flyingbricks HZ Ute- I carved a plenum lid!

[flyingbrick 5,017]

i did some hammering and glued in the front inside corner then made up and started gluing in the outside front corner.... then my welder went from being AWESOME to being gayyyyyyyyy.

Must be new liner time as wire keeps getting stuck and it then wraps around the drive roller.. did it 3 times and i had a ragequit.

 

 

 

[flyingbrick 5,017]

Fuck photobucket.

I bought this fuel door assembly off Ali Express and am massively impressed by it. Can't recall the price but around $25 so I expected it to be all plastic- it's actually really high quality powder coated die cast aluminium!

The rear of the assembly unbolts and won't be used- it's actually a Jeep Wrangler upgrade part but will sit well in my imaginary deck.

 

Edit. 

Oh and its spring loaded with a little doofer on the hinge and its light but solid... <3 <3 <3

[flyingbrick 5,017]

Wow, nothing here since July... zzzzzzz

So I took more time away from buying stuff to focus on trying-to-have-a-baby stuff...Time to do something before 2017 is up.

New LSA heads, im now looking for an lq4 block.

 

 

 

[flyingbrick 5,017]

Some Strange 31 spline axles- Factory axles had no meat to get a chev PCD in there.

 

[flyingbrick 5,017]

Some Doug Thorley Sandrail headers.

Sandrail? yeah weird right?! but they were $300 off trademe, brand new, ceramic coated, made in USA and RRP is approx $800 nzd before freight so if anything they are an investment.

Seriously though- perfect for a forward facing turbo setup (and they look fuckin sweet which is really all that matters when the bits are just gonna be hanging on the wall)

 

 

 

Feel like im back on track now- My previous LS attempt failed dismally as the LS1 had severe rust pitting in the bores. 

 

Buying stuff has given me much needed enthusiasm for actually physically going out there and doing stuff on it. I even took some metal to Bad Penny and had a bead rolled (needed for my floor)

[flyingbrick 5,017]

So as everyone knows- this project has been going for some time. Initially it kinda began with the Gemini sedan. I cant remember why exactly (i think im drunk right now) but that was replaced by the WB styleside and due to rust and body damage the WB was replaced by this HZ. 

Back with the gemini I was trying to install an LS1. when that was found to be damaged I started amassing parts to build up my dream (but still budget orientated) engine. I try to find a balance between money, performance/reliability benefit and personal satisfaction (hence why theres so many random sub projects, i like learning and i gain a huge amount of satisfaction from it)

One of the items that i had for the Gemini was a Holley EFI Hi-ram intake manifold base (no plenum lid). I sold the intake for far too cheap on trademe and figured that i'd never end up with suitable rectangle port heads anyway. 

When i bought these heads I said to a few people "fuck, would have been perfect for that intake"

So I emailed the guy. Turns out he's probably as much of a hoarder as me and hadn't used the intake yet- So I get to buy it back two years after selling it

Basically the intake is this. 

I don't have the holley plenum lid and although it is sold alone, that seems too easy. The new sub project is to make a carbon fiber plenum top- pressure test it and have it to such a state that its able to be sold for others to use. I have taken images of a Wilson plenum top (they have made them for this intake) and combined it with the holley intake snout and kinda come up with my own design (thankfully holley provide drawings of the intake lid- which I was able to scale in CAD )

Hopefully I can produce something usable. 

[flyingbrick 5,017]

I had a slow inside semi hung-over day with a surprising amount of drive to do stuff.

as per above, i have no plenum lid. Holley makes the lid pictured above and a company called Wilson makes their own version which essentially just a bit taller for more volume (volume is the only thing people increase on these)

Holley was nice enough to provide a drawing and dimensions so i was able to start without the manifold itself (i pick that up tomorrow).

I then used photos of the wilson plenum, scaled things around in cad, drew its profile over the holley drawing and then took what i liked from both designs to make my own.

 

Then had a play around in fusion 360. I had thoughts of maybe getting the plenum mold machined out of MDF and needed an excuse to play around in the program (i dont really know how to use it)

 

[flyingbrick 5,017]

I got some Foam from Bunnings ($25) and some spray adhesive. The foam got cut and glued to make a block.

 

Then it was marked out for cutting the angled sides

I made a hot wire bow- extremely basic - running off a drill battery and with a microswitch to turn on

\

 

The guides are just drilled and pinned into place with nails.

The guides are moved around a few times and eventually I had something that was pretty rough but really pretty square and accurate. 

 

[flyingbrick 5,017]

I was able to lay down guide lines and using templates get things reasonably close.

 

I'm pretty stuck now until I can draw up and order base and throttle body flanges from aluminium, then i get to use my Aliexpress supplied fiberglass

The physical work in the shed took around 3 hours. lots of that was spent charging batteries for the cutter. I did end up using the handsaw for a large amount of the roughing out- it doesn't leave a terrible finish if you do little strokes 

[flyingbrick 5,017]

[flyingbrick 5,017]

Lots of fiberglass, sanding, redoing etc.

 

[flyingbrick 5,017]

I also drew up and laser cut some mount adaptors. I coppied the basic idea from the few ausie hq- LS mounts available (but i aint spending nearly 300$).

 

Mine all slotted together and were good enough for welding without a jig of any kind too.

[flyingbrick 5,017]

I stuck a disk of metal to the snout so that i had a solid guide to sand down to. This made things MUCH easier. 

Nearly ready for final assembly, waxing and mold making. SO MUCH SANDING but ill be forever upset if this comes out all wavy.

I bought a good new oil pump. This is exactly the model i wanted (high pressure standard flow) and the price was great so couldnt not get it.

My ali express fiberglass turned up for the mold too.