So, it’s happening. The King is dead! Long live the King! etc etc. After much agonising, checking current price for a kidney on eBay & pondering life without my Marcos Mantis, this afternoon I confirmed to Jay that we will go ahead with the engine swap to a GM LS3.

This is a huge decision for me, to say the least. May as well get on with it now. Jay is ordering parts from Performance World before the rubbish post-Brexit exchange rate with the dollar pushes all the prices up. Here are the bits we know about;

• Crate LS3 480bhp engine
• TR6060 6 speed gearbox
• Starter motor
• LS480 Controller kit (Engine Harness, Mass Air Flow Meter & Mounting Boss, Accelerator Pedal Assembley, Oxygen Sensors & Mounting Bosses (2), Engine Specific Programmed ECU)
• New radiator
• Clutch
• Gear lever
• Flywheel
• Accessory drive system (Bracket–Air Conditioning Compressor, Compressor–Air Conditioning, Tensioner–Air Conditioning Compressor Belt, Belt–Air Conditioning Compressor (1040mm-Long), Bracket–Power Steering Fluid Reservoir, Bracket–Generator and Power Steering Pump
  Generator, Pump–Power Steering, Pulley–Power Steering Pump, Brace–Power Steering Pump Front, Hose–Power Steering Fluid Reservoir With Clamps
  Reservoir–Power Steering Fluid, Tensioner–Drive Belt, Pulley–Belt Idler,
  Belt–Water Pump/Generator/Power Steering Pump)
• A/C compressor & bracket
• Swirl pot
• Spigot bearing (anyone who knows me will appreciate I have no idea what this is)
• Rewire from dash onwards
• Hoses etc

Of course, I still need to get the car trailered back home from the garage in Warrington where they have been investigating the Ford engine. Then sometime in the next month, Jay will pick up the Mantis & take it back to East Sussex for major heart surgery. A few (perhaps rather nervous) weeks later I get it back again. Simples! Now, that would be a nice Christmas present!

Well this sucks. Garage number two in Warrington has finally managed to pull the nearside head off <insert mandatory “ooh err missus” here> the engine &… pistons worn, cylinders scored blah blah so won’t attempt to rebuild it. Wonderful. Somehow it all sounds very similar to the message when the original engine was pulled apart by TopCats back in… 2006 (maybe?). Faced with the genuine prospect of actually having to replace the engine I leapt onto the internet & commenced lots of searching for ’96 Ford 4.6L Quad Cam blocks but… nothing crated available & very little (i.e. one) used on eBay. So with the garage telling me they need my car moved & the prospect of having the Mantis with no engine (think Flintstones car!) it’s decision time. Meanwhile you can see the LS3 stock 430 BHP specifications from Chevrolet here. Now I need to go away & do serious something thinking!… Wish me luck.

Today was the Concours of Elegance at Windsor Castle, & the Marcos Owners Club were one of the clubs providing the backdrop to some very nice (& expensive!) cars displayed within the castle itself. Over 20 Marcos left thw hotel in convoy for the 10 minute drive to Windsor Great Park where we were marshalled on to the Long Walk to park up. There were over 30 Marcos including a Mantis owner, Berrisford, who I hadn’t met before with a lovely black Mantis. He only lived a few hundred yards away from the Castle (nice!) & had had the car about as long as me. I thought I knew all the Mantis owners but apparently not! Weather was cloudy with a bit of drizzle early on but unlike some I held my nerve & the hood stayed down!

Journey back to Cheshire in convoy with Andrew’s Mantis again was uneventful… Oh, apart from noticing low oil pressure & when I dipped it at the motorway petrol station… no oil! Having pinched all the spare  oil Mr Peers was carrying with no affect on the dipstick I then had to purchase three 1L containers of 5/30W at over sixty quid! 😕 I will be hacked off if the oil leak is back again after it was fixed by Redline about three months ago. Got home in good time though having had a great Marcos-themed weekend which will be the last car event for me this year I think.

So today’s the day before the Concours of Elegance at Windsor Castle. Bertie & I travelled down in convoy with Andrew Peers & his daughter – his supercharged Mantis sounded awesome as usual! The weather coming down was wet. Pretty wet. Wet enough to fill up the nearside door pocket with water (again). Son Bertie was very patient however & did a superb job of mopping up inside & wedging the ubiquitous towel in the biggest gap between door & hood (HHGTTG anyone?).
Anyway got to the hotel & parked up with at least another 20 Marcos of all vintages, shapes & colours. The place was huge – could have driven to the room! We killed a couple of hours in the room then hit the bar to catch up with the other Marcos owners before a decent buffet evening meal. Son tolerant of a lot of very boring car talk – thank god for books! Hopefully the weather tomorrow for the Windsor Castle event will be much better.

Today is Day 3 of this year’s trip to the Le Mans Classic. After a longish drive yesterday, today was our first full day at Le Mans. After fuelling up (again) the convoy of Marcos left Neuvillette-en-Charnie & headed towards the circuit where we would join the other Marcos owners on the club display. This year saw a much improved location for the stand; we were lining the Bugatti Circuit which meant that all the cars coming off the main LM circuit went past us, which was pretty cool.

Apart from checking out the stand prior to tomorrow’s race, the other big event today was a couple of laps of the Le Mans circuit itself in the Mantis. As ever the organisation was chaotic! It’s always a rush as you line up to go onto the circuit & head off between the stands, but this year I was off the hook slightly as passenger, with Doug in the driving seat. I’d not managed to pull over & swap seats on the 2014 trip so I’ve owed him some laps for the last two years. Payback time!

It gave me a great opportunity to look around the circuit as we drove round – there always another quirk to spot!

As ever the laps were over too quickly, & we soon found ourselves parking up on the Club Stand where more cars had materialised. Nice to see a lot of Mini Marcos together as well, gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Mini Marcos that raced at LM24 in 1966 & was the only British car to finish. Fantastic!

This evening we’re back in Neuvillette-en-Charnie for some slap up nosh from Debbie & more Marcos banter. The fridge has magically refilled itself (thanks Darren!), the sun is out and… well… life is good!