January 2013 - Construction Phase 6
Assembling the exhaust system
Now it’s time to bend the pipes for intake and exhaust manifolds – 18 each. For this step we bought a mandrel pipe-bending machine that works exceptionally well, if you also use the right material.
Elke bending – women tend to be better at that. Elke’s made pieces are all precise and exact!
Flange sleeves are welded onto the bent manifolds, like the original. We don’t flange the end of the pipe, like many like to do – it could tear.
So far we had let everything be welded. That is very tedious though, so we decided to get our own welding machine and do everything ourselves from now on.
Fitting the intake manifold from the back ring to the ring muffler, into which later the 18 exhaust manifolds are welded.
Fitting the front intake manifolds. It’s a tight squeeze.
... not enough space!
The pipes have to be bent in such a way that you can retract them into the cylinder head and into the intake manifold at the same time and on top of that also absolutely tension-free!
Fitting the front exhaust manifold. Slowly but surely we’re running out of space.
Experimentally assembled ... checking … again and again, till it fits.
Sight from behind – GIGANTIC/FANTASTIC – 18 intake manifolds so far (so half is done now)!
Fitting the back exhaust manifolds.
Later, when they have all found their place, they will be sunk into the ring muffler and welded in.
The construction has to be arranged in such a way that the front intake manifold can still be dismantled. There is no extra interface of the exhaust manifold.
Now we have to check where there is still enough space for the exhaust pipe(s).
We planned four, two on each side, that are later brought together into one.
We’ve run out of gas! COMPULSORY BREAK!
The exhaust pipes are completely finished. Now the exhaust manifolds have to be welded into the ring muffler. At the same time we convert the starter from 12V to 18V (it did seem a bit weak to us – gut instinct), i.e. we get a completely new and stronger electric engine. We also built a new electric engine case for the planetary gear.