mike_sekinger

Hi Alex, Great to get some good news within this update. Excellent news on the inclusion of the top bleed for the pre-rads. I`ll be send you the sets of OEM compressor ducts with the names of those covered by those. Mike S

More fettling prior to bonding of brackets ...... the front valance will also be prepared in carbon (as will the rear bumper) with that is some way off.

Right side with bonding of the arch mounts in progress

Grille for the arch vent

Once my engine build is complete, both that and the gearbox will be installed in the rolling chassis. I`ll do some crude geo settings and then the body can be dropped. I`m hoping to get that far by the start of Jan `22.

Arches!.... Some fine fettling but they are very close out of the mould. Bonding in progress.

The Y-pipe is attached to flexible rubber hoses off the back of the stub pipes in the rear of the block. You can lift up the pipe. If access is difficult or you cannot lift it enough then your other suggestion would work. Anything to elevate the exit of the hose while you top it up.

Small additional job today. Needed a blanking plate for the deletion of the mechanical water pump.

Christmas came early. I had a extremely welcome visit from Andrä to deliver the finished set of final carbon arches for the project. These are wonderfully crafted and I`m thrilled to be in the position to start with fitting those to the body in the coming days. Whilst Andrä was here, we had the delivery of the gearbox from X-Shift. Really looking forward to tackling the challenges of fitting this and the carbon clutch pack.

@ProAlloy-Alex It has been 1 month since you provided the last update on the chargecooler group buy. On 24th August you suggested giving weekly progress updates which have never since materialised. Don`t you think that it`s time to provide us with an update?.....

If you raise the heater take-off then you can refill at the header tank. You should follow the steps in the Service Notes for bleeding out the system. I`ve found that this is also easier if the back of the car is jacked-up.

You can drain the cylinder head coolant by opening the heater take-off from the back of the block (the Y-pipe in the image).

Well JAE are excellent, so should be supplying the right o-rings. Could it be that the o-ring is falling out of position on installation (being upside down)?

You should not need to apply any sealant. I have never applied sealant to the thermostat housing on any of the engines that I have build. I typically apply a small amount of rubber grease to the o-rings, just to hold then in their ring grooves when fitting. If you are having a proven problem there, then I would be looking at the o-ring not being correct thickness. Where did you source the o-rings?

After progressive material removal and re-measuring inside in the warm. Good result - max. variation afterward 0.05g. Interesting comparison to Stock - the CP forged pistons are less than 1g heavier than the stock, but their gudgeon pins are 5g heavier. Still very close to OEM weight for a superior piston.

Matching piston, gudgeon pin and retaining clips. Biggest difference out of the box is just under 2g. Trying to get under 0.05g difference. Success for piston 1.... only another 6 to go.

Hi Alan, I remember that we had an exchange about that a while ago. I do not have anything like that level of movement on the crank, when the half-speed idler is locked. If your chain is new, then the only thing I can think is very heavy wear on the crankshaft sprocket - but I would not expect anything like 2 deg. Mike S

Front/rear cover installation and oil seals. Matching rods/piston weights and ring gapping next.

Pin guage for confirming liner nip. This version of the 918 Saenz rod were developed with Greg Dollimore for his high power engine. They are designed to cope with very high engine load.

ARP bottom-end and the laying the crank. Like butter.... video-1637607263.mp4

More preparation today - light polish on the crankshaft journals and camshaft bearings. Dry fit of the marginally taller ductile iron liners, as this engine will be running higher boost (removing liner stand-in). Installation of oil pump, PRV and fresh front IMS roller bearing. Need to weight rods and pistons etc. These Saenz special rods are really sometthing.

Remove the oil pipes and leave the filter housing in place.

Custom front spacers finally arrived, so able to finish off the chassis for the time being. Now turning my attention to filling the engine compartment....

Turbo wastegate actuators set-up with the correct pre-load for my engine.

Collected the dry ice blasted block today. A few things to check and I`ll be ready to start the engine build.