Hope everyone had a happy and restful holiday. I took advantage of having yesterday off work to take the grinder to my Q-Jet manifold. I was going to run the stock manifold at the track this spring to get some baseline ET's, and then do the modification to compare and post. But the closer I looked at it, the more rust I saw in the runners and knew I'd have to clean it up anyways. One thing lead to another and....it's just as well, I'm only gonna have time to do this swap once this spring anyway. I still have some finish work to do. I blocked the heat riser by tapping the holes and installing brass plugs with anti-sieze. But I got a little too close to the edge of the riser valley and made the wall very thin, so I pressed in some JB weld to reinforce the area. So I have two questions: 1. What tool do you use to get deep into the manifold beyond the reach of the 6" burrs? I can feel the casting is there, but I've got nothing that will get in there... 2. What tool are you using for a finish work? I used a carbide burr set and followed with a stone and an 80 grit roll. The floor of the plenum is smooth, but not entirely flat, as there is still a "chattered" texture from the burr (it is smoother than the pictures show...). I know it's not supposed to be a mirror finish, but how far do I need to go for best fuel mixture and flow? Also shown is the carb - it's a 7041304 Service replacement carb for a 66 425. At first I thought it was a later chevy center section with the updated needle and seat, but the number turned out to be legit..Ken at Everyday Performance did the rebuild for me, I got lucky as the diaphram actuating rod was not broken ('cause I didnt know to check when I bought it...) Cant wait to get this all together and running. Thanks for your help -
I REALLY wish there'd have been a before-and-after comparison. First Guess: the floor of your manifold is already too smooth. Many manifolds have a waffle or rib pattern cast-in, to encourage liquid fuel to re-enter the airstream.
And yet so, so right! Looking this over, grinding into the paint, etc... there wasn't a trace of red paint anywhere, which surprised me...I know it's a 66 manifold, it has a 12/20/65 date stamped right in front of the flange. Shurkey - I'm with you and regret not being able to but I'm trying to get started on the 73, and I need to button this car up in one shot....You might be right about the floor of the manifold.. my B4B on the 73 has big ribs across that surface. Also, looking at the Gessler manifold for sale in the "parts for sale" section (http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=241424) his looks like it has the same finish as mine... and he knows what he's doing! So the hell with it, I'm calling it good.
I always thought there was less casting and casting bumps in my Q-JET intake than in my sqaure bore intake. I think it will do good. Cant wait to hear what you come up with........
All you need is a ''sandpaper finish'',,, not ultra smooth.... :Smarty: That thing is gonna flow really good.... the carb is going to be the main restriction in the system not the intake,,,, Oh yeah, I know ,,, the intake port/valve is the biggest restriction.... but no one has come up with a rotary valve yet....:Brow: just be sure the air cleaner is not restricting.... :Brow:
I've been waiting for you to show up! I'm with you, I think it's 100% better than it was, and I'm not gonna go crazy on it. I didnt port match it either, because I want to leave the heads stock (for the day when I get torn down at the Pure Stock drags because the car is so unbelievably fast)!!! I'm gonna start taking apart the spread bore set up today. I'll miss the AFB for what it was - it was easy to work on, had great throttle response and the mixture was dialed in great (and smelled great), tailpipes were always super clean and never blew smoke when I'd nail it. I'll probably forget that I never could fix the occasional post shut off flooding issues and I'm lucky the car didnt burn to the ground, or that it was a bitch to start hot. I'll take pictures along the way.... Thanks!
Not a problem, if I'm around next spring/summer/fall, I have a spare (not for sale) stock '66 manifold he can swap in and out for a some comparison tests....
That'll give me the opportunity to give you the exhaust manifolds I've got for you! And maybe you can give the girls a tour of the housecar!
Hey Rhett,,,,, you gonna let them look under the carb when you are running in stock appearing class??????
They're gonna have to get by the fact it's a quadrajet first..... Maybe I'll create some kind of diversion, like a big red MSD box on the firewall. They'll look right past the carb......
Back in the day,,, I took my 64 lark coupe to the strip,,,, now, I had shimmed the body up off the frame 2'' for weight transfer and to get extra room under the car for stuff... the tech guy walked around the car about 6 times and kept shaking his head , saying,,, ''there is something weird about that car''.....:laugh: technically i should have been in a altered class where sky was the limit....:Smarty: I still chuckle about it....:laugh:
Hit my first snag - Trying to put a A/M coolant sensor/sender in the rear of the drivers side head while the manifold is off. I got an impact 3/8 reducer for my electric impact, and ground it to sit flush inside the plug but no go - that thing is stuck in the head. I dont want to strip out the plug "socket", and I dont want to take the head off the car. Tomorrow I'm going to borrow an inductive heater to get the plug cherry red and see if that breaks it free. It's a Snap-On impact so it's got some torque, but apparently not enough and I dont have air here at the house. Any other suggestions on how to get that plug out after 46 years? I could also use a torch, but it's a tight space for flame...
No doubt it was loc-tighted in... use a heat gun or small torch....or go to 1/2'' drive and use a break over bar and a cheater pipe....:Brow: :Brow:
Fun. Wish I had one of them. L-O-N-G handle ratchet or breaker bar, and heat from whatever source. Some folks make a big deal out of penetrant oil or paraffin wax. An impact wrench is not the right tool for this. Lots of leverage, and CONTROLLED but massive torque does the job, with heat making it much easier.
Rhett, get the plug hot, NOT cherry red!!! Then take a candle & melt it over the plug. If the candle wax starts to boil stop applying until it cools enough to just "Melt". Let it sit until it cools & I bet you will almost be able to take it out with your fingers. I've done this SO many times with GREAT results each time. Try it, you'll like it. Same goes for any pipe threaded plugs in blocks or heads.
