each injector. I'm trying to get a mechanical injection look with the individual lines. Derek