Hey MRS,
Well, that torque is quite suficient I think, for a street car (think light kitcar) but it's a pitty that the cases flex so much. then again if you have one.... Oh goodie. champcar boxes are expensive though.
I completly agree with your reaction to the slides/butterfly's/rollers thingy, manufacturing wise that's easiest,
I had those (dutch build though) on my sandrail Lancia engine worked great at high rpm only.
The other thing I had on it was Homebrew sliding trumpets, which are indeed quite easy to make, I had a twin input servo controller (very el cheapo but very efficient), looking at RPM and TPS at which values you could program a certain position, there where 24 positions in total and 12 by 12 input values. the trumpets where just Bellmouths welded to alloy tube. a inner vs outer diameter tube pair was made on a lathe , the innertube was flanged at the joint inside the intake tract, and the 1 mm widening didn't prove any loss on the dyno.
Dyno testing with the different settings was pretty timeconsuming, but satisfying, we gain a shedload of torque low down without loosing any on top thus having a very wide engine.
the manifold tube had a cut out and a ruber O-ring for sealing which proved more then adequate.
I believe the most expensive part was the Model airplane 12v Servo which could push 12 kilo's, it cost about 50$us, the controller itself was cheaper than the box it was build in.
the rest of the injection was VEN and ignition was some old stuff,
I would like to build the same system on a V8 jobby again when the time comes and the striker gets sold to fund the new project.
grtz Thomas
btw theres a F3000 box for sale at 6500 euro's.
http://www.racecarsdirect.com/viewlisting.php?view=2393
and a DFS engine for 11.000 pounds
http://www.race-cars.com/engsales/cosworth/1145620651/1145620651ss.htm