Popular Post 1963 AP5 Posted September 2, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 2, 2021 Here is a trick that others might want to use. VT-VY commodores have a good throttle cable that can be easily adapted to fit almost any car. I have one in my Valiant and now also in the Sigma. They are dirt cheap, a decent length and are available from any Pick-a-Part in NZ. You simply make three plates to clamp the cable at the firewall (with fastening holes to suit your particular car) and if required do a little trimming of plastic and it works a treat. 18 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 1963 AP5 Posted September 25, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 25, 2021 Now it's time to figure out how to get drive to the little supercharger. I had two choices when I started this project, make the drive system simple and compromise on the position of the supercharger making the manifolds awkward and difficult to fabricate, or mount the supercharger where I wanted it and get creative with the drive system. I close the latter and so the fun begins. I have started with the obvious and essential bits, a pulley on the crank and one on the supercharger. I had a nice disc laser cut to weld into the Sigma's factory crank pulley to allow attachment of the supercharger drive pulley. I modified a 8mm pitch timing belt pulley to fit the supercharger and also made one for the crank. It all bolted up alright and now I need to figure out the bits in between. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 1963 AP5 Posted September 26, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 26, 2021 Now to figure out how to get drive from the crank to the supercharger. This was always going to be just a little Heath Robinson involving 2 belts and a lay shaft to bring the drive aft about 180mm. I mocked it up using thin plywood, hot glue and a piece of dowel and after a bit of mucking around I have the basic dimensions sorted. Now I can start fabricating something more substantial in steel. I also machined up a small pulley to accept bearings, this pulley will be the tensioner for the lower belt. The upper belt shouldn't require an additional tensioner as I can tension the belt when I position the lay shaft assembly. I am expecting this drive set up to be very noisy indeed! 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 1963 AP5 Posted October 2, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 2, 2021 Hacking up the manifold resulted in the removal of some water fittings and I needed to reinstate the removed cooling system components. I had a nice piece of aluminium under the workbench so decided to make a custom fitting. The lathe is a fairly new addition to the workshop, a couple of friends very kindly offered the use of workshop lathes however I decided that I had enough work to do to justify buying my own. Also I haven't used a lathe in many years and I knew that everything would take forever. I have never tried to make anything like this before but I think came out pretty well. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1963 AP5 Posted November 19, 2021 Author Share Posted November 19, 2021 Been a while between updates due to other stupid life commitments but I am back into the Mitsi now. A little while ago @MaxPowerwas kind enough to let me scavenge a few odds and ends off an old Sigma shell that was heading for the metal recyclers. Among the treasure was a good battery tray. My car was once running on LPG and the battery tray was butchered to make way for LPG system components so it was good to find a new tray. I also installed a remote battery switch that can be operated from a push/pull rod under the bumper so I don't need to open and close the bonnet to disconnect the battery. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 1963 AP5 Posted January 17, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 17, 2022 Once again, a while between updates but progress has been made. I set about building the lay shaft carrier assembly to replace my plywood mock-up and made the drive belt tensioner assembly. I very intentionally over engineered this stuff because I don’t want it to flex and kick the belts off randomly. Still got to get a steel shaft made up with keyways machined in it. It’s a bit of a creative way to drive the little blower but it looks like the belt drive system will all line up nicely and should be plenty noisy when running………. 20 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 1963 AP5 Posted January 24, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 24, 2022 Now I am making real progress! I had all of the gasket faces on the manifolds machined flat because everything had distorted just a little through all the welding processes. I installed all of the fittings and hardware on the inlet manifold including a backfire valve (just in case). Made up some gaskets and installed the manifold and the supercharger on the engine for good this time. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1963 AP5 Posted January 28, 2022 Author Share Posted January 28, 2022 Updates are coming thick and fast at the moment. Got all of the manifolds installed and refitted the distributor. Also installed the last of the supercharger brackets so everything is nice and secure, you can now see how much fiddling around was involved in getting all of this to fit nicely in the passengers side of the engine bay. Now to get the fuel delivery system installed. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 1963 AP5 Posted January 29, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 29, 2022 So here is the big news. When I started this project I had intended on modifying a Holley carburettor to run with the supercharger but I have decided to do something different. I started investigating options for EFI systems and landed on this. It's a Holley 2300 Super Sniper EFI system. It bolts up anywhere a 2 barrel Holley fits and is suitable for use with a draw through supercharger right out of the box. Got it bolted up to the manifold today and installed the throttle linkages etc. Got to do some wiring now. The last photo shows just how little real estate is left on the passengers side of the engine bay with everything installed. It took a bit of figuring out to make all of this fit. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 1963 AP5 Posted February 20, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 20, 2022 On the final stretch now, I got the layshaft finished off and installed and finished off the belt drive. I also fitted up the electric fan to the radiator and refitted it to the car. Filled up the cooling system and amazingly had no leaks. Also as an extra little insurance policy I have installed a stand alone knock sensor to hopefully provide early warning if anything is going horribly wrong. It's a product made by Link and simply has an indicator light that is green when all is well and red when things are going pear shaped. I now have a nice little set of instruments in the centre console so I can keep an eye on what's going on. I think this will be running any day now. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 1963 AP5 Posted February 22, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 22, 2022 Well here it is the first run! I have to say I am impressed with the Holley throttle body fuel injection system, the set up was simple and the engine started first turn of the key. It drives pretty well and I expect it will only get better as the self-tuning software dials everything in. Currently only making about 5 pounds boost but is already a huge improvement over the N/A set up. I will run it for a while on low boost while I get the tune sorted and then install the 15% overdrive pulley to see what happens. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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