Technical Tunnel ram question

What tunnel ram to buy ? wondering about either a Weiand #1984 or a Edelbrock 7110 . Going on a 355sbc with good heads and a 224@.050 cam , Th 350 with 2500 stall and 4.56 rear gear. Thinking Edelbrock 500 carbs, let me know what your running !

 

Do a search for ‘tunnel ram’, you’ll find ten thousand opinions on what you need, and why it is great/rubbish, and how bad/good it’ll run.

 

What Morrisman said...

Mike

 

Two 500 Eddies on a TR1Y Edelbrock intake. This is my second street car with this setup. I’m going on my 13th year running this.

 

Personally I like the looks of the Edelbrock a thousand times better than that Weiand, I ran an old Edelbrock TR1 also with great results with Holley 450's.
Those Edelbrock carbs don't have the out of the hole kick like Holleys do, they kind of roll into the power if you catch my drift.

 

Thanks for the info I like the looks of the Edelbrock too, But have read a lot about the Weiand working better at low RPM . So I think I will go with the eddy set up Thanks again for your help!

 

Tunnel rams are designed for 5000 to 7000 rpm range you need to keep that in mind. They are like to much cam in a street car.

 

Nice set up, what breathers are those on the valve covers...

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A good set up tunnel ram will pull like hell from 3000 rpm up.....

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Yeah I agree with mohead1... Properly set up they will pull from 3000 rpm. Contrary to popular belief The long runners actually make great torque and the plenum allows for great top end pull. Great throttle response and power is with Holley 660 center squirters.Thats just my opinion based on what I have seen.


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You´r correct. In too many cases engines are built wrong. Where cam ends, there intake starts (to work)!
hahaa

AH

 

Given that you have 4.56 gears (and hopefully a light car), you should be able to get a TR to work. I'd tend to go on the small side with the carbs, would definitely want some compression and spin that sucker. Hopefully you have some good rocker arms, valve springs, valves and top-end work.

 

This is totally false and this kind of info is usually offered by people that have never actually ran a tunnel ram or have no clue how to tune one. I leave at 2500 rpm in my avatar car and there are numerous dyno tests that show a tunnel ram makes more tq than a regular single carb intake.

 

Nice post swade, I was going to post something similar but this issue always starts a debate with guys that have no idea. I drive my cars on the street only, I have had countless engines with tunnel rams, single and dual for over 20 years now. There is no secret or rocket science to running one which is a good thing because I'm not that smart. I ran one year round in central Illinois on my only car, ice crystals would form on the carb in the winter!

 

Is the 224° @ .050 enough cam?

 

No, in my opinion....especially w those gears. Put a 3200 converter in it, big tires, and hold on

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The car its going on is the flamed model a in my avatar, it weighs @2500 lbs and with an air gap and 650 avs eddy carb it pulls very hard to 6500 rpm with no trouble . I have always loved the look of a tunnel ram and its time for a change ! I hope the 4.56 gears will make the tunnel ram happy.

 

Off topic just a little but all factory slant sixes had a factory horizontal tunnel ram .

 

I think some of the stigma attached to tunnel ram use on the street came from the first (mass produced) manifolds Edelbrock made in the late 60's, the TR1.

 

I believe you are right The early Edelbrock "breadbox" had too much plenum area and came on late in the power band and is what created the stigma of the tunnel ram not for street top end only rule.


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I know a guy that ran one on a 350 with two 1850’s and a fairly big Crower hydraulic. After a round trip to OKC he had the top of the plenum off and there was a 1/2” of gas sitting on the bottom. I think it was the steady cruising on the highway combined with the large plenum volume that was causing the gas to fall out of suspension. Sometime after the TR-1 was introduced Edelbrock made a filler to reduce plenum volume and it covered the individual raised ports on the bottom, solving the puddling problem and probably helping bottom end performance too.

 

More than a few people told me that... “it will be undrivable on the street” or “you’ll regret it” and “it won’t idle”.....

Ha, what a load of ****. Mine idled at 700rpm, smoked the tyres if I stomped on it from idle, ran smooth and even though the rev range.

I had Holleys on it, as I gave up with Edelbrock for the dead spot off idle when you gave it a foot full.

Maybe if I did have a huge cam, it might drive like it was overcammed.

 

Any body have any pros and cons for weiand 1984 hi ram vs Edelbrock 7110 street ram?

 

Take a close look at Morrismans' plenum. It's ~ 1/2 the volume of most TR plenums. & maybe a 1/3rd volume of the TR1. Point being, in the late 60's->very early 70's an acquaintance (Dick Dotson) experimented w/tunnel ram configurations. His home-mades were slightly different, but the results were interesting. The runners just used the same angle of the head ports & came together where the tubes touched, instead of trying to achieve a particular runner length. What was different, was he experimented w/plenum volume. Base & top plate were flat, sides of plenum started (IIRC)~ 1/2" thick, & went up to ~ 3", maybe more. Somewhere I've got the drawings/info. The very thin version was little more than holes cut/radiused for the ports + a very small/thin channel for an equalizing passageway. I think he started out using plywood for spacers, just cutout in a rectangular shape, open in middle. Due to the size of the engine, 259 Stude, he used a pair of 2bbl carbs, directly over the inlet ports. What he found was that plenum volume has a great deal of tune-ability, smaller = lower rpm "hit". The "hit" lasted about 1500rpm, & was movable throughout the rpm range, from ~1500rpm ->7000. Also, smaller plenum volume = better running & crisper throttle response @ lower rpms. Note: these were designed for the street, not for all-out racing. He noticed that after he published his how-to booklet, Edelbrock came out w/a TR w/smaller plenum. Coincidence? <shrug>. Doesn't matter.
Marcus...

 

Someone told me I could just run the front carb on mine if I wanted to get some more gas mileage on a run etc. I tried it, and no way would it run, let alone drive. There is a connection volume between front and back runners, but it is very small.

The one with the huge volume cast in should run okay, with one carb disconnected though. I’ve seen that done before.

Mine is a Weiand, not sure the model or year, but at least a decade old.

 

My trans brake solenoid burned on the car that is in my avatar one night at the track. So I had to foot brake the car, I still runner upped in super pro . Just changed my dial back about 3 tenths and left off idle with (2) 660 double pumper holleys. No bog just did not lift the front end as high as normal.

 

Ideally,it would probably be a little more happy with 10 or 12 degrees more duration,a real tight love separation,and a looser converter,but in a light car like the A,I think it will work pretty well for you once you get the bugs out of the carbs.
Personally,I have never been able to get those 450 Holley's to work great,but there are guys on here,like Swade,who have been running them for years,with a lot of success.He would be a good guy to talk to.
Many guys have luck with the edelbrock stuff too,but I can't comment on that,as I have very limited experience with edelbrock carbs.
I can't stress how important it is to have a really talented carb guy in your corner though.
I had a pair of carbs for mine that I thought were totally "dialed in",and when we first ran the engine,they were waaaaay off the mark.
My guy (who is a multiple Car Craft magazine "All Star Team" member) had them dialed in and running great in no time.It would have taken me years to get where he got them in ten minutes.
Aside from that,make sure your distributor has as much initial timing in it as you can handle with the quality of fuel you're running,and have fun with it!
I drive mine as much as I get a chance to,and throttle response is razor sharp once the bugs are worked out.
Also,don't be afraid to try big carbs.Borrow a couple 600's or 650's if you can,and see how they work.
I'm running 750's on a 368" motor,and it idles clean,and pulls like a freight train when you roll into the throttle from 2500rpm on up.



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Almost forgot: Mine's a Weiand that's had a fair bit of port work/welding done,but they were originally designed for 289's.

 

I just went through this last year. Quick fuel just came out with 450 carbs at a great price. The only flaw in them is they have vacuum secondarys. You will need the lightest springs holley makes keep them open after changing gears. This is why holley 450's have mechanical secondarys. I also went down 3 jet sizes and changed the power valves. I have a fresh 355 SBC. Took some tim to set up but I am extremely happy now.

 

I have one also... I just hope it fits a 302 roller block without any interference on the bottom of the intake....

 

It will be fine.You'll probably have to grind the intake slightly for clearance against the back side of the distributor though.Its tight!


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