144, 170, 200, small six ford, falcon, and engine guys. HAVE I GONE CRAZY??????

OK, so its no big secret that the biggest flaw of these motors is in the head. More specifically in the intake design being that its a log style cast into the head. And the there is really no way to effectively fix them.

I love my little falcon six, and really do not want to small block my car. I do however think that there is some room for improvement for my motor. I have not been able to justify the cost of throwing an aussy motor in it. But hope some day to do just that.

So the last two days I have had an idea, and have not been able to stop thinking about it. One of the biggest problems with the intake manifold, is that the outer most cylinders do not get as even an air/fuel mixture as the center most cylinders. The other biggest problem is that no matter what size carbs/induction you bolt onto it, you still have to feed all that through one small *** factory 1bbl sized hole in the center of the manifold. I got to thinking about that. The manifold is cast, and then there are two freeze plugs installed, one at each end of the manifold. What would happen if a guy were to use 3 stock carbs. One in the stock location, and one bolted to a custom "manifold adapter" that fits into the said freeze plug on both ends of the head/manifold? Basically you would end up with a 3/1 setup and I would think it would be easiest to make it a progressive linkage with only the center carb set up with an idle circuit.

Have I really gone insane, or am I onto something here?

Please help me either see the brilliance or egregious error in my idea, so I do not waste tons of time or money on this hair brained idea!

 

btt, damn this thing went off the front page fast. Where is Squirrel when I need him?

 

The 144/170 is potentially a great engine. The intake manifold being cast to the head is the big problem. You can add carbs, but without good flow they are of little use.
If you are serious about this little engine, check this out:
http://www.cl***icinlines.com/AlumOverview.asp

There's also an old issue of Hot Rod 61 I think that went into serious modifications to this engine. One of the coolest ones had milled off the intake and oven brazed on a 1/4 in plate that held fuel injection. It was impressive as hell.

Theres some older posts that you should be able to search that show that one.

 

i was looking at a similar idea with the 250ci six in my falcon.
right now i have a 2x1 on a home-made adapter bolted to the original carb location.

its the Aus version but its got the cast in head intake same as the 170/200.
it looks like its got 6 runners, 2 each end of the head and 2 in the middle either site of the carb boss.
could you drill out the standard manifold each side of the original carb over the runners on weld on flanges for another 2 carbs?

not sure what flow, mixture would be but it would save having to make adapters and the likages would be inline...... ?

 

Here's that thread.........
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145129&highlight=ford+144&showall=1

and the Hot Rod mag

 

there was a Kit that let you mount 2 extra carbs on the stock manifold you had to machine 2 flat spots and drill 2 holes in the manifold then a special casting bolted onto the origional carb mount and over the added holes.The kit could be bought from ford.AK Miller did a lot with the ford sixes one he ran 6 Honda carbs on a head he milled the entire intake off of

 

what is different about the Auss motors. I have a 200 in my falcon and would like to add some power to it also...

 

Did anyone see my suggestion about using the two holes already located, one in each end of the manifold for additional carbs? I have read all these posts a hundred times. I am trying to avoid having to mill the head and permanently modify it. They used to make a 2 barrel intake for this motor, but it basically was a "y" adaptor, that bolted to the stock 1bbl flange on the factory head. This adaptor may look cool, but does nothing to improve the flow charachteristics of the intake manifold or the head..

I wonder if my idea might help with the flow of the intake? if I combined that with additional improvements of the head itself, through polishing the ports, does anyone see any problems with my theory? I have never seen a carb set up where the outer most carbs had a much longer runner than the center carb.

 

I'm adding 2 Stombergs to my Ford 6 at the moment. There are some Offy and old Edelbrock manifold kits (different kits for early and late head) out there for a price.

 

Yup I read that but I don't know how it would work, give it a try and let us know

 

The Aussie head has a removeable intake I believe.

 

Why not drill and tap the log manifold at each port, put fuel injectors in like the flying toilet build a hat and turbocharge it. No cutting no welding just brute force.
Let me know how it works, I've always wanted to try this.

 

I have a pretty good article on these. When I get to the shop tomorrow I'll dig it out. It has a step by step plan for the head. They actually mill a spot on each end of the intake and put 3 small 1 barrells all spaced evenly.When these engines are done right and in a light car they will haul *** pretty good>>>>.

 

in 1971 fords australia brought out the 250 2v, it has removable intake manifold and was realeased in fairly small numbers.the 2v head made real big power compared to a standard 250(bout 40 to 50 more HP). It had a big 2 barrel stromberg but after market intakes were also available. these engines were only produced for 2-3 years, supposedly because they embarresed the standard V8. if you want more info try fordsix.com

 

There were 3 x 1v setups for these motors that date back to the early 60s. Required machine work to the log intake, and bolted on. As I recall (it's been quite a few years after all), Ak Miller modified one of these motors to take a whole herd of motorcycle carbs. It sort of depends on how much you want the motor, and how much ambition you have.

 

Here's the manifold offenhauser offers, this set up is going on My 200 in my falcon

 

I would think your idea might have some merit, but not being an all out guru on the art of gas(atomized already) flow, I would be guessing.

But you might want to get an old head and try it out. You would probably have to mill the ends of the manifold for a carb adapter plate. Also if you intend on using the center carb, it might help to have a baffle to isolate (and split the gases) in the manifold opening. You may want to invesgate side draft carbs for the ends, as it might be easier to attach, but oh that linkage. In fact you may want to go progressive and use only the center carb when cruising, the two ends when goosing it. Good luck.

 

Have seen thse with triples as per the offy adapter mod and with the manfold cut of and milled and a steel manifold fabbed for 2 big single barrrel carters. The boat racing guys played with these engines for years. Saw several back in the 60s with double carbs all home brew. Some of those guys must still be around. Boring 2 extra holes and bronx zing on a plate for two more carbs over each hole would probably take only a couple of days work in reality. A hle say will cutthe two new holes. Should be spaced an even distance from cylinders they feed if possible. The biggest obstacle will be getting started. After that it will be a piece of cake.
Don

 

Spend some time at fordsix.com. If it can be done, it's been done over there. There are Ford sixes running 10s in the 1/4, turbos, superchargers, multi-carb, F.I., etc.

These engines have huge potential, but it comes at a price. For value, a 302 will get you going faster for less money. But how much cooler is it to open a hood and see anything other than a 350, 302? Pretty damn cool!

Visit cl***icinlines.com; decide how fast you want to go and add up the invoice.

 

Put bike carbs on it!!!! Please!!!! That would be so freaking awesome!

Or do it up like the yellow one on the hot rod cover, that would be equally awesome.

 

In 1961 and 1962 my dad had a midget that ran ARDC with a ealcon 144. We cut the cast mainfold off of the head and built our own intake manifold for 2 strombergs. Joe Csiski came along with a fuel injected model that really screamed.

Ran great for short times. Had cam gear alignment issues and rocker arm issues. We talked with the limited hydro guys to compare notes to see if they were doing things differently and really no.

Jahns doomed pistons, Isky and Racer Brown roller cams, was fast but not durable. Gave up and moved on.

good luck

 

I'm looking at a similar situation. A father/son project with a 144 in a '63 Comet wagon. If I can find a 200 that's likely the way we'll go. The Aussie crossflow head sure sounds interesting. I need to find out more about that option. With four other projects I need to keep this one simple.

 

Mike the crossflow is a completely different motor not just a head. The 2V head is Pre-crossflow and there is an American company now doing an aluminum reproduction.

 

It looks like I can either spend $400 and buy a production offy manifold adapter, and machine my head to fit it, complete with linkage etc...

Or go out on my own. I wonder how much banging my head up against the wall it takes to add up to $400?

I guess its different for each one of us! If I did run that Offy manifold what carbs would you guys recommend I run? I have never run a multi carb setup on a auto motor. The extent of my experience with them has been on motorcycles, where you have one carb dedicated to each cylinder!

 

Thanks for clearing that up. Reading between the lines on some of the builds posted here that are using the crossflow I was coming to that conclusion.

For what my son and I are doing I need to keep this simple and just find a nice 200 to use. I'm not ready to throw in the towel and go with a V8.

 

Have you checked out Clifford? They make tons of stuff for the ford 6s.. I been planning to do up a falcon one of these days for my dad. Back in the 60s and 70s he used to drag race a 64 that had a 300 inline 6 in it and weber carbs. best time was 11.02. Was always a v-8 guy myself, but the older I get the more I'm tempted to use the motors and carb set up he gave me, just to be different. Heres a few pics of what he ran in the falcon

 

Okay your thinking is outside the box. That may be good, or not. As for popping the end plugs out of the cast on log, the one disadvantage that I can think of is the rear carb's clearance with the firewall. If you were going to go that way would it be possible to bore out that log somewhat? That alone might address some of your questions about fuel distrobution to the ends of the intake. Also if there is enough meat in the flange area where the stock carb bolts on, you might open this up and put a larger carb on top.
Good Luck!

 

Aussie heads for the 6cly are Cross Flow, Header one side carbs on the other...WORKS great but cost a bit $$$$

http://www.fordsix.com/tech/engine/crossflow/crossflow.php

John
www.ovcfca.com

 

I have one that powered an air compressor, it has a rod thrown.
i dont know if the industrial motor is anything special?????
Anyone need parts???

 

Aussie motors were crossflow from 1973ish, the blocks are different. the 2v was pre crossflow. the article is for a conversion to a crossflow head on a precrossflow block, somethin aussie don't need to know about,we have both motors