72 TC restomod from BAT

[Richard48Y]

I think some of us need more detail on the alt pulley modification.
Maybe Polopharm can save his car?

[Polopharm]

Wow that looks great but....I am very confused. My alternator, water pump etc are all on the front side of the engine closest to the rear bulkhead. .How are you driving the pulleys?
What was required to modify the valve cover to fit? That looks great!!!
I wish my car was built with a tenth of the quality and attention to detail that you have.

So yes I am super interested in the details. Amazing how putting the pulleys on the back and the valve cover swap really makes it look stock.

Thank you!

[Polopharm]

On closer look I see the cam driving the pulley. How does that  effect power? Rev's ?
Are you interested in selling the brackets and pulleys and all of the custom pieces that you made? I will happily buy them from you right away. Including a valve cover. Your car looks great!

[ralf]

Thanks,
I made a post how I make the drive under 'GARAGE'    http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=5532.0

At my car I will use an electric waterpump with controler, so the pulley at the front will not drive anything.

I expect power and revs of the alternator like in the 2CV. I needed to make a compromies not to get to much high revs to the alternator, because my 4AGE can make much higher revs than a 2CV. But if Iwill cruise I will have lower revs than a 2CV which need full throttle many times.

I get a pulley which will rev the alternator at the half revs of the camshaft (compared to crankshaft) litle slower than at the same rpm of the 2CV.
And at high revs (I make the setup of this engine mounted in a Celica were it easy runs to limiter at 9200rpm) the alternator has higher revs than in the 2CV.

The valve cover is not a modified Lotus part it is a homemade one. It did not use the Toyota gaske, it is sealed with silicone.
I don't have mashinery to make one more cover. Milling the planar surface and drilling the eight bores a friend of me made who has a big milling maschine.
All the mashining I make with 'simple' and homemade tools which takes realy a lot of time to get the precision I like. And I don't have the time to do it again.

If you know somebody who has a CNC Milling maschine and a 3D mesuring equipment I can give you one casting of the bracket and the valve cover.
But shipping to US from Germany is quiet expensive and I don't know if  your coustom accept it to import this castings.

[ralf]

This is a picture inside the foundery who cast me the cover. I made some more covers because I don'tr know if I destroy some at the mashining.

[Kendo]

Ralf, please write a post about how you do the aluminum casting. That sounds fascinating.

[BDA]

I'd like to see that too! Watching the documentary about the Britten motorcycle, John Britten casts his own engine block in his garage. I wouldn't suggest it is simple or easy but I wonder if it is easier than we expect.

[Richard48Y]

I do a little casting.
The actual melt and pour is the easy part.
The pattern is the real work.
I like Lost Wax casting but my setup cannot do anything that large.
Ralf sent it out to a casting shop but as I understand he did make his own pattern.

[TurboFource]

WOW! 

[BDA]

I just found out that you can 3D print in wax for lost wax casting. Is that what you do? I would think an inexpensive 3D printer and some casting sand and you'd pretty much be in business.

[ralf]

Hello,
I made a 3D model and made a 3D print of the inside and outside and fixed these to plates to make a sandcasting.
Lost wax casting for parts like the valve cover ist to expensive in Germany.
For my Lotus Seven S1 I am going to make a Lucas style injection and only the little housing of this injection cost me in lost wax casting Euro 150.-
The next days I will start to write about how I made the cover.

[ralf]

The mold looks like this.

[ralf]

this

[Richard48Y]

I've only been making simple parts.
Sometimes I can use an original part and Oil Sand.
Others I hand carve what I need from wax.
One advantage of wax is that you can assemble the pattern in pieces if it is complicated.
Have not bought a 3D printer yet.
In the US we usually just CNC almost everything.
No longer have any CNC tools but I do have a DRO on the mill.
Slow, but if you plot your points you can pretty much do the same work.

[dakazman]

  Ralf,
   Hats off to you
 Im very impressed and ready to start melting down some aluminum. i need a crossflow and a inline valve cover.
  dakazman