Since the last update, a couple of months ago, a lot of thinking, planning and general other things which don't involve any actual progress have been going on....
First up, to stay in my chosen class, I am sorely restricted on what I can do. So, widening the car is a no-no, as is fattening and lowering the sills to contain the exhausts. I can't say I'm totally surprised at this, but it's a tad disappointing nonetheless. So.... I have to work out what size wheel I can fit under the arches as they are, and work accordingly, I can still tweak the offsets to fit slightly larger width wheels in the back, not sure what I can do with the front. Time will tell...
So... I've been thinking about engine stuff. Having decided a complete strip down will be essential (if nothing else, the chain tensioner is likely to want replacing), then I might as well go bananas on the engine instead of the body work. That way, if this one bites the dust, I can use the engine in something else... As it happens, the racing car show is on in just over a week, so I'll be going to that, and I will be tackling people about ceramic coatings, fancy pistons, custom ground cams, etc... I figure a budget of around £5k for the engine should see me getting between 600-700bhp, depending on how well I can make it breathe.
And, conveniently, that brings us on to some actual photo progress
![:)](https://madmodder.net/Smileys/default/side2side.gif)
Having made the lower part of the inlet port adapter plate some time ago, I finally got around to making the upper part of the plate - still in wax, this is just a prototype. As usual, I drew it first in SolidWorks, then imported to CamBam, a spot of fettling in CamBam, make the "G-code" (Heidenhain code actually); throw a wax plate I'd made earlier onto the machine, line it up, and go! Almost unbelievably (not quite... I'd used paper test prints) the throttle bodies fitted right on, and sat nicely over the existing plate. The green one is the new plate, the cream coloured one the old "underplate". The two will bolt together to form a complete piece. I have to make it in 2 parts because there's all kinds of interference going on - the head bolts get in the way; the heads themselves are in the way, the mounting bolts on the under plate are mirrored in the middle of the engine, it's chaos down there. Meanwhile, the BMW throttle bodies all sit in a nice line with all the bolts in the same direction, which just causes problems:
![](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8656/15960487529_9ca06b9be4_c.jpg)
![](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8656/16120779136_04dec127fc_c.jpg)
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7485/15959121148_508ea85aa6_c.jpg)
![](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8571/15960480919_730faf2fee_c.jpg)
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7523/15960478879_f9e3d5f042_c.jpg)
Overall height was a concern - but it turns out that the top of the highest point of the inlet is still (just) below the top of the filler cap; so I should have some room under the bonnet. If it's a bit marginal, I'll cut holes in the bonnet to let air in that way. Also, I can shave about 8mm off the combined height of the two plates, and still just about have enough metal to do everything I want to do with it, so that'll be done for the final versions.
I've still got the flywheel to design/make... that will be interesting...