54/0651 My unexpected project.

[matmacwac]

Nov 4, 2018

The engine is home safely and I was excited to marry it up with the tranny. The pulleys, belts, and distributor were installed as per Michelle's instructions.  As this was being done, he phoned to let me know that I had forgotten to take the gasket for the valve cover and that he would mail it to me. I found that the supplied belt for the alternator was too short and a longer one will need to be ordered from Summit Racing.

Brand new Weber DCOE 40s were trial fitted.

The header was going to need cleaning up and customizing. Michelle had left plenty of pipe on the end to be cut at a length that suits my needs. The plan is to wrap it in heat cloth.

[matmacwac]

Nov 8, 2018

Engine is in. 

I found that the supplied oil filter was too big to fit within the frame rails. I'll use a lower profile one and look into a remote filter setup. If anyone knows where I can find one, please let me know.
With the header in position, I found that there is almost no clearance from the cross member. I'll have to change it to allow for vibration and torque.

[Certified Lotus]

Looks great! I’m excited for you   

[matmacwac]

Nov 17, 2018.

The heat wrap and alternator belt has arrived from Summit Racing. I painted the header flange with high-temp paint and started the learning process of heat wrapping. I hung the header which allowed me to turn the pipes as I wrapped. The material is glass based so I wore gloves and a bottle of water spray. When the material is wet, it is easier to make it tight.
The second pic shows the blood stain.

If your not bleeding … your not trying.

[jbcollier]

Oops, sorry missed your question.  Standard Ford filter adapter:

https://www.jegs.com/i/Ford-Performance/397/M-6880-A50/10002/-1

(illustration only, not an endorsement of Jegs)

[matmacwac]

That filter adapter looks great. The Ford adapter fits a Renault? Isn't there a Metric / Imperial thread problem?

[BDA]

There are lots of them at Summit too: https://www.summitracing.com/search?SortBy=BestKeywordMatch&SortOrder=Ascending&keyword=Remote%20oil%20filter

[RoddyMac]

The filter listed for the Renault engine is a 3/4" 16 thread, so there shouldn't be an issue.

[matmacwac]

Thanks, that was a huge help. I'll get shopping.

Wil

[matmacwac]

Nov 17, 2018.

So, with the header wrapped, I pulled and modified the cross member. I kept the new shape horizontal because I was holding out hope that the trunk could still be used even though Michelle said I would likely have to loose it. The modification resulted in about 1/2" clearance from the header.

With that done, I started to play around with several muffler configurations. The little red Cherry Bomb was worth a try but Michelle was fairly serious when he said that 24" was required before the muffler.

Anyway, I tried and Holy S#!T !! it was loud. I woke up the neighbourhood, made all the dogs bark and seriously pissed off my wife. ( It was about 2:00am)

I tried the muffler that I was using on the Renault 16. It was quieter but the pipe diameter was smaller. I worried about a bottleneck effect. This setup would allow for the trunk to be used but I better do as Michelle says and try a different layout.

My wife is the greatest. She is not a fan of the hobby but she tolerates it because it makes me happy. She suggested that I build a detached, properly equiped shop. She never complains about me buying a new project each year. I've asked her if she would like to come to club meetings and cruise nights. She smiles and softly says " please don't make me".

So, you can imagine how she felt the next night (at about 2:00am) when she woke up to find me heating the valve cover in the kitchen oven after applying crinkle paint. The house stank for two days.

[Bainford]

That is one seriously good looking engine. It all seems to be coming together. Excellent work thus far.

[matmacwac]

Dec 2, 2018.

I've messed around with a couple of exhaust layouts and the one that seems to work best looks a bit like the VW system. This is how the wise Yoda had described.
Next, workout a proper hanger system and heat wrap.

A new problem is that my Tachometer has stopped working and I am getting no signal from my fuel sending unit. I fairly sure it's a grounding problem.

[matmacwac]

Dec 21, 2018.

My Christmas present to myself has arrived. A new set of VTO rims. They arrived in time for me to get the tires off the old Panasport wheels and remounted before my corner mechanic left for holidays. They are 13 x 5.5 with 19 offset but now that I have them on the car I realize that fender clearance will be a problem.

My camber was set wrong. I also trimmed about a 1/4" off the fender lip.

[matmacwac]

Dec 30, 2018.

I've been dreaming up some way of removing the gas tank in order to deal with the non working sending unit.
As everyone knows, the tank has to come out the bottom of the car. If you put the car on a 4 post hoist there is still no clearance to drop the tank.
The center backbone frame makes it almost impossible to use a 2 post hoist without ripping the body of the frame. Besides that, the one arm would be right where the tank needs to drop out.

I welded up a sort of sling. This would allow the car to be lifted by its wheels on a 2 post hoist and leave the space clear for the tank to drop out the bottom.

My son from Ottawa was home for the holidays. He is an Aerospace Engineer. I have some engineering background but I never finished the courses when I was young. A recession had hit us hard and I left school to go work for the family.
I asked him to come out to the shop and give me his opinion before I crawl under the car to get crushed.
He looked it over, took some measurements and checked some angles.
"Well?" I said.
"I don't know" he said.
How could he not know? He was an Engineer.
"I'm not a STRUCTURAL engineer" he said. He admitted that it was safe but he worried that if he was wrong, or if my welding was bad, he would be responsible for killing his father. I assured him that I would not linger under there any longer than I had to.
   

[BDA]

speaking about your muffler situation, the first question I have is why the 24" length from the collector to the muffler is so important. Does anybody have any ideas?

Second, rear and mid engined cars make positioning a muffler difficult - especially when performance enhancements have been made. Loosing the trunk tray is pretty much the only option to have a reasonably quiet car.

I wrestled with the same issue. I consider my trunk tray sacrosanct. My headers are routed the same way as the TC, under the engine up on the passenger side to clear the suspension and out below the body work on the passenger side. I have an early version of Richard's twin link rear suspension which reduces the available width for a muffler mounted in similar position as stock (the only place for one if you want your trunk tray). The headers empty into a 2 1/4" exhaust pipe and there are very few options for mufflers with ports that large. I had a very compact steel muffler I got from Dave Bean that fit ok but wasn't that quiet. It was pretty loud but ok around town (conversation with a passenger is just a little difficult) but on a long trip, the noise added to the fatigue of driving an unairconditioned car that does not allow much change in seating position and requires a lot more concentration to drive than modern cars.

Because of my restrictions, it has to be at most 7 7/8" wide, less than 5" deep and 14" long is a workable length. I tried to get a stainless steel muffler to go with my exhaust system and the smallest Magnaflow ended up being too big. There was a Borla muffler that might work but its sound was described as "aggressive" and "loud." That being the case, I decided to keep the muffler I got from Dave Bean. This allowed me to keep my trunk tray.