Before christmas I posted a tech piece "how to make a butterfly"....This was part of a project I started last summer. I'll start at the beginning. While browsing the HAMB classifieds I saw a want add by Kiwikev. Basically I try and have a look at anything that he posts, he has/ does some cool things. Anyway it turns out that he was looking for a SBC crossram with carbs and he had a couple of intake manifolds to offer as trades. I happened to have an old Edelbrock XC8 with a couple of old AFBs just lying around. Now just to have something that I used to own in Kevs "museum of speed" was honor enough, but the intakes he traded me were pretty cool too!. One was an old Offy BBC dual quad and the other was a SBC Weber IDA48 4 carb manifold. I've always loved the way those Weber carbs looked so I was pretty excited to get a Weber manifold. My excitement was quicky squashed once I found out how expensive IDA 48 Weber carbs are. Now what am I gonna do? I sat in the garage looking at this cool manifold wondering how I could make it work. I saw a thread by Gemini EFI about a flathead injection system that he was producing and I thought to myself that I'd give it a try. Why not? I've got a lathe and Bridgeport and I'm too stupid to know what I can't do so I thought "lets giver a go!" So I read some articles on the web and went at it. I made some throttle bodies and welded them to a base plate that matched the manifold. I milled some throttle shafts and butterfies and made some injector inserts. The latest fabrication is these injector stacks that I made . I made an arbor that I used to press some 1/8 th inch aluminum pipe into the bell shape. I'm still fitting and trying to get it all to work in sync but here's where I am today. This is the arbor that I used to press out the stacks Just some random shots...
Tradtional no, but the home brewed machinework you have been showing in your posts is amazing! I really dig the swage for the stacks!
Yeah I would have liked to hide the injectors a little better but I didn't want to cut up the manifold. Hopefully it wont look too out of place when it's done. I think I'm going to sandblast the throttle bodies and base to make it look cast. But yeah not traditional....oh well!
That looks awesome! I wish I could do that kind of machine work too! And to build and improve your own parts sounds a lot like traditional hot rodding to me... Chris
Wow, not THAT is cool!... "traditional", or not, you built it yourself. In my book, that means much more. Will you have issues with the injectors hitting each other, from side-to-side? I see you have one placed in the far back, right stack.... and it looks like it won't allow the other one to be inserted. Probably just the photo angle.... Thanks for sharing your creation with us! Malcolm
that looks great! how are you going to work the fuel rail in there with the injectors so close and angled like that? looks like a tricky one, but might just be the photos. Id love to work out a stack injection system for a flatty with disguised injectors and hidden wiring.
I sense a vibe in previous replies that I was slamming Jethro? I was not, EFI is not real trad he admits that. But, as stated carving blocks of material up and making something yourself IS. I just like his posts for the sheer homespun ingenuity he has shown! It shows a level of creativity that is missing in these days of shitbox builders being put on pedestals by magazine editors and John Q public that have a combined total IQ of 3.
Dig it Jethro!!! question, How are the stacks held into the throttle bodies? I see the register turned into the bottom of the stacks but how are they secured? Along those same lines, how are the throttle bodies secured to the mounting flange?
Thanks for the compliments guys!....I never took Tmans comment as a slam, I even wish I could've done it different but this is what I settled on. The injectors will go in because the stacks are offset from each other but I'll have to plumb each injector with its own line, which will in a way make it look a little more traditional. I'm thinking black rubber lines (high pressure of couse) with brass fittings. Hopefully not using rails will be ok.... we'll find out
I'm going to use set screws to hold the stacks in place and the throttle bodies are tigged from the backside and the bases were milled flat afterward.
Jethro, Absolutely TRICK!!! Great to see someone that is not intiminated by doing something like your injector manifold. It looks like you are going with ECU control. Do you have any plans on who's you will use? If you use an ECU that has a MAP (Manifold Air Pressure) sensor you may want to build a small manifold that will connect all of the inlets, below the butterflys to a single point and then connect this to the MAP sensor. Gives a better signal and makes the tuning easier. Also I assume that you have checked to make sure that the injectors don't interfer with each other when you install them.? Keep us up on what you are doing, love to see such great work!! Rex
Thanks Rex! I was planning on using a Megasquirt kit. I've been reading reviews and such and it seems to be a popular and versatile setup.I was going to use the MAP setup like you were talking about. I've seen some Weber manifolds that are plumbed underneath with hardline for a vacuum signal for vac advance distributor. Might do that or just tap the throttle bodies and thread in nipples with rubber line and make a manifold for vacuum.The injectors have enough clearance that I can insert them without interference , but they'll be too close together to run rails so I'm going to use individual lines to each injector.
If they don't work, you could sell them to some potheads, looks like they would make great bongs...not that I would know about that stuff personally.
That's as traditional as it gets in my book, maybe it doesn't look old but it is traditional in the sense of Barney Navarro, Stu Hilborn, Ed Winfield, Isky, all of em who BUILT STUFF to make their car run better and faster, please keep us updated.
A man, his imagination and the wherewithall to pull it off - if THAT don't spell traditional - nothing does!! Awesome - keep us updated!!!
Seems like we are all arguing the same thing in different ways. Jethro is doing damn fine work. Sure the greats would have used EFI, but they didnt back then. that is the dividing line. So it doesnt fit the timeframe asthetic but it SURE fits the DIY credo and MANTRA! Kudos to him for some nice fab work.!
Nice job Jethro! I just converted my side draught Dellortos to injection, using the Megasquirt kit. Finished the wrenching today, now it's computer dial-it-in time!
Let me know how it goes for you....I'm going to need some coaching when it comes time to set mine up.
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