ando76

Good luck keeping your cam bolt in. Even loctite thread locker won't hold that sucker in there if you get into the serious revs.

Yeah crazy, it's more the fact that when the rail goes on now the first two injectors get screwed around and don't seat nice. These little Bosch units actually have lugs on the rail side which should be seated on the injector boss. It's not happening due to difference in injector position. It's a bit hard to put into pictures and words, but when you see it in real life it's just not right.

Well at this point it's just a whole heap of parts and theory. It will have to prove itself. There are some bloody good crossflows out there with some serious runs on the board. Yes I've put some serious time in making sure each part of the package is as best as it can be. I hope that translates to success. If not it will sure look good trying!

The vac line to the reg just reduces fuel pressure a fraction when there is high manifold vacuum. Good to see you got it sorted. Gerg for PM!

Me too! Progress is going to take a huge hit for the next 6 weeks. But when I get back I'll be super keen.

And I seem to have developed an AN fitting addiction. Got some bulkhead fittings and nice billet clamps to tidy the fuel lines. I sorta want the engine bay in this thing to be really nice and functional and look pretty. Bit of a nod to what I do.

But always it's the little details are the ones that cause you drama. When Pat from Competition Systems supplied the ITB's 2 were identical and the other one was similar. The odd one out was the old version, but they were all supposed to be the same in regards to injector position etc etc. I did contact Pat when they arrived and he said it wouldn't be a problem. Well maybe if you used the Jenvey rail as it has a flexible coupling. Because as it turns out the injector position is slightly (3-4mm) different. You can sort of see it in these photos. You can see the extra thickness of the older version at the mounting flange and just see that the first 2 injectors are slightly out of alignment. I took the rail to the TIG fella anyway just to see what would happen once the injector bosses were all welded in, but it's a no go. He got the bosses welded in with zero warping and the bosses just don't go on enough to be 100% seated. I rang Competition Systems and Pat was excellent. Acknowledge the problem and sent a replacement ITB the same day. That's customer service. It should get here next week, but I'm off to the States for a holiday so I'm going to have to wait till I return. Oh well.

Bit more fuel rail spam. I had to make some way of retaining the fuel rail. After looking how Jenvey do their rails in came up with this idea. Made them out of 3mm stainless. Used my hydraulic hole punch to create the half moon. After a bit of shaping I had this, Excuse the gold bunnings bolts. They are just there for dummy assembly and will be replaced by some nice button head cap screws. So the idea is the half moons get TIG welded to the injector bosses. That way each injector is supported. I'm sure it will,be strong enough to take the weight of the rail and fittings. The injector was 3.2mm thick at the point where the half moon gets welded so there should be no distortion. 6x 6mm bolts into where Jenvey put the rail supports should be way strong enough.

Nah all good. I actually noticed that. I don't have a TIG because I don't have the patience. At least I'm honest. These were done for me by a mate who is just getting back into TIG welding. I'll show Ron at Hanby welding (he is the gun pressure welder) and get him to sort it when the whole rail goes to him next week. Ron is actually a pretty cool guy. He has a Suzuki mighty boy with a bombed up engine in it. Hand made ITBs and injection and run by a vipec computer. It's stupid fast for a work ute. Just how I like it.

That's a very good friend of mine's car. Jason Earl. Yes they have been stress tested. Jason ran a pretty respectable time in old 383AXE before he went skidding in it. Tuff that car.

One last fuel rail shot, I promise, well until it's all tigged up and fitted anyway. This shot shows the work I put into notching the return fitting and also how the injector bosses fitted into the rail. I'm confident old mate should be able to get a nice weld around the boss and being a press in fit it should limit the amount the rail bends when welded.

Cheers mate. Still a way to go on it, but once it's done I'm sure it will look ace and function even better. It's got a big job to do, feeding this thing.

I meant the thrust bearing inside the engine, not the spigot bearing. The thrust is taken at no.5 main bearing. It may well be worn considering the k's, but to be honest I think you are looking in the right place in the diff centre. Correct LSD fluid is important and I would be using the factory recommended LSD oil. Yes new fangled oils are great, in new fangled modern cars. These old girls weren't designed for it. Use the stuff the factory recommended. Cause it worked for a damn long time when these cars were new. If you have had the LSD machined it is essentially new again so no reason why correct lube won't work. I'd be looking at suspension bushes as well, in particular front eye bushes, as they are the ones that seldom get changed and they could cause the diff to screw and cause all sorts of issues.

Spent a silly amount of time working out the position of the return (to reg) fitting to ensure it was centred and sat nice with the rail in the final position. Notched the stainless so old mate would get a nice weld. After all that I may end up changing the return to a pre made 316 socket.... Hmmmm see why modified stuff takes time....

So add in a ship load of measurements, dummy fitting and more measurements and you end up with this.

So that's what the rail looked like when it was removed from the 30x30 box section

So today I went off to the lathe and put the PROFLOW injector bosses into the lathe. If you look closely in the photo you will see the o-ring recess in the front one. They are a multi use boss. I didn't need/ want the o'ring so I had to modify it, and it gave me a nice press in fit. I also wanted to make sure I gave the TIG welder the easiest and neatest way he could weld them in.

It's a significant weight reduction. They actually tell you the weight difference when you inquire with them. There are a couple of things on this car that I will be keeping a secret and the total weight of the car is the major one. Why? Because a bloke has to have some secrets. It is very gratifying to spend time on your own stuff. Since starting my little business, which has turned into a monster, I very rarely get time for self indulgence. I'd love to have this engine and the shop ute completed, mainly to prove I'm not a flog like a certain x flow guru from WA, but also to inform you of the results of my testing. But I just have to grab the time I can and update you fellas as I go.

Mounting them with the main body down low is probably fine for a street car. I inverted them so that the weight was carried by the body of the car and not swinging on the diff. Each to their own tho. You might be able to swap the ends around to do that on that Qa1 set up, provided there is adequate clearance up in the factory shock mount hole.

At 330,000 the thrust bearing probably has a decent amount of wear. I would say that to be causing a shudder the end float would nearly have to be seen with the naked eye (i.e. No dial indicator required.) You could try loading the car up in first gear (foot brake it) while some watches the harmonic balancer to check for movement. Failing that it can be checked properly when the engine comes out for freshen up. Are the eye and shackle bushes in good condition? Uni joints?

Also got a delivery from the other end of the country. Phillip Island area to Cairns. Thanks goes to EnvyXf for making the bumpers and the Michelle for making the guards. She isn't just the co-owner and book keeper and receptionist. She gets out into the shed and makes the stuff. Lovely to talk to as well and a superbly finished product. Very happy. The car didn't come with a rear bumper so the fibreglass rear bumper was a no brainer. While I was getting it I thought may as well get a glass front bumper. Then it flowed onto the fibreglass front guards as well. The corty came with a fibreglass bonnet so it sorta makes sense to make the whole front end glass. Like is said way back, I'll be making this a very light, stripped out race car and I make no apologies for that.

Found some time in between jobs to start on the aforementioned fuel rail. In order to get the injector holes nicely in a row, I slipped the stainless tubing inside some 30x30x1.6 steel box section. A small tack either end to hold the rail in steady then it was just a case of marking out the injector hole spacing and drilling them. There is a local fella here that gets flown all around the country to do expert welding and he is going to TIG the injector bosses in. He pre stresses the rail so the heat doesn't bow it. He did a similar thing for the local milk company, just on a much grander scale so I'm sure he will eat this little job. He has asked that the injectors bosses are a size for size, press fit into the rail so bit more mucking around to do. Gotta put the injector bosses in the lathe to make them fit nicer. All in all lots of mucking around and probably over kill but hey, I enjoy it so why not.

There you go Crazy2287 Stainless steel fuel rail ends.

Funny thing is mate the Aeroflow rep bags speed flow, speed flow bag Russell and around and around it goes. At the end of the day the consumer has the choice. As an end user of the PROFLOW stuff I've got direct from PIRTEK, I have not had an issue on my stuff or the customer cars I've used it on. One thing I will say is I no longer buy PROFLOW stuff off eBay. In my experience e bay seems to be the dumping ground for factory seconds of most brands. Yeah Crazy there is something nice about the overkill of them and screwing them together. As most of my stuff is used in racing or competition motor sport the ease of disconnect and re-connect is a big thing. It makes servicing race cars and the like really pain free. Add to that the fact that you know your not going to have leaks or busted hose clamp dramas and it's a no brainer. Oh and I'll post a picture up tonight that should make you happy.

Ok cool, Lucky this isn't your car then. I've used them for some time and I have no problem with the quality or finish of their product. Damage like that in the pictures could easily be caused by incorrect assembly. I buy mine through my local PIRTEK dealer and I have had zero issues. Like anything man made there will be failures. Especially if the end user screws up assembly, then blaims the product. But to date I've not had a failure on any of their fittings or their other products. Each to their own.