twm

June 3

The engine is really starting to look like an engine now. We started on Saturday putting the pulleys on. The dampener pulley was a snap, but removing the original steel pulley from the alternator was a real bear. We finally managed to get it off by getting some leverage on the floor. The new machined billet aluminum pulleys from March look great.

Next, we worked on assembling the TWM Induction system. This system includes the intake manifold, individual throttle bodies, throttle linkage, fuel rails, air horns, and air filter. In the photo above, you can see the system without the air filter installed. Click on the image for a larger view. Right now, it's resting on the engine - we haven't installed it with gaskets yet since it will be easier to put the engine on the hoist without risking damage if it is not installed.

Assembling the TWM system was fairly easy. O-rings are installed between the throttle bodies and the intake manifold, and then it's just a matter of bolting everything together. The throttle linkage comes already assembled. We did run into a couple minor problems, though. There's an interference problem between the throttle linkage and one of the fuel rails. We will probably have to grind away a little material from the bottom of one of the fuel rails to solve this problem. We were also missing a couple minor parts (spring and retainer for the throttle linkage and a couple of lock washers) which we'll have to replace before we're done.

The valve covers had minor interference problems with our aluminum billet rockers. So we used our dremel to cut down a few cast supports on the underside of the covers which were not being used to solve the problem. The covers are loosely mounted in the photo above, but we're since removed them to paint them with red engine paint. Hopefully, we'll have a photo in a few days.

We still have a number of things remaining on our engine build:

	We need to install the fuel injectors. We've ordered some Bosch 36lb peak and hold injectors.
	We need to order a distributor or something that we can use to drive the oil pump. The Electromotive TEC-II includes a distributor-less ignition system that uses a crank trigger for timing, but the oil pump still needs to be driving from the distributor shaft. MSD sells something called an Oil Plug for chevy engines that is designed for use with their crank driven distributors, but they don't have one that will fit a 351W. This would be perfect for our requirements if we could find one.
	We're still waiting for the modified oil pan from Armando. I talked to him last week and he said he was just sending it out for plating and it should be on its way this week. Once it arrives, we can finish the bottom of the engine.
	We have a bunch of sensors we need to order and install.
	We plan to install the clutch and transmission before we drop the engine in the chassis. This will probably wait until just before we're ready, though.