Flathead super dual intake showdown

What does everybody think?

What intake would everyone reccomend for a hot street flathead?

What manifold performs better than the other?

What manifold has the best quality and cost?

OFFY
EDELBROCK
NAVARRO

I chose these three because they all have similar port lay outs

 

btt

 

I'm usually an OFFy guy but I like the looks of the navarro.

I don't know if anyone has done any dyno testing on the 3 of them so I really can't answer your question.

 

I like how the Navarro one looks also. Its rather spendy though.

 

It seems like I've heard that the edelbrock is the best performing super dual... Honestly, they're so similar, I'd consider you delusional if you told me you were able to tell the difference in the seat of the pants. Real-world results come from the 50 other little things you do to the engine, not the one big change.

 

This is a good post - I'm looking to put a 2x2 on our roadster flathead ('49 engine). Got the extra carb but not the intake yet. Haven't decided which one to get...

 

Lot of old time flathead builders have told me the Edelbrock super dual is the best flathead Ford intake

 

I bought a Navarro from H&H this year, super nice maniold. I also have a super dual rip off, I will test them back to back one day.

 

Has anyone ever noticed that there are 2 different types of edelbrock super dual intakes??

I seen a few online and at swapmeets that have the exhaust heat cross over and some that dont have the cross over (the new ones dont have the heat cross over).

Does anyone know the reason for this? I bet one was for "track" and the other was for "street"

 

Navarro is the best

 

Seems to be a favorite around here!

 

I think the Edelbrock is the way to go. Mostly because thats what I have at the moment. I have no idea which intake mine is, does anybody know?

The Navarro seems to be the intake of choice for some reason? I'd like to see a real comparison between the commonly available intakes. New or old.

Kevin

 

I think yours is a regular 49-53 dual intake. Looks cool!!

 

Someone / someplace out there must already have the "numbers" on these, stock or modified. What do all those flathead motor builders who supply the chainer builds say?

Ifn you missed it, Hot Rod Deluxe just published a review of vintage Chevy intakes. Perhaps you can petition them for some flathead analysis? Gary

 

Take this to the bank!

 

I like pictures!

Lets get some more pics of peoples flatheads with their super dual intake set ups!!

 

Someone has done this, and every other flathead mod as well, all dyno'd and documented. It's all in a book put out by a guy on Fordbarn, I believe his user-name is JWL.

 

I have always gone with offy and never had a problem,the next flathead i do i will try the navarro.

 

i have a navarro intake and works fine. My only complaint is that there is no heat riser in the intake so initial warmup is crucial to engine performance. My intake freezes up at first start.

 

The “Super Dual” intakes came out right after the War. A few years later, the triples were the hot ticket. 1946-‘47-‘48 were the years that “real” street driven hot rod roadsters were still competitive at the dry lakes. This was the era when the “Super Duals” were king.

When I first got interested in flatheads I wanted to know which heads, intake, cams… were the best. The more I got sucked into the Flathead-World the more I realized there is more to Flatheads than just vintage horsepower. Choosing the right part for a flathead is not as simple as sticking a bunch of intakes on a flow bench and looking at the numbers, you have to also consider the history factor and that will effect each hot rod enthusiast in a different way. You might have a dad that was a hot rodder and you want to honor his memory by running the speed equipment he used. Maybe you think the Pierson Brothers Coupe is the greatest hot rod ever built so you are going to run Edelbrock equipment on your hot rod.

I’m a fan of the SCTA Gophers club, they had more flathead powered ’32 Roadsters than any other club. I have spent time with a couple of them and these guys mostly ran Evans intakes because several of them worked for Earl. Since I have met these guys that actually cast and machined the orignal intakes I now have a personal connection with the Evan’s Speed Equipment. Sometimes “history” trumps “best” when it comes to choosing flathead parts. If you don’t live in Southern California some of this might not mean anything to you but if you live in Glendale your probably a Navarro fan and if you live it Whittier then Evans is your guy and no matter where you live you can’t go wrong with Edelbrock. It's all bitchen!

I went through the entire October, 1947 SCTA Racing program and made a list of how many different Flathead V8 intakes were used on this one day. I have no way of knowing what configuration they were but the majority were probably super duals by that time. These vintage SCTA programs settle once and for all which equipment was the most popular.

I might be off one or two on my count so don’t quote this as being 100% accurate, it‘s just for fun.

206 Flathead Ford V8 entries at the October, 1947, SCTA meet

Burns 1
Cyclone 2
Edelbrock 51
Edmunds 1
Evans 31
Meyer 9
Miller 1 (Stu Hilborn entry)
Navarro 45
Offenhauser 4
Ord 4
Sex 1 (Doane Spencer entry)
Sharp 1
Smith 1
Spalding 1
Stock 7
Tattersfield 1
Thickstun 4
Trousdale spl 1
Weiand 35
Unknown? 5

 

This is the kind of stuff I like to see!!


ThottleJockey, Heat is a wonderful thing on a street motor!

 

Offy casting are junk made in china

 

My 2 X 2 Offy fits my '51 8BA perfectly;just had to match up the ports a wee bit.Nice casting,no flaws,good finish, mill runs well with this manifold;no complaints.

 

I don't think there will be a difference between the three intakes in power output with a 239ci engine and a 3/4 cam.

The offy has a heat riser which is good for street.

I don`t like the Navarro casting as they use the same casting for early and late intakes

the bosses for the oil filler/draft tube look like zits.

I have an OLD Navarro 2x2 (universal model) and i like it alot.

Edelbrock have no heat riser either.

 

I have an old Fenton, the Port match is pants it's so far out, it is impossible to get a good match even with loads of die grinding. I did have an Offy for a while and the casting quality and port match was far better than the Fenton. Saying that I couldn't tell the difference performance wise.
Looking to change to a Slingshot or Thickstun cause I want to mount the generator in the centre.
Rich

 

I've always liked Navarro equipment - but have ran Edelbrock as well. I'm a bit biased toward Navarro because I used to buy manifolds/heads from him, bench race and ponder all things flat. Like Mike from H&H (Captain Insano) - I'm a bit biased toward Navarro (due to my relationship and because Navarro heads were the first I owned), but who the heck isn't biased when it comes to flatheads!

 

I ave noticed that also. I wonder if there is enough material on them so you could grind them smooth/away?

 

the navarro universal has the heat riser

 

Pm-7 gets my vote BUT limited to the above 3 choices... Navarro.

 

PM-7 also gets my vote.
Duane.