Low buck, home built dual plane HEMI intake

KB Its a 68 Dodge Dart with a 440 Mopar wedge and T/F. My Son FEDSLED and I built the car in My 2 car garage. We race it in N/SS A/FX.Not really a HAMB friendly car.

 

figured it was likely a Mopar. not real familiar with how those motors look... looks like fun.

 

stopped by Dan's tonight. he is nearing the end. all that is realy left to do is to weld the intake halves to the intake flanges and weld the carb mounting plates on making the intake one piece. he will later finalize what he plans to do for the water cross over and fabricate that.
Dan plans to test each half for leaks before it is welded together as a whole. the operation, as i understand it, will be to use expandable soft plugs to plug the carb holes and use a cut off piece of bicycle tube to go from one intake port (the square ones) to the other using hose clamps to hold the ends of the tube to the intake runners. he can then use the schrader valve in the tube to pressurize the intake half and check for leaks at the welds with soapy water. pretty friggin clever for an old guy is'nt he!

Dan has made some adjustments to the design per suggestions made by some of you. in order to shorten the distance the fuel will have to travel to the front and rear cylinders Dan cut open the sides of the plenums adjacent to the front and rear intake runners and then boxed that area in.
he considered installing a balance tube from the bottom of the left runner (the higher one) into the side of the right runner (the lower) directly under the primary carb per Pir8Daryl's suggestion BUT as Daryl's research also showed it is not likely necessary with as large a plenum area as Dan has. for that reason it was decided not to bother with a balance tube. there have been other suggestions made that will NOT be integrated into this intake but many of those ideas, especially the ones like Daryl's that have research to back them up, will be taken into consideration on the next one. for all those insights we both sincerely thank everyone for their input, weather we liked it when we heard it or not .
this was never intended to be the most efficient intake design in the world, just a means of getting a tri-power intake without forking over a pocket full of Benjamins. it would, ofcourse, be helpfull if it did indeed "work" and did not negatively affect the reliability of the motor. that we will find out just as soon as the snow melts.













below is the first intake Dan ever built and fits a flathead Ford. he says that in many ways it was harder to to make than the current one because of getting all the tubes going where they needed to go. he never ran it and i'm not sure he ever intended to. Dan is one of those guys who cares FAR more about building stuff than driving it around or showing it off. i'm the opposite. i enjoy building things (some things, some times anyway) but would much rather drive and show off.
the "Turner" script was done by Shuten during his die maker apprenticeship at GM using some fancy process i'm not at all familiar with. it somehow (either chemically or electrically, i forget) burned it into the steel.



these are just a handful of the countless cars Dan has bought, built and sold over the years... plus a couple cars that have belonged to friends.



...and i'd like to give a shout out to my boy Steve Sellers who just flat out RULES!




the whole point in sharing this little adventure was to, hopefully, get some minds stimulated and some hands dirty. i hope we have succeeded in that at least.

 

dude that is freaking insane, I have never seen anything like that but i got to say that it looks preatty good, as a matter of fact it looks better than some of the aftermarket intakes. Nice work man!

 

HOLY SHEIIIIT!!!

What happened to that crappy bunch of welded tubes he started out with???

That thing is fucking art! I dont give a shit if it works or not, I'd be damn proud to sport that intake on top of my classic hemi... Or late hemi... or any engine!

I want one............. How much?

 

This would be great to send to the guy that's offering to hit parts like this with a 3-D scanner! You could put the measurements, pics, a 3-D scan, and a free CAD viewer all on a CD and sell it as a "build-your-own" kit! Hell, maybe you could sell some to the lakesheaders guy and he could package said CD with some intake and carb flanges to make it even more of a kit!

Just an idea... then everybody could have one!

~Jason

 

OK KustomBuilder,
stupid question here......LOOKS GREAT......BUT i'm not that talented or that smart on how things work, will this work or is it just for looks?

 

when form meets function, it is a thing of beauty!!!
Nice work

 

Read the whole thread and you'll know. Not trying to be a smart ass, I just don't want to repeat everything talked about.

anyway....Dan, great job! I really hope it gives you all the ponies you want, just to shut up the nay sayers. If nothing else, you got us all thinking and sharing knowledge. I've learned a ton from this thread. I was pretty clueless about intakes and their dynamics until I read this. This prompted me to get on websites that talk about the technology and engineering involved. Thanks for that spark. Build it, drive it, and tell everyone else to get stuffed if they don't like it. You're what true hot rodding is all about. Kudos!!!

 

i'm certain it will work. how well it will work is the question many have, but just like Edelbrock Sr., Navarro, Hilborn and all those pioneers of the racing sport had to do, this one will have to be tested in the real world to be proven. there is no reason in the world it won't "work". afterall it is just a means of directing fuel and air from the carb to the intake ports of the heads. it is just a question of volumetric efficiency (VE) for some people. for Dan and for this situation it is much more important that it looks cool. it'll work "good enough"... and if it does'nt, so what. he'll use what he learned and build a better one... just like they did in the (realy) old days. it's just work and Dan is not afraid of that.


here are some other fairly oddball intakes just for fun.

 

My dad made manifolds for irrigation engines much the same way. He used stainless steel (since they ran 24/7) and use SS pipe fittings for turns, etc.

Not real purdy but made more power.

As far as square vs round -- those engine ports are square, so it was a better match.

 

This intake just gets purtier and purtier! It is indeed a work of art. I think a big round of frosty beverages are in order for Dan and another round for Kustombuilder for taking the time to take such great pics and to post the write up.

It has definately got me thinking. I mean, how do you know you can't do something until you try right?

Thanks again
Bobby

 

DAMN FINE!!! Great looking and great fabrication!!! DAMN FINE!!!

Rex

 

man an guy leaves for a week to go drive his 18 wheeler and look and what you got done since I been gone, that doesn't even look like the intake I remember seeing? are you sure that is steel and not silver clay,, fabbed my buttocks, that thing looks sculpted... like the guy metioned earlier in the thread you need to sell the design plans to "u-fab-it" LOL Turner's homemade hot rod hookups...

 

This is one great looking work of art. I hope that
it works as well as it looks. If it doesn't work and if
you don't like it, can I have it. I promise to take
really good care of it, I promise.

 

I like both of the intakes. Wish I could do fabrication that good. Thanks for shareing

 

Impressive work. If the intake looks that good, I want to see the vehicle buildup.

 

Thanks, Do you have any apprentice grenade inspectors?

 

Dan,
Have you decided what finish to go with yet?

 

Hey for what it's worth in the 30tys stromberg and a few others made cast iron intake manifolds with square logs and square intake runners for model A's claimed it produced turbulence which increased HP and fuel economy think those guys didn't no what they were doing? lots harder to cast a square than a round intake Maybe he is going back to the basics of what works rather than what looks nice like everybody else's stuff

 

This intake is totaly boss. You coud just clear coat that bitch and it would look kick ass! However you finish it, Im sure its going to be sweet.

 

Real great work !

 

i like that thats COOL.....................

 

First of all, Thanks for all of the support and positive thinking. The chrome people say it would be hard to do. ( Makes me want to start a chrome shop.) I figure to paint it correctly would be to dip it completely. I don't like the idea of it being out of my possession, because some things grow feet, if you know what I mean,so its still undecided, clear coat sounds good, if it is gasoline proof.

 

thank you, it is my car, my money to, and in the end it's always my way, at least in the garage.

 

Dan, Garrett here, I just thought I would let you know it's WAY cool! Keep at it. Can't wait to see it when it's done and here the motor run!

 

if for some reason it didnt perform perfectly on the street he could make some 1" open spacers under each carb tying all carbs together. maybe? regardless, awesome piece. gets my vote...had an edelbrock 6x crossram and didnt make much sense when looked at with a 2009 eye.

 

May I ask a question regarding the -possible- leaks? Would silver solder be suffficient and/or easier than welding? To access tight places and would be softer to dress to a matching surface Id think. I mention SS because I had a machine shop build a longer tube adapter to put two Stromber 97's on a 54 Buick back in 1960 (didnt know about ChryCRam at the time either) They used silver and it worked pretty well.

Im neither a welder or silver 'solderer' but I sure am impressed with what I see and am following this thread for the road tests!!

Next question. Will Dan try building a long tube cross ram manifold like the early 60s Chrysler 300's??

 

Holy Sheis! That is incredible work, pure steel & sex appeal! ( clear powdercoat it!)