What did you do this weekend?

Tried to process a breakup. Still trying to, but yknow.

More side business stuff.

Did some sitting and staring at the car to determine how I'd like to approach the intake manifold situation.

So the engine, at the top of the oil cap, is just under 3" above the factory hood line, the intake manifold is about 3 5/8" above the hood line. To clear the engine and intake manifold I'd need to drop the crossmember by 4" which is a huge amount and would negate nearly all of the height being gained by the new suspension and wheel/tire choice. I'm not looking to go rock climbing in the Tercel, just some added off road capability, and removing pretty much all of the work done makes it pointless (and possibly not feasible to do so anyway). So I'm left with figuring out how to get that inch back (or more as outlined next) by solving the intake manifold problem.

I also measured, modeled, and printed stackable test crossmember spacers for the Tercel so the hood can close on the new larger engine. Why? Because the hood isn't flat and parallel to the ground/crossmember. So while one measurement says the engine sits 3" above the hood line, if I put the hood back on and let it rest on the top of the oil cap there's only a half inch gap to get it to close. Showing there's some complex geometry going on to get it to clear and I'd like to lower the crossmember as little as necessary. The hood is also sitting on the hood hinges, but not bolted to them at the moment, so that's causing some discrepancy in the measurements as well. Should be able to bolt the hood back on and get a better measurement (and possibly install the test spacers) tomorrow as a friend has the day off and it's ideally a two person job.

Back to the manifold, I had a few ideas rolling around in the ol' noggin. The "easy way out" would be putting individual throttle bodies 1 on it, which is pretty common on the Toyota A series as they were available from the factory in the last generation of the engine and are good for high end performance. However it's relatively costly, works best with other, more costly modifications, and reduces low speed torque, which is counter to the reason for using the "big block" engine in the first place. So that's out. Next common idea is to just slap a carburetor setup on it, which I also don't want to do because carburetors suck (some of you may get that joke). Aftermarket manifolds for this head are available, but, in my opinion, are ludicrously expensive (and those that aren't are just terribly designed). So that idea is out too.

Making the intake manifold runners shorter is a possibility, but isn't as straightforward as it would seem. Of the two sets of four runners the inside are straight, but the outside runners taper outward pretty quickly so there's only a small area that can be removed to shorten them near the plenum. The ideas that I have that are feasible are/were (generally in order from easiest/cheapest to more involved/expensive):

1. Cut runners just before they begin to taper and flip the plenum over, making it hang underneath instead of above the runners. This will turn the FWD manifold (that normally faces the firewall) into a forward facing manifold and keep the full length of the runners for better torque.
1a. Main issue with this is finding someone that has a band saw or a mill that can get a clean straight cut as I do not want to attempt it with a cut off wheel, chop saw, or sawzall (and I'm not buying any tools that take up floorspace until I have my new workshop built).
1b. Secondary issue is that welding cast aluminum sucks and welding dirty cast aluminum like an intake manifold sucks even more. Can be done, but still isn't pleasant, so I'll also need to find someone that can clean the inside of the intake manifold via a hot dip tank as power washing it won't get into the runners well enough.

2. Cut runners just before the taper and near the plenum shortening the runners, weld the plenum to the new shortened runners that come out straight from the head instead of turning upward/downward.
2a. Loses some runner length and therefore some torque, but probably isn't a huge issue. Same problems with straight cuts and welding as option 1. These two options have the advantage of keeping TVIS 2 for the torque increase.

3. Look for cheap intake manifolds with similarly shaped ports and bore pitch, order intake manifold gaskets, trial and error to see if any match up close enough to be used with minor modification, make new mounting holes or an adapter plate for a factory or cheap aftermarket manifold.
3a. Possibility of just having a pile of intake manifold gaskets and nothing to do with them.
3b. Ideas on this range from Honda B/D series (smaller oval ports, very cheap aftermarket manifolds, lowest chance of working) to DSM (larger rounded rectangle ports, cheap OEM manifolds, relatively cheap aftermarket manifolds) and Toyota ZZ or ZR (oval ports, long runners, underslung plenum, cheap OEM, same bore pitch as 4A, ZZ are aluminum, ZR are plastic). Miata or half a Coyote might work too.

4. Get a manifold flange and weld short runners to them (or buy a 4AGE to bike carb/individual throttle body adapter), buy a cheap aftermarket or OEM intake manifold with correct spacing that is either two piece or cut off the flange to access individual runners, and use silicone couplers to have a two piece manifold as Alfa Romeo, Porsche and others have done for decades.
4a. Gives me the freedom to buy straight or curved couplers to put the manifold wherever I want it to be and adjust runner length with them if desired. Lots of options for the plenum side in both OEM (4EFE, Alfa, Porsche, E21, etc) and aftermarket (any sheet metal and some cast 4 cylinder manifolds by chopping the runners, or inline 6 by chopping off the back 2 cylinders worth of manifold and welding in a plate to close it up along with chopping the runners).

5. Fab a whole new manifold from scratch which can be done as a single piece or the silicone coupled method.
5a. Not my first time doing so, just honestly more work and cost than I'm wanting to put into a non-high performance project like this.

So I removed the hood from my car, took a look, did some measuring and then just turned the manifold upside down and slid it onto the manifold studs just to see if it'd fit and it does quite well. Also realized that the outside taper is symmetrical all the way to the flange so I'm going to cut it close to the mounting flange, flip it, and weld it back together there which should be a little easier as there's more space to maneuver. So option #1 above is the direction I'm going with a minor change to where the cut will be. I think I found a local place that has all the necessary equipment and skills needed to dip and cut it for me, so I'll be giving them a call tomorrow.

Sunday I tried a new Sri Lankan restaurant for lunch, liked it so much had it for dinner with my wife as well. Made white chicken chili for this week's meal prep that I screwed up, but still turned out pretty good.

Nothing. And I mean almost absolutely nothing.

I watched the entire season of Wonder Egg Priority, which I really enjoyed until I realized that it didn't have an ending, so it was unfulfilling in the end.

And then I watched most of Sword Art Online: Alicization. I honestly don't know why; it's really bad. Short of reviewing it, let's just say that the only positive things I have to say about it are the combat animations (which tend to be way too far apart) and the Yuki Kajiura soundtrack (which is way too far in the background to really enjoy most of the time). It was like I was just using it to fast-forward time.

I did try to do one thing; I wanted to make a k-cup display stand, so I designed it in OpenSCAD. I actually had fun trying to learn some new concept because it's kind of like trying to solve math puzzles. But by the time I had come up with the ideal shape, apparently it was far too complex to actually print; both PrusaSlicer and Cura were completely unable to slice my model, so the process felt really unrewarding.

Took my dog to my girlfriend's house to meet her two dogs. The plan is to gradually introduce them so they get along when I move in with her.

They did get along in their dog like way but they still have to define their hierarchy so there was a lot of barking, growling, jealousness, etc. A bit stressing, but I'm confident there will be no problems when the time comes.

They will require work though.