FRANKENBOXSTER- YES THAT'S THE INTAKE MANIFOLD AND VALLEY COVER COMING OFF THE NEW MOTOR!!!!

Yes indeed.... still more tear down and parts to be fabricated on the brand new crate motor:-(

The intake manifold needs to be flipped front to rear to be able to plumb up the air intake. The original orientation of the intake manifold would have had it drawing air from right about where your elbow is within the passenger compartment. Fortunately GM made the intake manifold, injector rail and injectors symmetrical - however when you flip the manifold, the oil pressure sender is now in the way requiring the removal of the valley cover and machining off and plugging the sender's location.  And of course this also means you need to find a home for the oil pressure sender as the computer needs it to even let you start the engine!! So as you'll see in the photos...
...off with the new manifold and valley cover and to the top-end mill we go!!
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HERE'S THE BOSS THE OIL PRESSURE SENDER UNIT SCREWS INTO THAT HAS TO BE REMOVED

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SO OFF COMES THE VALLEY COVER (photos below)

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HERE'S THE FINISHED PART WITH THE BOSS REMOVED AND THE HOLE PLUGGED! (below)

AND NOW THE FLIPPED INTAKE MANIFOLD FITS!  (photo below)

So.... what did we do with the oil pressure sending unit?  Well - we fabricated our own part to mount it down by the oil filter!!!  

The engine came with a blanking plate above the oil filter, which we removed and discovered an oil passage way.  GM probably has an option for a remote oil cooler that uses this mounting location to  tap lines to and from the engine. So back to the mill we go to make-up a pretty neat plate of our own that now has the oil pressure sender unit screwed in to it - whew...  (photo below)

Well...  I think we are getting close to putting this motor in! 
I'm sure there will be more discoveries and part fabrication along the way too. I just ordered the electric water pump and the starter so the engine can go in fully dressed next time:-)

So - that kinda wraps up this blog session - stay tuned as the MR2 electric power steering pump is getting ready to go into the front trunk and be hooked up to the Boxster's power steering rack. Talk about a whizzbang fabrication effort, you'll not want to miss the blog on that session!!  

Thanks for stopping by and spending some time with us on the "President's Blog"     Doug