QuoteIt's not hard. The most difficult part is deciphering all of the gobbledegook and art specific tecnospeak into plain english.

Tech Session!!!

Tech session could happen Carl.

While waiting for supplies I put the car back on the lift and tidied up a few items. One was the front brace for the mini starter. This is the same starter we used on the MG-Roadmaster and  we've had some issues with breakage so I decided to go ahead and make a brace before it became a problem. Here is what I came up with: (sorry for the bad focus, I accidentally had the camera set for distance work)



As you can see it is sort of shiny. I started out looking for a suitable piece of steel but the only thing the right size was a piece of stainless and I thought, "Oh well, at least I won't have to paint it." And as it got closer and closer to being finished I thought, "Well, a little grinding would get the sharp edges off." And the next thing you know I had Racoon Fever.



It used to be that I was way more concerned with making the car run and handle its best and was only mildly concerned with appearance, but about six months back all that sort of changed somehow. Well you know, it's true that I do enjoy making automotive jewelry and I guess about the only excuse I have for something that will rarely if ever be seen is that I managed to get overrun by the Racoon Brotherhood.

Jim

OK, here is the surge tank I promised.







I thought it came out pretty good, though it is far from flawless. Still, I'm thinking it isn't bad for a first try and I learned some very important things in the process. In particular, welds are almost always going to show up if you look for them even under the best of conditions. But more importantly, the filler rod you use can and will make all the difference in the world. I used 5356 and 4043. In fact, I used some of each on this piece. I still have to determine which rod did what but one of them blended in very well, while the other did not anodize at all, creating instead a sort of brown oxide layer of some sort. If you look closely you can see it in the photos. Luckily this blends in reasonably well with the burgundy dye and is mostly in less visible spots so I decided I could live with it, but on something like, well, the scoop for example, it would mean that trying to anodize the part would be a big mistake.

I think the 5356 filler is the good one but more testing and/or research can confirm that, and I do need to know because I've used the 5356 on almost all my welds up to now.

Anyway guys, Bling, Bling! Here's to all you Racoon Brothers. Enjoy!

Jim

I never cease to be impressed with your work.....

That's an extraordinary part!  Sure fits the hole nicely, doesn't it. The luster you achieved is very attractive. Are there tricks to getting extra shine? Do you polish the bare aluminum before you anodize it?

I can see how a guy might get totally carried away. There's a lot of aluminum in that engine bay...

Next space shuttle coming along nicely!   I bet you'll be glad when you get to fly it............................d bash

That surge tank is a really nice piece- well done!

That's looking great Jim! Nicely done!

Bill

Thanks guys, but it really isn't as nice as it looks in the pictures. For once the camera was ... what's the word? Can't think of it. Guess that tells you how often *that* happens, huh?

Curtis, the tricks are, the shinier it starts out the shinier it ends up, so polishing and buffing does pay off. But it comes out of the dye tank rather flat. Rubbing it brightens it up considerably but there is no substitute for a good coat of hard paste wax.

Jim

Two more systems completed. Oiling system finished and primed, oil pump drive installed, and cooling system completed. (no pressure check, but maybe that would be a good idea)

I'd post a shot of the thermostat neck but I'm temporarily out of cameras. Finally wore out the power switch on my old standby Mavica83 and the CanonG2 took a dump almost as soon as I got it. Luckily I just received a new G4 phone so maybe it will work well enough. I understand those have gotten quite good.

Anyway I tried anodizing the filler neck. Now these are a casting and made of some odd alloy so it did not anodize in the usual sense but instead turned dark and it only took a little of the burgundy dye. So it is a real dark gray with a slight reddish brown tint, kinda like the filler rod that didn't work out so well but with less brown. I waxed it and it looks pretty good, just different.

Next I think are the cooling lines for the transmission and the intercooler and perhaps installation of the intercooler circulation pump, though that means connections to the fuel tank. Some of the A/C lines are also on the list and sourcing and ordering several connectors. Ah the joy of the small details. Soon I'll have to launch into shifter design and not long after that it'll be back to the grind on the transmission controller. Can't put it off much longer I'm afraid.

Jim

Jim, you are one of a kind; very nice work indeed!

Here is a shot that shows several things. The thermostat neck, which being an anodized casting of indeterminate alloy came out dark, absorbed the dye strangely and turned an sort of odd purple. The drain tube of the surge tank which is the red tube below with the hose clamps on it was anodized using the exact same dye bath so it makes a good contrasting example for the differences you can see between billet or extruded aluminum and castings. Probably about as extreme of an example as we will see. Also partially obscured is the cam sensor/oil pump drive installed in the distributor hole. Due to the location of the thermostat housing above it and the height of the sensor the thermostat neck had to be  ground for clearance and then filled with the TIG welder, resulting in a fairly large dimple for clearance and naturally, although you cannot see it, the filler rod anodized and absorbed the dye more like the 6061-T6 billet alloy, but the curious thing is, being intermixed with the base metal it resulted in a somewhat mottled or splotchy appearance. Being underneath and out of sight, it does not matter of course.

Also you can see the bleed fitting above the thermostat which purges bubbles to the surge tank, the pressure gage on the fuel pressure regulator, and the throttle position sensor mounted on the fuel rail and tied to the throttle linkage at the bellcrank. The bypass hose runs vertically into a fitting screwed into the top of the Buick 300 aluminum bodied water pump, leaving the usual bung free for the surge tank drain with the heater return plumbed to the usual spigot on the inlet neck, and in the foreground is the support strut for the blower drive which integrally steadies the idler pulley assembly. Also in this shot you can see the edge of the lifter valley tray or cover under the intake, which is 1/4" thick, acts as a spacer for the intake and creates an air gap below the manifold.

Jim

Just completed a rather thankless task, The floor shifter. Once again this part was made from scratch, as there isn't really a suitable one available. And sorry to say I again neglected to take photos and as the works are all pretty much hidden there isn't much point in doing it now. But having said that, it is a simple piece, if made up of a number of not quite so simple parts. In fact it looks about like any other MG floor shift other than being very short and using the old T handle from my old tranny. It has no gear position indicators, no gates, and only the detents in the transmission itself, but all it has to do is select Park, rev, neutral and Drive and the paddle shifters do the rest. I figured I'd need this before I start the engine, and maybe I'll be able to drive it a bit even without the electronic controls.

Anyway I'm getting ever closer. A few small wiring jobs (more work to get the right parts than to do the actual wiring), add fluids, and I think it will be time pretty soon. To say I'm beginning to be a little anxious about the break in run might be a little of an understatement. Anyway I've given myself until Thanksgiving to start the engine. I expect I will make the deadline this time.

Jim

Please have someone take a start up video! We all want to share that with you.

Jim,

I just found some recent photos of your build on V8Buick. You should share them here because the car is looking fantastic!

Have you started it yet?

Still dawdling, and there's one connector that won't be here until the end of Feb if then. But I hope to start it before that anyway. Sort of depends on the weather but I don't usually get a whole lot done this time of year.

OTOH, I have started back on the tranny controller and progress there is good so far. Here are some recent photos:







Jim

It's looking pretty fine Jim.
I think the picture that must have been taken through the blower hole in the hood is cool.
Not many people can say that they can do that!
I see from one of the earlier pics that you know how to cable lace. Very nice.
It's a lost art that takes some skill and patience, but looks so good when it's done well.
Shine on fellow raccoon!
Cheers
Fred

Thank you Fred, thank you very kindly.
Good news, I just finished up the circuit design work for the AA80E version of the Megashift controller, save just for biasing requirements on three inputs. So now I'll soon be able to get back to building the board. That's one mighty landmark I'm sure pleased to have behind me. Lance has said that he'll make the required programming changes but honestly I'm not too worried about it. If I have to figure that part out too I can do it and probably should anyway. I'd rather not, I think it's programmed in C++ and I'm not too familiar with it but the changes will be more along the lines of configuration than the actual writing of code so it should pretty much be cut-n-paste. In the end I was able to keep the circuits very close to the existing circuits for the earlier designs with fewer gears and still get everything I wanted, and really did not have to give up any of my original goals or compromise the design in any way. The controller is going to be usable in a standalone application if desired, and I even managed to reserve a switch input for my wish list "clutch" function, as well as a button to activate Auto mode and then act as a downshift button. I think this is going to be pretty exciting to play with.

Jim

Got some news today anyway. Meekums has come to life. Only for maybe a minute or so at most. The ammeter showed serious discharging and I shut down once I saw that, so I'll have to check polarity on the rectifier, and the sound was pretty gargly and raspy so there's work to be done. But the response to light throttle seemed quite good in spite of that and overall it sounded... well I don't know that I'd use the word dangerous exactly... stirring perhaps? But of course all that may change with tuning.

Anyway there's a great deal to be done between now and the first drive, and I'll try to set up a camera soon. It's just that I have to learn a new skill and already have other demands on my time and abilities. But I'll try.

Jim

Jim, that's pretty exciting news! Glad you hear you're making progress.

Scott

Thanks. I've started it 3 or 4 times now for short runs at break in speeds and it has sounded a little better each time but it's running way rich so something isn't right with my injector map. Timing seems reasonably close though for now, not having put a light on it yet.

I tried shifting it into gear to see if the 8 speed would "limp" without any electrical power. Nothing there so it won't be moving under it's own steam for awhile yet.

But, I woke up this morning wanting to hear it run again. I think that's a pretty good sign.

Jim

Video please

Exciting update Jim.  Now that you have your motivation back, keep them coming!

Yes, yes, I know. I should be able to shoot something this weekend. I barely had time this morning to listen to it run for maybe a minute before it was off to other necessities. But so far it is sounding better every time I get to start it up so I hope it will continue to smooth out until it's running steadily on all cylinders. It has sat for a very long time.

I need to make some adjustments before next time and tomorrow will be a busy day again, and then I need to learn how to shoot a video with my Canon G11. I'm pretty sure it'll do that but I've never tried to do it. So anyway I'd not really expect to see anything before Saturday.

Jim

Got a video now, but haven't figured out how to post it. It's 179MB, 2:09 long. No idea what the pixel count is.

Jim