Not-a-number

Finished and loaded up. Probably the most expensive and elaborate way to lower an El Camino! Looks like we'll see how good these bump stops are!

Got it down without dropping it or injuring myself! Been a productive weekend. Just need to add some walls and pack some extra sand around the areas im worried about. Then will be good to go to the foundry!

All assembled. Quite a mission. Not my best work but I'm learning a lot. Total is about 380kg. Now I need to make a pallet and tie it all together well enough so that when it’s tipped over to horizontal it doesn’t shift around.

All the bits ready to go together.

Got the small cores made and bonded in. Will try not to break them off when installing the main core.

Runner mould done. Was being a bit too fast and didnt mix the sand as well as I should have. Really soft section at one end. This wouldnt be good because it would erode like crazing and send sand through the fill. Managed to cut it out and repair it. Hopefully it doesnt leak.

Partitions assemble like this. They look overly complicated but once the rods are fixed in place with sand its tricky to remove the walls so need them to split up.

Got the runner and other small moulds sprayed with the same stuff. Way easier/quicker than using wax release! . This will save me a ton of time going forward. The runner is 110kg so its going to be in 3 pieces. Just finished printing some partitions. These are the jobs this printer is made for! Instead of spending hours making something from wood I can spend 30 mins on the computer and then its done by the morning!

That worked quite well. Used a different mould release, sand just fell out of the pattern. Rods are holding it together well by the looks.

Filling the inner core next. Its about 75kg so cant fill in one go. Going with a partition again but Im going to tie it together a bit better. I think a few threaded rods should work and Ive put some deeper keys in the partition wall/plate. It also needs some lift points so ill put some eye-nuts lifting off the threaded rod. This is where the part goes. Suspended in the middle of the main mould.

Now I need to drill riser and vent holes in it. Make the big inner core, big runner system and 2 small cores. Fit it all together. Decide if im going to bolt it all together or not. Im concerned its not going to get enough pressure in the top of the pattern where the thin fins are. So im going to add some extra bits which is going to take some mucking around. Then see if the El Camino can carry it (pretty sure it cant!)

Got it flipped over without too much drama. Then removing the pattern was a lot of drama! Took a whole day of slowly wiggling it out with pullers. Usually you pack the sand and 10minutes later pull it from the pattern when its still a little soft. With it sitting for days it was as dense as rock so I had a hell of a time. Came out ok enough. A few cracks and damages to the sand and a few to the pattern!

Got the rest filled up. We're at 170kg! . Thats a lot of mixing. Now need to figure out how to turn it over without dropping it!

Yeah thats me. Still have the 7 in NZ, wrapped up in a tarp. I started this blog on there but they had issues at some point and it got deleted.

Starting to fill the main pattern. Got about a 1000lbs of sand on hand at the moment. Should be enough to do the sump Also trying out a proper foundry spray on pattern release. Hopefully it works! Because if my pattern doesnt come out that would be a terrible day/4months worth of work! Have the pattern half full now. I had originally planned more sections but Im having a go at doing it in 4 pieces. That means mixing upto 50kg in one go. Thats hard work! 80kg so far. Another 90 to go!

Yeah it’s a good point. For me I don’t really care at the moment. For someone replacing an original part they probably would want it to match the engine better. It would be hard to replicate the porosity and dross they have in there so I havnt looked into that. I have looked into aging the Ali though. Can boil in oil, cook in a charcoal dirty fire, acid wash and some other tricks. Will give it a go one day.

Got the camgear covers sent over. Looks like the real deal.

Pulled the bellhousing inner core. Came out ok. I fill the pattern with raw sand first to get an idea of how much I need to mix. Messed up by 1/2 a kg so had to franticly mix more which meant I didnt pack it well enough. Still more than fine to use.

Finished the runner system pattern. So now all the sump patterns are complete, waxed and ready to go! . Only took 4 months.haha

Its about 40kg

Estate auctions I guess. Yeah it does. The modern ones are wasted away. Technically its statically balanced without 'counter weighting' but I have no idea about dynamic balancing. These lived a lot longer than the 59 cranks which were a different firing order. T57 is 2-4-2 dynamically balanced where as the T59 was 4-4.

Did an awesome trade today. I now have a T57 crankshaft. Pretty lucky that it was less than 2hours away from me and the guy was awesome. Traded a bunch of my Lotus stuff + few $, he definitely did me a solid! Crankshaft from Engine #210 Rods from Engine #293

The last inner core patterns prepped. Now just have the runner pattern and box to figure out.

Put discs on as it had scary braking. Same old story, get in to install the discs etc and find the ball joints are gone. I get new ball joints and when I get to the 2nd side I find the upright is flogged out (scary). So I do all ball joints and uprights. Then when installing the new booster find that the proportioning valve is in a completely different place with different sized fittings. So replace all the brake lines!

Adjusted rockers. Still a bit tappity sounding so not sure whats going on there. Maybe a stuck lifter. It had a dead spot at tip in and surging at cruise. Im certain the timing is good now so went over the carb. It was all gunked up, wire brush in the float bowl and a bent metering rod. Gave it a full rebuild and its now great. Have a new dash and engine harness to put in to clean things up. The fuse block looks ridiculous. Theres a lot of surface rust/corrosion under the dash but only from pedal height up which is weird. The rest of the car is great so I dont know if things just get humid under a dash?