Technical 331 Intake Manifold

I have almost completed my 331 Hemi powered ’27 T, but I can’t seem to find a high performance intake for my 1954 Chrysler 331. All of the manifolds I have found do not have a connection for the upper cooling hose.

Are these manifolds available or is there some other connection component for the cooling hose ??

 

Hello

Perhaps you can find a Performance intake from the 50's or 60's they have the connection. But all aftermarket intakes dosen't have the connection. They fit on the 331 354 392 engines, and the most engines dosen't have the connection on the intake. Hot hemi heads/ Bob walker offered an Thermostat kit on his side: http://www.hothemiheads.com/water_pumps/thermostat_kit.html
I think that is perfect for your Problem.

I need this unit in Future, too.
I have a weiand 2x 4 Barrel carbutetors and the same engine as you.

I hope this can help you.
Greetings from Germany
Mario

 

Use 55 or later heads?

 

If there is room on the manifold that you buy, you can drill and tap holes at the front corners, for water lines.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for the help. I really thought there would be an adaptor, and I have the Hot Heads catalog just did not see it on the last page.


Kip

 

Here's what I did with a Weiand 2X4 on my vintage dirt car. The 4 water outlets on the manifold were already tapped. It could look a bit cleaner, but remember, this is an old race car! (It works very well, too!)

 

Edmunds did produce an intake for the early Hemi motors, but they are kind of rare and usually expensive...just like every other part for a Hemi.

 

1954 was the only year that had a 4bbl intake with a thermostat housing. And the last year for closed end heads. 1955 was the first year for the water outlet heads and bolt on thermostat.

The year prior, 1953 had small ports in the heads - those 51-53 Edmonds manifolds are rare, the 1954 Edmunds manifold is even rarer. But the 51-53 manifold has small runners to match the small head ports.

I'll see if I can get the pics of my 54 4bbl and 51-53 Edmonds.

You could drill your heads and run a remote t stat ( kinda ugly) or run 55 heads but those ain't cheap either. They are in demand because of your exact situation.

 

The 1st pic is the 54 (wet) intake. The second is a pic of the HH water crossover installed. If you use the HH with their aluminum intake you either have to grind the fittings by the threads or the intake to get them to screw in. I did see some1 drill n tap the front of the heads and put pipes in for the crossover housing.

 

Thanks for the info. I have been away from hot rods since the 60’s and forgotten most of what my Dad taught me. Now that I have relearned the options I think I would like to keep my ’54 wet 4bbl manifold as the water connections are cleaner and I have made an alternator bracket to fit it. I’m wondering if I could bore out the 4 holes under the Carb. and fab. A mounting plate for a larger 500 or 650 CFM Carb.

 

There are adapters made to fit later carbs to early intake. I think I saw a kit on speedway. I found this plate in a friends garage and made it work. There is also a fellow hamber who makes alt brackets for the hemi.

 

The stock 4-bbl manifold isn't a terrible dual-plane design and adequate for most street packages.

I have opened the bores of many of the 55-up manifolds but haven't done a 54 style...my sonic thickness probe is too big to fit neatly in the hole so I can't get a wall thickness number. See if your chosen machine shop guy has a probe small enough to get a good reading before cutting.
Keep in mind that you are not just boring out the holes....you need to move the bore centers in order to match a later carb. This is easy to see if you lay a gasket over the top and mark the holes with a sharpie.
There plenty of thin bolt pattern adapters available, many at swap meets for $5.......

.

 

Not specifically Hemi related, but a general tip. I bored out a '50 Merc manifold to match a Rochester 2GC carburetor. As Gary said above you have to move the bore centers, not just enlarge the holes. To do this, I used a scrap 2GC base bolted to the manifold as a guide. It worked perfectly.

 

I checked the dimensions of the Speedway adapter (135-1935) and it will fit my ’54 manifold and mount a 500CFM Edelbrock 1404. Seems to be exactly what I’m looking for. As far as opening the holes in the manifold, why can’t I bolt the adaptor to the manifold and use the larger diameter and spaced bores as a guide ??

 

This process works very well and, in fact, I do it quite often. Clean up the parts, 'glue' the adapter in place (no gasket to deteriorate) and use flush bolts. Once the machine work is finished you have a clean bore and no mis-alignment issues......but you have to determine how much meat you have to deal with, otherwise you run the risk of damaging a valuable intake manifold.

.

 

I know it has been a while but I finally got it done. I have an Edelbrock 1404, 500 CFM carburetor mounted on my ’54 331. I ended up buying an adaptor from Speedway, their number 1351935. $15.00. The catalog said it was for early Fords with Rochester Carbs. But it fit perfectly except I had to countersink the bolt holes to mount it on my ’54 manifold. I borrowed a Mag. drill from a buddy and used a 1-1/2” annular drill to open up the manifold a little from its stock 1-5/16”. Everything works great and I’m happy. Not sure how much faster it is and I’m sure I will not find out “ too old for that stuff”. Thanks again for all the tips I got here

 

Don't forget, We like pictures! Gary

 

I replaced the OEM intake/carb mounting studs with much longer ones that work fine with the Edelbrock carb.

 

You can get the boat 2x1 intakes for pretty cheap, I got this one for around 150