I recently bought a collection of Popular Hot Rodding magazines from the mid-'60s, and there is some very interesting stuff. One of the things that caught my eye was the May 1966 issue, with what appears to be an 8x2 Man A Fre intake on a big block Chevy. One other interesting thing to note is the extra ribs on the rear China wall... I have a bunch of 396s and 454s in the shop, and none have this feature. Is this some early block? Mystery motor, perhaps? I'd sure love to know. There is no mention of this engine in the actual article, or anywhere else in the magazine I could find. There is another picture of the manifold off the engine, but that's it. There was this interesting carb body spacer for Rochester 2Gs pictured, though. Not sure how well that actually works... Anyways, I know being '66 this is a little new, but just too interesting not to share!
Is there a better muscle big block than a MK IV Chevy? Not to me. That aside, I'm gonna say promo display, may not even be a real motor. No bolts in the intake, no cyl head line on the p***enger side, it's very possible it was some composite or even fibergl*** mold for performance displays and photo shoots. That would explain why it's ribbed in the back in case there was a need for bell housing engineering or hanging a trans. Just some observations. Quick edit, I looked for the same mag, and observed 1 cover that clearly shows the head line on the p***enger side. Then others were sorta blurred there like yours.
That is a ‘65 only block, but some may have made it into early ‘66 cars. At some point the patterns were changed and those ribs modified. That’s a 1966 magazine and the tall deck was a year or two in the future. For a raised deck block that manifold would need spacer plates between the heads, intake and china walls.
I have never seen an 8x2 Man-a-fre. There is a man named Tim Bowman who builds Man-a-fres on Facebook. Older gentleman who worked for the company many years ago. He would know for sure.
Thanks for the info! I looked him up and sent him a message. He's in a few of the big block and W motor groups I'm in on there. If he gets back to me, I'll share it here.
I dig the crossed flag emblem added to the valve cover... Anybody else see it says Man A Fre under the emblem?
I just had a great conversation with Tim Bowman, and he shared a lot of really great stories with me regarding the history of Man-A-Fre, different setups he's put together over the years, and lots of info about Rochester carbs and getting them to work. He's the last guy around that worked for Man-A-Fre back then. The set up on the magazine cover is actually a 4x2 intake with four Y adapters to create an 8x2. He said he's pretty sure this was a running induction system, but it's unknown what happened to it. There is another one that exists in Australia on a car called "Eight of Spades." He also told me about these High-Boy setups that were popular with boat guys at the time. Talk about an impressive looking set of carbs! Here's a few pictures from he sent me from his personal collection:
The Jalopy Journal
