Dedicated Upper Manifold for the Intake Adapter

[babybolt]

If you made a tunnel wedge intake would it have the Dove style top plate format?  This plate is apparently an original Ford part, though apparently very rare.  Would any of these intakes still fit a Cleveland?  There would be a second market for the intakes in the Cleveland world.

[Dumpling]

What about 3-D printing?  Zytel?

You have CAD files and I assume you have the software to do more CAD files.

With a 3-D printer you can experiment more, with faster turnarounds. Change plenum and runner volumes and angles and taper pretty much at will.

Especially for parts away from direct contact with heat, like center sections of intakes.  I'd wonder how hot oil pans get and whether a Dailey-type pan with integrated plumbing could be printed for less than $10K.

The pricing on 3-D printing seems to be falling even as it becomes more capable.

[bn69stang]

My vote would be for a tunnel ram style , pro street and old school is coming back ..

[jayb]

What about 3-D printing? 

The pricing on 3-D printing seems to be falling even as it becomes more capable.

Way ahead of you on that one 

[jayb]

If you made a tunnel wedge intake would it have the Dove style top plate format?  This plate is apparently an original Ford part, though apparently very rare.  Would any of these intakes still fit a Cleveland?  There would be a second market for the intakes in the Cleveland world.

I'd be looking at doing a tunnel wedge without the top plate.  Are you sure the tunnel wedge with the top plate is original Ford?  That's a new one on me; I thought that was a Dove thing.

None of these manifolds would fit a 351C engine, the port spacing would be too wide.  My vision for all this stuff is fairly low volume production, targeted at the high performance end of the FE world, so adding additional sales volume for 351C engines isn't all that important to me.  I just want to see us FE guys get the same opportunities for performance as everybody else...

[BH107]

Yes, the top plate design was original to Ford, although I've only put my hands on a Cammer intake with that configuration. It has a factory XE casting number on it, and a large open plenum under the plate. I think there may have been a TP version as well.

[cjshaker]

I just want to see us FE guys get the same opportunities for performance as everybody else...

Kudos to you for that line of thinking. The other guys have there stuff, so dedicated FE stuff is the way to go. Obviously you're not going to get rich on this stuff, so sticking to FEs makes the whole thing cooler, not to mention more practical for making power in the FE.

It may also be worth your time to discuss this with Blair, as he may have some really good ideas and comments on design.

Personally, I would rather see a tunnel wedge style made with modern design and concepts. It's a well known look (super cool, which everybody agrees on), makes good power for bigger engines, but really lacks in terms of modern enhancements. Of course it's a 45+ year old design, so that's to be expected. Original ones are REALLY expensive, so chopping one up for EFI and injectors makes a body cringe. Even aftermarket ones are expensive, so they still require some $$$ to purchase, then more $$$ to modify. Kevin had a good point about BBM and their plans to release one....although I'm guessing it's going to be designed more like the originals for appearance sake, so that may not be a hindrance for the performance oriented people.

Realistically, I'd guess the single spider would be more popular for the drag guys (not the kind that gather in bars either ). So from a selling standpoint, I'd guess it might be a toss up.

But I have to say, from a modification for racing standpoint, I really like the idea of the removable top. Seems like it would be easier to cast that way, add very little to machining operations, not to mention being WAY more friendly for porting and modifying the plenum for specific purposes and racing. A top plate would be easy to make without further casting.
Just my .002 cents (adjusted for inflation )

edit: The only removable top plate intakes I've seen were the NASCAR designs. Pretty rare and very expensive.