I've been working on the design lately for the intake manifold. I've abandoned the idea that I can mill this, as it turns out, in order for me to get the relief cuts I need it requires impractically deep cuts on small diameter fluted mill ends, oh well.
So I'm back looking at castings, talked to a casting model maker late last week and he gave me some good advice, though the best advise was the name of a company doing precision lost media casting. I only really need one of these so making a model for sand cast cores is cool and all, but unnessisary. Simply doing a lost media displacement cast seems like the ticket. I've submitted my design to them already and they will be reviewing it this week. Casting gives me so much cooler of a piece in the end, and lost media casting is really cool in that there is no parting lines or anything, just a pure version of the design. Here is a few render views I did of it:
I had to squish the port spacing on it on the carb/throttle body side to clear the alternator and to allow me to push the engine into the firewall recess without having to create some big notch in it for the carbs and airfilter. The ports are not strickly equal because of this but I have some independent adjustability in the stacks so I think it'll be just fine.
Next step now is the pan bottom design, which I'll be starting today. I've been told I should have a cut core for the transmission soon and I can do the design for the 4L80E pump to 4L60E bell housing adaper plate which I can't do until I have a cut case because it's not strictly just a flat plate. The 4L80E has 3 pan bolts and the pan flange that are actually forward of the pump face and need to be milled around and left in place, so the adapter plate needs to take those into consideration. There is also a passage boss in the pump itself that needs to be milled around but all really doable and not dificult on a CNC mill.