FE Intake Adapter

[Barry_R]

Some of those manifolds are really cool.  The idea of running an intake like those on an FE is really enticing.  Hopefully I can get my adapter to work with some of them...

Jay
You already own a Marcella intake - you just did not know it.  John did that Victor you have.  Kid can weld like nobody on this planet...  He's done a couple of those cut into little pieces projects for class cars where they mandated a "cast" intake but have no rules on modification.  He'll be working on one of your adapters as soon as it arrives....

[jayb]

I remember, Barry.  I'm going to use that manifold, along with a few other FE specific intakes, as benchmarks to test my intake adapter against on the dyno.  If I can match the performance of Marcella's intake with one of the 351C intakes and my adapter, I'll be a happy camper...

[jayb]

Jay, if you could get one of the Trickflow A460 tunnel ram intakes matched to your HR adapter, I'd definitely be in for one of them.

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here, but sometime soon I hope to be making my own tops for the intake adapter, to allow all the ports in the adapter to be straight, rather than having to bend the outboard ports to match up with the 351C port spacing.  A manifold top similar to that A460 tunnel ram is one that I want to do.

[Barry_R]

If I explained to you what John "wants" to do with an FE head it'd have your mind spinning......   

[482supersnake]

I wonder how close these intakes would be for the tunnel port adapter? http://lmc3470.wix.com/ramairv

[ToddK]

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here, but sometime soon I hope to be making my own tops for the intake adapter, to allow all the ports in the adapter to be straight, rather than having to bend the outboard ports to match up with the 351C port spacing.  A manifold top similar to that A460 tunnel ram is one that I want to do.

Sounds good, I'm in no rush.

[jayb]

I wonder how close these intakes would be for the tunnel port adapter? http://lmc3470.wix.com/ramairv

Wow, they look like they'd be close!  Thanks for that link...

[JamesonRacing]

Hey Jay, its getting cold and dark here in Wisconsin, the only thing we have to look forward to (especially since Aaron Rogers was injured) is fresh pics and testing results on the intake adapters.  Anything to share?  Parts ready by Christmas so there's something under the tree? 

[jayb]

I've been meaning to post an update; sorry for the delay.  It took me until this last weekend to get the first operation machining done on the intakes.  Everything that could go wrong did, including broken tools, machine errors on both CNC machines, etc.  (I was just comiserating with Barry R tonight about all this...) 

In fact a couple weeks ago I was so frustrated with how things were going with my smaller CNC machine, the one that is doing the center cover plates and road draft tube covers, that I started hunting around for another CNC machine to replace that one   As luck would have it, a machine showed up on ebay that fit the bill perfectly, and the motivated seller gave me a pretty good deal on it.  So now, I have more work to do; I have to move my smaller CNC machine to a different location in my shop, and get the shop ready for the new machine.  Hopefully the new machine will run better.

Back to the manifolds, I am machining the first one on the second operation tonight.  Hopefully it will be finished by tomorrow, then it has to be leak checked, have the thermostat housing holes and water bypass holes drilled and tapped, etc.  I'm not counting on ANYTHING at this point, because the problems I've had over the last month have far exceeded what I expected.  But hopefully, the finished manifolds will start to come out now.  We will see.  Thanks to you David, and everyone else on the list, for your patience on this - Jay

[JoeW]

Jay

I believe I am number 62 and 63 on the list

You have not even touched or seen my adapter yet. A one man operation takes time along with dealing with mechanical and machine failures. You are going about this the right way in giving updates. Just keep plugging away as my 482 stroker is not done yet and I have not come up with a Cleveland Tunnel Ram yet. On a side note how much extra for an autograph on my adapters. 

[jayb]

Thanks Joe, I appreciate the support.  The move to production has been more problematic than I expected, but I will definitely get through this and start delivering the intakes soon.  Autographs are free, unless you want it machined into the casting 

[jayb]

While struggling through the machining issues, I got good news today from the foundry.  They have taken delivery of the match plate for the high riser / tunnel port version of the intake.  Pictures below:







The additional material required for this design the increases the weight of the raw casting by 12 pounds!  The foundry is busy with other stuff at the moment, but sometime in the next month I should get the first five prototypes.  They will get the same machining operations on the bottom as the existing castings, but then it will be starting all over again to develop the machining operations for the top, sides, front and back, for both versions (tunnel port and high riser).  Should be fun...

[XR7]

Looking good!      Nice to see progress on your HR base.

Just curious, what does the MR raw casting weigh and also the finished product (without the tray and breather block-off... bolt on parts) I know your making chips! Keep plugging along... but don't work too hard and get "burned out"! However, with as much work as you get done on a normal basis... that phrase is probably not in your vocabulary!

Thanks for the update, definitely good news on the HR deal.

[jayb]

The MR raw casting weighs 33 pounds, and is down to 25 pounds after the machining operations.  The HR/TP raw casting will be 45 pounds (!!), but will also lose more weight in machining than the MR casting.  Don't really know what it will weigh completed though...

"Burnout" is not in my vocabulary 

[bluef100fe]

That match plate is a work of art... so are these adapters... or lower manifold... or manifold base.... im still on the fence about which version I should ask for though... keep up the fight jay... your doing great things for the FE world...