Cast in Sand

 Something that has been exercising our minds and the pattern makers arm muscles for some time is the fuel pump and governor unit. The blog entries for 10th& 16th February 2020 describe the inner workings of this unit and that of 17th October 2021 summarises progress on making the pattern for the governor housing and the fuel filter. 

Both these patterns have now been completed by Bob Smith & Adam Livingston. Bob trained as a pattern maker straight out of school and is now retired. He described it as the most complex item he has ever worked on. The main pattern and some of the coreboxes are illustrated below, together with the body of the similar, but smaller casting from the MDB2 engine, which has been used as a point of reference.

Given the complexity of the beast Bob & Adam tried their hands as moulders, to ensure the cores can be removed from the core boxes and that the necessary clearances can be achieved to produce the wall thicknesses required. An interesting exercise, which also proved in part that their skills lie elsewhere; being a moulder is a skill in its own right.

The chaps at Cerdic Foundry in Chard fortunately have all the skills required to turn wood into sand and ultimately into iron and another of the big hurdles for the project has now been cleared. If you turn to p26 illustration 6 of your McLaren spare parts catalogue you will of course recognize components 532 (Fuel Pump Gearbox) and 540 (end cover for fuel pump gear box).
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Those who may have mislaid this useful reference will find the illustration from the catalogue in the 10th February 2020 blog entry, which has a painful reminder of how many small and intricate parts now need to be manufactured.

One photo hardly does justice to the massive amount of work that has gone into recreating this extremely complex component so here are a couple more views to allow it to be appreciated.

The fuel filter body is small and relatively simple by comparison. If you have the KS4415 Panini stickers book this is part number 852. The pattern and role of this component was described in the 17th October 2021 blog. Rather less daunting to complete, it is another useful work in progress milestone that has been passed.