IYou watched last week’s episode Massacreyou may have seen Scotty the guys over at Dandy Engines putting together a brand new, forged bottom bar for the Turbo Cab.
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It was truly amazing to see professional engine builders in their element doing what they do best, and at the end of the day we got to walk out with a Barra short block that was freshly machined, passed all tests and a They were playing. A new set of i-beam rods and JE pistons.
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In this episode, the plan was to convert the short block into a full engine and throw it in the cab, but that’s when Scotty realizes we’ve made a pretty big mistake.
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There is a big difference in both sump and dipstick layout between the B series and FG Barra blocks, and guess which one we built for our FG Falcon? Yes, the early B-series one.
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This means there is no provision for a dipstick at the back, where it needs to use the FG sump. Of course, holes can be made, etc., but it will turn into a big pile of dung very quickly.
Everything has a silver lining though, and lo and behold, our Barra-swapped MX-5 runs a front sump with a front dip stick. Not only that, but Mazda’s SBE Gasibara, recently rebuilt by Scotty, has a rear-mounted dipstick arrangement.
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A fake engine won’t suit the cab easily, but it will suit the Mazda. So, the new plan is to put the new dandy engine bara in the MX-5, and then reuse the healthy bara in the Mazda for the cab. Simple, right?
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But before any of that could happen, Scotty still had to turn the fresh short block into a full barra. To match the upgraded rods and pistons, Scotty added belt gears to the oil pump and a beefy timing chain gear as a good insurance policy.
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You’ve already seen Scotty trick the MX-5 in and out, so this time he took the engine out of the Mazda off-camera, planning to steal anything. Finish the last bits off of both Mill and Taxi before sending them to Max Performance so they can marry the two.
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So make sure you tune in next week, because Scotty now has an MX-5 to put together and hopefully a cab to tune and then race. There will be no shortage of content, that’s for sure!