Xtra

I have added 6 very small vacuum holes along the gasket line to help pull the material into critical areas of the intake. This should help with defining the gasket line and help the overall fit.

Underneath the nice white finish coat, I discovered that some hairline cracks have formed in the mold. This proves that the mold will have a short life as I originally thought. I believe that it will survive long enough to complete all the orders and a few more beyond that, so no worries, but it is far from permanent.

This is great news. At some point in the future, you can bet I will upgrade with these new hi/po heavy duty parts.

Had to go to the hardware store for more sandpaper today, and work continues. I have removed approximately .125 of an inch so far and will take it down some more to account for the thickness of the finish coat. The Swiss Cheese intake has proved to be very useful in keeping track of progress.

Perhaps I should have said something like. The more minuscule the marker, the greater the precision.

I machined down all 12 of the hole marker screws as much as possible. Even though I had turned them down once before, and it was a huge improvement, the smaller the better. Because of all the contours, hand sanding is the way to go. I Swiss Cheesed one of the intakes to measure how much material was being removed from the mold.

Today I did some more work that the shop requested. In the first photo, you can see the straight sides of the hole. The shop requested that they be tapered some so that the intake would release easier from the mold. The second photo shows the completed mod. Little things like this help.

That is amazing that you actually saw someone in head to toe PPE, I was joking about doing double duty and wearing that suit in public .

Good idea , It could do double duty . Protecting me from the fiberglass dust and when I go out in public. Who need a mask when you have a full Tyvex suit ?

I would like to give props to Duece McCracken for the photos he sent me as they helped a lot, and answered questions for me about the 2015 intake fitment. Armed with this new info, I believe that there will be no more problems with the 2015s. Now work can begin. After a meeting with the plastic shop, I have a lot more to do than originally thought. This first cut I made is at the request of the shop to help release the intake from the mold. I will give updates as I progress . On a personal note, I am making a lot of nasty fiberglass dust, and once again I am not allowed in the house with my dusty clothing, and we don't have a mudroom to change in. LOL

I still had a good amount of gas leftover from last night, and as long as the car was ready to go I decided to see if the Snake was open yet. Well, the Mulholland Snake is still closed but has a tentative date to reopen sometime in April 2021. We can only hope. There has been progress and here are the before and after photos of the bridge that burned down. The new bridge is only one way for now, and the road is closed on the other side that takes you to the Snake. In the burned bridge photo you can see that the road continues straight, that is how you get to the Snake and the Rock Store The detour is the road to the right along the wash it takes you to the Hwy.

Here is second place ? lol

Made it to the first location and await instructions for second location . This guy wins first place with these tips. Lol

Washed, waxed and put in a Half tank of VP101 fuel. Installed the 93 tune and the aFe high flow air filter. Inspected for problems , emptied the catch can, changed the oil and checked the tires. My 2016 Edge Sport is ready for the first Malibu Autobahn Midnight run of 2021 tonight. Because I live so close to canyons the event starts just one mile from my house. Home field advantage goes to the Edge. ? . Car show starts at 8 pm and the run starts at 9 pm. I wonder where we are headed this time.?

Update 02/04/21: After rough cutting out 5 of the black ABS intakes, I began final fitting them to my car in the hope that they would ship tomorrow, Friday. . As I was testing each and every intake for fit and adjusting as necessary I discovered that there are some problems. First, the tolerance is just too tight and the mold needs to be adjusted so that the intake will fit on other cars besides mine. It appears that the hood can be adjusted a little to achieve a proper fit when the cars are assembled at the factory. This minor adjustment is enough to cause interference with the CAI as no two cars are exactly alike. Second, the mold is not transferring the rubber gasket line to the intake as well as I would like it to. (Check out the photos). This is causing the middle of the intake to be a little bit higher than wanted. The line is clearly visible on the mold, but not on the intake. Both of these problems can be fixed with a little work & TLC on the mold I picked up the mold from the shop today and will begin working on V2 of the intake tomorrow. I had to eat 500 bucks and a bunch of time and work as these first few intakes are not up to my standards. I have stopped taking new orders at this time until I can get these problems sorted, the first few intakes shipped, and get some feedback on their fitment. This project has been full of surprises, challenges, and setbacks from the very start. Why would I think it would be any different now? One thing for sure, when everything is done and working as designed I will be a very happy camper.

Made a trip to Harbor Freight to pick up some tools and expendables to help with the finish work today. The new 4 X 36 inch belts work so much better, they should have been replaced long ago.

Though I am not ready for a marathon yet, I surprised myself and managed to accomplish more than expected today. I cut a few of the black ABS intakes out, but they still require an hour or so each to drill, hand fit, and finish before shipping.

I have survived Covid-19 and I feel like a wrung-out washrag. My strength is slowly coming back and I managed to do a little finish work on the one intake I cut out before I got sick. I will work a little each day, but not like I was before I got sick. I have to take it easy and not force anything. The good news is the carbon material came in today, but I am going to wait to mold them until I know that the mold does not need to be modified. The material is too expensive to take chances with. If you have ordered a carbon intake your patience is appreciated.

Never, You have mail?

When I get better, I have decided to finish the black intakes first and ship them to see how they fit before molding the carbon ones. The reason for this is that I have very tight tolerances to my cars hood. It has occurred to me that the hoods could be set differently on each car. The hood has rubber bumper stoppers in the front to adjust the height. And the hood can be set forward or back a small amount to achieve the proper fit for each vehicle. Moving the hood just 1/8 inch back compared to where my hood is could be enough to cause interference with the intake. I hope that this is not true and just the thoughts of a feverish Covid mind. If it is true, it is easy enough to change the mold and loosen up the tolerances. The carbon material is too expensive to take chances with so I want to make sure the black ones fit before I mold the carbon ones. Your patience and understanding in this matter is appreciated

the carbon material is still in transit. As for me around January 18 I got sick with the Covid. The news said one in three test positive in LA . That was 9 days ago. The doc said I will be ok because it hasn’t got in my lungs and my fever is low at least two weeks are needed so according to the Doctor I got about 5 days to a week to go.that is If everything stays on track.

I am always interested in a more affordable choice when it comes to octane boosters and I will look into this product.

Most of us that have DI and are worried about carbon / coaking of the backside of the intake valves have installed catch cans.As I understand the intake valve gets very hot in a DI engine because it does not get cooled or washed by the intake charge. As blow by gases and fumes from the crank case are recirculated back into the intake charge for smog reasons, they collect and solidify on the backside of the hot intake valve. The addition of a catch can can reduce the amount of contaminants entering the intake stream Thereby reducing the amount of buildup on the backside of the intake valve.

In a DI only setup the intake charge is injected directly into the combustion chamber, hence DI. If the additive is used in an engine that has port injection and DI together,r as in some cars, then yes, it will clean the backside of the intake valve. The main thing here is that in order for the additive to clean the backside of the intake valve it must come in contact with the backside of the intake valve.

When I first got the LMS tune I got both the 91 and the 93 tune, Most of the time I run the 91 tune . But on occasion I will use an octane booster and run the 93 tune. Now I have a Sport not an ST but my car response well to the 93 tune. Be careful and never run 91 gas with a 93 tune unless you address the octane