Busy Day! Inlet manifold, engine mount, tarting bits up etc. etc.

Good progress made today - mainly be being in the 'shop' until 10PM.

I've also port matched the upper and lower inlet manifolds and replaced the standard lower manifold with an RS Casting. These along with various other bits such as the cam belt covers, engine mount etc. etc. have all been VHT coated - very much a none bling job as its a dull matt grey/black once done but its more function than form and I reckon it looks pretty good. I'll do the cam cover/cam bearing carrier tomorrow when its off.

I've also coated the new ECU mounting plate and secured this in its final position along with the power distribution block. This is mounted to the engine bay fuse/relay box with a couple of big washers to spread the load. The standard cable lengths are perfect for this and it all looks quite OEM. Plus side I've saved a bit of time and effort by not having to remake parts of the engine bay loom.

The battery still isn't mounted as we're having a think as to where the best place to put it is. Options are in the spare wheel well or in the scuttle panel on the drivers side. In the boot will allow us to move a few kilos rearwards and offset it on the gearbox side but the overall weight may be a little more as it requries 4.5M of 25mm2 cable to do it. The scuttle panel reduces the cable run but puts the weight high up at the front of the car which negatively effects weight distribution and CofG - not exactly by a great deal but its nice to engineer things nice ;-)

The engine is now ready to have the new cams fitted tomorrow morning, just need to debelt it and pop the cover off. I need to pop to Renault in the morning though and order a few bits - don't have any cam end oil seals or a VVT actuator oil seal for a start! Was well worth pulling it apart regardless of the fitting cams aspect of things as a few seals were beginning to weep oil down the back of the block. From what I can see of the cams they look mint and damage free which bodes well for a reasonably well looked after engine. I'm going to pop the big end caps off and see what the bearings look like, if there is minimal wear they can stay in there. If not I have some standard replacements ready - the engine was making very good oil pressure previously so I reckon its in pretty okay nick.

Also hit a bit of an issue with acquiring an airbox so need to pull my finger out and sort an AB65 out somehow or other as the car is going on the rollers on Friday!!