Ok, But the intake would be cheaper to make and lighter/better than current manifolds. When edelbrock makes new intake manifolds, they have to design them, how has this cost changed?
Why Aluminum Intake Manifolds?
- Thread starter blackstangt
- Start date
Ok, But the intake would be cheaper to make and lighter/better than current manifolds. When edelbrock makes new intake manifolds, they have to design them, how has this cost changed?
well, that's what I was saying about the GT-40, it has some advantages due to lighter weight and less heat energy storage...
Maybe they aren't set up to do composites?
They've been doing AL for a long time, maybe they don't see the justification to purchasing the equipment to do composites when they do perfectly fine with AL castings?
rd
Founding Member
Having hoisted the cast iron 2v carbed intake off and back onto my 77 F150 with its 400M, I think aluminum is a much better choice. That mother must have weighed 75 lbs.
Its probably used because it is easier to cast than iron, stable at its intended operating temperatures, and has adequate heat dissipation qualities to work with wet gasoline and air mixtures. Oh, and it does not catch fire. That was important in the days of carburetors!
Its probably used because it is easier to cast than iron, stable at its intended operating temperatures, and has adequate heat dissipation qualities to work with wet gasoline and air mixtures. Oh, and it does not catch fire. That was important in the days of carburetors!
That intake is the high-temp plastic composite as well. The Ls1 and Ls6 intakes are virtually identical!
Edelbrock probably does not want to put forth the cost of new compression molding machines, if I had to take a guess.
Plastic also has less casting flash.
The Ls1 intake I cut open is smooth as a baby's...
I got some figures out of it...
you have a point engines run hot, because gas burns too hot.
My Intake feels cold! Heat soak never happens with ethanol. I use a small Honda radiator to make room for a radiator sized inner cooler. Even with a small radiator It takes a little time to get to 180
rj95svt
Member
FAST has the technology to produce composite intakes. They already make a LSX intake and I know they have shown a aftermarket 3V modular intake at SEMA I think. It would be nice if they would step up and design a composite 5.0 intake using newer style long runner intake designs.
That's pretty much what I'm looking for, I would think they could sell more 5.0 intakes than just about any other car...
65ShelbyClone
Founding Member
I imagine that when dealing with resonant energies, the composite still has a little more "give" to it and some of the pulse energy is lost to heat in the plastic.
Edelbrock also caters to a wide variety of gearheads. Cast intakes offer a lot more freedom when it comes to porting and welding.
The FE's intake doesn't contribute to block strength any more than a 5.0's. It still bolts only to the heads like just about every other American gasoline V8 made in the last 60 years.
Maybe they aren't set up to do composites?
They've been doing AL for a long time, maybe they don't see the justification to purchasing the equipment to do composites when they do perfectly fine with AL castings?
Edelbrock also caters to a wide variety of gearheads. Cast intakes offer a lot more freedom when it comes to porting and welding.
The FE's intake doesn't contribute to block strength any more than a 5.0's. It still bolts only to the heads like just about every other American gasoline V8 made in the last 60 years.
The FE heads are smaller thus integrating the intake to the heads. The pushrods actually go throught the intake and not the heads. Another dead giveaway is that the bolts from the intake go 90 degrees to the head to intake surface and not vertically like most other V8s...
http://maddogtrucks.com/wp-content/images/motor/edel-2.jpg
Granted the FE is a special case but a lot of people on fordfe.com opt not to go for an aluminium intake and port the cast because of it's strengths and expansion rate.
Kevin
http://maddogtrucks.com/wp-content/images/motor/edel-2.jpg
Granted the FE is a special case but a lot of people on fordfe.com opt not to go for an aluminium intake and port the cast because of it's strengths and expansion rate.
Kevin
i think the phenolic spacer works good. before i had one on , i couldnt put my hand on the the upper manifold after a drive . w/ the spacer i have no problem keeping my hand on it for a long while. i have the cobra intake. people w/ the stock ho manifold it gets heated by the egr coolant lines also
65ShelbyClone
Founding Member
Yeah the heads are small, but the intake is not actually "integrated" with the head. The only real difference is that the valve covers cover part of and bolt onto the intake manifold. There is nothing strength-increasing about that. 351 Clevelands, 351Ms, 400s, and 429/460s also use some intake bolts that are vertical and some that are angled directly into the head. Clevelands either balloon a cylinder like the FEs or pull out the mains like a 351W. If the intake bolted to the block as well as the head, I might find it plausible as a stressed member of the engine assembly. Since it doesn't do that, There is still, in my opinion, too much movement allowed for the intake to actually prevent a Ford block from cracking.
Then there is the argument of whether or not blocks split from the mains-up or from the valley-down.
Still, a composite upper intake manifold could not weaken the overall assembly. Does anyone know of such a manifold?
Similar threads
