Edelbrock cross ram, I am looking for real accounts and performance info, good and bad. Yes, we all know how cool they look but, I need to know how they perform. The engine is a 289 with 13-1 compresion with an automatc in a 63 Falcon gasser. Using 2, 450 cfm Holleys. Dave
I had a friend who had a '64 Fairlane, with a relativly mild 289, he had a crossram on it...always seemed fine to me! I would imagine it would be similar torunning a tunnel ram, tuning-wise? a lot of plenum volume...not a lot of velocity, at low rpm? yes? no? well...his seemed to run great, so I know it can be done...
No???? tell the emporer to git off the lawn chair and get busy....I wann race that thing at the Gasser Reunion....
For race only, they are great. For street use when the outside air is less than 50 degrees, they suck.
I ran one on a 301 Chevy w/ 660's ,it needed a big accelerator pump shot, also had to stagger the jets (4 different ones) to get all the plugs the same color
A couple of years ago a magazine ran a test on a bunch of manifolds, the cross ram came out the worst. But it was the coolist looking. so who cares. Carlg
they work well if your not over carbed and or cammed seems a long intake duration causes reversion [fuel stand off] to help this you can create a "reversion dam" in the lower intake runner closest to the cyl head by grinding a notch [channel] acroos the runner this helps to keep the raw fuel from being blown back up stream i hope you have vacuum secondary 450" not those crappy summit cheapo 450's with mech secondaries and NO sec squirters these are made for cars with 5000 stall converters where you launch the car full throttle the mech will bog unless you over richen them use vacuum sec carbs only also increase inboard [closest to the valves] pri and sec jets one size reduce outer jets one size for starters you may also need latger accelerator pump nozzles
I ran a "DZ" type crossram on the street and eventually I got it to work well. Low end seemed to suffer a little, but mid and upper were great. Light car - 327 - glide- 4.11's - man that was a lot of fun. If I did it again the only thing I'd consider changing would be a 4 speed. I origionally ran 2 - 600's - yuk!!!! It ran much much better with 2 - 450's - vac secondary. Also run a good ignition (MSD) this way you can keep it running while you sort out the jetting.
Thanks for the input, They get real bad press but I have seen the strangest multi carb systems work. I think the close to 14-1 compression is going to help but it is probably lacking in the convertor department. There will be very limited illegal street driving done that is why I stressed the word performance, it is a drag car. No fairground queen here. Dave
Helped a good friend quite a bit with a similar combo. Cougar with 11:1 302, rollerized, huge cam, huge stall converter, 7500 redline. Car was definitely faster with a crossram over a single 4bbl but never run on a track to give a number to prove it. The crossram produced a noticeable mid-throttle bog, but the slippy converter mostly covered it up. It was super-neato looking, and super neato at WOT, but I personally hated the way the car responded to throttle on the street. Definitely give it a try, just don't cut your hood til that crossram has flowed a few tanks of gas. Good Luck!
Don,you've got the emporer all wrong. he needs to get off the lawn chair and recruit more members so he can con THEM into working on his car.
Cross-rams are for race cars...period. Lots of cam, lots of carb and LOTS of final drive to get it to work. Perhaps Evel K or Racer x can help with this one. If it doesn't work, just put a hemi in it.
A lot of the problems with long runners could be minimized by retro fitting a modern variable can phasing device to a vintage engine
Chromedaddyo, Evel K may not be on this message board; I get confused some times. In spite of my reservations, your project sounds exciting. I'd really love to see it roll! And knowing you, it will before too long. You are a man posessed when it comes to completing projects, and if anyone on this board has the determination to see it through you will! By the way, was that crack about lawn chairs made about you? I've known you for a long time, and the only lawn chairs you've ever had are ones lifted from some cruiser-types years ago. Remember, trunks are for spare tires and tools, not lawn chairs! By the way, why DO they call you Chromedaddyo?
I run one on my car it runs great. I do have to let you in on a little trick. Run a ballance tube from one side of the manifold to the outher side to equalize the presure from side to side. Also I am running a pair of 450 mech secondarys. I only have 10.5 compresion but a monster cam with 308 duration. It all works great with a 4 speed. Scott
Thanks Blue Collar, Describe the balance tube please. Also at what RPMs does yours perform the best? What engine? Dave
I'm running it on a small block chevy. I will take a picture of one I have set up at the shop so you can see how I set up the tube. Look for a thick enough spot on the back of the manifold to get a few good threads. Next what I did is tap both sides on the back of the manifold with a 1/4" pipe tap.Then took two 90 fitting wit compression fittings on the outher side. next I ran a tube between them. It is much better to do all this with the manifold off. The car likes RPM but it dose ok after about 1700 but realy starts to pull at about 2600. Good luck . Scott
i ran a smokey ram on a 57 chevy with a 350 LT1, 4 speed, posi with 4-10 gears and an 850 double pumper, used to pop back a little if you hit the throtle a little to quick, think it needed a larger ac pump shot. didnt have much bottm end but when you had her reved up and dumped the clutch she would smoke the poly-glass 70's in all 4 gears, that was 30 years ago and i still have the intake.
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