Okay I found a EDELBROCK #FM 255 for what I believe is a fair price ($150?) anyways I was just wondering what you guys think of this intake. Has anyone ever used it? I have a bone stock 1956 272. Would this be something to look into or am I just wasting my money? Thanks!
Did you buy it? $150 is a decent price, I'm still kicking myself for not buying one at Carlisle a few years ago for $200. They are still around but you dont see too many of them. If you didnt buy send me the info as I've been wanting to pick one up for a future project.
Dual fours on a stock 272 is a bit much, don`t you think.......A couple of 2bbl adapters and small carbs will give you the look and still run OK.
Thats what I was thinking and why I was asking. I just saw this in my local cl***ifieds as I am looking for a new intake and carb on my 272 but I don't want to break any ladn speed records just want something reliable.
Good price if that's not a broken stud on the rear carb pad. Depending on the carburetors you use, you may need the block off plate for the choke mount. Hot Rod magazine did a build up using one of these manifolds in early '55. They compared a set of twin '54 Holley Teapots to a set of twin Stromberg 4bbl carbs. One thing to remember with this manifold (vs the 257), is the rear carb sits a little further back. As I understand, the '57 and up distributor won't fit. I'm using the FM257 on my '55 Mercury with twin teapots and the later distributor. The rear vacuum secondary housing is really close to the distributor cap!
I just want an upgrade from my ******** carb I have now. Do you think it would be better for me to get a newer intake that can house an Edelbrock 600cfm and go that rout or get something like this? It is for a custom and not a hot rod so I don't really care about the look.
If you're looking for ease of tuning and reliability, the later ('57 up) 4bbl intake with your choice of carburetor will be the way to go. Though with a 272, you'll want to keep it sized below 390 cfm. Dual quads are fun, but they are a bit of a pain to get set up correctly! Here's the article: http://www.box.net/shared/oe5mr4q8mrx4l1s2027n
Okay, can I bolt the carb from a '57 Ford on the stock '56 intake? Or would I have to start looking for a 1957 intake manifold as well? Thanks! I had a mechanic once tell me my carb is a Thundrrbird one because it is bigger. But I'm not sure if that's true or not.
Not without an adapter, you can't. The '55-'56 intakes had the carb pattern that was nearly square, and the '57 intake uses the common pattern that takes either a Carter AFB or modern style Holley carburetor.
$150? Buy it! Or at least p*** the info on to another HAMBer who can use it. These aren't too easy to find. But, as others have said it's probably a bit much for a 272.
I run a 257 on a 272 with two Autolite carbs. It took a little bit of timing, jet and advance tinkering to get it to work. The 289 distributor fits fine. I have a 312 supercharger cam and high lift rockers.
For $150 I'd say buy it for an investment but run a single four if you want ease of operation. The 255 is not the best one anyway.
Thanks, probably smart to just go with a '57 intake as well right? As it is one less gasket. Or would that be a problem with distributer placement. I did buy it. I am currently in contact with another HAMBer who may be interested. I thought it would probably be to much for my 272 as well. A 289 Small Block? No kidding thanks! I am going to run a single four I think. I did buy it and it's a pretty neat unit. If anybody else actually needs it I will definatly p*** it along.
Okay, one last question. I know they had these intakes in the 1950's but when did they start casting them out of aluminum? The one I purchased is an aluminum unit. Thanks!
Awesome, do you know what years they made this intake? Could it be a newer one or did they stop making them at some point?
The fm 255 was for 1955-56 ford. Port size got bigger in 57 you need to do some port matching (grinding) to use a 57 intake in 56 heads.
I bought it an it's bad***, but don't think I will use it on my tiny 272. Anybody on here that needs it can P.M. me.
I would run the 2x4 intake and use small 4 barrels and set it up where you run only the two primaries on each carb..should run great. Duane.
Maybe, I am thinking more along the lines of getting my old carb rebuilt by someone, putting a new distibuter in and seeing how it runs. It is winter here now so I can't really play around with the car to much. I was planning to take my '56 to Santa Maria for the West Coast Kustoms Cruisin' Nationals so I want my car to run great. Don't really want to have to mess around with trying this or that. If I could find an Autolite or Motorcraft that will bolt up to my stock manifold with no adaptor that would be great. Is that possible? Thanks!
You might want to check out the Rochester 4G Carbs as they also will bolt right onto the 55-56 T-Pot manifold. I remember that we ran them so we could do away with the T-Pot that liked to catch on fire from time to time. If I remember right the 57 Chevy used them with the power pac and Olds,Pontiac had a larger cfm that we used alot back in the day. They work great I don't remember any problems with them. Might be worth checking out. The one draw back is that it's really hard to put a GM carb on a Ford!!! But It was fun to beat the the chevies with their own carb. Ken
I haven't posted on here much but I'm always here. Edelbrock has just released 2 new 3 Deuce intake manifolds for the Y-Blocks, FM 553 (5410)for the 272-292 and FM 573 (5411) for the 312. They are in the 2011 catalog. It would be a nice combination with a trio of their Edelbrock 94 carbs. Probably have to take out a second mortgage though!
They are not available despite being in the catalog. Official word from Edelbrock is maybe sometime in early 2012.
That is the style carb that we used. That one appears to be the larger carb with the 4 vent tubes. They used those alot on the olds and pontiacs. The ones with only 2 vent tubes are the smaller cfm. But it's been many years since I've used one, but as I remember we used the smaller one on the stock running 272-292 and they ran really good. I don't remeber if we used an adaptor but I don't think so, I think it was almost bolt on and a little linkage work.
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