Reply to "351c EFI intake manifold"

I'm in agreement with all 3 of you gentlemen in one way or the other.

This is Doug's thread, and so I want to mention I've never written that the long runner EFI manifold would be a good match with his A3 heads, rather I suggested he convert to C302 heads. I read in what you've written Doug a strong liking for the long runner intake, and an equally strong dislike for having to roll your own manifold. That's cool and at least we've explored the idea and given you an idea what the gentlemen who have done so have gone through.

Kelly, You have a good handle on the situation, you are right the Cleveland intake bolts aren't perpendicaular to the head, but accuracy wasn't my intention, just painting a picture in the minds of the reader. While Thomas & Jim were able to mod the Trick Flow intake to work on the cleveland with the intake bolt holes in the standard location, I doubt the casting would allow redrilling for Cleveland angles 3/4" lower to match the bolt location on the SVO heads, hence why I believe using the spacer to adapt to the Windsor holes is the best alternative. Probably the only other alternative would be redrilling the heads. And as I wrote yesterday, if 5/16" is too thin, make the spacers 1/2" and mill the intake a bit. One advantageous thing about the vertical Windsor intake bolts, it allows the use of studs, and so it would be possible to install the studs in the spacers with loctite and grind away anything that pokes out the back side of the spacer.

As far as suitability for racing, Trick Flow intakes for the 351W have large volume runners that are 13.3" in length, the intake is available rated for 2000 to 7000 rpm on a 351 cubic inch motor with mounting for a 90 mm throttle body. If you need more, everybody, including Trick Flow, manufacture what they call "box intakes". a replacement upper that has no runners at all. The box intakes are normally rated for powerbands starting at 2500 or 3000 rpm and upwards. There are tons of guys out on the tracks around the world racing their cars with with long runner efi intake lowers and box intake uppers. Ron you're a drag racer, I know you've seen all the guys with motors like this. This includes big cubic inch Windsor strokers. Those intakes support all sorts of horsepower.

I'm also waiting for Trick Flow to produce that 2V lower for the Cleveland. I agree that would be the optimum situation. I think that intake mated to a pair of CHI or AFD alloy 2V heads would be the next hot set up for the majority of Panteras, Mustangs, etc. Combining the beneifits of EFI, improved throttle response of the small port head, and the ability to support up to 600 bhp out of the box. Sure they're not high port heads, but these new generation of 2V heads will support the kind of valve lift that is provided by the current crop of hydraulic roller cams.

take care,

George