I'm looking for a small machine shop in Suffolk, preferably close to Ipswich...

I'm doing some work on the car's engine while it's out of the Locost, trying to fix all those little things that have been annoying me. One of these is the inlet manifold - I'm not convinced that it's flat on the face that meets the engine's inlet ports. I tried my best to get it flat when it was made, but when I put my foot down hard I keep hearing inlet squeaks, as if air is leaking in. The connecting rubbers between the manifold and the carbs are tight and clamped, so I doubt that they're the cause.

So I'm looking for a little shop that can skim the face of the aluminium manifold without asking for a massive amount of money, or slapping on a fat minimum charge. Also, not too far away that I spend a fortune in petrol getting there and back!

I know about Scholar's, but they ain't cheap... good, but not cheap...

My machinery isn't big enough for this job, unfortunately...

[Edited on 21/8/12 by David Jenkins]

I made an inlet manifold for my cross flow when I converted it to injection and managed to get it flat enough to seal properly by using a surface plate and a large flat file followed by emery cloth,it took a while but worked ok.
Paul

I may know of someone that may be able to help! We used to use him at work but then he retired but still has his machine shop as I think he is one of those people that doesnt really know how to retire, he turned up a full set of crush tubes for me for £20. I dont know if thats good or not but for the materials and time it must have taken to do a full set I was very pleased with that! He is near Stowmarket (very close to AB perfomance I think) Is that close enough? If so let me know and I will get his number for you tomorrow from work and U2U it to you.

Dykes on spring road ipswich will do that for you David. If you go out of town along spring road he is on the left half way between the cross roads and viaduct.

Iv had a couple of alloy vw manifolds faced by him.

here

[Edited on 21/8/12 by Danozeman]

Paul - that's exactly how I did my manifold originally! I was never confident that I'd got it flat.

Dave - I'll keep that in mind, in case Dan's recommendation doesn't work out.

Dan - that's exactly the sort of place I was after! I'll give them a call (or maybe visit).

Cheers to all.

2nd recommendation for Dykes. The only other place that I would deal with locally is Coltec Racing out at Hollesley, run by Richard Coles ex-Holbay.

Shaun.

Slight problem with Dykes - he's no longer at Spring Road! No-one answering the door, and his workshops are all empty of machinery. I didn't have the phone number with me which is unfortunate, as he might be elsewhere in town.

ELB in Sudbury?

I've had cylinder heads skimmed there.

Paul G

I've got a large surface plate, about 24" x 24", if you want to borrow it David , faced my manifold on it

A belt sander belt, cut and opened up and double sided to a sheet of glass.

Glass coffee tables are good for this.
As a bonus you can watch the telly while you do it.


I did try the front window once but people walking by kept waving back at me.



Paul G