Back end of the car

OK, some more details on the work done behind the driver.

It's pretty much all done now, with the fuel tank in, filler cap on, lights installed, fuel lines installed etc. It looks like this now:

The fuel lines are all EFI standard, as the fuel will be under some pretty high pressure through the system. I reckon I'll need about 4m of the stuff all up, and at $15 per metre it's another little expense to add to the spreadsheet ;-) I also installed a fuel filter from a BMW K-series motorcycle. Although when I went to buy it they tried to ask all sorts of questions about the bike, and they got a little concerned when I said it was going into a car...

I still need to get the charcoal canister - this takes the fuel vapour from the top of the tank and runs it through some carcoal to filter out most of the environmentally unacceptable bits before venting to the atmosphere. So there's one more line to run from the small silver thing on the right hand side to another canister which will go on the left.

What else - fuel filler cap is in, with the judicious use of the heat gun to get the pipe connecting the filler to the tank to bend. Bad bit of design, that.

I've also installed the rear lights - the number plate light, the two indicators / brake lights, and the reversing light (not shown). Took me ages to get them lined up, drilled all the holes, and I think the light on the right still isn't straight. Oh well, that can be fixed later. But it all definitely makes the back end of the car look, well, finished. I just have to put the rubber strips in between the rear guards and the body, and put the rear splitters on, and it's done. Oh, and move the reversing light so it doesn't stick out quite so far.

Engine news...

When too much power just isn't enough.....Frank has come up with a new option for the throttle bodies. There's a local (i.e. Melbourne) guy who casts his own throttle bodies, and is developing a straight through tapered throttle body for the Duratec.

So, now for a discussion on what this all means....

The throttle bodies replace the car's existing air intake (induction) system. Normal cars have a huge air filter with a single pipe feeding all of the cylinders at once. Throttle bodies provide independent air feeds for each cylinder, and incorporate a butterfly valve in each to control the amount of air that reaches each cylinder. Throttle bodies provide a cleaner airflow, and ensure that each cylinder receives the same amount of air.

Tapered throttle bodies start out wide, and end up narrow - as you can imagine, this means that the air arrives in the cylinder at a higher velocity / density - which is what turbo and superchargers are there for, to provide denser air. Now this is nowhere near a forced induction system, but it has the same effect of increasing power.

Most air intakes have kinks and bends in them, which introduces turbulence and disturbances to the airflow. The ideal is to have the air go straight into the cylinder head with the minimum of fuss, hence a straight-through throttle body is desirable. To be honest, the ones I have now are straight through as well....

The other thing about the new throttle bodies is that I can add another set of injectors later if I want to (would require a new computer) so that there would be eight injectors all up. Wrecks the fuel consumption but adds a heck of a lot of power, apparently ;-)

The only change to the outside of the car is that the hole for the throttle bodies will be higher up the bonnet, which as I haven't cut the hole yet, isn't a problem.

Apart from that, the engine is still in bits, so no other news there, I'm afraid.

So much time, so little progress!

Well, OK, that's not entirely true. Quite a bit of progress has been made, actually, which given that building the car is now a full-time occupation, is only to be expected.....

Yup, I've taken a few months out to work on the car, sort out the house, get fit again, and do all the sorts of things that normally happen in between work, rather than what I've been doing which is just working.

So what have I achieved - I'll list them out:

• All non-suspension related bolts torqued to final settings
• Rear guards fitted, indicators / brake lights fitted
• Number plate position and light installed
• Fuel lines installed, along with fuel filter
• Reversing light installed (although this will be moved later)
• Centre console redone (didn't like the standard one)
• Wiper blade arm installed
• Headlights pre-fitted
• Front guards fitted (still some work to do there)

The major changes are to the back end of the car, where all of the lighting is now installed, and it all looks pretty good. The real test comes when I can stand 50 feet away, where all of the angles will be more obvious - I have not doubt I'll be straightening a few bits and pieces here and there, but it will only be a matter of milimeters.

I've also ordered the plates - the car will be called "Mosquito", which somewhat changes the original theme I was going for. However, I think it's a good moniker - a mosquito is small, fast moving, agile, and has makes a noise you can't ignore. The Birkin will be small, fast moving, agile, and will make a noise you can't ignore from three suburbs away.

Anyway, I have some photos to add (at my parents once more on 128K), so will add these shortly, along with some more commentary on the work done to date.