Hot Rods An observation about obsolete intake manifolds

Sorry, but that won't help. I tried that. You will soon fill it up and need another garage after that. I built what I thought would be too big, but discovered I need a warehouse.

 

Supply and demand.

 

And it helps a lot of you can buy parts as they come up for sale, rather than when you "need them".

 

Compared to a SBC streetmaster, it should, that intake was a real pooch. I have never run a Man-A-Fre myself, but everything I have heard from guys who should know says the Man-A-Fre really does make pretty good power though. It would be interesting to compare it to a Z-28 intake, I would bet that from around 4500-5000, the Man-A-Fre is stronger.

 

Here's the deal...the cost of manufacturing an intake manifold goes way beyond the cost of casting the intake. In fact the casting cost is probably the cheapest part of the production cost. The cost of pattern work is expensive (even to repair an old pattern). Tooling cost can easily be higher than the pattern work (though not usually).

 

The "tooling" is the pattern. The pattern is the actual metal, wood, or plastic part built from a print with shrink added, and the tooling is the whole assembly mounted & gated on cope and drag boards, made into a matchplate, etc.


The wooden pieces above are two separate patterns, a left and right.



The above aluminum plates are called matchplates, typically made when there is a need for longevity over wood, or an application with a tough offset such as the patterns above.



The above two pictures are of the cope (top mold) and drag (bottom mold) molds. These are made out of sand and the sand is reused after the molds are put together and metal poured.




Dressed casting ready for in this case, chrome plating.

The machining of the raw casting is another cost, though the cost per unit of both casting and machine work isn't going to be anywhere near the cost of the tooling. You do however have to have a minimum sized run, with 10 - 100 being the typical lowest depending on the size and willingness of the foundry involved.

Lower run, more cost per unit. Higher run, less cost per unit however a much higher initial investment sitting around on a shelf to sell.

 

Check with Tony Barron, I think he has the molds.

 

if it's super rare or just downright unique, like the 6x1 early Hemi intake I just saw, then I KINDA understand the high prices, but I see guys trying to sell complete POS intake like old SP2P Edelbrocks for $100. An SBC tarantula for $200. lol- people will pay to have what they think no other person will have.
I have been kinda looking for an old Eddy SBF F4B or similar , and a BBC C396 intake which are nothing but the original Dual planes intakes that they produced thousands of. I want them to be era correct-ness and that;s it. Every F4B I found has the name Shelby attached to it and therefore a way higher price than it's worth.

 

I always hope to buy unique or rare items for low, and always hope to sell them high. Funny how that works...

 

Anyone have a source for the chrome oil breathers like the one on Moriarity's Man-A-Fre? I've been looking for one...

 

Made a good score on craigslist. This guy had advertised a edlebrock early c-26 dual quad set up that was on a 60 corvette that he purchased 25+ years ago. Went to his house to look at it , and turns out it was the early c-26 with 2 carter 9400-s afb's. I paid $125.00!

 

Did you get aircleaners with the c-26? Either way you really got a great deal.

 

Air cleaners included.