Projects SBC Intake To Early Caddy Adapters

Are you doing this all off of careful measurements, or do you have a 3D scanner, or...?

 

I found one of these intakes years ago and was all excited to ask Frank about it....I was disappointed to know it wasn't the Frank Burrell we all knew here on the HAMB but still damn cool.


BTW....I miss Frank.

 

I finally got A good REV III adapter set printed and they are a great fit. I had a REV III printed by a different vendor than the first and they were so bad I set them back for a refund. The ones we're looking at here are from the original vendor and have a fine fit and finish. I still fit it up with the GM military intake as the bolt holes are quite tight with little slop. I was able to spin all eight bolts for the intake easily with just my fingers. I also put the adapters on the engine with just the end bolts so I can remove the intake with the adapters still bolted to the intake. The line up is acceptable, the alignment is only as good as Chevy made it. Remember this is a '62 early intake with smallish ports so that's the reason for so much metal around the perimeter. I will get out one more later GM intake Saturday and if it fits as well I'll get a P.O. off the the machine shop to get one set done in metal. Photos below.

 

I sent a P.O. to the machine shop early last week for one pair in 6061 aluminum. I do not have the lead time yet. If the aluminum fits as well as the printed version I'll consider a production run. The price will depend on the quantity of the run based on interest and enough orders to cover the machining costs.

JK

 

I blew all my extra funny money on a 671 intake and a blower. It all fits quite nicely. The blower has been on someone's shelf for 25 years just as it came off the Detroit diesel. The blower will need a little lovin' to convert it to gas but that is a whole different thread. I am still waiting on the machine shop for the aluminum prototypes. I am not necessarily set on building a blower motor, I just wanted to show what you could do with the adapters. You could do a tunnel ram, a cross ram, with the SBC intake you have many choices. Once I get the prototype adapter checked for fit I'll tear down the greasy old girl and take it to the machine shop. If the block and heads are OK I'll figure out how radical I want to get with the build. Ross Racing has some very interesting parts and machine services available for vintage engines.

 

damn-I see a Hilborn injected Caddy in my future!

 

I have a spare 346 if ya'll wanna fab one up for that...

 

Here's my modified Chevrolet crossram for my 299 inch Stude engine with the help of the above adapters.
This is an aftermarket version of the late 80's Corvette crossram.

This is the front end of the manifold where the thermostat housing used to be.




Top view. The right side is the back, the left side is the front, with the water outlet removed. The big hole in the back is a left over from the EGR port.
it just goes into the air underside the casting



The linkage will come off of the right side rocker cover ! A stud welded to the cover with a rocker bolted on, to rotate on the top of the stud.

Mike

P.S. - Sorry, I've posted this earlier in this thread..!

 

Way cool, Jon!!!!

 

Mike,
That’s okay,,,,it’s still cool that you posted it again.
I always liked how you left the Made in USA on it,,,,,smart .

Tommy

 

OK, I finally got the real deal back from the machine shop. They fit sweet. Photos attached. I will make more if there is interest here or not. I will need to look at the current costs and what a production run of 20 pieces would need to sell for to make it worth my while. As with the Studebaker version, I just get a kick out of making cool, useful hot rod parts for others to enjoy. Once I'm ready to offer them I will put them on the appropriate section of the forum. If you are interested let me know, we just won't discuss selling or a price on this thread. The intake is an OFFY "360" open plenum type, just an idea for now. Sorry it is still displayed on a greasy old motor. In a couple weeks I'll start teardown for rebuild.

JK

 

Looks sweet!

 

The adapters look better with a little "Gingerbread".

 

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I placed and order for 10 sets of adapters from W/S Machine. As soon as they're available I post them on the "for sale" page. This meant that I could tear down the "test fit" motor. It is a seized up '60 I got from a local salvage yard. I knew there could be issues upon disassembly and that is where the bad news comes in. The motor is toast. I hope I can save the crank. If you have a good block or know of one send me a note, please. I want to build a serious motor to showcase the adapters on. Hopefully I can find something close to me. Maybe the block fairy will leave one under my pillow.
JK

 

I back burnered the adapters for a while. Not so much the adapters but the display motor to advertise them on. It's a '59 block. The blower intake still needs the water passages trimmed back. The Pullies are BB Buick. The top pulley is fine as is. The lower pulley has the Caddy bolt pattern machined in between the Buick pattern and the original Buick pattern was enlarged to fit over the balancer rivets. The lower adapter for the blower pulley is out being machined.