Building ERA Slabside #3012

[AndrewB]

3013 - cool! 3012 is making steady progress. We were able to fire it up for the first time a couple weeks back and do the initial break-in so that was quite the milestone. No real leaks or surprises and no metal shavings in the oil so I'm pretty happy. The thought of wiping a cam lobe is still in the back of my mind though as I've read too many of those horror stories to feel comfortable yet. After getting the timing set it runs fantastic through the rev range, and as suspected, living up to my fear of maybe having too much engine for the car. We'll see how she drives though before I stress about it too much, but it sounds...aggressive. This weekend I'll start working on the interior.

Regarding the exhaust. Yes, I have the full under-car system and if I did it over again I would have trailered the car to an exhaust shop - it has been the most frustrating part of the build for me. Just getting everything lined up, trimmed, hangars marked/welded, etc so the exhaust looked right from the side profile was just not my idea of fun and took a lot more time than I anticipated. Once it was all completed I had the entire exhaust system ceramic coated and I think it came out great!

If you have any specific questions or need a picture of anything please feel free to contact me. I'm more than happy to help.

[AndrewB]

Quick update - I've got almost all the insulation work done. Of course I came out just a bit short so I had to order another roll to finish off the foot boxes and rear bulkhead. I used the high temp stuff underneath the floors and the temp/sound insulation on the interior. Quite a bit of time was spent fitting (especially underneath the floors), but it truly is amazing how it "stiffens up" and deadens the aluminium structures so I think it was a very worthwhile endeavor. Now on to the carpet! Anyone have any tips on fitting the ERA carpet before I get crazy with the knife and contact cement?