Since the tri power intake I was considering using will not perform as I thought it might, I was thinking about the possibility of building one(not a tri power, just a regular intake). Has anyone tried this? I know there is a lot to consider when it comes to how the intake affects engine performance. I'm just wondering if its worth the effort or not. Any thoughts or advise is always apprecaited.
Why can't you guys learn to use the "Search" function? There is a ton of good information on here if you'd just look. Here is an example : http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...9&highlight=intake+hemi+fabricate</url></url>
The manifold tubman linked for you is the first one I thought of. Its a nice job but hasn't been tested yet. There must be a million fabricated intakes out there and in service. Plenty of manufacturers still in business fabing custom and one off intakes. I'm kinda surprised the tri-power manifold you have didn't work out well
I did do some research on the net about custom intakes and they seemed pretty pricey - 1-2k...I was thinking at that point about building one of my own, thus sparked this thread. I didn't actually get it tri-power one. I was doing some research and I got some info from "carbking" here about that particular intake and he said it would only use small rochesters and only put out about 400-ish cfm if I remember right. I was initially going to go with the stock intake and a Holley 770 street avenger carb. I still might if its going to be too much hassle to build an intake or too costly to have one made...I'm just not really sure which way would be more practical and get the best performance I can get
Well I can tell you if you can find something off the shelf it will be cheaper. Swap meet or want ads maybe. $1000 for a custom one off fabricated intake is cheap really. Its not hard to do with the right tools and experience. Eben then its just time consuming. What are you working on?
off the shelf is the edelbrock L300, the tri power one. That's the only one made for the Lincoln 430 MEL motor. They are really rare. One of the guys here has one, but from what carbking explained it wont perform well on that big a motor. Unless there is something else off the shelf that I haven't found yet and I've looked high an dlow for anything else compatible and there just isn't anything. The only other thought and I'm not even sure its possible is to bore out the ports on the L300...but I don't know how that would work out.
Even if you had the tools, equipment, and talent (fabrication & welding skills) to build an intake manifold, most likely it would NOT perform as well as a manufactured one. If you look at all the intakes shown on the "hand made" thread, almost all are just tubing welded together, with no thought to flow dynamics, runner lengths, and size, plenum shape, and size, etc. Most race built fabricated intakes are made for high RPM, WOT power, NOT street use. Completely different animal.
Yeah I was sort of resigning myself to having to use the stock one. It's just that stock manifold looks like crap! lol Next time I will get a motor that easier to get parts for...live and learn
true some of the homemade intakes are more for appearance than function i've made a few and all but the first one didn't work very well it was like a smokey ram and i couldn't get a smooth fuel curve and had no bottom end it is very time consuming do your research know what you want plan!!!! then do it
What about a U-fab log type set up with 6 carbs. That'd be easy to make. I'm very unfamiliar with the 430 mel so I don't know if that'll even be possible.
if you want to biold your won it is worth the effort and if not than it is not. Unless you are really inot it most home built intakes are just dumpers. You are thinking of build an intake for a MEL/FE right? They are a little mor difficult because the intake is part of the head so there is a little more fabrication than say one for an olds or a caddy. Worth it is really up to you, if you are a good fabricator and enjoy fab work than it is sorth it and if not then it is not worth it.
the intake is separate from the heads i took a look at the manifold it's no hi-po with some porting and welding it should flow better, looks very restricted
Jeff, are you talking about the edelbrock L300 or the stock manifold? and yes the manifold is seperate...that much I do know...lol
Wish the bloody search nazis would find something else to do. Something constructive The HAMB is not the most user friendly site, even with the search function it can be hard to find something.
I gotta say that I haven't seen many handmade intakes that look decent, except for the tubular log style. Most look like crap and probably perfom similarly under normal driving conditions.
I saw an intake on a thread here last night but for the life of me I can find the bloody thread again...grr
I guess I would have to have accurate dimensions so I could figure if I would have room for Holley 500's or something like it then. I will see if I can get some dimensions. Then find a sop intown that could do the porting for me. It's times like these I wish I had a Cincinnati Mill in the garage!
There is a guy making new 8X2 log manifolds for the MEL. You could buy one of them and just run 4 twos. Or go ahead and make one. Think about what does work. And try to do something like that I have made several manifolds. One I remember everybody told me wouldn't work. 3X2 for a Howard head GMC. Put 47 mph on the class record first time out. To bad I didn't listen to all the smart guys and give up.
Where in California? I have a Bridgeport if you don't mind a step down from a Cincinnati. You can use it if you want. Bound to be able to make room for three Holleys. It may not come out as good as a Rodger Yates manifold for Darlington. But it should be better than stock. It's bound to be better than one not built. You should poll guys who have made their own manifold and see how many thought it was an improvement. Then poll the guys who thought it was a bad idea and see how many of them ever tried to make a manifold. Just because it's not perfect doesn't mean it isn't good.
RichFox, I'm near Lancaster...high desert about an hour north of LA. And a Bridgeport will do just fine...I have spent many an hour on Bridgeports in my younger years. I'm not sure how far San Mateo is from where I am though.
I cruise past Lancaster every so once in a while towing my roadster to the lake. Not to far for that. Maybe to far to use the Bridgeport. 138 over to 5. North to 152. West to 101. North to Kehoe Ave. 350 is about right.
Okay, that answers the question that was forming in my head. I was wondering why you didn't just buy a different aftermarket performance intake for the engine, but if the one you're mentioning is the only one that was ever made for the engine you are running, well, that's not exactly a helpful suggestion, is it? I do wish you the best of luck with whatever you wind up doing. There's a certain sort of coolness that comes from running an uncommon engine that almost nobody else is running and most young folks today have never even heard of, much less seen. edit: I just saw the following in the Wikipedia article about the engine: I have no idea how accurate that information is, but it may give you some possible alternatives to seek and/or consider.
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