Best actual Ford cast 4V intake found

[Joe-JDC]

Measure the depth of the carb pad to the floor of each side of the plenum.  Measure the width of the ports as cast if possible.  Measure the width between the pushrod holes.  I went back and checked flow numbers, and there has to be something not visibly apparent for the differences.  Joe-JDC

[Jim Kramer]

Well, the "K" plenum is actually about 1/16 of an inch deeper than the "J", on both sides. The pushrod holes are actually closer together on the K, however the holes themselves are considerably bigger. I'll try to get more exact measurements tomorrow when I can get better light on the subject. The J has had some port work on it, so unfortunately I can't compare port size........Jim 

[Stangman]

I thought it was going to be a big difference by eye. Maybe I’m thinking of my F 427.

[gt350hr]

Years ago, in early '70s, there were about 40 or so of the 427 engines sold for use on Lake Havasu boats with the aluminum heads with the "X" on them.  They were sold as GT-40 crate engines.  I had the aluminum heads in my hands back then, and they were really porous, as history will acknowledge.  I am just wondering if the intakes on those engines were the "K" variety.  What stumps me is the two raised studs on the intake ports.  Anyone know what they were used for?  Especially the #1 port.  Joe-JDC

    Joe the GT40 engines with aluminum heads had a magnesium "in line" not sidewinder intake. Sidewinders were a Nascar thing because the pass side bank ran richer on left turn ( oval) tracks so the carb was offset to correct it. I too am puzzled by the two stands.
  Randy

[Joe-JDC]

Yes, I agree on the NASCAR usage of the Sidewinder intakes.  I grew up in SC, so was right in the middle of that in the late '50s, '60s when I was drafted in 1966 into the military.  Bud Moore's shop was not too far away in Spartanburg SC, and lots of fast "moonshiner" cars around with transplanted engines.  Ford vs Chev was a big deal where I grew up, and not many other brands around at the time.  Joe-JDC

[Jim Kramer]

I measured the plenum depth...4.33/2.32 for the K, 4.28/2.26 for the J, measured as near to the center of the opening as I could eyeball. I couldn't see a lot of difference in the pushrod hole centerlines. As close as I could measure they were both 2.12/2.13. The only thing I can see for sure is the plenum depth that while small is defiantly there. There must be some more extensive internal differences, but I'm not clever enough  to discern them........Jim

[wowens]

Joe,
Do you think this intake would make the best 1 4bbl street intake ?

[427John]

Years ago, in early '70s, there were about 40 or so of the 427 engines sold for use on Lake Havasu boats with the aluminum heads with the "X" on them.  They were sold as GT-40 crate engines.  I had the aluminum heads in my hands back then, and they were really porous, as history will acknowledge.  I am just wondering if the intakes on those engines were the "K" variety.  What stumps me is the two raised studs on the intake ports.  Anyone know what they were used for?  Especially the #1 port.  Joe-JDC

    Joe the GT40 engines with aluminum heads had a magnesium "in line" not sidewinder intake. Sidewinders were a Nascar thing because the pass side back ran richer on left turn ( oval) tracks so the carb was offset to correct it. I too am puzzled by the two stands.
  Randy

Do you mean inline as in not offset to one side?Surely not inline as in autolite inline 4 bbl.Would that be an SK or XE marked intake?

[Joe-JDC]

Any off the shelf/as cast aluminum intake manifold that fits the FE, and flows 338 cfm average matches or exceeds most of the heads available out of the box for the FE.  For years, the HR was the top tier FE, next TP, and then MR, CJ, and all the others,(SOHC excluded)  Today, there are aluminum heads available with CNC programs that struggle to have an honest 338 cfm airflow at any reasonable valve lift.  The KC Stage II heads only flow 338 cfm on my bench at .750" lift, and the TFS actually go turbulent and back up above ~.620" lift to 320ish cfm.  A Pond, KC III, or BBM special CNC program that I have flowed still don't go much higher flow than 345-350 cfm without some tweaking.  They claim 360, 370, or higher, but I have not personally had that flow on my machine.  Jay Brown sent me a BT HR head that flowed 393 cfm IIRC, and that is the best FE head until his new head came along.  So, yes, the "K" Sidewinder would be a very good intake for just about any healthy FE on the street.  For performance, porting a RPM, Victor 427, TFS Track Heat, BT MR, can be opened up to flow 390 cfm and up.  A 300 cfm head needs a 330 cfm intake manifold for the street, and a 310 cfm head needs 340 cfm intake manifold.  A 340 cfm head for race needs a 410 cfm intake manifold.  The TFS Track Heat is the only 4V intake that comes close out of the box to that number, and exceeds it with a simple cartridge roll of the port to match a MR gasket.   Joe-JDC

[cammerfe]

In regard to Sidewinder manifolds, the first one I ever saw was brought into the Corban Shop one evening by Al Buckmaster and Jack Roush. (Corban was the shop from which John Corrunker ran his 'one-of-the-first-dozen' CJ Mustangs, a Super E Auto car. It was a 'dollar' car, delivered through Romy Hammes Ford in South Bend IN.) Those who remember that time will recall that, although the factory carburetor had to be retained, any intake manifold could be introduced to hold it.

There was a period of time when we went through a manifold-of-the-week scenario and the manifold that Jack and Al brought us that evening was fresh from the experimental foundry close by Gate 4 at the Rouge. This particular item was completely without markings except for the firing order to be seen on the top front. Al was the manifold guy, and told us that, since we were running an automatic car, we'd need to insert a front-to-back vertical divider into the completely open plenum. It would also be necessary to add material to the bottoms of the runners at the head interface to properly support the gaskets to match with the CJ heads.

By the time John sent the manifold out for that work and got it back, something else was thought to be even better and the manifold was put on a shelf for a number of months. I was driving a '67 Cougar at the time, and got enough parts together to build a 427 for it. John gave me the manifold and I finished the machining and put it on the car when I did the swap.

Al said, during that evening's bull session, that the reason for the offset was that, on a flow bench, that configuration aided in promoting the best possible runner-to-runner balance. I'd have to believe that the delivery of that manifold to Corban would have been prior to any use by a NASCAR team.

KS

[gt350hr]

Years ago, in early '70s, there were about 40 or so of the 427 engines sold for use on Lake Havasu boats with the aluminum heads with the "X" on them.  They were sold as GT-40 crate engines.  I had the aluminum heads in my hands back then, and they were really porous, as history will acknowledge.  I am just wondering if the intakes on those engines were the "K" variety.  What stumps me is the two raised studs on the intake ports.  Anyone know what they were used for?  Especially the #1 port.  Joe-JDC

    Joe the GT40 engines with aluminum heads had a magnesium "in line" not sidewinder intake. Sidewinders were a Nascar thing because the pass side back ran richer on left turn ( oval) tracks so the carb was offset to correct it. I too am puzzled by the two stands.
  Randy

Do you mean inline as in not offset to one side?Surely not inline as in autolite inline 4 bbl.Would that be an SK or XE marked intake?

     We called the "centered carb" ( side to side) an "inline" and the sidewinder had the carb offset to the driver's side. In my extensive searches for SK and XE parts , I have never seen an FE intake for an Autolite inline carb as FE development was over by then .For special parts to be made in EEE at Ford , there had to be a purpose or proposal ( for funding purposes) submitted and approved. I have hundreds of pages of SK part numbers and description with dates. Since there wasn't a logical need for the intake "I" don't believe one was ever created. I will NEVER claim to have seen it all , but I have seen allot of stuff others haven't.
     Randy

[gt350hr]

In regard to Sidewinder manifolds, the first one I ever saw was brought into the Corban Shop one evening by Al Buckmaster and Jack Roush. (Corban was the shop from which John Corrunker ran his 'one-of-the-first-dozen' CJ Mustangs, a Super E Auto car. It was a 'dollar' car, delivered through Romy Hammes Ford in South Bend IN.) Those who remember that time will recall that, although the factory carburetor had to be retained, any intake manifold could be introduced to hold it.

There was a period of time when we went through a manifold-of-the-week scenario and the manifold that Jack and Al brought us that evening was fresh from the experimental foundry close by Gate 4 at the Rouge. This particular item was completely without markings except for the firing order to be seen on the top front. Al was the manifold guy, and told us that, since we were running an automatic car, we'd need to insert a front-to-back vertical divider into the completely open plenum. It would also be necessary to add material to the bottoms of the runners at the head interface to properly support the gaskets to match with the CJ heads.

By the time John sent the manifold out for that work and got it back, something else was thought to be even better and the manifold was put on a shelf for a number of months. I was driving a '67 Cougar at the time, and got enough parts together to build a 427 for it. John gave me the manifold and I finished the machining and put it on the car when I did the swap.

Al said, during that evening's bull session, that the reason for the offset was that, on a flow bench, that configuration aided in promoting the best possible runner-to-runner balance. I'd have to believe that the delivery of that manifold to Corban would have been prior to any use by a NASCAR team.

KS

   Al was part of the Advanced Engineering "upstairs" guys and was THE designer of the infamous "Canadian Cobra Jet" head that Bruce Sizemore had made. I was told Al has some health issues currently and "selfishly" I hope he gets well as I have a peculiar Boss 302 , two piece dual four intake I would like to ask him about. I already spoke with Bob Corn and he suggested Al as the possible "creator" as Bob had never seen it. Same for Bob Wendland who also worked allot with Al. Al deserves a TON of credit for the MAJOR parts he designed.
   Randy

[mike7570]

.  What stumps me is the two raised studs on the intake ports.  Anyone know what they were used for?  Especially the #1 port.  Joe-JDC

Raised studs on #1 & #5 on this intake also. I was looking for one for my Shelby project but couldn't find one.

[SSdynosaur]

Also, one of the nicest individuals you could ever expect to meet. During late '69 Jack Roush connected me with a fellow named Billy Williams, from the X garage, that had two sets of SK MR heads he wanted to sell. I went to Dearborn, made the purchase then met Jack at their small shop off an alleyway to prevail on him to prep the used heads for NHRA Super Stock. Al, who I had previously known along with Jack from the "Gold Rush" cars, was present at Jack's shop and said "I'd be happy to work on those heads". A couple of weeks later I installed the heads, without any other changes to the engine, and the car instantly picked up -0.16 sec and nearly +3 mph in a quarter. I called Al to report and he had further suggestions resulting in another -0.1 sec. An absolutely amazing person to talk with and seemed to dearly love what he was doing for Ford. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[gt350hr]

 Al worked with Smokey Yunick on an aluminum 351C head for an Indy 'stock block" project in '68. Smokey was directed to Al after he flow benched a "not yet released 351GT ( 351C4V) head" , and found it would go turbulent around .600 lift and got worse with porting. Al laughed and made the aluminum head "good to .800 without a sound" in about a week's time. I talked to Al once on the phone about the heads ( I have 3 pair at the moment) long ago and when I asked about the poor flowing exhaust he said the reason he made the high port plates was to allow better headers to be made for the Pro Stock Pinto frames . He very kindly explained several "secrets" as to how to make the stock (low) exhaust port work. He didn't know me from Adam but felt he could help me and boy did he! All very unselfishly . He is a real gentleman , passionate about Ford engine performance.
   Randy