Edelbrock has done an incredible job of giving hot rodders what they want while also keeping a majority of their production here in the US of A. What do you think the chance of Vic Jr. and the boys tooling up to do a run of Model A 4 banger Parts? Anyone here work for Edelbrock? Is it worth calling them to ask if they'd be willing?
Not exactly a 4 banger but they finally came out with a Tri power for a 289/302. More ford love I say.... Including the 4 banger ! Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Never hurts to ask but usually the hot rod parts business is very NIH minded. If they didn't think of it they aren't interested. Volume wouldn't be very high either. There were guys making heads and other castings for A/B fours up until recent times, maybe still, but the prices were very high. American foundries are getting scarcer and tougher to work with. Few people want to learn to make patterns anymore either. Ford is making new blocks for the Kent four which is used in Formula Ford racing, so maybe they might be willing to do new B blocks and especially a good counterweighted crank. Headers are readily available and tube intakes for various carbs can be made easily enough.
Ya gotta remember that Edelbrock has no history or tradition in the banger business. They still supply V-8 stuff because that's where they started.
http://www.modelaengine.com/ A little off the beaten path...it looks like a bunch of engineering students doing a thesis project. Apparently they are pouring a block though! I always felt Ford made a big mistake by not keeping the A/B design and upgrading it instead of the v8-60, the 2N/8N/9N four and a couple of others.
It would be awesome if they did, but I'm not going to hold my breath. The fact is, there would be no way for a company like Edelbrock to turn a profit doing it. The R&D would cost thousands since they don't already have a template from which to start and at the MOST they would sell a few hundred in the first couple years- and I think that's being generous. The fact is, most good banger parts still being produced are made by individuals doing small runs out of their homes. These individuals are not getting paid for their time and are just turning a small profit on the parts because the runs are so small the margin just doesn't exist.
The market size is everything. But on the other hand a lot of the cost for the modern stuff is for California Exemption Orders and other compliance that is a non issue on these cars, and the modern CAD/CAM world has made tooling for simple pieces like flathead engine heads much faster and simpler to do. All the core boxes and patterns are generated from 3D files via stereolithography and one good operator can generate these files in a couple of days. As with anything the more people start building these engines the more parts will become available.
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