George,

   I had thought of not being able to machine the oval shaped ends on the two center tubes attach points. My idea was to machine it round to the long dimension, then use the stationary belt sander to sand down to the smaller dimension, followed by turning down the length of the tube to the appropriate diameter.

I am not a machinist, but don't see why this approach would not work.

I have a couple of friends that are machinists, and thought I would run it by them.

I may use the corn starch idea to make the plenum for the manifold. I will likely try that simply because it doesn't cost anything. Would be fun to experiment, and may even lay up regular fiberglass over it for a trial run.



Ben