norm2 wrote:

<<I am tired of people wining about not being able to build intake manifolds
:-)

Chime in if you want one so I know how many to make up.>>

I chased the mounting plate that fits between the oil pan and block for
quite aways.  There are outfits out there that will hydrocut these from
aluminum relatively affordably.  The challenge becomes, how do you fund the
first piece to make sure that it is exactly right, and how do you qualify
that it will fit the assorted versions of engines out there?  On top of
that, if you committ to cutting 10 pieces, is there any assurance that you
will get rid of them.  It is a lot easier to just cut one oyt by hand for
yourself and let it go.

True but then I have to listen to the guys complain at S&F and OSH :-)
I would rather get it over with. Since I intend NOT to have them
welded up there will be a certain amount of flexibility in the installation.
It cost as much per each to weld one as it does to weld ten so there is
no economy of scale there. On the other hand if you get ten flanges NC cut
it is almost as cheap as one. Same goes for pipe bending. 

The exhaust pipes are in the same category, only worse.  Every plane will be
a distinct application, and even within a certain plane there will be
challenges as to what is the best way to route them.  I would like to hand a
Pro-E file to a tubing company and come back with 6 front pipes and 6 rear
pipes, with no welding to cause early failures.  I don't know if that is
realistic, but I don't see anything in the way on the Cozy yet to keep it
from happening.

Intake pipes should be a bit more straightforward to bend, perhaps a cast or
cnc flange on the block with a rubber seal, the pipe with a beaded end to
push into it, and a plate to draw the pipes tight.  At the other end a cast
adapter to mount the injectors and distribute the flow to the pipes, with an
appropriate transition to the stock butterfly assembly.

One of the keys here is to find a tubing bender who works with the right
stuff today, that is willing to take on a low volume project without the
standard overheads.  We can deliver a computer file with the pipe bending
info that he needs, he should be able to load it, push the button, and
ca-chunk...  out comes a perfectly formed pipe.  Most of these guys are
making money letting their machines run production long hours, we need to
find a sympathetic soul that will putz with this stuff.  We also need to not
pester them with iterations and tweaks.  Perhaps two tryouts, then a big
batch and done.

I have a Pro-E (3D CAD system) model of an engine mount for my Cozy MkIV
that I plan to build, I need to dump some screen shots of that up to the
mail list for critique.

Great Norm. That would be nice to see.
I will talk to the tube bender when I find him about the CAD file.

Paul Lamar
 
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