Fe power adapter questions

[fekbmax]

Jay,  (and others)
First off i was very pleased to receve my adapter. its really a nice piece of work and seems to be maybe a couple pounds lighter than the PSE adapter. i do have just a couple basic questions though.
1. the port wall thickness to push rod opening, any idea how much i have to work with there ? obviously ill need to be as careful as possable but wonder what the dangers are of breaking through. should i hold my port matching as close to the mounting serface as possable and just clean up the CNC marks till i get well past the pushrod opening ?
2. is there any reason why the 6th intake mounting hole (second center) was not drilled ? i realise its probably not needed for good sealing but on my cross breed cast/fab duel carb manifold i rely on having both center mounting points for my linkage . if theres some reason i shouldn't drill and tap the second hole on at least one side then i can fab something up but the easyest way out would be to drill and tap it in the origanal location. it appears to me that if set up properly and drilled and tapped there shouldn't be any problem but i thought id ask you guys that already run the adapter first before i did anything.
thanks for any suggestions .

[jayb]

Keith, the port wall thickness at the pushrods is 0.050".  I wouldn't go too far there.  However, if you do break through, the oblong hole is sized so that a 3/4" OD piece of brass tubing can be used to sleeve it.  You have to cut a 2"-3" section of the tubing, squash it oblong in the vise, and then pound it in there.  I was actually planning on making an arbor to make the installation process easier, but no one has asked for one.  If you port there and break through, and you want to try sleeving with an arbor, let me know.

The other mounting hole is not drilled only because a) the PSE manifold didn't have it drilled, so I didn't either, and b) it is kind of near the counterbore for the middle FE intake bolt.  Hindsight being 20/20, those reasons aren't the greatest ones, and at some point in the future I plan to modify the CNC program to drill and tap the sixth hole.  There is no reason you can't do that yourself, though, there is really nothing in the way there.

Hope that helps - Jay

[fekbmax]

 

Thanks jay,
I had to sleeve a couple of the push rod holes on my old PSE so I'm familiar with that although its a great idea that you made the hole oblong so that tubing would fit. I ended up using aluminum tubing and cutting it in half on the PSE to keep as much clearance as possible.  Id rather not break through so that's my goal. 
My PSE does have both of the 6th holes added and the only other two I have seen had the holes also. It doesn't appear to have been added but if done properly then I guess you shouldn't be able to tell.
Thanks for the info, you have answered my questions as always.

[jayb]

That's interesting about the sixth hole being there in your PSE intakes.  Both the one that I own, and the one that I used for pictures in my book, do not have the sixth hole drilled.  Go figure...

[fekbmax]

I guess they could have been added or possibly a older or newer version.  Back in early 2000's the booze brother's had one taken apart and I'm sure it had the 6th hole. Also at a Fe shoot out in Masson Dixon dragway (back in the old Fe club of America days) someone had one for sale mocked up with a tunnel ram and linkage, kinda where I got my linkage idea from. My adapter came from the 422 motorsports guys so its possable it was added I guess. I'm sure they could have done it. Just doesn't look as if it was though..
no big deal at all. I was just curious..  I'm really pleased with the new adapter.