Back to work

OK, I know I’ve been tardy about posting lately, but not very much has been going on. However, I’ve been re-invigorated by a trip up to the Autosport International show this week, along with Adrian. I didn’t actually buy anything but it was great looking at all the bits and we bumped into loads of fellow RGBers.

All that left me feeling invigorated. What’s more, I’ve finally managed to get a replacement engine. I still don’t know what to do with the other one (find a new crank and build it up as a spare engine or just keep it for spare parts) but at least I can get back to putting the car together. Of course, all this has cost me a lot of time. I have, though, got a few things done. First of these was to make a new rear undertray, as in the picture above. I want to change the underbody aero slightly on the car (says he implying he has a clue what’s going on) and this is part of this. The reason for this is that the way the previous undertray was getting pushed around by the air indicated that something quite different from what I intended to happen was happening. So, at the moment I’ve just make a big flat bit. Whether this has any chance of functioning as the central bit of a venturi, which is what you want, is anyone’s guess at the moment.

That isn’t really much to write home about. However, I drove along to Andy’s on Friday to pick up the new engine which appears in the next photo. As you can see, I’ve taken the sump off it here in preparation for fitting the baffled billet sump. Certainly it looks pretty clean on the inside, but time will tell about the performance.

Since then I’ve spent a good deal of time over the weekend getting the engine in and a good deal of other things hooked up, as in the final photo. The engine’s bolted in and the transmission’s all in place. The exhaust headers are connected up, using 4 more super-expensive Honda gaskets, and the coolant system is all in place. I’ve even put some coolant in there, but I may well drain that out again as I’ve had an idea about something that I might well tell you about.

Next up is to get the electrics all back together and see what I can do about the airbox. I think I’ve decided what I want to do with this, although it depends on some measurements that I want to take with the airbox back on. I’d better check that the engine starts first, though, which means filling the lubrication system and buying a silly expensive filter…

In the meantime, things are hotting up on the run  up to the new season. The new race programme is now published and I’ve registered for the series. I’m number 50 again which is good. In a couple of weeks time we’re going to the 750 club’s awards dinner which is pretty much the start of the season really. It’d be nice to know where I’m going with various bits of the car then.