I have a fresh 330 Desoto and I picked up a set of machined spacers made "to adapt a low deck manifold to a high deck block". Can anybody tell me what the correct thickness should be/is when doing this? I have a high deck iron stock 4 bbl intake, which is fine, but would like to take advantage of the seemingly more plentiful (a relative term in the world of Desotos) multi carb aluminum intake for a low deck.
I wouldn't call the multi-carb aftermarket Desoto intakes 'plentiful'... and they bring big money when you do see one. Hot Heads sells an aluminum 4V intake for the 330/340/345, and I've seen Adventurer 2-4V intakes for sale far more often than aftermarket units at generally reasonable prices. The most common Desoto intakes seem to be the log types (which don't need the spacers) but are for looks more than performance IMO....
I believe putting a Low Deck Manifold onto a High Deck Block you run into more problems than just thickness. Being the Tall Deck is Wider at the Intake Flange your Spacer will not only be Thick but need to machined at an Angle .... //..... Kinda like that if you get what I am saying. I knew a Guy who did it & it was much more than Spacers similar to the Popular Chrysler spacers. Find a Factory Adventurer Dual Quad & run it ..... 6x2s are the only Manifold I've seen for Carbs that fit both Tall 7 short deck ... Only Vintage Aftermarket Tall Deck manifold I've seen so far is my Wieland Blower Manifold.
In answer to hotrodA's question ( if you still want to know about intake spacer thickness) I had some spacers machined up to adapt a low deck Desoto Edmunds 2-2 intake to the 341" tall deck for my '32. After a careful mock-up, and using 2 sets of "Best" brand name gaskets, the spacer thickness worked out to 1.655". I drew these up on Autocad and the machine shop converted the drawing to a cad-cam program to run the milling machine. They came out VERY nice. I used a set on my car. (see photos) I have about 1500 trouble free miles on it. No port matching was required. An added advantage is that with the extra intake height; to change a bad lifter, with thin arms I was able to remove the valley cover, withdraw it, change lifter and reinstall cover without removing the intake or draining the coolant. Note- contrary to DE SOTO's opinion, there are NO angles to machine on the spacers, the top and bottom are parallel. Hope this helps. I had a dozen extra sets made up at the time ( about 10 years ago? )and still have one or two pair if anyone is interested. The last ones sold for $175. US plus shipping. I have attached photos of my installation .... Again, I hope this helps. Don Harrington, Ontario, Canada
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