Firewall Forward  ( continued )

My makeshift bending break.  Most of the baffle parts are not bent to the right configuration.  Lots of bending required.

Here is a shot of the finished placement. 

You can see from this side shot that the bolt holes have the necessary clearance.  You can also see that I used some .125 angle to reinforce the cooler mounting.  This one area is the highest concentration of cracks in the baffle so it's best to reinforce the heck out of this if possible.

Me trimming the forward right side.  This is an art form as you need to have at least 1/2 inch clearance between the top of the cowl and your baffling.

I decided to build another plenum.  It worked out so well for me on my 8A that I though I would do it all over again.  

I just cut the baffle tops off and installed 063 angle around the perimeter.  This angle will support platenuts that will hold down the baffle top.. 

Those of you who have gone this route know that the inputs are the lions share of the work.  I spent about a month obsessing about them and then knocked both out in a weekend.  The trick I learned was to basically copy the floor of the inlets.  Using cardboard cutouts I was able to make several prototypes and eventually turn them into the finished product.

You can see there was an evolution.  Once a design was decided on, transfer to aluminum was a no brainer.

More pics of me doing that construction thing.

Here is the finished product.

 Don't let anyone tell you that the baffling is a cake walk.  I think I ended up with about 65 parts to prime and paint.

Us single guys can do things with our dishwasher that you married guys can only dream about.

Here I have painted the parts with high temp paint ( white of course ) and am starting the assembly process.  I have to say that the squeezer was worth it's weight in gold for the baffling project.  If you don't have one yet, buy one now!  Hock your car,  your bike, pull money from the kids college fund, because you don't want to be without one for this part of the project.

Here is the finished product.  All assembled and full of platenuts.  LOTS of platenuts.

I decided to use some space age material for my plenum top to simplify the construction process and make it a little more maintainable.  I'm speaking of course of silicone impregnated fiberglass or VISR for short.  This stuff is extremely durable and can handle temps from -80 F to +425 F. 

The top install was a snap.  Just lined the cap strips up, poked a hole with an ice pick.

Here I am driving the screw in with my electric drill.  This made short work of the project.  Construction of the entire top from roll out to trim off took 20 minutes.

I'm extremely pleased with the result.

So this completes the "floppy" plenum project.  Now it's on to the hoses, starter, probes, etc.