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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
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!!!
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!).
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!
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;
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hooray! Car back from the garage, with new front bearings fitted & brakes back in working order.
A bit eye watering on the hours labour front but soooo worth it to get the car back on what is proving to be the hottest day of the year so far. Bizarrely had to hoover some sand out of the centre console tray (say what?! Nearest beach about 60 miles away so not too sure what’s gone on there!). Happy days… Back to motoring in the sun for me.