The installation of my turbo engine back into my buggy was something that I had long awaited. I had had the engine with some parts mounted for the turbo sometime ago but it was going to be interesting fitting the completed engine and my spirits were high as I new with it fitted I only had to plumb the fuel up to the engine through the new pump to get the engine fired up.From the onset this proved more difficult than I had underestimated the extra height the pressure caps took and the cross air intake ducting had took the engine height much higher. I decided I would have to jack the rear of the car up and allow the engine to go under t
he rear boot area. This soon became difficult and I realised that the caps and engine would not fit under the engine compartment. In addition there seemed to be some interference with the ceramic drag exhaust and the CSP Torque bar. The exhaust J tube went right through where the torque bar anchored. My own bar that I had made up to support the rear seat area fitted perfectly.
I decided that I would have to remove the CSP Torque bar diagonal triangulations to the frame horns and remove the pressure ducting and caps so that the engine would fit and the Clarence issues could be seen. The engine fitted perfectly after these items had been removed. I had enlisted some friends to help me lift the engine.With the engine fitted the top of the carburetors and the clearance ca
n be seen in the photograph to the left. It can bee seen that the wooden block and the lower tear of the back was obstructing the pressure caps from going on. It was clear I would need to do some re modeling of the rear to allow for these parts to be fitted. In addition I knew that the CSP Torque bar would never fit with these J tubes I wondered if different tubes could be made up which would not interfere with the CSP Torque bar.
I was gutted my turbo engine refit was slowly turning into a disaster and a new list of jobs to complete. I started looking at the rear body work on an attempt to figure how to modify the rear of the buggy to allow the components to be fitted. I new I would have to sketch out some ideas for this before starting to cut the rear end and re-fibreglass it to shape. I tried to see whether I could modify the rear of the chassis by moving up the rear wing. This looked like the most easiest and best option and would mean with careful cutting the approximate shape could still be captured giving enough clearance underneath for the new turbo pressure ducting system. I would have to remove the engine and cut the fibreglass before re-bonding it in place. |The photo above shows the approximate difference with the area moved up. You must ignore the lover light clusters which would not be there after the wings were highered. I used a photo to see how it would look.
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