AH Carb Access panel

[HealeyPassion]

I got my front shroud back yesterday with the carb. access panel fabricated. Chris Mack, once again, did an absolutely beautiful job …. perfect 1/8" gap leaves room for paint thickness on both surfaces. The access panel is located in place with 2 stainless steel pins... then two screws hold it down. When the hood is in place, the 2 screws can't come out when driving so it's effectively secured. Since the access panel has compound curves, fabricating a quality carb access panel is a bit more complex that you might think. The metal work on the front shroud is complete... Works style front oil cooler ducts and carb. access panel. Now moving on to Works style side vents (years ago I got a rubbing from Pat Moss's car to get exactly the right size/shape).



Steve

 

[red57]

Sweeeet, almost a shame to put paint on it. Gorgeous metal work!

 

[John Turney]

 

[AN6-TX]

Looks great, Steve!

 

[nevets]

Beautiful!

 

[GregW]

It is great to see skilled work like that still exists.

 

[HealeyPassion]

Greg, it sure is "great to see skilled work like tht still exists"... and what may be surprising is that it is a very talented young man. I know generally we think of this kind of talent in "mature adults"... yeah old guys. Chris is the talent I go to for difficult stuff!!

 

[Jerry]

Talented work, I would like to see some more work by him. Amazing. I wish I had those skills.

 

[HealeyPassion]

Jerry, yup Chris does amazing things with aluminum (or really anything)… here is the work he did on my EFI intake. The first image gives you an idea of how many pieces are actually in the manifold... 6 major and 17 total... looks like one when he's done. The headers started life as Kirk headers... then Chris modified them for me. He also fabricated custom exhaust to go around the Putzke Bilstein shock... everything clears nicely! I do a lot of my own welding, but whenever it needs special treatment I usually go to Chris. It is wonderful to have access to someone with his skills!!

 

[steveg]

Steve - Beautiful work!

Is the Putzke one of his anti-windup radius arm setups?

 

[HealeyPassion]

Steve G.... no it's the regular Putzke rear shock... pic attached... the outside pipe steps up to go over the inside pipe then it steps back down to run parallel. I had Putzke's anti-windup radius on my Works Rally Tribute … and it worked great! I highly recommend it if you're doing any autocrossing. Currently, I'm not planning on that particular modification on this build... but, might change my mind.



Steve

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Interesting shape for the air plenum; was there any flow analysis, or was it derived from something else?

 

[red57]

I would love to know what muffler you used and any other details on the exhaust you would be willing to share - that looks exactly like what I have in mind for my project. Again, beautiful workmanship/design.

Dave

 

[dougie]

Wonderful progress Steve, I can't wait to see all the pieces come together. I know with your attention to detail, it will be spectacular.

 

[HealeyPassion]

Bob, well I did the math and the short answer is "yes" this will flow as much as the 3 liter can use... in fact, the 56mm throttle body currently on the engine will flow all that is needed. That said,

I also have a 60mm TB that we'll be testing. But, as I said, the math says tells me a 56 mm is more than adequate for the 3 liter. ​

Why so "small" compared to say triple 1 3/4" SU's (which are 45 mm x 3) ... it's a difference between how carbs present air/fuel and how injected engines present the fuel. As far as the shape goes, right or wrong, I studied other EFI plenums... and knowing I had enough volume... looked to smooth all the internals to minimize air turbulence (the internal bits were all smoothed before welding the plenum together).

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Thanks for the explanation, Steve. Definitely a neat piece of engineering. I read this many years ago--not an easy read--so I know there's a lot of science to it (and a bit of magic):

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sc...intake-systems-philip-hubert-smith/1100926142

 

[HealeyPassion]

Dave, I'm using a stock steel AH muffler ... as you know they are straight through design so didn't see a need to change that. However, every thing before and after it is modified... and the muffler is attached on both ends with plates and bolts so it can be disassembled if need be. I had a side exit on my Works Rally Tribute car for a few months and didn't care for it as a street driver. So, I moved the exit behind the rear wheel. I liked the results... so I've done the same thing on this car. Since I have Udo Putzke's Bilstein shocks that presents an issue.. which was solved by rerouting the exhaust. That required "C'ing" the rear outrigger (which was reinforced) and then angle cutting the rear frame piece... you can see that all in the pictures if you look closely. All the pipe curves are mandrel bends. The last 4 pictures (red car) are from my WRT build, but I'm in the process of the exact same thing to my current build... in fact, the work is all done just no good pictures. I hope this helps... happy to send you all the pics you need to duplicate it if you want.



Steve

 

[red57]

Steve, Thanks for the detailed pictures - your exhaust is very much like what I have been envisioning for my project. I'm not quite at that stage yet but when I do get ready, I may have more questions. Wish now I had this info when I was doing all the chassis repairs but I didn't plan far enough ahead. It sounds and looks like you did the mod after the main chassis paint was done like I will have to.

I ran a side dump for many years but since this will now be a street car, I think the more rearward exit will be more enjoyable.

I don't plan on bumpers so don't want the stock exit as a shin getter - I learned the hard way a long time ago that the rear exits have to stick out quite a ways to avoid fumes in the cockpit.

Thanks again,
Dave

 

[HealeyPassion]

Dave, yes on the tribute car I did the exhaust mod after the chassis paint... this time I've done it before!!… I guess I still can learn! On the tribute car I thought side exit exhaust (in front of the rear wheel) would be fun... turns out the fun runs out after about an hour of droning in my left ear! The extra length of the exhaust pipe and the location behind the rear wheel both improves the tone (my opinion) and lower the decibels to more pleasant level for the street. Feel free to reach out for more detail when you get to that point... I've got many more detailed pics.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Steve, better get started on that ABS system: