Greetings,
This is my first post in a while though I've been a regular reader of the net.
I
have a problem with my Sunbeam Tiger intake manifold and need some advice.
Over the past four years I've been rebuilding my Mk A Tiger. This past weekend
I
finally reinstalled the motor (Ford 260 cuin V8) in the freshly painted body
shell. Its was quite a job shoehorning the motor back into that seemingly tiny
engine compartment, especially as I am an amateur restorer and I've never done
it before. (My neighbor who was helping me insisted it wasn't going to fit even
though I told him it had come out of the car!) All went well except that I had
replaced the vacuum fitting into the intake manifold before reinstalling the
motor. The vacuum fitting sits about 3 inches proud of and on the rear of the
new Offenhauser Aluminum intake manifold. Well, the fitting hung up on the
firewall and for an instant carried the weight of the motor. Ouch. The motor
weight caused the fitting to bend slightly chewing up the threads in the
manifold.
I removed the fitting and went ahead and installed the motor as my personal
situation would not allow a retry. (I have to move the car from Virginia to
Texas - I figured it would be easier to move the motor in the car than outside
it even if the car is not running.)
I'm not sure how to fix the problem of the damaged threads in the manifold.
Ideally, I would remove the manifold and retap the threads. Unfortunately, I
think this may require removing the motor from the car again as the rear bolts
on the manifold are pretty close to the firewall. I would hate to do this. I
can
probably get the manifold out but would never get the torque wrench on the rear
bolts to reinstall it. And getting the rear gasket to stay in place would also
be tricky.
Another idea I had was to hook up my shop vac to the manifold intake and retap
the threads in place. The theory being the vacuum would carry away any chips.
But this increases the risk of debris in the engine.
Does anyone have any other ideas?
I'm on an extended business trip, so I have some time to think about this
problem. Thanks in advance for any help.
Regards,
Rob Kempinski
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