Trevorsworth, That is exactly how the Eddie Meyer intake in question works. There is a hollow casting under the carb risers. It has a water log manifold that attaches to this or you can block them off. Traditionally, guys would plumb into one head and one of the water pumps to circulate the water. As you can imagine, this would be kind of unsightly in a car with an open engine compartment. In all my old timey books, I've never seen one of these intake hooked up to a hot water supply, but I'm assuming guys did. I just never seen one done. You see them on cars in the pre-war books chronicling racing at El Mirage, Muroc, and other CA dry lakes events. My plan is to tap into the left and right heads to allow hot water to enter into this cavity. I'm thinking polished copper tubing to make it look appealing. I have a Slingshot on it now, but plan to eventually swap intakes to the EM. With all its issues, it is certainly a very cool (no pun intended) pre-war intake. As Ryan noted, when it is running well, it runs strong.
I would second this. Many years ago I was running a SBF in a Willys wagon that had issues with carb icing 6 mo. out of the year. Mainly caused due to not having a hot air duct from the exhaust to the snorkel on the air cleaner. I started putting a bottle of Heet in at every fill up during the colder weather and had no further problems with icing. Cheap and worth a try...
Update: Woke up early, had the carbs off before I even dropped the kid at school. Got back, swapped the #47 jets for #45s, buttoned everything up, and took her out for a 30-mile shakedown. Cold? She still spits and coughs like a sick kid on a bad morning. But once she warmed up? Night and day—90% better. Not perfect, but honestly… with the way she pulls at full throttle, I think I can live with the quirks. She might be temperamental, but she is quick man... Real quick.
I’ve tried to talk him into writing a book… Either about carbs, or being patient with people who blatantly ignore his advice after asking for it. Either way I’d be well ahead if I read it.
The early EM Hi-rise used hot water from the cooling system. EM also supplied block off plates for use in hot weather after the car was warmed up. I have a Harrell that uses no engine heat and has the same icing problem on the street. Suggest the later EM that uses exhaust gas heat as above photos or pipe in the coolant. I wanted the coolant hoses to be as short as possible so I found an aftermarket RH water pump for my 21 stud it has two nipples cast into the body for a heater. Or some pumps have one nipple.
All the Heet [ methanol ] in the world will not fix the entire problem. It WILL absorb the water from the gas, while doing NOTHING for the water in the air. Did you ever feel the intake manifold beneath the carburetor while idling? Ben
Yes... It was cool to the touch after driving for an hour... in Texas... However, I think I have the problem mostly beat now. I went down a jet size and that got rid of about 90% of the problem once the motor warms up. I added a choke to help when it's cold. Totally drivable now. I just got back from a little 45 minute drive as a lunch break stress relief... It's only around 80 here today and it's overcast and about to rain. Pretty humid. Once the motor was warmed up, it did pretty damned well. So fingers crossed...
Update: Put 187 miles on the coupe this weekend, most of them spent squinting at the gauges and waiting for something to explode. Woke up stupid early Saturday to make it to the Round Up and figured the weather—cool air, high humidity—would ice the intake for sure. But to hell with it… Round Up or bust. And damned if the car didn’t run beautifully on the way in. No icing, no tantrums. A slight high-RPM miss, but that’s probably just the motor reminding me that 290 is not a god damned race track. Left the show around 1:30, sun climbing and temps creeping into the low 80s. Had to blast across town to my youngest’s dance recital, and somewhere on that trip the engine started running hotter than I’ve ever seen—215. Concerning, but there wasn’t time to screw with it. Got through the tutu chaos, then shot back home for my middle kid’s prom photos. Still warm out, more stand still traffic, and this time the car boiled over. First time it’s ever done that. I let it cool off for 45 minutes under the judgmental eye of a Austinite's lawn flamingo, then limped it home. Later that night, I had dinner with the boys and took the coupe again, because why not push my luck a little further. It was running fine as long as I kept moving—only got hot at idle. I bumped the timing forward a touch, which cleaned up the high-RPM miss, but didn’t fix the idle temps. Then late last night, I spotted it. My accelerator rod was still set to “W” from back when I was dealing with the intake icing problem. I never flipped it back to “S.” Made the switch, and… weirdly, the overheating stopped. Don’t ask me why. Voodoo? Cosmic coincidence? Flathead sorcery? Who the hell knows. What I do know is this: the Eddie Meyer intake makes power you can feel. It also turns your engine into a temperamental ass hole that will sabotage your schedule and sanity at will. But somehow, it’s still worth it.
Kids first...good Dad. All else you'll figure out as you go, when you have time. Old Cars - always something. Keep us updated - fun to learn.
Haha. Great write up and I'm glad you seem to have it sorted out. Odd about the overheating vs. the rod settings. These EM intakes sure are neat. Can't wait to see what it will do compared to the Slingshot on there currently.
Update: I’ve been driving the coupe a lot over the past few weeks—partly as a reward for finally getting this damned intake sorted, but also as some kind of self-inflicted punishment for daring to run a flathead-powered hot rod in the Texas summer. It’s like motorized masochism out here. That said, I was still chasing heat issues—specifically overheating at idle. And now that my quiet little country town has mutated into some suburban wasteland littered with traffic lights and bumper stickers barking politics, I’ve been stuck at idle more than ever before. Once moving, the temps leveled out fine… but anytime I sat still, the needle crept higher than I liked. The symptoms pointed to a lean idle circuit, so I rolled the dice and went up a jet size—swapped in 47s in both carbs—and prayed I still had enough timing to keep the intake from icing over like a freezer tray. Just got back from a test drive: it’s 95 degrees out, I let the car idle for 15 minutes, and it never climbed over 195. Intake stayed thawed. Did I finally beat this damn thing? Only hiccup? I noticed it tries to stall when coasting downhill at idle. Probably need to give the idle mix another once-over. But all things considered… we might be getting close. How many times have I said that?
I’m curious if bumping idle speed a tiny bit would fix the stall, I’m green on strombergs do they have an idle mixture screw? With the re jetting maybe the idle speed/mix needs tweaked juuuuuust a hair.
Yeah... once you re-jet, you pretty much have to retune the idle mixture screws. You do this by turning them in until the engine stumbles, out until the engine gallops, and then in a quarter turn or so. Two times on each carb. I’m gonna run through the process again—maybe bump the idle up just a tick while I’m at it. But it’s 102 damn degrees out right now… So, no. My hatred for Texas at this time of year is something beyond language. Biblical, almost.
I feel you there. I chased what I thought was a vacuum leak for months. Turns out the idle mix was a hair lean. Felt like a moron and a genius at the same time lol
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