Well things have been interesting around here. I'm half way through another quarter. I couldn't get into all the classes I needed this quarter...so I'm only in one class. Instead I shifted the burden over to this summer where I will be completely swamped
However! I applied for a position and was hired as a production engineering intern at a local orthodontic manufacturing company. I've been working there a few weeks and its been going really great. I have a little cash coming in the support the build and I have a very light amount of homework this quarter seeing as I'm only in one class. I'm still busy, but my work load isn't keeping me from working on the car like it usually does.
As such things have been progressing along and there's been some good recent progress.
First of all, I found some awesome exhaust manifolds made by hooker headers. They were debuted at last year's sema show and fit the car PERFECLTY. I don't have any pictures in the car yet because they don't fit on an engine with head studs.... I need to shorten one head stud on each side and they will go right in. The manifolds themselves are similar to LS3 Camaro manifolds, but they don't flare out at the bottom. They hug in tight to the block and basically route directly into the ideal position for exhaust to leave the engine bay. These are about as good as its going to get on a cast manifold, and they weren't too expensive. On summit they were about $280 for a pair. My only gripe is they kept the tiny outlet diameter...but they should be worth a good chunk of power for me AND most importantly they fit much better than the LS3 manifolds. I just need to grind the hooker logo off and paint them black to sneak by the smog nazis
http://www.holley.com/8501-5HKR.asp
Next up is the fuel system which is now 95% completed. I finished up my fuel pump mounting superstructure and sorted out some logistics issues I was having. The first issue is that I did not know how I was going to get wires through the gas tank to the pump and keep it reliably sealed up. I wound up modifying a -8 bulkhead and ran two 12 gauge wires through it. I then filled it with 5 minute epoxy that when cured is resistant to gasoline. I will be heat shrinking the wires in the tank with teflon heat shrink tubing to protect the insulation from the gasoline. They also make teflon insulated wiring but I didn't think about this until Mefarri brought it up after I had finished working on it. Teflon is extremely chemical resistant and will never break down in gasoline.
Second issue was that I did not know how to get from my -6 bulkhead to the fuel hard lines in the car. I am adamant about not running steel braided hose on a street car. Personally I know that I WILL NOT keep up on checking it for leaks because I'm lazy and want the car to be free of stupid maintenance issues like that. Not only can the fittings be unreliable, but I have experienced a few cases where braided line fails without any warning. You cannot tell when it is going to fail because the rubber line inside is completely kept out of view by the steel braid. I'd rather not be spraying fuel all around hot exhaust at over 60psi.
Anyways, I wound up flaring this little section of tube for a -6 connector, and on the other end I made a bubble for the OEM quick disconnect style fittings. This is the quick disconnect off the fuel rail of my LS2. It has a nifty little latch to keep the fitting from blowing off if it comes loose. While its not ideal, from here I will run 3/8 EFI hose to the 5/16 lines in the car. The 3/8 line clamps down very hard on the 5/16 line and I have zero worries about it coming loose.
Lastly it just got bench pressed up into the car! Need to go back into it to do the heat shrink and then wire up the fuel pump but that just about covers it.
