I’m looking forward to seeing the car while it is up ‘visiting’ JP Exhausts in Macc for the manifold & exhaust system. In the meantime I am getting my Mantis fix any way I can & this has ticked the box this evening.
One month to go
Staying in touch with Jay, who has uploaded a couple more photos. Here we can see the engine being dropped in to confirm engine mount placement.
The Nissan Engine Start/Stop button is HUGE at about 80mm across (!) so I am going with the Audi one, which will look even nicer with a small black surround.
It looks like the car won’t be ready until mid-February now as JP have decided they need the actual vehicle to fabricate the manifold & exhaust, so it will need to be trailered all the way up to Macclesfield (about 15 miles from me) then back down to Clayhill (about one million miles from me) to be finished off. My cunning plan is to sneak over to Macc when it’s there though, & have a look at the car. Sadly excited at this prospect!
All I want for Christmas
It’s been just over two months without the Mantis, & with Christmas Day tomorrow I have to face up to the fact that Santa is going to struggle to fit it into my stocking! On the other hand Jay has been uploading a few photos of the engine & also the chassis (which will have to be tip top if it’s going to cope with all that power). I was relieved to hear it’s generally OK with only superficial rust in a few places – nothing some rust cure, Hammerite & Waxoyl won’t sort out.
Another New vs Old shot!
I’ve also been trawling the automotive world for a decent Engine Start button. Given it’s going to take up one of the holes from the Racelogic Traction Control on the dash, it will be highly visible & therefore needs to look right. I like the idea of something red, but also backlit so it can be seen at night. The aftermarket Engine Start buttons are either barnded, cheesy or both, so I’ve narrowed it down to the Audi S1 (below left) or the 370z Nissan OEM GT-R Push Start Switch combined with the 2015 Nismo Model Red Trim Cover Finisher (below right). I’m leaning towards the Nissan currently as I can’t get the surround for the Audi button plus there’s not much aluminium on the dash (other than the gear knob).
Then I’ve got to get the socket & loom which fits the button of course, and then there’s the small matter of how you wire up to achieve the ‘Stop’ function on the engine.
Out with the old…
Gallery
This gallery contains 4 photos.
A cavernous space where the engine & transmission was… it’s the Flintstones! And the missing items in question; Given I’m still not sure exactly what ‘did for’ either of the Ford engines, I’m not comfortable with the idea … Continue reading
Cavalcade
Aside
Fantastic news yesterday – it looks like we are in the running for inclusion in the CBW (Classic British Welcome) Cavalcade between St Saturnin & Le Mans. Motorcycle outriders… Awesome!!!
I swapped the Mantis for a Peugeot 307SW
No, I have not gone bonkers… the Pug is a loan car from Jay. (Getting the tram or bus into work while the Mantis is off the road is refreshingly different, but doesn’t help when I need to divert off to collect sproglets etc). Jay trailered it up from East Sussex where he is based. An hour later & after some impressive winching he disappeared off with the Mantis. Gulp! Actually it couldn’t be in better hands as Jay has his own Mantis & also knows mine is my baby!
I only ever see Jay at the odd Marcos rally or over at Le Mans so it was good to catch up with him before he left, & also ‘Talk Marcos’. Of course much of the discussion was around what was happening around the engine swap (which I continue to be very excited about!).
- I am still minded to have an Engine Start button but have rejected the idea of going fully keyless due to all the bad press around security flaws such as radio jammers & code grabbers; so the conversation was around Engine Start vs Engine Start & Stop. Both are possible it seems, but I still haven’t decided! I quite like the Lexus one right now.
- We also discussed how best to manage the solenoid lockout on the TR6060 transmission, which is required because 5th & reverse are located right next to each other, & ‘bad things’ would happen if you select reverse instead of 5th at 100mph! Having read up on this on a few US forums, one workaround is wire up the brake light so you can only get reverse while the brake pedal is depressed. Another alternative would be to put a momentary switch into the gearknob under the Marcos badge, but this would mean modifications to the gear shaft etc which seems to be asking for trouble. We’ll go with the brake option.
- The new exhaust will be based on the one on Jay’s car which is racing spec & in all probability will be quieter than my current one. I’ll certainly miss the sound of the Ford V8 which had the most wonderful, wonderful lope… but my neighbours probably won’t! To be honest, it also killed off using the stereo & grated a bit on very long journeys like Le Mans where you’re driving for hours on end. A gorgeous noise though and… dare I say it… the nicest sounding Mantis out there (a few other Marcos owners have said the same thing though!).
- Finally I have been looking at Cruise Control which (if you read far back enough in this blog) you will know I considered early on for the Mustang Cobra engine before opting for the Traction Control instead (subsequently uninstalled as it never worked properly). There are a few places in the US who have after-market CC for the LS series engines, & I like the look of the one at HotRodTherapy, however Jay has suggested he ask around more locally before I go ahead & purchase, so waiting to hear back on that one.
Jay texted me when they got back to East Sussex (what a nice chap) so now I just need to wait for the first photos to arrive. Am I nervous? Oh yes! (Especially if it tops 500BHP) But it’s still exciting stuff & fortune favours the brave etc etc!
Heart transplant
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!
Drat.
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.
It’s all part of life’s rich tapestry…
So, reader chums, what’s happened since my last post? Well…
I dropped the car in for its MOT a comfortable 10 days before it was due, & casually mentioned the spray on the screen. Next thing I know the garage are calling to tell me the coolant system just blew steam all over the garage & they are going to need to replace the header tank (just a standard Ford part @ ~£80 so OK). Then a second call to say that ‘something’ is compressing the coolant system, with the pipes rock hard & that probably explains the mist on the screen with some coolant escaping from one of the pipes around the jubilee clips. Next call is fluid is dropping but not coming out anywhere so… going into the engine somehow? Ho hum. Then we move on to compression testing the engine; the left bank is lower than the right one with one of the cylinders only making 20psi. “We’ll have to take the head off”. Joy. Plus the car is trailered off to another garage ‘cos it’s getting in the way! At this point we’re two weeks down the line, the car has no MOT & I’m starting to get a bit f*****d off with everything, especially as I ‘heavily invested’ (think 60+ hours of labour!) in getting everything sorted before the Le Mans Classic at the start of the year. Now, this might read like a bit of good old fashioned whinging… And you’d be right!
Lo & behold I am back at the ‘how much do I keep spending on this engine’ question (again). The current answer is ‘Not any more’ and thoughts turn once more to an engine swap to an GM LS3. I definitely can’t afford the high £20Ks that TopCats want, so I have had a chat with Jay who bowled up at LMC with a lovely LS3 in his Mantis Challenge converted road car. He’s happy to have another go at an LS3 engine swap & is pricing it up. Gulp!
So in the next couple of weeks I may have to decide if I can ‘afford’ (& I am using that work in its most flexible definition I assure you) to keep the Mantis or not. Blimey.
Spray that again?
Today noticed a thin film of spray on the windscreen. Not unusual for North West England I hear you say! I’d agree but it wasn’t raining & the spray was driver side only of the screen. It can only be coming out of the engine via the bonnet vent (nostril?). The ‘taste test’ was inconclusive but I don’t think it’s fuel, so probably coolant. Couldn’t see anything obvious around the radiator, lose jubilee clips etc so may be (another) garage job. In the meantime loving the autumnal sunshine in September. One of my favourite times of year to be out in the Mantis with hood down feeling that slightly crisp edge to the weather which says summer is over. Wonderful.