toro1

Well, the next step in this project is to get the brackets finalized, but I can't do that until I know the final position of the supercharger, which I won't know until I get the pulleys mounted, and since I don't have the pulleys, I'm at a standstill. I've also found out that the silicone pieces I need for the intake won't be in for 2 weeks, so there goes any shot at my June 1st deadline. Anyhoo, I've started to wire in the Wideband Commander, I'm finishing the exhaust, and today, I got the crank connector all finished up: crank_connector.jpg It mounts right into the end of the crank and right on top of the pulse generator disc. connector_mounted.jpg Here you can see it sticking out of the clutch cover & modified timing cover. It fits perfectly. connector&case.jpg The driver pulley will be splined to fit onto the connector & will be held on by a bolt in the end.

This is starting to get fun. After all the measurements and mockup brackets, I finally have a real supercharger bracket, and get this -- it puts the blower right where I wanted it! It's almost like I engineered it that way! Joking aside, here's a pic: rotrex_bracket.jpg I had it made out of 3/8" thick 7075, so it's plenty strong & still lightweight. I just need to make standoffs, the upper bracket, and the left connector bracket and the whole assembly can be mounted up for good.

After all this talk of epoxy and welding, I have made a decision that if I ever have to make another manifold, it definitely will have silicone bends with separate adapters. I already know exactly how I want to do it; more expensive - yes, more parts - yes, not as nice looking - yes, much much easier to build - YES. It took me hours to hand work those bends back into round & to cut them the exact length and perfectly square. I also am pretty certain that I will weld the whole assembly together. There's one more place I want to call about the epoxy, but I have found a very capable welder that can do the job for me. Either way, this is the last all aluminum intake manifold I'll make. Having said all this, here's what I got accomplished this weekend. First, I needed to cut the plenum material and mill holes where the runners will attach. mill.jpg I then used a flycutter to finish bore the holes and counterbore them 0.050" to allow the tubes to locate in the plenum. flycut.jpg The reason I went with 1/4" wall square tube is so that I could add a full size radius on the inside of the plenum without having to make a separate component. To add the radiused entry, I ground a radius into a piece of tool steel, mounted it into the flycutter, and then cut from the underside until the radius was generated: flycut-radius.jpg It worked out great -- here are some pics of the semi-completed intake. intake_view.jpg intake_view2.jpg intake_view3.jpg I still have to make the endcaps, drill it for the temp sensor, and radius the edges, but it's getting close.

Believe it or not, this used to be the timing cover: timing_cover_front.jpg This mod required some thought to accomplish, but it turned out great. The bearing needed to be prefectly centered in the cover in order to avoid improper loading of the crankshaft, and believe me, it's perfectly centered. The two small holes are for a spanner wrench that will tighten the cover back down (since the original hex is now long gone). timing_cover_back.jpg It's a slight press fit into the cover, and the double seal assures that no oil can escape from the crankcase.

Hot off the CNC -- parts baby! I said earlier that I had a slick way to mount the new intake to the throttle body, and here it is: throttle_body_plates.jpg The intake runner tubes will be a tight slip fit through the holes of the throttle body mounting plates & will bottom against a small lip in the throttle body. These plates are held down the same way the stock airbox is, with (2) M5 bolts around each runner. How does it seal, you ask? o-ring_groove.jpg Machined into the base are grooves for properly sized Viton o-rings, so no rubber/silicone connectors & hose clamps are needed to hold the plenum to the throttle body, just the 8 socket head cap screws. I'm still undecided whether I should weld the tubes in or use special aluminum epoxy. I'm afraid that if I weld it, the base will distort slightly and compromise the seal, so I'm really investigating the epoxy. After all, Lotus epoxies their entire cars together (welding aluminum can reduce strength around the weld by up to 50%), and with thin wall tubing, it might just be the ticket. I also got the PAIR blockoff plates. I designed them to accept flathead cap screws since I need every thousandth near the intake of the blower. Nothing fancy, but they'll get the job done. PAIR_cover.jpg

I thought I'd start mocking up the intake today, and the quickest way to do that is with a nice piece of cardboard: dual_view_o_intake.jpg I cut the pipes down the shop and made sure that the ends sticking in the throttle body are all square & of equal length (I left the other end longer for the time being). I know what size plenum I want to run and have actually made a detailed drawing, but detailed drawings don't mean squat without seeing the part in real life. So, I cut a piece of cardboard into close-enough dimensions for mockup, and I'm proud to report that clearance wise, it's all good. What I'm pondering now is whether to have a top entrance to the plenum or a side feed entrance. There is actually more room on the side with the blower (due to the engine being offset with the cam drive), about 3 inches worth from the end of the plenum to the inside of the frame. You can see what I mean below: intake_overhead.jpg What's bugging me now is the best way to go about plumbing the rotrex to the intake, and where to put the BOV. It's gonna be a tight turn into the intake from the top or the side, and will require a few 45º angles to make it work. I had planned on using a nice silicone T hose to mount the BOV, but I don't think there's room for that anymore. I'll figure it out later...

While I'm waiting for some parts to be completed, I thought I'd share a little bit of progress. Since I have the clutch cover pulled off, I decided to upgrade the stock springs to Barnett units. The plates are in excellent condition, and from what I've read, the hot ticket clutch setup is the factory plates with these springs, so hopefully it'll stand up to the extra power. The Barnetts are longer and a little stiffer than the stockers, and once installed, the clutch lever has a nice firm feel to it (not far from stock, actually). barnett_vs_stock.jpg I also got the pump in. It's a Walbro unit with the same connector style and inlet & outlet location as the Denso unit. Hard to tell from the picture below, but the body diameter is ever-so-slightly larger than stock. pump_comparo.jpg This was the easiest mod so far -- truly a plug and play deal. The only finagling required was due to the aforementioned pump body being larger than stock. I simply took a set of needlenose pliers, squeezed the clamp together (which contoured the metal band around the pump) and put the screw in. Done. I already powered it up and it sounds great -- I can't wait 'till it's pumping massive amounts of fuel to those hungry cylinders :thumbsup: completed_pump.jpg Can't even tell it's not stock!

I've been quite busy this past week making drawings of all the different parts I need to get machined. So far, I've designed & drawn up 6 separate components (with the help of good 'ole AutoCAD) and still need to design & draw up at least that many more, and let me tell you, with no easy access to a CMM machine, some of these parts are -t e d i o u s- to figure out. My goal of not chopping/modifying the existing hardware/frame/components has made this project tricky indeed, and my self-imposed deadline of June 1st is fast approaching. But hey, I wanted a challenge :D I can give you guys some more pictures of freshly arrived items. First up is my non-bling, super low cost blow-off valve. It's a Bosch unit I picked up on ebay for a princely sum of $25. Originally off a Porsche Turbo, it should be more than up to the task of venting excess pressure on my low-boost VFR. I could have gone with a billet adjustable unit, but from what I've read, this valve has lightning fast response, and since I don't care about being able to hold 25+psi, I might as well save $150. I've also got an old K&N breather filter that fits perfectly on the outlet, and should quiet down the 'pssssht' slightly. BOV.jpg Also, I can give you a sneak peak at the intake I'll be making. I bought some mandrel bent aluminum tubes which will form the the runner legs and directly connect the throttle body with the plenum. mock_intake.jpg No, I'm not building a tunnel ram, I just have the tubes sitting in the throttle body for some pre-visualization. Try to imagine the legs much shorter coming out of the throttle body, making a 90, then entering into a central plenum which is fed directly by the supercharger. Wait till you see how I mount the intake to the throttle body -- it's gonna be pretty slick. I'll get cracking on this once I get the brackets machined and I can mount the blower. Alright, now I literally have to go back to the drawing board...

I got the pigtails, and of course, they aren't exactly plug and play. The female end fits the RCs perfectly, but the male end is slightly different than the stock Honda injector plug. After some research, I've only managed to find one place that sells the exact pigtails that I need, but they cost 4x the amount I paid! pigtails.jpg So, I found that by trimming some of the plastic off the plug end, they can be directly connected to the original wiring harness. I did that on all 4 pigtails, plugged them in, ziptied them up, and now the throttle body is complete. complete_throttle_body.jpg

When I found out the injectors I bought weren't exactly drop-in replacements for the VFR units, I was faced with 2 choices: 1) modify the throttle body to accept the RCs, or 2) modify the RCs to accept the throttle body. Here's what I chose to do: chucked_up.jpg To make these injectors fit the throttle body required taking some material off the body and snout of each injector. So, I made a split collar that fit the injectors perfectly, then chucked them up in the lathe and took the ODs down to the right size. mod_vs_original.jpg You can see in the above shot a before & after. Don't worry, there's still plenty of material left on there for the injectors to function normally. I wasn't done yet. The RC injectors are actually longer than the stockers too, so spacers needed to be made for both the injectors and the fuel rail. modded_injectors.jpg injectors_mounted.jpg In case you are wondering, raising the fuel rails altered the center distance of the stock connector between the two rails, so to fix that, I found a round piece of steel with the proper radius, placed the connector on top of that, and inserted both items into the press. Very carefully, the connector was worked to fit the new center distance. Hopefully the pigtail adapters will be here shortly so I can button up the throttle body once and for all. And of course, more updates to come...