Roman

A modern ECU would do absolute wonders for this, and would probably pay itself off in about 5 weeks of fuel consumption.

That's still incredibly dreadful mileage. haha

Much better! Will be fairly easy to get this to work around the steering column i reckon. Fingers crossed. Will probably change the front runner to two 45s spaced apart, so it matches the shape of the rest a bit better. But will order some pipe soonish.

After some IRL lego time. Back to the model to try replicate my best plan, and see how even it is. Answer - not very. I've been trying a few iterations back in the model, just brain storming ways to arrange the pipes that keeps them even lengths. And hopefully doesnt look derpy and is also easy to make. A few non starters... Too complex and also quite ugly. Not sure what to do, so went to google images for some ideas. Decided I need to go back to basics. So make the #1 runner with fewest bends and shortest length possible - then for the others, remove straights and add bends until they're equal. Ha! Works quite well. And each runner is on a flat plane so they're easy to make on the bench. These are within 22mm centerline length of each other. sweet. I hope there's space to make it work.

With the smaller mounts theres definitely much much much better room for exhaust activities! Before I get too carried away though. I really need to get an alternator mounted on the block, and get the engine mounted in it's final spot. I'm making good progress on those topics but was a relief to see how much more room there is anyway. Will be worth the trouble. It's a tricky job even just with the lego bits, definitely takes some skill and experience to fabricate exhaust manifolds decently! Currently the #1 runner is the trouble child, needs to be longer (Can see that runners #2 and #3 have 3x 90 deg bends, vs only 2) However I cant swing it forward too much because stuff's in the way. Then I also need to make sure that the manifold can physically be removed, but again that's much easier without the giant mounts. The aim is to have a mostly decent plan before I start chopping any expensive bends up.

The lasercut parts turned up. Holy moly I cant believe how good the finish is! I was expecting raggedy sort of edges but they look amazing. The mounts all just slotted together perfectly, before there's even a single tack weld. This would have been really fiddly without the tabs added. It holds all of the angles etc perfectly. (Another good Idea from Stu - thanks) So, while I was busy congratulating myself, I decided would plug weld the bejesus out of the back of the tabs instead of tack welding them and test fitting... I put the mount on one side together inside out, so the lower bolt holes dont line up. Woops. With some effort I could probably cut the welds back out, but I really did choose the worst place possible to weld them together initially. Since the finish is sooooo nice from the laser cutter, and I'll only make a mess of everything trying to fix it. I'll pay the dumbtax and get the parts for this side recut. Regardless, it feels like I'm making good progress on things at the moment. Dumb to put it together inside out but I'm happy.

b00b

I yanked the motor and box back out, and tried on the sump. Good news is that all of the bolts do up nicely! Test cutting from the foam stuff was a great idea, this is an awesome material for test pieces. Quite rigid but easy to cut with a blade if needed. Which was needed, in a few places to clear the windage tray. So will update my drawings. The total thickness of the sump will need to be a little more than the 20mm. As the clear perspex layer still hits on the windage tray. This might just mean the bottom layer ends up a bit thicker, with some amount dished out to allow for the tray. I'm trying to claw back every possible millimeter here though, so I've got more space up top.

Far out! Pretty bad about the strut situation. Dodgy even by my standards. The wiring is okay by my standards though. Hopefully you've found the worst of it.

Hot out of the @StuScience(tm) laboratory we have a test sump cut out! I didnt notice at first but the bottom layer is clear sitting underneath. Exciting! I hope it all fits up nicely. If it all fits, plan is to make the top two pieces from a single piece of 20mm alloy plate. In other news my 3D printer completely shat itself, and parts to fix it are a few weeks away. So I started thinking about outsourcing some prints to get my new manifold shapes finished. Then realized there are high end powder printing machines that are fundamentally different (better) to what I can print myself. So I had a look around and fired off some quotes. Two manifolds for the 4GR came back around $250 shipped. Pretty sweet! So this is MJF powder based printing from PA12 nylon. The benefit of this is that its equally strong in all directions, unlike "normal" printing which is weak on the layer lines. Ends up with a cool textured finish like this. I'm hoping that it wont need a carbon coating in order to be strong enough, so it'll considerably cut down on my hours needed to make parts. They will be a few weeks away, but if they turn out good I'll likely get a few other bits made this same way.

Ahh yeah I was just being cheeky - I was lucky enough to go for a ride in it back in the day. It was super cool. Looking forward to seeing how this one comes along.

Thanks. Bits have gone off to one stop cutting shop. See how it goes.

Surely no one would be crazy enough for that?! ... At first I didnt understand what you meant by this car being more family friendly. But now I get it. The other car was too quiet to take the kids in. Getting some peace and quiet from the kids in the back seat can be provided by the deafening brap of a 13B. What an absolutely glorious win win.

Thanks to some input from @Stu I've added tabs onto everything so it should slot together nicely making it easier to weld. So two exhaust manifold flanges then the rest are engine mount parts. Be cool to see how it turns out!

Looking at the exhaust situation some more, I've realized that I dont have a manifold problem. I have an engine mount problem. They're just stupidly far apart / away from the block, and they're right in the way. As although it would be cool that I could use the factory alloy mounts, and I've persisted with that idea. They're just a pain in the ass being so wide apart. Not only does it cause exhaust issues, but it makes the motor hard to get out as well. With the motor back supported on jacks and the mounts taken off, there's an absolutely glorious amount of room for exhaust. So I might be able to fit in my original swooshy design. Although I need more on the to-do list like I need an extra hole in my head. I think it makes sense to remake the mounts to make life easier later on. Since engine mounts are small enough to plonk on the scanner bed I tried that method to get a copy of the bolt patterns. It can be counter intuitive where to put gussets until you model in the size of the socket needed to undo stuff. I'd 3d print a pair of these for a test fit, but my printer has shat the bed fairly spectacularly. I need to get some flanges cut for exhaust manifolds so I'll just get these done in the same batch. Anyone know a good place to send DXF for mild steel plate cutting?

^What's that? I found the build log of the Japanese guy that built the 2GR KE70. Hoooooly heck he spent a lot of money on trial and error to make things work. Anyway, I found out what he did for the sump. Used the FWD alloy sump, and chopped the heck out of the oil pan. So yep this will work but it still sits the motor a lot higher than I'd like it. So hopefully current scheme in mind will still work.

To hid the ugly wiring and improve aesthetics I think I'll make some engine covers. Seems easy to follow the natural contours of the top, then the two looms can come together in the backside of the engine. In actual wiring news though, it looks like the Triumph TPS's are made by Denso - who is basically Toyota. Looking at the plug shape - looks identical to 4 pin Altezza TPS. Ha! Hopefully it is, then that's another problem solved.

It's a bit of an optical illusion, because the outside profile of the runners is different to the inside. The first top 10mm of the intake needs to be circular, so the silicone joiners can clamp on. However, the inside diameter starts its change of shape right from the top. 'The problem with tipping them outwards to more of a vee, when the rails are in the middle. Is that the fuel inlet pipe into the rail starts sticking vertically up. The fuel rail is made out of nylon so I dont want to take my chances breaking off the fuel feed hitting the bonnet. I might remake the fuel rails at some point so they are rear feed anyway so it looks a bit tidier. But lots of other things to figure out for now. Plus there are other benefits to having them vertical (it looks a lot nicer, makes an airbox easier, actually allows more room for runner length surprisingly)

This is looking better, with the throttles flipped so rails are in the middle. Actually has better clearance to the bonnet, and to all the plugs... and doesnt look so gumby. Might try sit them a smidge lower then will print some nylon versions. Excuse that one bank sits lower, there was a powercut during the print.

On todays episode of "weeelllll shit" My injector plugs turned up, and they do indeed fit Triumph injectors. However, some dumb dumb forgot to allow space for them to actually fit when fitted There's enough space that I could pot the plugs and run some other plugs at the back of the engine. But I'd rather keep it a bit more friendly for replacing bits later on if needed. So hang these on the wall of shame Time for a rethink. If I turn the throttles around 180 and try run them as close together as possible, but laying flat like so. Then I need a minimum of around 140mm from throttle on one bank to the other. Which pushes them out wider than the centers of the ports, so ends up a bit like this. However, will give it a try so I've got one on the printed that should be finished by the morning. I've made it a little taller than needed, so if it looks like it'll fit and work okay, I'll drop it down by however much.

Big thanks to @HumberSS for helping me find what looks like the right flywheel bolts! If this image ever expires, it's part number 90105-10207 So I've ordered some of those, so I'll plan to persist with the 3S flywheel for now. So then I also need to figure out how a gearbox adapter will work. Scaling from some drawings of a 4GR bellhousing pattern, and also a 1MZ bellhousing patttern (As this essentially matches a 3S, apart from starter position) I've lined them up to see what sort of options I've got. So hopefully all of the holes clear each other etc and I'm not having to shift gear upside down or whatever. Highlighted blue is the 3S-ish bellhousing pattern, then the grey one is 4GR. It's looking preeeeety close that I could slot some of these holes to get a few bolts in. So it'll still use an adapter plate, but just means some of the bolts can go all of the way through. Then the rest will need to use flush mount cap screws, or studs that wind in, or whatever. The bellhousing outside diameter is small enough that I can print a full sized adapter plate to test with before butchering any expensive materials. The starter motor position is a bit annoying, because one of the 4 main bolts needs to go there, but wont be able to.

I think the awd is tricky, as one of the vees wants to exist where the transfer case goes? Has anyone done a gt4 or whatever?

Yeah that flywheel is my next best option. However it doesnt have anything to hold a spigot bearing to support the input shaft which the rwd gearbox needs. Since ive now hopefully got bolts that will work, will try persist with 3s flywheel and clutch for now. As if it works, its a $1000+ problem solved without spending much.

Oh wow, thanks! Hadnt considered that anything like that would have a suitable flywheel. I bet it weighs about 85 million kg though haha. However, even so you've lead me down a rabbit hole that might be the right length bolts. Thanks for the help! I'll order some of these and see how they go.

You've been smashing out some amazing work on this. So good!