After a long serious ton of improvements its was now time to consider the project that I put on hold in March earlier this year. During the year I had been searching in vain for an exhaust system that I could mount the Garret Turbo T3 onto. the problems seem to be over heating cylinder 4 . Even to close engine proximity with a normal type of 4 into one system. Heat being the worst problem in a Garret this really a problem for an air flowed cooled engines as most modern turbos including the T3 use water as an additional coolant. I thought that the best option was to keep the turbo the furthest away I could from the engine by using a good quality drag exhaust. Luckily while surfing on eBay I found a new friend living in the next village that specialises in drag racing cars and fortunately for me he had a 1 1/2 " drag exhaust for sale. A deal was soon concluded and I was soon in possession of this fine ceramic coated exhaust.
I removed my Thunderbird Dual Canons and after polishing them and shedding a few tears put them on eBay for sale. The Cannons had been a good investment and they produced a lovely sound. I new that it would be doubtful I would ever get another set like this again as the new versions where thin metal and poor chrome in quality to the set I had purchased for the buggy some time ago.I have to give credit here to my partner Cathy who's labours in the afternoon with SOLVOL AUTOSOL brought these exhausts back to their former glory. It was going to be a while before the buggy was back on the road and I knew I would have fond memories of the sound that this exhaust gave.
The new drag exhaust was spectacular although it would need coercing into the car. First looks, gave me a fright as it looked as if half the engine would have to come of to allow it to fit. I had made some alterations to the tin wear at the bottom of the cylinders that allowed the air flow to totally en
compass the cylinder heads. Unfortunately the bottom exhausts going to 1 and 3 went straight through the centre of the cylinders close under the push rod tubes. This meant that I would have to dissemble the tin wear additions. The screws are well hidden and this took a lot longer than I imagined. I also had not realised that the fan control thermostat was in the way of the new pipe running to cylinder #1. So this had to be removed also. On fitting the new exhaust system it was apparent that my rear cage was going to be incompletely in the wrong place, and it would need to be removed and extended when the engine dimensions had been altered and their sizes where all known. TIP when you put your rear cage on. ensure your bolts can be removed with the car body in place. All but one of my bolts where fine and this would involve putting the car on a ramp to get the last bolt out with either an angle grinder or heavy duty bolt croppers. The side elevation of the engine had now changed beyond all fathomable appearances. The Cannons had covered up the side of the engine for so long it that it was going to be lovely to have access to the valve timing and cylinder heads once more.I was going to have to design a mount for the turbo that would come of the lower flange of the exhaust. After a serious amount of thought discussion and debate . I decided that it would be best to come out from the exhaust and rotate through a full 360 degrees before I came into the turbo. This would put the turbo orientation correct for the exhaust exiting the drivers side of the vehicle and the regulator valve assembly for the turbo pressure still being able to be used.
I had not yet decided whether to fit another blow of valve on the exhaust side. I would need to source the parts I needed and weld them up prior to this becoming an urgent decision.
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