Reply to "motor build advice - windsor, webers and 180's combo"

Cullen, I wrote a long winded post about Edelbrock heads, roller lifters and a few other thing. I thought I hit the "Post Now" button. I guess something went wrong, you've been spared.

The main point was about Edelbrock heads. We installed 2.150 intake valves and 1.60 exhaust valves to help with low lift flow numbers. The other interesting thing is that many aftermarket cylinder head manufacturers don't have Ford blueprints to work off of. Apparently Edelbrock does. That was another reason we chose them.

The other point was about IR carb induction systems. I used them (Weber carbs) for many years on my race engines and a few street engines. They always worked great, always took a lot of effort to sort them out and needed maintenance. Weber carbs are VERY tunable. Without some experience and specific engine performance goals it's easy to put together a combo that doesn't work well. It's easy to get them to work but not so easy to optimize the performance. If you know someone with a similar engine in the same car, try their tune as a starting point. Obviously the runner size and carb size matter. Don't forget the venture size and ratio, runner length and the very important stack shape and length. Another thing to be careful about is the air cleaners. I have seen a good manifold/carb setup screwed up by a poorly designed air cleaner. There are several Weber books worth reading cover to cover. Understanding how to tune them is crucial for a satisfying experience.

IR (EFI or carb) systems are super cool. If I was building my engine/car 20 years ago IR induction would be my choice. At this point a mild engine is the goal. A plenum EFI manifold makes more sense for my build.

I would like to share a few photos. A little help with that please. Mike