This is long -- it's too dark to take a picture so I have to use 1,000 words.
The 71 Wonderbus's new engine parts are now being assembled. It's a great feeling to open up the boxes with the cleaned parts that I removed from the old blown 1776 and start mounting them on the new Mexican 1600 DP longblock. As I posted earlier, I won't be using the dual Kadrons -- I want the better cleaning provided by the original oil bath filter (our air here in SoCal is very dusty) and the bus should run just fine with a new 34 PICT, on its way from aircooled.net. Bustedbus.com provided the new intake manifold and manifold ends.
I'm a little puzzled by something: I did a trial assembly last night of the intake parts on the engine and noted that the manifold was off-center, being biased toward the port (left, driver's) side of the engine: the preheat tubes' intake flanges are not centered above the exhaust ports on the heads.
The center-bottom of the manifold has a tab that sticks downward, toward the engine. The tab has a notch. The notch sits over one of the studs on the case, which is used to clamp the two halves of the case together. This would be the second one from the rear (rear is rear) of the engine.
This stud points to the left. There is presently a nut on the stud. Presently, the manifold is shoved to the right as far as it will go, so that its tab butts up against the nut.
It appears that if the nut is removed, the manifold can be slid another
6mm or so to the right, which will probably be all that is needed to center it horizontally. But the stud is too short to project through the tab on the manifold far to allow the nut to be put back on once the manifold is in place.As a result, the stud, which serves to help hold the two halves of the engine case together, won't have a nut on it if I expect the manifold to be centered. I am wondering if engines built for the 71 bus had a longer stud there, so the intake manifold could be affixed to the case by the same nut that held the case halves together?
Inge, looking at this, frowned a little -- tiny lines of vexation on her forehead, and said, "What does this mean, Doctor?" (I let her think I am a doctor -- it makes giving "examinations" much easier.) I told her that she should not worry, that I would sort this out in the morning, that it was now time to retire to the library for a brandy and an "examination."
Now I am up early in the morning, quietly typing at the computer, asking for help with this little puzzle.