I've been very lax with updating this site of late but there hasn't been a lot to report. We are in our busiest time of the year with our business so the Dragon has gone onto the back burner.
I have managed to get some work done recently though. I fitted the steering rack and column and fitted some temporary suspension struts so that I could wheel the beast around in the workshop then I put it away for a month or two.
I've managed to get a few hours on it recently though and have started fabricating the inlet manifold which is proving to be quite a challenge. The original inlet system comprises a large cast aluminium plenum chamber that weighs about 20 KGs and has a two stage throttle body mounted on the front. Its heavy and by all accounts is somewhat limiting to airflow. To remedy this I bought some aluminium flat bar, tube and plate off Ebay (AKA the parts department). I bought two sets of Honda CBR600 throttle bodies (off the parts department of course) last year, these split down into pairs really easily so I've got three pairs and a spare pair. The new inlet manifold has to marry up to these ITBs (Independent Throttle Bodies) and to the inlet ports on the heads.
The ITBs are obviously round tubular jobs but the head ports are oval and being a V6 the two banks are offset in relation to each other so the tubes have to go from round 38mm ID to oval as well as being angled in two planes. I've made the head mating flanges out of 50mmX20mm flat bar aluminium and bored the oval ports through on the miller as well as removing material to clear the fuel rail inlets and vacuum tube.
I've made some aluminium tubes to take the ITBs and these will be welded to a flat plate 6mm thick with holes bored through to suit, I've cut away quite a lot of this plate to allow access to the fuel rail and to improve the visual appearance. This plate will also be welded to the transfer tubes. All of the machining is roughly done as yet and will be hand finished once its all welded together. It'll either be a work of art or a piece of scrap!
I've also changed plans on the gearbox front. Internet research has confirmed that the type 9 box I currently have fitted is the wrong one, the V6 box has a longer first motion shaft than the four cylinder unit and guess which one I have. Also it has become obvious that the type 9 is only good for about 200BHP and bearing in mind the Cosworth lump gave 195 BHP in standard trim its just a little too close for comfort, especially as the gearbox will be about three inches from my left leg with nowt but 1.2mm of aluminium sheet between us.
So I've decided to go down the MT75 route which brings its own issues. 2WD MT75 V6 boxes are rarer than rocking horse droppings so the normal routine is to build a hybrid from a V6 4X4 box for the front half and a DOHC Sierra rear half. Guess what, I managed to find a genuine Ford 2WD MT75 V6 box in "the parts department" and it should be with me this week.
I've also had a bit of luck and got a pair of nice seats and a full set of four coilover units for the princely sum of £74! Okay so they're non adjustable but they can always be upgraded at a later date and anyway I think the adjustable bits are only really necessary on track and I'm a ong way from there as yet. I'll add some photos over the next couple of days.
A quick update to add the photos on the right and clarify a few points. The seats were £138 the Koni damper and coils units were £74 for the four. The gearbox has become a bit of a story, it turns out that the 'box in question was not quite what either I or the vendor expected. He e-mailed me about this and offered me a choice of several options. I opted to go for a V6 4X4 MT75 box and a normal 2WD Sierra MT75 box from which I can make a hybrid V6 2WD box, as I write this on Sunday evening I expect the two boxes to be with me tomorrow. If all is well I will gladly divulge details of the vendor as to date he has been fantastic with keeping me up to speed with developments and has given me a partial refund on the original price.
Zoe and myself had a good couple of hours working on the Dragon this morning and have tacked the front suspension mountings in place on the chassis and lower wishbones and the rear suspension mountings tacked in place on the chassis.