As usual, nothing went according to plan this week, but I did finally make some progress today. This past Wednesday I was cutting the outside of the sixth intake runner on the CNC machine when the noise from the machine gradually changed. Didn't sound too good, so I stopped the machine, pulled out the end mill and took a look at the cutting tip. It looked fairly worn, and was no longer sharp. The surface of the cut on the runner was also looking rather torn up. I concluded that the end mill needed sharpening to start cutting like it was supposed to again. I ordered another end mill on Thursday morning, but this effectively stopped my work on the outside of the runner tubes until the coming week.
On Thursday my reprinted books finally arrived, so Friday morning before I got to work on the car I put an ad for the books on the FE Forum. It didn't take long for the book orders to start showing up though, and since I hate the idea of getting paid and not sending out the product right away, I ended up spending most of the day Friday and Saturday shipping the books. I quickly ran out of USPS Priority Mail envelopes, and had to go hunting around to various post offices in order to get all the envelopes I needed. Shipping the books took quite a bit more time than I expected, but by Saturday night I was mostly caught up. I worked on the computer late into the evening on Saturday to get some of the aluminum pieces for the sheet metal intake finish-designed and dimensioned, so I could cut them on the CNC on Sunday.
After some family activities on Sunday morning (Easter Sunday), I got out to the shop Sunday just before noon and started programming the CNC machine to cut the bottom plenum plates for the intake. I figured I could get those cut out, and at least assemble the intake with five of the completed runners in place to see how everything looked together. While the CNC ran I used the bandsaw to cut some other aluminum pieces I would need for the manifold later. At 3:00 I checked my email and found I had a bunch more books to ship, so I took care of that and then went back to program the CNC for the next couple pieces. Around 6:30 I went in for dinner, and then was back out in the shop tonight for a couple hours trimming and fitting the manifold pieces and assembling the parts. Here's a couple of photos of the intake as it sits now:
The manifold looks good so far, but I can't help but think how far behind I'm falling on this project. I have yet to strike an arc on the manifold to start welding, and I still have to finish the three runners before I can start. I have some more parts to CNC machine before I can think about finishing the top of the manifold, and of course I also have to machine the runners for the injector bungs, and do the required porting work on the manifold. My plan had been to get the manifold finished by next weekend, but I don't think that's going to happen at this point. In addition, this weekend I'd been hoping to get the welding finished up on the headers, and get the door hinges and hood hinges on the car replaced. None of that happened because I was so busy sending out the books.
I think this week I'll go over my plan again and see what kind of a delay this will end up causing. I'm really hoping that I can get the car on the road in time for the Car Craft Summernationals at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds at the end of July, but that is beginning to look like a stretch at this point, especially since I need to spend a weekend sometime in May getting my Galaxie put back together so I can drive it to the Back to the 50s show in June. It's looking like it might be another last minute thrash to make Drag Week this year, and the event is still over four months away
I'll post another update next Sunday.
