# 16v variable runner intake manifold



## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Hello all, Im pulling this in here from another forum as I got asked a few times to do so, anyway, here it is. There may be some chat in it relating to a guy called Ed - he is my rolling road friend and expert all things mega-squirt and mapping in general.

Its a pretty relaxed project I decided not to spend too much time on as there was no hardcore calcs done, nor was it all rendered in solidworks for analysis. Its just a quick and dirty 'something' Ive been thinking about for a while. 

I going to be booking flights next week to go to Uk where Ed is to rr it against a standard manifold. I hope to book for the 2nd week in March so that is the target date for completion. 

It is a long and detailed thread/post so that hopefully no questions will go unanswered. 

Here it is in copied format, 

Right then.......

Im a while talking about this - about 1.5 yrs in fact lol  so yesterday evening I made a start on it. I will say that Ben'S excellent thread on manifolds spurred me on to make a go at this so thanks Ben + Ed :thumbup: - http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?243845-16V-ABF-Intake-Manifold-Development-(results) 

It possibly might not make any difference at all as intake manifolds are generally a compromise anyway but for the time Im going to put into it - its worth a shot. 

The main 'goal' is to get more torque at lower rpm without hurting power up top. I dont expect it to flow higher up top, but Id expect it not to be any worse. As mentioned, its for low down rpm mainly. 

Theres a few things you need to realize during the making of this - I dont have a mk2 to test it on, so Im going to have to hand it over to Ed to see if it makes any difference. I might fly over with it and be there with him, or just ship it over and let him see how it works. 

Im trying to pack everything I can in there to make it work with whatever system - that is kjet, or kr converted to efi. 
The Abf is out since the injector setup is pretty pigish. 
Im going to add the cold start fuel injector drilling, and the aux air drilling just to have them there. 

The main plan is to have twin runners feeding each cylinder, one runner deactivating at lower rpm. 
In time if it works - Ill make up an rpm triggered module to activate an arm to open or close the butterfly's on the 4 runners. 
For testing and to keep costs down they will be on a switch of some sort - into the cabin and switchable at say 3800-4000rpm. 

The construction is fairly simple and will comprise of 4 modular parts. 

1, The bit bolted to head containing the 2-1 runner pairs as well as the butterflys, (cast aluminium, brass, steel)
2, The dual runners bend sections curving up - required to meet straight runners over rocker cover (cast aluminium)
3, The dual runners over the rocker cover (mainly carbonfiber + cast aluminium)
4, The Plenum, (cast aluminium)

Obviously each modular part will be made of many smaller parts but you get the idea.

The concept is not new and is on many cars already, the Toyotas being most like this one I guess but there are a lot of ways it can be done. 

It should be a pretty quick project - manifold stuff can be slow as drawing the head flange can take a while, but thankfully I have it draw from previous projects so the sizes are all 'new ground' so to speak.

What Im thinking of is bring the new manifold, and a 42mm manifold - run a 'standard map' for the 42mm and then try again with the new mani without changing anything software and see how it goes. 
Ill equip a 42mm mani with the same injectors as in the new manifold so it will all be the same from that respect.

Right so gave the lower section a few hours and its nearly ready for pouring. 

Obviously, a pattern has to be made. To keep it simple this is a full pattern - not halves fixed to a parting plate(for speed of moulding) so Itll mean raking down to the parting line manually but thats fine for a once off. I want to have the main pattern spot on so I can take half patterns of it in time if needs be for batch moulding. 

Enter loads of bits of Iroko, sapele, mdf and 'pine', 

The main flange patterns were cut on the cnc for speed - drawn already, there is a pair - 1+2, and 3+4

The core prints added to the head side, on this pair - the other pair are assembled with the runners measuring the core diameter and wrapped with wire to make the wall thickness


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The white bit slides in as the others fit - this will be used to make the corebox before getting glued in too,


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The other gets make the very same, but the core patterns wrapped in wire to make up for the wall thickness as mentioned - its a good trick to get even wall thickness on runners,


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The wire gets smoothed over with filler like so,


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Back to the core, there is a little hump into runner @ injector so I chose to add this before making core box,


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I chose to make the corebox with one of the runner patterns to save time, Im 'borrowing it' to make said corebox, and when Im done it will go back into the main pattern - get wrapped in wire, and smoothed like the other pair. Its just faster this way,

Corebox made half height of core pattern,


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Core pattern covered in parcel tape(nothing sticks to this) and the box filled with isopon and squished in,


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Trimmed just as pon starts to go off, 


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Comes out real easy,


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The other(top) is done the very same and then we have two, to save putting the knife edge on the core pattern before the pon, I do it after in the coreboxes. This will mean the core pattern is unmolested and will fit back into the main pattern. .5mm aluminum ramps are added and filled in - its hard do a knife edge without the aluminium as you just end up sanding it all away,


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These get filled more when stable and blended,


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Top and bottom together - no dowel pins, just lined boxes on outside edges - near enough,


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Next, fine sand, and sodium silicate, mix...


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Boxes clamped in vice, pack in sand, vent holes down inside, add co2 gas to set,


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Open boxes, remove core,


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Repeat 3 more times lol


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The dimple - hard see on the core but its there,


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Tape removed off the core pattern and slid back into pattern on the right - this is glued in and wrapped with wire as one on left has been done, 


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A quick eyeball at injector placement - I did NO drawings for any of this, just the basic measurements of stuff - not sure how Ill hold on rail yet but Ill add a pickup tab to the curved runner portion probably and bolt to that. 


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Happy with the evenings work - the curved sections(x4) will all be the same for speed so they will be pretty fast too.


Hopefully it will make some hp difference - on paper it does. 
If it doesn't, Ill hang it on the wall with a sign saying ''Heres one that didnt work at all'' so that Ill remember not to make the next one the same :laugh:

So, been Googling Images of the 16v engine the last hr and its pretty tight between Oem intake and rocker cover, intake and bonnet, and intake runners between plug leads/tops but I think I should be able to squeeze it all in. 

For efficiency and referring to 'butterfly valve principles after a curve/bend' Im going to place the shafts upright, and not horizontal like most throttle bodies. 
At the minute Im thinking of turning the 4 shafts with toothed belts, and mini timing pulleys. This sounds a bit higgly piggly but it actually results in a robust, no backlash, lightweight system. Since Im not angling the butteryfly plates when closed, they pretty much have to turn 90 degrees to be full open. This is not a simple thing to do with cranks and levers as space is V.tight. 

I have to make a list of things later for Ed to check as regards what he has on the car - injector types, throttle body and so on so I can match to them but thats pretty minor.

Got the above patterns almost finished yesterday evening so they will get poured tomorrow eve. Made up a facemill this evening. 
Of all the things Ive cast I never had a right facemill, I have a head skimming head, but thats a pig. 
Normally Id walk all about the flange face with a 10/12mm cutter to flatten it - this is hell on cutters as you only use the bottom 1mm, and its also slow, as you can imagine.
So a while back I bought a facemill arbor - I had intended buying a facemill too, but these are 200euro. I was going to then go with a version made in China for 40euro - BUT the shipping is 6 weeks!! So, I just made one instead. It holds a single seco carbide insert - grand for facing which is all Ill be doing with it.

These pictures are a bit grainy and I managed not to take a shot of the finished insert installed but Ill take one tomorrow eve when skimming the flange with it,

Bit of En24, and my 50yr old 40euro ''for non serious work'' lathe,


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Boring, the boring bar is actually worth three times what the lathe is worth lol


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Slotted for the drive dogs on cnc,


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Machining the pocket for the insert - angles are crazy here - required to give clearance in rake/clearance angles - the seco inserts(WNMG 433-M5 TX150) are square edge, triangular, but wont go into detail explaining here as the project is a manifold, and not how to make cutter heads 


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The insert gets held in with a 12.9 m5 bolt and nut thats pretty much it,

(Picture tomorrow eve)

Test facing on some 6082, 


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Very happy with surface finish - hit it with 1mm depth of cut, 3.5k rpm, and about 120mm per minute, and no animals were injured in the process so Im going to stamp those feeds/speeds onto the body and wh0,re it out for forever more.

Back on topic//


To update this, went out and bought an abf engine for mocking this up on - safer that way and will ensure everything fits when I arrive over to Ed!

>>>>Fuel Rail chat<<<<<< Went with a 1.8T rail after much discussion,

Ok, so thats the side I was thinking they would be on but wasnt sure where Ed had them coming up - thanks Ed.

In the meantime, onto the first 2-1 runner. Im only going to explain/show one of these where anything needs explaining to save time. They are both more or less the same story.

Ill still explain the process a little bit as I just cannot seem to be able not_to lol

The finished pattern as you saw before in thread, filled half way up with sand in lower box, at the right, you can see the sand brought up to the correct parting line height @ radius.


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The top box is fitted and filled and removed, and the pattern removed and the cores installed and the gate raked in on the right, 


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This method of gating is terrible practice and Ideally the part needs 3 gates off a full length runner and two risers but since it is not a 'production part' as such, and just a proto Im doing it quick and dirty. You would do all of that if you wanted to make many - mounting them to a parting plate to save raking down to the parting line every time by eye. 

ANYWAYS, thats not important right now but I feel its nice to show where and how parts come about all the same.

The teapot, nice and cosy, I pour LM25 @ 690'C. I made the smelter a long time ago with the intent of making a proper small one in time, its still works fine so I didnt ever bother. lol


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Poured and cracked open after 5min, shine looks good so I was pretty sure the part was sound. If the part is dull when you open mould it is a sign the metal is too hot, or that you have an incomplete pour due to lacking head pressure. Luckily I scraped by with this with no risers and a shoddy gate. 


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And here we have it - you have to cool part right away or otherwise the cores get harder and harder if you dont and then need to be hacked out. 

Shots are exactly as is with no parting flash removed - this is a whole operation by itself in a casting plant. 


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The outer flanges are poured as one long flange and will get milled apart once the machining begins. It is better to pour something like this in one go and cut apart later because this way you have less turbulence and possible cold fronts within the mould at time of pouring.


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End view, showing draft angle with gets machined away/flat, 


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A poor shot of top, things are still pretty hot here so it plays with the camera a bit,


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The detail were both runners meet, corebox detail now transferred to the metal, shot also showing hump for injector bore - 


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LM25 has great fluidity in thin areas as below, 


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And the corebox that was used to create said area, 


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The other part is the same as the above more or less, so I wont bother showing that. Up next is the machining of both lower pairs and the pattern for the bend sections up to the plenum. That is all pretty fast and straightforward as all 4 runners are designed to be the same so one pattern does all four. 

I have chosen to actuate the 4 vertical butterflies with toothed rubber belts with Kevlar reinforcements. It is the simplest, strongest, and lightest way to actuate all 4. 

These should be here from Bearing Boys Uk tomorrow(excellent company, check them out)

Got the ''twins'' partially machined, jigging the pair was a bit of a bear and took a while. I have not yet found a pair of vices I like so I either make jigs, or use clamps. Sadly these dont bide well with either but I got there.

The first jig up with fresh cast parts is the most important - if its wrong you miss every other surface you want to machine, or need material at later on in machining. 


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The DIY cutter block/shell mill seen earlier skimmed the head surface nicely in 3 passes, all tooling is solid carbide so no coolant and loads of feed = less mess.


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Because I dont have an abf head coolant flange I decided to machine the perimeter to gasket perimeter size to save any issues when it comes to fitting in the UK. I have the gasket pretty accurately drawn for ages so it was fast to mill off .5mm/1mm all round edge,


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The holes also got drilled/milled,


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Also sized ports just incase they were undersize from shrinkage, they were pretty bang on and it was either away from it .3mm, or cutting it .4mm in spots so they are ok. Ill blend a little with a sanding drum when done anyway,


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The twins then got mounted to a spare abf head I had here to do the injector bosses and the 8 openings for the 4 runner de-activation butterflies, I ran out of bolts so had to use threaded dowels for some but they all went in!(swear it was made for it!)


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Machining the bosses - not sure yet how Ill mount the injector boses so I just machined a 20mm hole with a 22mm counterbore to hold polymer insert. Ill probably make these from PEEK and O-ring them in. I have to look at a PEEK datasheet yet but I think that will do. I could have used digi inserts, but they cost money, and would probably have to come from UK. Plus, I dont really like them as I see to fail hard in removing them ever if the need arose. One crazy thing with the digi injector inserts is that sometimes they find their way into the crucible if Im melting scrap heads. They float to the top and come out perfect again after 20min @ 700 degrees


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*CLOSER PLEASE* 


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Ok then lol


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Thats pretty much how it sits at the minute,


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Ill try get a shot in the next post looking into runner, tis grand,


I got the head jigged at the next angle to mill the port faces flat and machine them up,

The second of 4 skims,


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All flat,


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Roughing pass around outside to form the 4 flanges, 


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Casting very near net so a .4mm finish pass got me machined edges on 98% of the edges,

Same for the port entries, bit touched off in a lot of places. This is not that critical as the butterflies are not full sealing like a throttle body. 


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Ports all ended up being within .3mm of being round so thats fine,


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Mounting hole locations spotted off for drilling/tapping later,


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From below, 


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I have to mill on a few datum points before unbolting this setup but thats pretty much this jig up session done, 

Because we all love pictures: 



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Got the faces grooved for O-ring seals, dropped in a cut O ring to give you an idea, Ill get the proper size when I need them, or make them up off the roll. (or screen print silicone in there)


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Head is now un-jigged again - will be getting re-jigged for the butterfly spindle bushing bores shortly, 

Ideally, and I probably will, Id like to check for swirl within the head when this is all done. Thats pretty easy measure in basic terms and I want it at the maximum for a more complete air/fuel mix at low rpm. I may or may not extend the splitter into the head to minimize cross talk between both runners(@ Injector) - lets see how it is first, Its probably pretty good as is. Thats a while off yet but Im just letting you guys know the forecast.


Located some butterfly spindle shafting - its 7mm ground En24T(817M40T). The T meaning its been heat treated. This is serious gear and you do need carbide tooling to touch it, or last any length of time during that roughing period at least lol 

Im not going to slot this but instead mill it down past half way for 1.5mm thick butterflies. Machining 1.5mm slots needs carbide slitting saws which I dont have. 

Halving them is fine and done a lot on normal throttles for more performance/flow - supposedly. Given that those are under full vacuum pull and last, then these will be fine. They are not under any major vacuum 'pull' like the main TB. 
Im saying this because Im taking the spindles down to just 2mm thick. Im sure some would be nervous of this but if you are reading Ed theres no need for alarm - homework has been done.

So onto machining...A holding jig had to be first made in some scrap alloy,

First a shot of the bar - I got the faces tapped too for studs, the throttle shafts are going ''up and down'' and not side to side remember - 


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Chopped bar up into 4 and mounted in jig,


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Milling,


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Milled,


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Had to re-jig all 4 again to bore the holes for the M3 screws holding the butterflies on, This was because I wanted the clamps near the action the first time round - they were too high for the very short 2mm endmill to pocket out the holes, you will notice the thinner plates(and M8 bolt) now holding it down and the clamps backed out of the way, 

Very short solid carbide bit, 


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Holes milled - they were 2.5mm or so for the M3 tap(cant remember exact size, 

Managed to bore all 8 holes without killing the endmill,


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Tapping, 


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Next up, the butterfly plates. I thought I had 1.5mm brass but it turned out it was 2.5mm so I went with CF instead. Have a good bit of 1.5mm lying around. This is prepreg made on a heated platten press so spot on for the job,


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I always use wood for a base when machining CF. Its fine for doing inner/outer profiles but you cannot use wood for half depth pocketing as it swells a little as the coolant gets into it and will throw your Z readings. It does mean you dont need to tap it for holding bolts though and you can just use screws with a plain shank for location,

Clamped at outsides and drilled,


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8 of the worst screws in the world now entered - ya need these to hold the circles as they are cut. They are also the fixing holes to locate CF discs onto the spindles,


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CF HAS to be cut with solid carbide. If you use HSS they will dull rapid and tatter the edges after a few inches. This is not all bad though as you use the sides of the cutters which are still possibly like new. You can plunge right down as far as you have a cutting edge to get a sharp spot. One thing you do need to do is plunge away from the finished edge and side mill up to it. You can see this tangential lead in move in the software below, 


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Doing this means you dont burst out the far side if your cutter face is dull.


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Machining....










Feed very low - approx 40mm per minute @4krpm

Machined, 










Free'd off the wood,










I left .05mm on them - they are a pretty decent fit,










All in, they are not going this way as mentioned, but ''up and down'' - vertical, but they 'store' like this easier...











Wanted to get the curved section upto the runners pegged down and the mould box done so I made a start on it. Im waiting on bearings for the throttle spindles and Im not going to chance boring an interference fit for them until I have them in my hand. 

This mould is a little trickier than the first as its curved in both planes and has undercuts.

First, I mapped out the curve with some brake pipe. You could spend 3 days drawing all the various parts in Solidworks including the head but I took the easy way out and just mocked it on the bench.

A plug is tapped into the port and the pipe inserted and bent up ''nice'' around and onto rocker,










A disc is turned to size clearance with everything,










There are a few marks cut on the pipe to let me know datum's or points of importance, 










These marks are then dotted with paint so I can see them, if you look close you can see two blue marks at the left of the disc. The leftmost dot is where a straight line intersects the pipe when taken off the flat face of the flange below it..










The pipe is then removed very carefully and transferred to mill, this all looks a bit flimsy but it actually works very well provided you dont bend the pipe handling it or anything,










Before its tacked down its rubbed with a file to give a shiny pipe center datum,










It then gets tacked, 










The mapping can now begin, the mill is zero'd on one of the blue dots, the drawing is also zero'd at this point - basically, everything is set to ZERO here ,




























The mill is now manually walked to the dot at port entry, and 7? other random points along the pipes curve. The co-ordinates of the mill at each location are noted and transferred to the drawing at the same time(manually)










Here is where the mill is reading when parked above - 










Enter these co-ords in drawing, 










And BOOM circle moves to correct location of mill...










If you were really good at joining the dots in school then you wont need many of these points to get what you need...I went with I think 7 on the curve,










And you just then join the points on the drawing, 



















You then have the dead center of the runner, the bottom flange angle, and the top end angle. The entire mould is based around these three critical locations. 

Below you can see a cross-section starting to emerge...










Its worth keeping in mind that the runners also have to curve in the other plane heading 44mm to the right as you look at engine. 

Its possibly a good Idea to transfer this cross-section to Solidworks at this point and add the 3d aspect/features but since Im not communicating this drawing with anyone Im comfortable enough doing the 3d part in my head off the 2d drawings. I have more the reason to do so as the mould will be built, and not cnc'd from a solid block of wood or model board. You could use those and do it that way if you wanted, but that then means 3d drawings for sure and a lot of time wasted in the process on a fairly simple part. 

I feel this way also gives hope to anyone without a cnc or Solidworks. A lot of folk think that you need a cnc to do anything - you dont...your head is far better than a cnc ever will be so keep the faith!

Im glad that terribly boring post is out the way now...but it is important I guess on how you get a curve like that onto a screen without a 3d scanner or other 'stuff'. 


Right then, onto the curved runner mould/patterns. As mentioned this is semi complex and not the type of mould building or casting patterns you would normally see on the net. I suppose its for good reason, most casting jobs you see done are just two piece moulds like in the first pair of runners I cast at the start of the thread. These are real easy do, and easy visualize for a lot of folk wanting to make manifolds/parts/and so on. Just top and bottom mould and you're done. 
I started with those for good reason and not the plenum end as hopefully they will provide enough intro to make the next one easier understand. 

As I said earlier, this part contains interlocks which cannot be designed out due to the nature of the part shape. 

I will try explain that below with a few terrible drawings of why this mould need to be as complex as it is - hopefully then you will be able to visualize the purpose of the various mould components as I make them - and how they will go together. 

Below is the cross-section drawing of the part, rotated a bit, with the mould box drawn around it, 










The rectangles sticking out each end of the intake piece are needed to hold the cores in place like the first patterns you saw me machine earlier. 

Now....If you were to pack the sand into the top and bottom box around the pattern above you would not be able to ever take the pattern out of the sand as there are undercuts at the flange areas. You would ruin the mould trying to get them off. Below is an image of the sand moulds removed from the boxes. The undercuts areas are highlighted below in red arrows, hopefully you can now see why this would be a bad idea, and not work at all lol
Another thing to also notice is that you have no parting line at the thickest area for the fill gates(metal entry). The gates have to be on a joint(parting line) so that their shapes can also be formed in the moulds.

Ignore anything in the drawing that looks out of place - its just for visual description,










So...a different plan is needed as you can probably guess. What is needed is a collection of sand parts that all fit together to form the 'void' within that you need. You also have to incorporate your gates, sprue(fill tube) and risers into this collection of shapes. The general idea is to make each shape contain no undercuts, interlocks, or negative draft angles. Generally, if this is your 'thing' the shape of everything will come to you with a BANG - you will either see it fairly right away, or you wont ever see a way to do it. 
As stated - I didnt bother to draw this in solidworks as the design is too basic, but solidworks will only bring you so far even if you did. It will show you the interlocks, and undercuts, but you still need to know where stuff should go in terms of gates, where you can allow part lines on the finished part and so on. 

So below is how I broke it up, 










The piece highlight in red is fixed into the top mould - once filled with sand, two screws are removed, the box is removed from sand, and the insert removed from the sand mould. 

All the other pieces are just collections of sand moulds built together to form one main mould. 

Like so, 










Obviously a bit of inside out thinking is now needed since the boxes needed to make the various shapes in the sand parts above need to be in reverse/negative...they also need to contain location bosses for accurate building, and of course the gates, risers, and sprue shapes....

Which will look roughly as below, 










You are probably wondering by now(if you haven't closed the thread!) about the apparent locking point highlighted within the circle below if you were to lift the sand straight up out of the box, 










Very simple....its just lifted out at an angle that follows the angle of the fillet within circle above where the runner meets the section over the valve cover...










If you are totally lost at this point do not worry....once you see the mould boxes getting made, and the sand shapes they will create all the above will become perfectly clear. 

Speaking of which...heres the first bit of 'woodwork' concerning them, 

Back to this drawing again, all of the large bits you see facing you get cut out of 18mm MDF. MDF is horrible stuff and Id normally take from birch ply. Since the budget for this project is running at a shocking 15euros already at this point - MDF will do. I cut this on the cnc with good extraction as MDF dust will kill bearings and slides fast otherwise, (and possibly me too)




























This is the section with flange/outlet on the same plane. Its used to cut the various parts needed to form those end shapes, the runner curves off 44mm as mentioned - or half the bore center distance to place runners between sparkplugs, spot the draft angle on sides of twin port pattern pieces...and machining allowance...



















The MDF sides cut out, the small insert piece omitted as I was late taking this photo - there are two identical sets of sides obviously to make each 'side' or end of the boxes...










Here is the small piece already fixed to some other pieces to form the walls of the insert box, 










Below is a shot of a bit of Brazilian Mahogany, I cut out the core print half moons the lazy way. I should probably buy some dowel and half it but this is just faster...










These pieces along with one flange piece get built into the insert mould box...the accuracy of placement of these is critical, and although wood - all this mess you will see in the next while is accurate to .25mm. 

Poor shots - better ones tomorrow,










You can see the location now in ref to the other side pieces, same as the original 2d drawings above....



















You can now see when this is filled with sand, the sand will take the negative shape needed to form the outer lower flange portion of runner. 

There are a lot of parts to go into this box yet but its pretty easy to be honest now that all the main 'things' have been located and figured out.

Ill take better shots tomorrow eve of each box as I go so you will have a better understanding of what they look like. 

I hope the above makes some sort of sense, the post went a bit long winded but anyways....the bottom line is, pattern makers and mould tool designers are all a bit cuckoo.




So, the mould boxes, got them together more or less. The curved sections where the parting line lies got some birch veneer. Two layers make up the curved portion. The sides are grooved before fitting so that the veneer can be slid in under to hold it. It all gets glued. To add rigidity it will get two layers of twill weave glass on the rears prior to use. 










In,










The veneer has paper on the rear to keep it together. Irrelevant in this case but anyways...its all I had










The interior, 










Two strips screwed in temporary to keep veneer flat against grooved pieces above, plastic to stop strips sticking...











Both boxes are done, 




























Next, forming the runner cross-sections within the above boxes, 

The sweep offset of the runner is draw freehand and cut out from a piece of veneer to act as a template to draw runner curve line, 










It meets the fillet piece installed into the cutout in the mahogany you saw earlier,










Line drawn, work moved into house as the glue dries faster and you can keep an eye on the tv...










A profile of half the runner is taken from some kingspan insulation. Its about 1mm smaller to allow for filler, 










Chop chop....










These then get glued(pva) to the line all the way round to form approx runner half profile,



















Its like something you would see in H.R. Gigers toolbox lol



















Distances checked, 










And checked on insert - bang on to give 4.5mm wall,










Same is done on the inside of the top box,



















They are a little rough, but that doesnt matter - they will get filled between with an epoxy/silica mix and then skimmed with body filler,










How we are looking now, 










Thats the worst of this mould set done now. Tomorrow eve these will be dry enough to epoxy fill, and fill in the last of the pattern pieces. Then its only a matter of filling the curves to smooth with a profile spatula and painting the lot ready for the sand.

Only got 1.5hrs at it this eve but anyways...

Got the epoxy smoothed onto the foam runners ready for filler,

Mixing, 










Thickened with filler powder,










Made as thick as grease, holds in place even overhead,










Shots of it on the runners at the end of this post as you dont want the phone covered in epoxy 

Next, the end sections/patterns for the runners + core prints,

Two pieces of mahogany held together with end plates and one screw in the centre,










To make this,










In progress,










Shaky shot of radius where runner meets CF tubes, I use a mill roundover bit to check shape,










Finished and off - screws removed to reveal both halves,










One side is cut flat on both where they meet in center,










Like so,










Pieces cut free and glued in pairs,










Small box(top right) assembled,










Pieces get glued in like so once they are checked,










Other set get bonded here - also notice runners filled with epoxy mix,










Same for this runner pattern,










The 'goop' takes 12hrs to set - it dries like granite so a good base for filler. A strong shell is needed on the foam sections for resisting sand packing forces.


Got the runners smoothed, or at least now sitting in guide coat waiting for the final fill and few small other bits, 

A piece of carbon was cut to the half runner cross-section, 










The piece of veneer which I used to draw curve has been cut back a bit and is used to guide the carbon scraper - here is the first pull of isopon filler, 










Second, 










Sanded, 










Primer to make it all a bit easier see, 










Blue guide coat and any high/low spots filled/sanded/checked with the carbon form scraper against the veneer guide, 










Followed by approx 3 more blue coats needed to fully flatten, 










Other pattern box got the same treatment, 



















Primer,


__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content










Blue, and more blue!










Let sit for a while - tomorrow eve I have to run in a few fillets at some corners, and also add a few other small bits to them. It didn't go too bad. I normally put on far to much filler and there nothing more depressing than sanding off loads of filler in tight spots but the scraper kept things under control!

Slowly slowly getting there....thread now up to date and will be updated daily, the countdown is very much on!

Brian,:thumbup:


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## ps2375 (Aug 13, 2003)

The toyota version of this came to mind right away, but that was on a smaller(1.6L) motor I believe and VW began the 16V with a 1.8L motor. VW's always seemed to have a better low-end TQ than others, I think they tuned them that way, and never really had the big numbers for hp or all-out rpm's of the japanese motors. I'm willing to bet VW engineers went thru this before going the route they chose. It is nice to see you have the ability to do this, but I think you will find VW did a good job in the first place. This might be useful with a bigger cam than what was stock in a VW motor, then giving the motor a bit of a dual "personality". 

I remember reading about the 16V motors when they first came out, they had the same or better TQ numbers as the 8V motors, they just never felt that way when I drove them. Maybe it was because the cars they put these motors in gained a bunch of weight and just made them feel sluggish. When we swapped a stock 1.8L 16V motor into an 80' Scirocco, it was anything but sluggish.


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## Bazmcc (Jan 11, 2005)

Bookmarked.

There goes tomorrow's lunch break.


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

ps2375 said:


> The toyota version of this came to mind right away, but that was on a smaller(1.6L) motor I believe and VW began the 16V with a 1.8L motor. VW's always seemed to have a better low-end TQ than others, I think they tuned them that way, and never really had the big numbers for hp or all-out rpm's of the japanese motors. I'm willing to bet VW engineers went thru this before going the route they chose. It is nice to see you have the ability to do this, but I think you will find VW did a good job in the first place. This might be useful with a bigger cam than what was stock in a VW motor, then giving the motor a bit of a dual "personality".
> 
> I remember reading about the 16V motors when they first came out, they had the same or better TQ numbers as the 8V motors, they just never felt that way when I drove them. Maybe it was because the cars they put these motors in gained a bunch of weight and just made them feel sluggish. When we swapped a stock 1.8L 16V motor into an 80' Scirocco, it was anything but sluggish.


The 16v head was a compromise at best so they may not have. Who knows. Dual runner would have added a lot of costs too. You could be right - but whats life if you took the journey away!

Either way, Im really looking forward to seeing how it feels, and as mentioned, if if doesnt work - Ill know not to make the next one the same(if there ever is a mk2 version made!) :thumbup:

@ Barry, heres the next bit, incase you have dessert:laugh:

Im finally near the end of these patterns and hope to be pouring mid week :thumbup:

Got nearly all the other important bits added. All that has to go on now are the tabs for holding while machining + 2 other things. 

The runner/riser/and sprue details are also on there. To give you a better picture of what they are to look like I did a REALLY rough drawing showing the different parts,

Here is how they are laid out within the mould,










The metal gets poured down the sprue, hits the filter on the way down then enters the small basin at the base of sprue. From here it flows along the runner and starts filling the portion of the riser below the parting line. It then runs out into the runoff section of runner - this is to trap any loose bits of sand and stuff. The whole system then starts to fill up to the level of the top of the runner. The gate exits the side of the runner in the middle, at parting line. Because the gate travels up hill for a bit to meet with flange the runner system always stays filled. Dross either floats, or sinks so a gate exiting the center is a good idea. From there the metal flows into the flange and around, and fills the cavity. Gate cross-section is critical. If its too big the metal will flow into the part too quick and the filling sprue will drain down as you pour - sucking down air with it. If its too small, not enough metal will flow and the part will freeze before filling fully. 
When the pour is complete the bottle riser nearest to the flange is also full of metal. The main purpose of this is to aid directional solidification. The part will freeze first at the double barrel end, the solidification travels down along the runners into flange and then into the bottle riser which is the hottest, and which also is the last(hottest) metal in.

You have to do it this way otherwise if it started to freeze at the flange end first there is a high risk of the metal contracting too much and tearing where the runner is the thinnest. 
On a ''Production type'' setup there would be a small bit more science applied, and a few trials done first - but this should be fine as I said at the start this is not a super serious project, nor part. 

Here is a shot of the runner, bottle riser, and gate, the drawings are terrible and done on my lap so...










Here are the parts for real. Remember theres a parting line in here too, so some parts are above and below that line as in the 1st drawing above^ 

Gate into flange, 










Its left a tiny bit lower than the flange thickness so when poured you have a straight line to cut it off along, 










Here is the floor to attach to that same insert piece,










The exit from bottle riser meets with the gate when the floor is screwed to box. Remember this floor has to release from the sand too, so no locking shapes here either...










This is its position when the box is getting filled with sand, 










Of course before it is filled, the sprue pattern has to be stuck down through the top piece in order to form the void needed for pouring - the top of this sprue pattern lies below the filter section of the box above it....Im just noticing its not shoved fully home in this shot, 










The lower box, spot the added piece on the runner for a communal tube I want to run between them all for isv/5th injector/whatever, also spot the lower pieces of the runner assemblies, 










It also needs a fillet here as this is the location where the runner meets the back of the flange, 










More paint...










Tiny bit of work left now with them + a day drying and we shall be ready for sand,

Brian,


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## kdeboer (Feb 6, 2008)

Insane, following.


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## Tucked (Jun 12, 2007)

kdeboer said:


> Insane, following.


x2


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

Yet another outstanding thread Brian. :thumbup:

Subscribing to this one too.


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

wantacad said:


> Yet another outstanding thread Brian. :thumbup:
> 
> Subscribing to this one too.


And one with a deadline too! I need to set more deadlines! 

Brian,


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## ps2375 (Aug 13, 2003)

The only numbers I'm in for are actual dyno numbers. And I only see this as being of any benefit to a street driven car with somewhat big cams, like 276-280* or better.


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

ps2375 said:


> The only numbers I'm in for are actual dyno numbers. And I only see this as being of any benefit to a street driven car with somewhat big cams, like 276-280* or better.


hence why im dynoing it


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

you are amazing....following all your builds, keep up that crazy work!


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## kwak (Apr 7, 2005)

Thanks for sharing your work with us here in the States. I had seen your thread on the clubgti forum. And also saw Ben's thread on his intake mods. It is nice to see people experimenting.


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## rysskii3 (Apr 19, 2006)

Just wow. Amazing work!


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

kwak said:


> Thanks for sharing your work with us here in the States. I had seen your thread on the clubgti forum. And also saw Ben's thread on his intake mods. It is nice to see people experimenting.


Indeed:thumbup:

Thanks folks^^

Moar!!!!

Got all the patterns finally finished.(at last)

The sequence I took the pictures in is a bit screwed up as I went filling some boxes while paint was drying on others, but Ill re-order now to make sense,

Got the box below done and the loose insert made and fixed/mounted,










This insert is 'loose' and gets unbolted before mould is taken out of box - as described somewhere above,










The insert has to contain the fillet where it meets runners also, as the fillet cannot be applied to the runners or it would lock the sand in,










The end of the 'composite runner pattern' gets trimmed flat for the insert to sit flat against,










Two M8 bolts both position, and hold the insert in place. Brazilian Mahogany can be tapped as you would steel with a normal tap and will hold threads for a good while. ''Not a lot of people know that'' :laugh: but you can > 










I got the block in for the filter recess too, the sprue pushes down into this - 




























The above are now totally done and sitting in blue waiting to dry,

Onto the sand at last, 

Started with the insert box,










Filled and cured with Co2,










The short sprue is first removed - the sand cures instantly once the gas infuses through it, 










The outer main box is then slid off, - spot the tiny bit of breakout on the core prints - on inspecting the mould there was a tiny undercut here which Ill fill for the next round. The undercut is approx .2mm high so it gives you an idea on how accurate the mould needs to be. Im not that bothered with mould finish in these areas though as its only the core that sits there, and it doesn't see metal, worth a mention though...










Its then turned on its side and the base form removed,










The sand is very robust so takes handling pretty well, a view down into the insert showing the blind riser and the runner/gate,










A few other shots showing different parts of the insert incl the gate,




























Its cross-sectional profile, which you can now hopefully compare to the shape in the original side view drawing,










From the bottom,










Onto the next insert that sits at the top at edge,










Filled and gassed as before,




























Some may have noticed that the boxes have square sides with no draft - they do, but if you concentrated the paint to go heavy at the bottom you can actually create acceptable draft so that the box slides off without too much scraping. Im guessing .25mm thicker paint at the bottom is fine,










How we are looking so far,



















I didnt bother with location dowels/pegs on the first runner mould set as I want to see how well it builds by just going off the side walls for ref - if it lines ok internally Ill just go off those - once the glue is set they wont stir. 

I have to make the core box for the sand parts to form the void/runner internal 'tube' but these are two very simple boxes in comparison to the main moulds above.

The next time you see a head, block, or intake you will hopefully think a bit more about how they came about now :laugh:

Brian,


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## oldschool eighty8 (Apr 17, 2009)

Watching this one opcorn:


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

oldschool eighty8 said:


> Watching this one opcorn:


:thumbup:


Got the lower mould filled this eve - it all went a bit arseways as I had to leave it mid way for a phone call so I just packed up 3/4 of the box flattened it off, and filled another piece up against the flat bit when I got back to it. It starts to skin up pretty fast with the Co2 in the air so Id have to chuck the sand otherwise.

Anyway, its still the same just that the lower mould is in two pieces if you look close. Ill just glue these together and do the other three in one piece(with no phonecalls!)

Packing up the box pre-call! The heavy bit on the pattern got a 3/4 round chill as its a little heavier in thickness than the walls,










Chill seated beside section,










Sand cured and box slid off,










The top insert sits ontop,










Side insert sits on the front,










Like so,










Its very hard shoot the curves as they look in the flesh, one with flash, 










Another,










Didnt bother with the top section as the heater ran out of oil so I called it an 'evening'!

Hope to get the core box plus cores done tomorrow eve and get the top box filled - ready for final building then and some mould coat + metal

Bloody freezing out there this eve 

Brian,


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## frechem (Oct 19, 2002)

Always watching, always learning. :thumbup:

Thank you for taking the time to post such intricate pictures and descriptive details.


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## My Big (Dec 26, 2010)

frechem said:


> Always watching, always learning. :thumbup:
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to post such intricate pictures and descriptive details.


x2
this is amazing stuff.


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## weeblebiker (Apr 3, 2003)

great stuff!

really cool to see a diy step by step mold casting design and construction of something as complex as a variable intake manifold. really really cool stuff. This post is making me want to get my freehand design on :banghead:

although,,,,,
I like the vw 16v and all, but why bother creating this cool and complex and labor intensive a piece on a fixed cam timing head with relatively poor flow characteristics??????? why not make it for a 2.0T if your staying with vw?

which harmonics at what rpms are you trying to pick up???

no worries, one da Vinci type to another, I know the answer as to why,,,,because you can :wave: 

just wondering if thought has been or be given as to the choice of application before more hours are invested.


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

weeblebiker said:


> great stuff!
> 
> really cool to see a diy step by step mold casting design and construction of something as complex as a variable intake manifold. really really cool stuff. This post is making me want to get my freehand design on :banghead:
> 
> ...


Im a 16v type of guy and dont do turbos - I hate turbos. :thumbup:

The same ones since both runners are equal length - this is not variable length runner nor is it variable plenum - the idea being that a smaller runner at lower rpm will increase air speed and thus swirl + fuel spray mixing within the chamber. 


I always felt that the 16v could benefit from better air speed entry into the chamber at lower rpm due to increasing the swirl so here lies my cobbled effort, I believe its called r+d in the auto industry (you should see their waste bins!) 

Read this, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/146015.Scientific_Design_of_Exhaust_and_Intake_Systems and a load of others about 5yrs ago and I remember at the time thinking this could make gains on a head like we have here.

This is all pretty straight forward for me to make for testing and general playing with - Im not Leonardo nor am I creating the Mona Lisa! :thumbup::laugh: The difference between this intake and the Mona Lisa is that if you dont see the point in the Mona Lisa you still dont know how he did it!

Brian,


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## weeblebiker (Apr 3, 2003)

your a da Vinci type because you take a idea in your head and make it real, just to do it. It's a rare skill set.
you are not content to develop an idea by committee, delegate it out to others, resubmit it to committee, have the concept dumbed down by others to make them feel they contributed to the creation process and then see how much money the organization that pays you can get out of people for it, even if that is your day job 

having the complete skill set to go from mental sketch to working piece is the exception, not the norm, Kudos.

I've gone a different route on intake flow design, but to each his own!


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

weeblebiker said:


> your a da Vinci type because you take a idea in your head and make it real, just to do it. It's a rare skill set.
> you are not content to develop an idea by committee, delegate it out to others, resubmit it to committee, have the concept dumbed down by others to make them feel they contributed to the creation process and then see how much money the organization that pays you can get out of people for it, even if that is your day job
> 
> having the complete skill set to go from mental sketch to working piece is the exception, not the norm, Kudos.
> ...


Thats a pretty accurate description on all accounts of how I roll and one that I never actually thought about much or that was ever said to me before. 
The one thing that kills me the most on contracts is the time things take to get moving. The constant circling of emails, the nodding, the meetings, 7/8ths of the team not giving a sh1t, the ''thats impossible'' ''We need a 6 axis machine'' and so on. 

Hmmm.....

Brian,


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Got the top box filled, you might notice the two tabs I added onto the sides of the runners too. These are for datum jig points when It comes to machining them - and doing them all the same. These are the only flat surface on the entire part so at least Ill have those to work with. They will get cut off when the parts are machined. These tabs are evident on a lot/all odd shape cast/diecast parts and normally get left on. These can also be seen on the oil pump below it, they are normally seen in 3's as a three legged stool never rocks(in the jig)



















The box was gassed and the two m8 bolts removed that hold in the insert, the insert then stays behind in the main mould as planned and gets removed with two screws for 'pullage'




























The recess for the filter too - its not the best location for the filter and I would have liked it at the entrance to the runner but Id then have to make another insert for that then so to hell with it - Itll be fine,










The side of the filter is sanded at an angle and it taps in - interference fit,










It sits over the riser on the lower mould as planned when the mould is built,(this is the lower mould)










A shot of the rear on the 'bad light' side,










In other news I bored out the pulleys as they were pilot bores, these were drilled .2mm under and reamed to size,




























They fit pretty good - they have to get grubs yet. A timing pulley supplied pre-tapped for a grub is best avoided as you have no way then of clocking the pulleys in ref to the flats on your shafts, and where you want the teeth to end up in respect to that. I have no flats on the spindles yet but if you had you would then have no indexing/timing control with a pre-tapped item. The top tapered bore timing pulley with no keyway on an engine is a good example of this in practice. It also saves a machining process too in terms of the keyways having to end up in the right spot on the camshafts. The main advantage though is that the designer can relax a bit in terms of tolerance between the crank pulley and the cam pulley and whatever gets driven in between + the belt itself. It also has its advantages if you skim the head - you just fit the pulleys loose - lock shafts - and turn back pulleys to tension belt on the pull side. The slack gets taken up on the opposite side with the tensioner and then the pulleys get locked on. If you had keys on all the pulleys then this is not possible without vernier items. I would think the main advantage is cost on the line though, in terms of cutting keyways...damn beancounters!










Back on topic....

The belts I'm using,










These are the width of the pulley - I couldnt get ones half width so Im going to slice them down the middle on the lathe. Its how they come to width in the first place anyway as they are made maybe 200mm wide and sliced up after.

Brian,


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## xtremevdub (Jun 26, 2004)

Man, you have some serious skills.
I really wanna see where this goes.:thumbup:


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## 20v_boost (Jan 29, 2002)

Subscribed!

I've been following your adventures in casting since the coolant flange. Keep up the inspiring work.


-Alex


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

20v_boost said:


> Subscribed!
> 
> I've been following your adventures in casting since the coolant flange. Keep up the inspiring work.
> 
> ...


Came a fair bit since that I look back at parts of it now and cringe at some of techniques but I guess you have to start somewhere :thumbup:

No update on this today, had to sit down and order a few little bits to keep it all going behind the scenes - you cant really get anything local here for this sort of work so if you run out of something you have to wait a week :banghead:

Brian,


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Not much to report this evening. Got a thick block of MDF squares glued up for the core box. 

Also waiting on Isopropyl alcohol needed to thin the mould wash. The mould wash Im using is a new one that I haven't used before as is the core glue so Ill have to test those first to see how they handle before going all on with them here and something unexpected happening.

I learned in an almost disastrous way that you have to be very sure of your materials when casting anything. Its not from the aspect of getting a good pour or part, but its in the interests of your own, or my own safety. I dont ever harp on about safety regards pouring metal as I assume most people have enough cop but this is worth mentioning I suppose. 
I had bought core glue with no data sheet of its composition a good while back. I glued up all the moulds and let it sit for 12hrs before pouring 3 litres of aluminum. As it turned out the glue had small traces of water in it and the result was a large explosion approx 2min after pouring. I suspect the delay was due to nucleate boiling or some other effects once the metal contacted the glue. The end effect was the all 3 litres of the alloy exploded out of the top of the mould and showered everywhere. 2/3s of it stuck to the roof above. I got covered in the shower but amazingly none of it touched my head, face or hands. I did ruin all the protective gear though and I had to strip off most of it there and then as it started to burn through. Ever since that I always test new materials before hand in a small mould and go over the data sheets with a fine comb.
The one thing that will kill you or leave you with no face when casting is dampness, either damp ingots dropped into the crucible, damp moulds, or leaving the crucible on damp concrete. Letting the crucible fall or it spilling out of a mould at the parting line is trivial in comparison.

Here is said roof - it was maybe 13ft over the mould at the time of the explosion. A large piece about an inch thick and 2ft in diameter had to be hacked off it when it cooled.










Here are two videos of what it was like - Id rate it midway between the two so PLEASE TAKE CARE ALL and be sure of what you are working with.











Did a few dry builds of the various mould components to see how they fitted together and how it all lined up. The internal features line perfectly when the parts are constructed with the outer sides flush so Im not going to bother with location pegs on the other 3 build sets. While all this may seem slow the next three runner sets are going to be a breeze and only take 2hrs to complete. Once the first one is checked and fits ok, as long as you do all the rest the same then they too will be fine. You would always build one first and not all 4 moulds incase there was a problem somewhere along the line. That way if anything crops up you are only one mould down, and not four. 
Like everything consistency will ensure good results with all parts. Consistency covering pour time, temperatures, sand tightness, glue amounts, and so on. 

Here are a few shots of various parts in place - here the entire mould is upside down and will get built the right way up but since its just for checking it doesn't matter, 





































You will notice at the parting line below where both halves meet and are radiused at the edges. This radius is a result of the runner fillet in the mould box and deliberate. It has the benefit of forming a wider flash/parting line on the runner and tends to camouflage any miss match between the two mould halves when its ground off.




























Brian,


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## xtremevdub (Jun 26, 2004)

There is so much awesome in this thread! Keep up the good work, but take your time... Those explosions are no joke.


----------



## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

xtremevdub said:


> There is so much awesome in this thread! Keep up the good work, but take your time... Those explosions are no joke.


Thanks:thumbup: Indeed care is more important than speed for sure. Looking back over the photos now Im sorry I didn't render it all in Solidworks to make it all easier picture for anyone reading - but since I based it all on a mental picture of it complete on a table I kinda have to continue to work back - and then forwards to there. Solidworks would over complicate it at this point :laugh: 

Brian,


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

Brian.G said:


> Thanks:thumbup: Indeed care is more important than speed for sure. Looking back over the photos now Im sorry I didn't render it all in Solidworks to make it all easier picture for anyone reading - but since I based it all on a mental picture of it complete on a table I kinda have to continue to work back - and then forwards to there. Solidworks would over complicate it at this point :laugh:
> 
> Brian,



I'm pretty sure most of us following you can see what you see in your projects.  

Save the computer stuff for video games.


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## DocWalt (Sep 6, 2012)

Freaking awesome. I seem to keep stumbling into threads of yours around the web, and they're all fantastic!


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## Fknmovin60 (Apr 16, 2005)

*Over engineering...*

I understand what you are attempting to do BUT the engine is going to ingest only the same amount of air as its displacement. That being said, changing the air speed can be done very easily by varying the dimension of the inlet pipe feeding the intake valve. Volkswagen's first attempt was on the VR6 engine, then they carried it over to the 2.8 V6 in the Passats. They then continued to do so on the 2.0T engines. Rather than having one passageway at lower RPM/demand they made the passageway smaller, increasing air speed, creating lower end torque.
As the RPM/demand increases so does the passageway size... picture 0 at lower rpm then *O* at higher rpm. I DO respect your craftsmanship, but making two openings per cylinder and closing one at lower demand is kind of creating a brick wall that air will actually bounce back up the intake track. Making individual belt drives for each of your butterflies, is also overkill. 
You can run all of your butterflies on one shaft that runs across your intake inlet ports and instead of controlling them with some electric drive (which is what they have on the 2.0T engine, which has had lots of problems) you can hold the shaft/butterflies closed with engine vacuum. At low RPM, you have high intake vacuum... as engine speed increases the engine vacuum decreases, allowing the butterflies to open. 

Rather than casting the complete manifold, the flange where the upper half bolts to the lower half is where you could incorporate your butterflies.

Again, I DO respect your craftsmanship...just stating my opinion, so please, kids on the forum, don't flame me for stating my experience.


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Fknmovin60 said:


> I understand what you are attempting to do BUT the engine is going to ingest only the same amount of air as its displacement. That being said, changing the air speed can be done very easily by varying the dimension of the inlet pipe feeding the intake valve. Volkswagen's first attempt was on the VR6 engine, then they carried it over to the 2.8 V6 in the Passats. They then continued to do so on the 2.0T engines. Rather than having one passageway at lower RPM/demand they made the passageway smaller, increasing air speed, creating lower end torque.
> As the RPM/demand increases so does the passageway size... picture 0 at lower rpm then *O* at higher rpm. I DO respect your craftsmanship, but making two openings per cylinder and closing one at lower demand is kind of creating a brick wall that air will actually bounce back up the intake track. Making individual belt drives for each of your butterflies, is also overkill.
> You can run all of your butterflies on one shaft that runs across your intake inlet ports and instead of controlling them with some electric drive (which is what they have on the 2.0T engine, which has had lots of problems) you can hold the shaft/butterflies closed with engine vacuum. At low RPM, you have high intake vacuum... as engine speed increases the engine vacuum decreases, allowing the butterflies to open.
> 
> ...


''I understand what you are attempting to do BUT the engine is going to ingest only the same amount of air as its displacement''

Wrong, study VE - this engine never does.(torque curves are curves for a reason)
As for one long shaft, it then runs through all openings - blocking 4 with a shaft for no reason - then theres the drilling issue too. Belts are lighter than levers when shafts are in the vertical position and dont wear or rattle like loads of pivots. 

''Rather than casting the complete manifold, the flange where the upper half bolts to the lower half is where you could incorporate your butterflies''

And would the twin runners magically appear in the rest of the oem parts? - I feel you are getting confused here with variable length runner, or variable geometry plenum, neither of which this is. 

I respect your opinions but the VE one is first grade stuff regardless so...'stating your experience' makes me wonder

No flaming in here dont worry:thumbup:

@ DocWalt, you might like this then - http://f1displayed.com/

Brian,


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## kwak (Apr 7, 2005)

Fknmovin60 said:


> I understand what you are attempting to do BUT the engine is going to ingest only the same amount of air as its displacement.


This statement shows a huge lack of understanding of what air is and how it moves into and out of an engine.



Brian.G said:


> Wrong, study VE - this engine never does.


The acronym Brian mentions stands for "volumetric efficiency". The Wikipedia article will not help you understand anything, except that a naturally aspirated engine _can _be designed and tuned to have more than 100% VE (more "air" than the displacement). Typically it is less. There are textbooks written just on the subject of designing intake and exhaust systems for engines.

I hope you take this as something to learn more about. Personally I find the field of airflow fascinating.

I apologize in advance for the length here. We just had a big snowstorm and I have cabin fever. 

If you were to turn the crankshaft of an engine by hand, where you have a nice slow stable system, then yes you could get atmospheric pressure of air inside of the entire volume of engine displacement. But an engine is a dynamic system, with timed events, were the cylinder displacement constantly changes and the only way to move air into and out of the cylinder is through valves which do not instantly open and close. 

But what is "air"? What is "the same amount of air" as the cylinder displacement? Yes "air" fills a volume. But air also has mass and therefore it has density inside of a volume. Air also has speed which means it has velocity (speed in a direction) and since air also has mass then it has momentum (what mass of air is going at what speed in what direction). Once you have a column of air moving through the intake towards the cylinder (momentum) the intake valve is only open a certain period of time. How much "air" (what mass) gets inside of the cylinder (volume), aka VE? Then when the intake valve closes you get a pressure pulse traveling backward in the intake interfering with the momentum of your air column. And then pulses have reflections. And there is a whole bunch more factors regarding moving air.

The properties of what is air and how does it move, when considered against the dynamic nature of the system it has to move through in an engine makes all this complicated.

Feel free to correct my mistakes...


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

kwak said:


> This statement shows a huge lack of understanding of what air is and how it moves into and out of an engine.
> 
> 
> The acronym Brian mentions stands for "volumetric efficiency". The Wikipedia article will not help you understand anything, except that a naturally aspirated engine _can _be designed and tuned to have more than 100% VE (more "air" than the displacement). Typically it is less. There are textbooks written just on the subject of designing intake and exhaust systems for engines.
> ...


:thumbup::beer:

To add, the point at which an engine makes its maximum torque is the point at which the cylinders are filling the most. As the Rpm then increases it starts to drop off as the air has less time to completely fill the chamber. This is for many reasons - a column of air takes energy and time to accelerate and so on and that time decreases as rpms increase. The same is true for low engine speeds where the ''pull'' on the column of air is not as great - the large cross-section of a runner can 'waste' this pulling power in accelerating a large cross-sectional 'front' of air along the runner. By making the runner less in diameter then this ''front'' is smaller, and more of the energy makes its way up into the rest thus pulling the full column along. 

Indeed it is a large area and one I have studied lots which it would seem you have too. Trying to write it simply at times can be a challenge, but in reality the basics can be explained simply even if much of the info seems like double dutch. 

I have seen an enormous amount of intakes in the bins of the r+d areas of some places which means that real life RR testing is normal and not out of the ordinary. Im not afraid of failure as mentioned - Ive made a lot of things that failed, but using the info from the failed items can benefit you in the long run massively. There is no other way I could have learned the techniques above in just 3 yrs by not failing - 10yrs of research is only so useful without hands on. 

Brian,


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## Fknmovin60 (Apr 16, 2005)

That's Ok, I do know what VE stands for AND what it is.


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Only a bit done this eve, said block that got glued up ready for milling,










Machined,










Two pieces displaying the parting line get screwed and glued on before un-screwing the jig board on the other side,










Turned over - the jig board which the thick block was screwed to prior to machining - mind the screws when milling! - 










Jig board now off - doing it this way means everything gets fixed together accurate, 




























I have yet to fix on the other side to match - all out of scrap MDF so need to pick up some more. The veneer curve guide is out again and will feature in the next update, 










Brian,


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## dunc12 (Jan 24, 2011)

Amazing work thus far, excited to see where this goes :thumbup:


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## DocWalt (Sep 6, 2012)

Brian, I had been following your casting thread for quite some time when I bumped into the F1 head dissection. I recognized the writing style and was not at all surprised to hear it was you. You're also wild enough to cut up a F1 head like that


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## sdezego (Apr 23, 2004)

wow, those 2 clips were  Looks like you were very lucky in your mishap. Thanks for sharing the bad along with the good :thumbup:


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

DocWalt said:


> Brian, I had been following your casting thread for quite some time when I bumped into the F1 head dissection. I recognized the writing style and was not at all surprised to hear it was you. You're also wild enough to cut up a F1 head like that


Im guessing the writing style you spotted was over long and drawn out? :laugh:

Im done cutting up stuff now - I feel I know all I need to know in how the moulds get placed in terms of an F1 head. You would be surprised of all the hate emails I got for doing that - you tend to learn nothing though from locking F1 parts in glass cases. I suspect the haters were of the glasscase variety :facepalm:.

Would love to write a book when I cast the cylinder head - casting info in books currently is a bit 1950s and badly explained I feel. I doubt anyone would buy it though on something so boring!

As for the explosions - Indeed - they wake you up for sure! Have my jacket I was wearing somewhere under the 'protective gear' Ill post a pic of it when I come across it,



More work on the core box, 

Instead of cnc'ing the other piece for opposite side I cut out with jigsaw and trimmed with a 1/2'' flush trimmer. The MDF scrap was small, and jigging awkward so this is the other option,

Oversized rough cut piece fixed to side for trimming,










Router, and flush trimmer bit, 



















Off, and fixed now to other side, 










Mr Veneer features again...










Its still the correct size...just checking....










Two pieces of Mahogany get inserted into ends,



















The Mahogany gets coped out to match the half section of core shape either end and more goop is applied between, 










The Veneer template is tacked to side, 










The goop is raked out in a shape closely matching the runner core profile - this is to provide backup for an accurate skim of filler to give it its final shape. The goop is dirt cheap, filler is not, 



















Once that sets up it will get an accurate final skim of filler to bring this core box half to its final shape. The veneer is used to guide the scraper as with the main mould boxes. 

The other half of the core box can be done in a far quicker way once I have the shape of this one pegged down accurately,

Looks like the sand needed to cast all 4 runners wont be here until Friday so there is no major panic with epoxy/filler drying times on the core box - plenty for doing in the mean time in the line of core glue and coating testing which I may as well show too. Got the carbon tubes ordered for the runners over rocker - was going to make on a mandrel with pre-preg and heatshrink tape but I think it would be an un-necessary waste of time considering I can buy what I want off the shelf ready made(for once!)



Brian,

Edit, forgot these from the last post!

Chopping the belts to width, belt loaded onto a tight fitting mandrel - lathe on, slice with stanley knife, simple as that!





































Ya can cut belts this way down to .2mm wide if you want to, not that ya'd want one that narrow...


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## mafosta (Dec 24, 2007)

opcorn::beer: subscribed


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Not much to report on progress - waiting on stuff, Im guessing the flooding and general havoc in the Uk is to blame 
Got the top section of corebox finished and all smooth, 




























Thats sitting in blue now waiting for the next step(once a delivery arrives!)

Brian,


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## frechem (Oct 19, 2002)

Brian.G said:


> That's sitting in blue now waiting for the next step(once a delivery arrives!)


Hopefully tomorrow. :thumbup:


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

frechem said:


> Hopefully tomorrow. :thumbup:


Indeed:thumbup: On a serious note, I hope anyone reading from the Uk is ok, more hardcore weather on the way tonight Stay safe :thumbup:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...oding-threat-thousands-homes-near-Thames.html

Brian,


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## LT1M21Stingray (Sep 14, 2006)

:thumbup::beer:


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Mtl-Marc said:


> :thumbup::beer:


Not much to report sadly in the line of deliveries - hoped to get the main one for the weekend but it didnt show. I did get some bits though so here they are, 

The bearings, yes they are needles, overkill - probably, but why not. Got some circlips too - about 6 times too many , and some viton O rings,




























And onto something totally different but vital > 










Rolled to a tapered tube - 










Fitted onto the core mould half, 



















Thats all to report for the minute until my truck turns up!:banghead:

Brian,


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Still waiting for delivery 

Brian,


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## frechem (Oct 19, 2002)

Brian.G said:


> Still waiting for delivery
> 
> Brian,


Still watching for updates.


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## weeblebiker (Apr 3, 2003)

ya know how much crap I'd get if my wife caught me with one of my projects sitting on the sofa????


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## xtremevdub (Jun 26, 2004)

weeblebiker said:


> ya know how much crap I'd get if my wife caught me with one of my projects sitting on the sofa????


You gotta work on your Pimp Hand, my friend! :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

weeblebiker said:


> ya know how much crap I'd get if my wife caught me with one of my projects sitting on the sofa????


Its ok, I paid for all 7 foot of it:laugh:

Still no sand but the core glue and iso-propyl alcohol for thinning mould wash did show up. Its not the normal iso-al, most iso-al is 20% water, since water will dissolve the moulds a bit it needs to be nearly pure. I managed to track down 99.9% pure in a gallon tin - I reckon the .1% is FEAR as its a small bit scary looking at it - and smelling it has to be said. Still not as scary as Nitric acid though, that still holds number one in terms of ''Fearful Chemical Un-boxing Experiences'' so far.

I really really hope the sand shows tomorrow and that its not raining for the unloading.


Brian,


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## MK1 Rabbit GTI (Jan 13, 2006)

Brian, you a machine. :thumbup:


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## weeblebiker (Apr 3, 2003)

Brian.G said:


> I managed to track down 99.9% pure in a gallon tin - I reckon the .1% is FEAR as its a small bit scary looking at it - and smelling it has to be said. Still not as scary as Nitric acid though, that still holds number one in terms of ''Fearful Chemical Un-boxing Experiences'' so far.
> 
> Brian,


Glad you have respect for Nitric, it can do some serious tissue damage, thats one to rush to the sink to wash off. 

The nastiest stuff to get on you is 50% hydrogen peroxide, instant tissue destruction. not only does it oxidize instantly, it's an exothermic reaction and burns at the same time. it sends you instantly screaming for the sink like a little girl with 1 droplet on the skin:laugh:. I watched 50% hydrogen peroxide burn a hole into asphalt. it will also burn a whole through leather shoes.


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## Grabbit (Apr 27, 2001)

..........opcorn:


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

weeblebiker said:


> Glad you have respect for Nitric, it can do some serious tissue damage, thats one to rush to the sink to wash off.
> 
> The nastiest stuff to get on you is 50% hydrogen peroxide, instant tissue destruction. not only does it oxidize instantly, it's an exothermic reaction and burns at the same time. it sends you instantly screaming for the sink like a little girl with 1 droplet on the skin:laugh:. I watched 50% hydrogen peroxide burn a hole into asphalt. it will also burn a whole through leather shoes.


Another is molten caustic soda - It will dissolve glass The crazy thing about caustic soda(sodium hydroxide-lye) is that you can buy a load of it for 3 dollars without an eyelid bat in many stores :what:

Still no sand, If it does not come Monday there will be some shouting down the phone :thumbdown:

Brian,


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Sand arrived:thumbup:

Going to be a late night tomorrow night - Im going to get one poured or bust.

Brian,


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Ok, so I forgot about the small issue of testing the mould coating and core adhesive in my excitement when the sand arrived. 

I could skip this but it would be stupid to do so. So, with that in mind I tested both this evening to make sure nothing funny was going to happen with the new materials(have not used these brands before) 

So the first up was the mould coating(GZA4), as mentioned this is graphite and zircon talc in an alcohol suspension. It comes as thick paste and you thin down to whatever you like with the iso-Al. I took a while longer than my normal paste to get it mixed fully/thinned down but it holds in suspension far better than the last stuff so this is a good thing. 

Here is said coating ready for thinning, here its as thick as toothpaste,










I dont have an image of it thinned, but its about the same as car paint now. 

I had to do a pair of very basic test moulds so here is what I used, 










The cavity is going to sit above the parting line in order to trap air in the cavity - this is one of the tests to see if the coating makes the sand airtight. Airtight sand is not a bad thing, but its good to know so you can add vents if needed. All the mould coatings Ive used before have made the moulds air tight so Im guessing this one will too. 

Here are the moulds, the bottom sections - the drags are just flat surfaces,










Here I have brushed on the mould coating. Its then lit to burn off the iso-Al.










Same with the drag piece,










The other test mould is left un-coated bar the runner as below. The glue is then applied around the edge and the flat drag pressed on,










I chose not to let the glue dry and pour right away - that way testing for water in the wet glue(steam) Its just weighted down and poured @ exactly 700 degrees C. This is a little higher than I normally pour but its what Ill be pouring the manifold runners at as they are long and the alloy needs to flow a good distance from the gate.










Both moulds are poured, the set with the X is the coated one,



















First the un-coated on is broken open - the glue is fine, no steam or explosions even when wet,



















The part is a bit dull as expected with some sand sticking,










Next, the coated mould, 










Great shine, no sticking, 

Coated on on the left - you will notice the corners did not fill out. This is normal with mould coating as they make the sand airtight as mentioned. Vents on high/air trap locations look after all that - 










Coated, 










Un-coated, 










That concludes the mould coating and adhesive test. The one other test Im going to do tonight is to see how long the glue takes to dry at workshop temperature. It runs at about 16 degrees most of the time so Im hoping it will dry fairly quick. Im going to coat the first set of moulds now and get stuff laid out ready for the off at long last!

Brian,


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## Mick_F (Feb 12, 2014)

Would the reduction in shrinkage be attributed to the coating or the slight change of corner geometry?

Either way it looks to be a marked improvement.

Michael


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Mick_F said:


> Would the reduction in shrinkage be attributed to the coating or the slight change of corner geometry?
> 
> Either way it looks to be a marked improvement.
> 
> Michael


Mick, good point and one to be watched, but in this case no, its a classic airlock issue - saw it before so Im as sure as can be that it is that in this case:thumbup:

Good to see a member on here from Ireland, not too many from here, on here:thumbup:

Im currently waiting for glue to dry, its not looking good for tonight as it is gone a bit late for casting now.

I ended up putting the mould coat into an atomizer bottle and low and behold it sprayed it on perfect. I was eyeing up my Devilbiss HVLP gun but couldn't bring myself to do it. Iso-Al didn't melt bottle/pump so that was a plus. The Iso-Al is not as flammable as I originally thought and you dont even have to hold the cigarette behind your back

A few shots of them with coating applied, you will only see them open one more time when the cores go in,










I kept the wash off where the cores sit to allow them to breath into the vents(yet to be drilled)










The wash has smoothed the surface a lot, so thats good(and its purpose!)










And last, the mixing stick - held it infront of the heater to do a drying test initially after mixing - its almost fire proof now too, showing no signs of charring after a minute infront of the heater outlet 










I might paint it onto my face tomorrow :laugh:

Brian,


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## MK1 Rabbit GTI (Jan 13, 2006)

little off topic, but how is you cylinder head casting turning out?


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

MK1 Rabbit GTI said:


> little off topic, but how is you cylinder head casting turning out?


Excellent:thumbup: Im not fully sure if Im going to do a thread on it or put it all into a book so Im keeping it on the semi downlow for the minute because if I post something, It could effect future book publishing stuff.

So, I finally got it poured, all went went and there was no hiccups:thumbup: Actually, the whole thing was not stressful at all actually, as it all went together just grand. 

The one thing I am short on is pictures - I had everything organized but forgot to charge phone. Ive only one USB on the mill and the keyboard is plugged into that so it gets interesting if you use that to charge the phone :facepalm:

ANYWAYS, fear not, theres three others of these to do yet so I might use my 'real' camera for those and maybe do a video too!

So here we are, I know some of you have been looking fwd to these so I guess its about time you saw them given that you all stuck through the boring phase of the pattern making 

As mad as it sounds I think that the moulds for a cylinder head are about three times easier to make and design than these so worth keeping in mind too given that you all got through the pattern making bit !

The cores installed, I have no pictures of making the cores but Ill post that when doing the other three, small wedges are used to hold them in place as the glue dries. I forced the glue dry with the torch and it bubbled a bit but the next three will air dry naturally since I now know the mould is sound,










Here is the mould built, notice the dip in the top mould - this is when I ran out of sand and just made a crater there - thats how tight it was! Theres a few vents drilled too and I raked in auxiliary air vents on the ends of the runner which you will see in the next photo. I figured these would be a good Idea and a good indication too if the mould filled. Im going to add these raked shapes to the top mould box on the other three runners so that I wont have to rake them out every time,










One other thing I did was to open up the moulds so that I could see the ends of the cores. This way I could just pack in some oil bond sand to make sure metal could not seal off the ends of the cores if it made its way up around them. A sealed core cannot vent and will burst. As it happens, no metals made its way up to the ends of the cores so I probably wont bother doing this on the others. Its important to cover all possibilities in the first run so that you can subtract as you go, and not have to come up with further solutions as you go(and at the same time keep failing).

Here it is just poured, this is where the phone started batt low warning so the rest of the set is a bit rushed,










The sprue shrunk down nicely, I figured at this point it was feeding the runner and riser which it was as the blind riser didn't shrink at all,










Here it is after a minute of hammer and chiseling, you can see the added raked in risers, and also the ends of the cores free from metal. If you are ever casting anything its VITAL to keep the core ends open and not encapsulated










There is also .5mm of flash off from the runner sides but this is not an issue, it just gets cut off. On the next ones Im going to put a line of glue there to form a barrier,

A shot of the filter, spot also some metal came out from the riser along one of the co2 vent holes!










A cross-section shot,










Flange end, spot the two 3mm drilled vents here - since this was an airlock point at the top of flange, I drilled through the mould coating to allow air to escape into the mould - 










Fillet detail, 










Plenum/CF runner over rocker end,










Runner/riser, spot the drilled vent here too through to parting line above - 










Gate detail, you can now see a lower than flange thickness gate gives you a guide line for cutting along,










Flash zipped off rough with coping saw and offered up - hopefully giving you an Idea! You can see the machining hold down tab there too if you look really hard - 










Last shot of used mould, Id nearly say if you were using very simple moulds you would get two runs per mould as the coating stops all burning. But, maybe that would be pushing it 










Phone died there so ''Thats all she wrote'' The other 3 are going to be very plain sailing now that everything is proved. Itll probably take me 2-3 evenings to get the other three cast so Ill take some more photos of anything Ive missed along the way now that the pressure is off!!

Brian,


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## DocWalt (Sep 6, 2012)

Too many pictures... It crashed firefox, lol


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

DocWalt said:


> Too many pictures... It crashed firefox, lol


Try Chrome,

:beer:


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

So the others will be done by next evening? :laugh:


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

wantacad said:


> So the others will be done by next evening? :laugh:


Maybe the evening after:laugh:


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## 20v_boost (Jan 29, 2002)

You sir, are a wild man.

So what keeps the cores centered throughout the whole length?

-Alex


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

20v_boost said:


> You sir, are a wild man.
> 
> So what keeps the cores centered throughout the whole length?
> 
> -Alex


They are glued into the moulds both ends - they are a very good fit there too, so the glue is only really 'just to be sure' 

:thumbup:


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## Mick_F (Feb 12, 2014)

Brian.G said:


> Mick, good point and one to be watched, but in this case no, its a classic airlock issue - saw it before so Im as sure as can be that it is that in this case:thumbup:
> 
> Good to see a member on here from Ireland, not too many from here, on here:thumbup:


Not too many of us anywhere, other than home!

The inlet looks to be great quality too.

M


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## xtremevdub (Jun 26, 2004)

is this done yet???? opcorn:


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## DocWalt (Sep 6, 2012)

Brian.G said:


> Try Chrome,
> 
> :beer:


Worked great after I updated firefox. oopsy :laugh:

Any updates?


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## Tucked (Jun 12, 2007)

xtremevdub said:


> is this done yet???? opcorn:


x2!


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Will update with pics tomorrow Have now got a lot of the plenum mould figured out(its easy) so there will be some of that too

Had a few issues with the Co2 this time round, looks like it has a different type valve. When you use it for 5min, the valve freezes over and wont re-seat which means it emptied 40euros of Co2 into the workshop over night unknown to me I have another full one now with my normal type valve Im used to and it seems to be seating now. I know I could aim a heat gun at it, but it seems a lot of Co2 gets frozen in there and it has to be really hot to melt it all. A bit of an unforeseen problem, but ya'll have that!

I have a bit of 'real work' to do abroad soon but Im hoping to do a bit of cramming and get a lot of this complete before that - Its just a week 'off campus' anyway.

Brian,


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## 20v_boost (Jan 29, 2002)

Any updates?


-Alex


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## V16 SS (Nov 2, 2006)

*What the what*

I've gone through three pages with my jaw dropped open. Had to physically take my hand and push my lower jaw up to close my mouth. I've worked in a couple machine shops and still can't get over all the prep work that has gone into this. Outrageous dedication man! Mad props.


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## ShamWerks (Jul 5, 2013)

Stunning work, kudos!!

Can't wait to see the next update!


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## Lownslowvdub (Aug 31, 2012)

16v porn....pure craftsmanship sir:beer: subd


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## JettaG60MK2Rider (Feb 13, 2005)

amazing :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


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## cleanA3 (Jun 23, 2007)

Love what you are doing , keep the good work coming


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## Str8pipingti (Oct 10, 2010)

Here is REAL skill and enthusiasm. Wish I had the resources and skill to do this. The real test will be the flow bench and see how the numbers compare to stock. Can't wait. Although I am sure the head will have mads as well.


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## Albert87 (Sep 15, 2011)

very nice build mate . just found this over google. when lookign for some examples
this is a very nice one :thumbup:
gonna subscribe to this


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## vwabbitman (Mar 12, 2006)

defiantly in for updates. your work is amazing.


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Hope to get back to this fairly soon, work has me at all ends of the globe - a pm there just reminded me to update or tell folk what was going on!

My RR guy has the car in ace condition now for RR testing so thats good:thumbup:

Some pictures of places from the last few weeks - we all love pictures....

Silicon Valley and around,




























New York - room with a view!



















London,










China, fun toys there, 



















Yes, thats a disco ball...










Planes...lots of planes...










One more haul to do and then back in workshop to machine all castings - I miss it!

:beer:

Brian,


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## Slayer (Aug 8, 2000)

What do you do for work?


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## Brian.G (May 8, 2010)

Figure out if things are worth making, or if the idea is even possible more_or_less. 

Brian,


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

Brian.G said:


> Figure out if things are worth making, or if the idea is even possible more_or_less.
> 
> Brian,



Well sh!t I can do that. but something tells me you use bigger and better words than. "are you f-ing kidding me you dumba$$?"

:laugh:


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## LevySUCKS (Jul 6, 2011)

Brian.G

Huge fan of yours I have read through your complete guide on casting parts and this thread many times. You have inspired me to start casting and machining.

I am sorry if this has been answered but what CAM software do you use? Pretty much all CAM software is out of my budget and we do not have any at work. I have been using the free version of lazycam and editing the code manually so far.

Keep the inspiration coming!

Matt


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## Lord_Verminaard (Apr 6, 2004)

Great thread, been wondering what you have been up to. Amazing work as always.

:beer:

Brendan


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