I bought a Wildcat from the guy that I bought my car from. After I left I noticed that he cut the runner dividers(all but one) back. He started, but didn't finish what he was doing. He said that Jim Bell told him to cut the dividers(especially the bottom half that meets the plenum floor) back flush where the runner leaves the plenum area. One is cut up to that point the others were started but not finished. Has anyone heard of/done this to their intake?o No: Sounds good in theory, but I'm hoping that he didn't ruin this intake. Was this good advice?
Holy COW :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: What the heck did he us to hack that up? Almost looks like a cutoff saw. When I bought my KB intake, there were instuctions that discribed doing what you said for "high horse power" applications. I don't think he runined the intake, but I would BE SURE to get that to JIM W, or GREG G, to clean up what the guy started and make sure all the runners flow the same. If you don't do this, chances are you will never get good results from the intake.
I may "clean" the whack marks in it and have that divider heliarc'd most of the way back.(that's the worst one) I emailed Jim Bell also. The idiot that I bought it from said that Jim showed him how to modify the intake at the GS Nats several years back. I wanted to kick him in the pants(very clean up for this post) once I saw what I had and he was gone already of course. I just need advice as to what needs to be done.:af: :blast: :spank: :stmad:
Jim Would I be on the right track to clean the sharp edges and have the dividers heliarc'd back in place then finish from there?
I'm of the opinion that cutting the dividers back won't hurt you. In effect, what they are doing is increasing the size of the plenum, and shortening the runners. Putting a carb spacer on has a very similar effect, in that it also increases the volume of the plenum, but also moves the carb farther away from the entries into the runners. Both of these things seem to help every Single plane Buick manifold I have played with. I would say you will be just fine by cleaning up and equalizing the work done on the entries. I see your manifold does not have the ugly "steps" in it that mine did, in the plenum. I had heard that some of the later ones had this fixed. If Jim Bell said to cut the runners back, he must know something about what that particular manifold likes, since he was part of getting it done the first time around. But I don't think he had that type of work in mind.. :eek2: JW
Jim My plan is to clean up what he did with a non ferrous carbide bit then have it "built" back up. Once that's done, I'll have to sharpen the other three until they're all equal in length. Carbidebur.com here I come! Is there a point that is too far to cut the runners? I'm going to try to bring that nasty arch back forward and give it a gentle slant back to where it was on the plenum floor.
Just my opinion, but I would send manifold to one of the "porting gurus", and just pay them to fix it. IMO, it is VERY SAVEABLE, IN THE RIGHT HANDS!o No: Like I said, JUST MY .02!!:bglasses:
She's coming back... A very challenging welding job, but we got her done! Now for some blending work, a shield and polish job, and it will be better than new.
Holy feline correction, Batman!:jd: Looks great so far Jim. I just saw another Wildcat with Dominator flange in the parts for sale section. Man I was tempted. My wife says that I look at this forum like its a porno site or something. I know, I know. Someday, she'll come to appreciate Buicks too. She's still miffed that I was on my way to buy her a '68 Camaro when I found this car. Anywho, don't let me find this thing on ebay when you're done.:laugh: :laugh: Keep the pics coming.
Ebay...?? Well, they got one thing right.. It's a 4 letter word! She's coming along nice, and hopefully we will have it ready to go for you late next week. JW
For anyone that remembers this thread, here's what JW's "handy" work looks like. Looks better than new!:shock:
Is that polished, or coated??? The "orange peel" gives me the impression it was coated with power, jethot, or HPC.......... Whatever the case, it does look VERY Good now :TU:
Rich I doesn't appear to be coated, it looks more like it sat in a sand vibrator like for polishing stones or something. Whatever it is, it works. The bolt holes had some dry grit in them and when I ran a tap in 'em to clean 'em up, I got penetrating oil all over it. I had to take it out in the sun to see on the intake then when I wiped it off it's good as new. I've never seen anything like it.
