Is it possible to run an early 21 stud intake, say from a 1932,1933 or 1934 Ford on a later 24 stud 59a engine or even a 8ba? What would hold it from doing so if not? What would be the drawbacks? Anything that could make it work? Let's Discuss.....
Both Eddie Meyer and Offy designed plenums to fit 32-48 so with some mods they should fit the 8BA also. fuel pump boss, drafting and venting would be the major changes. Navarro's were designed to fit '39-53. Never had personal experience swapping intakes but it seems to me one year should fit all with some minor modification. Hopefully I'm not full of crap
im sure the aftermarket guys made mounting acommidations for the different models back in the day. I know they do now. I doubt you are talking about a stock 21 stud intake for the application you want to do?
Well it would be an original 21 stud intake mounted on a 59a. It'll bolt up but I just kinda wondered if it'll run well and like you said the fuel pump mounting difference.
I got an aluminum stock 1935 intake on my merc flathead. I had to put a road draft tube in it and my buddy gary put a pcv valve underneath the intake. i just made a fuel pump rod to fit.
I can take a picture of a stock 8ba intake from the underside if it helps, but I cant get to it till tomorrow night....
send an email to Mike @ H&H, he always been cool about answering technical questions. I guess you are doing this just for aesthetics?
All '32-53 221-239-255 manifolds will bolt up across the board. Late flatheads did not use all the bolt holes, but what they used fit the old pattern. Late ones also lack locating studs, leaving port match a bit wonky but not blocking anything. Late FP rod is bigger than early...but tapping in early bushing fixes that. Other way, just use early FP stand and stuff, if more options needed very minor pump hacking will do all you need. Problem areas: You will have to select a compatible FP pushrod and stand combo...nothing difficult involved, just consult a lunatic like me. Early manifold might hit late front vent pipe in valley...swap pipes or shave a tad off the top. '35-48 blocks vent at bottom, late vent through front of manifold, PCV is best fix as it is an actual improvement over old style venting. There aren't any problems really requiring machine work or specialized help, just a matter of stacking up compatible accessories.
Bruce, How about performance issues? I imagine if he wants to run a single carb plenum he wont be running anything hopped up on the botton end anyway.
Here's a picture of my friend, Tony Rosa's, 59A engine in his '27 Roadster project. He is using a 1933 intake manifold. Any of the '34-'48 fuel pump stands / breather tubes will bolt to this intake but the raised lip where the original breather tube pushed-in will need to have a notch put in it to clear the bottom of the fuel pump when it is mounted off of a stand. The hole also needs to be plugged with a core plug or similar. There is also an adapter to install a 3-bolt Stromberg or Holley carburetor to the original 2-bolt mounting flange. The car seems to run really well. (Photo was taken before car was on the road.)
Ford and Bohn developed the 180 degree manifold to eliminate problems caused by 8 cylinder firing orders with adjacent cylinders fighting over their lunch...I suspect the problems were mostly low speed, but don't know. 1932 and 1933 Ford stock cars in the Elgin series could pull a bit over 100 MPH on their Detroit Lubricators... I've never lined up my manifolds and scrutinized, but I believe that Ford 180's from at least late '34--53 had very similar passages. Only signifivantly bigger passages were I think '49-53 Merc versions. In later years in stock car 2-barrel classes i think some used adapted Merc manifolds fitted to the various 94-related cheater carbs, some went to 360 degree manifolds by entirely gutting 1934 type manifold to increase the engine's exposure to carb...
Some fun reading: http://www.google.com/patents/US210...#v=onepage&q=manifold inassignee:bohn&f=false Bohn aluminum and Ford worked to invent the revolutionary 180 manifold because all v8's had suffered from firing order problems...early ones were generally run with 2 -4 cylinder manifolds as a kludge. This new design became close to universal until recent individual fuel injection days... By the way, look closely at the car sketched in: Apparently a 4-barrel was being considered on a design that hit production in 1934! Blasted accountants must have killed that idea, and for about 20 years!
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