The deal is I have this 1955 F 100 with a tilt front end,hole cut out on the hood with a tunnel Rammed small Block Chevy.I know Edelbrock came out with the Tunnel Rams in the late 1960's and i was going for a more mid 60's period here.I like the hood with the hole cut out,plus the hood is louvered! I was thinking of running a lower 2x4 set up or even a 4x2 set up ,but then that hole in the hood would be pointless unless i put a scoop on it of some kind?? I dunno...
Some Folks Like em I'm not one of them. Their designed for Upper powerband performance, I like lower powerband torque. My ride is My EVERYDAY driver and I don't like the coughing and spitting they do at lower speed. I guess what I'm trying to say here is, It depends on what your primary use is going to be.
yup...replacing the tunnel ram with a blower will turn it into a lower rpm torque monster, and still leave the carbs up where the hole in the hood would be useful. But a big block may be needed to get them to sit up high enough. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Years ago I had a pro street 57 Chevrolet pick-up back when it was cool to be pro street.I ran a 60 over 427 TRW 11.75-1,SSI cam 296/306 advertised,238/248 @.050",114 centerline set straight up block was at zero deck height. Heads were early 427 ovals with 2.19 intake ,1.88 exhaust.K-motion valve springs, jessel rockers.I ran a Wieand D-port tunnel ram with two 450 holleys,I swicthed the stock power valves from 6.5 hgs to 4.5 hgs. That move along with more timing provided me with a very streetable set-up that could Idle all day without load-up and start-up in 35 degree weather.The set up even with the compression ratio as high as it was very streetable and pinging was non existant. Now I did run a Th-400 with a 3000 stall witch was a little loose for my taste.Point is If I could make that work and still drive it almost daily you can...Just might take a little more work than your basic 4 barrel.
Yeah the 350 was set up for a boat..I'm a little concerned on how this is going to run on the street..I might have to do a cam change..This engine has some high compression..so a blower is out of the question..I might just have to get a cool glass scoop for it and go that route and maybe use a 4x2 set up..or even a 2x4 low rise set up...I would trade if anyone wants to..
How big is the hole? You could make it larger and radius the corners then fill hole with plexiglass tinted a similar color as your paint. It'd cool peeking down in there seeing 4 dueces staring back up at cha! Josh
If you dress a tunnel ram right, they can look very old-timey (1950s) -- surprsingly so, considering that they really came into vogue in the 1970s. The key to making them look more nostalgic seems to be in using the right style of air filters. Ditch the big-assed, circa 1974 spun-aluminum velocity stacks. The Stellings & Hellings style (7 1/2 inch, I think) make that setup seem decades older. The combination has kind of the look of the Eddie Meyer highrise 2-carb flathead manifold -- on steroids. Way cooler, and hipper than most people would think. As for getting it to run right, that used to be topic fairly commonly addressed back in the late '70s to mid '80s (pro-street era). Lots of guys wanted to run tunnel rams for the look. If memory serves, the bottom-line concensus of those articles was to use the smallest four-barrels you could get. Naturally, 390cfm Holleys were mentioned often as a good solution. Combining two of them gives you about the same cfm as the Quadrajet that SBCs came equipped from the factory with. And I think they said that setup actually gave fairly acceptable low-end power. I say go for it. I've seen it, and it looks cool. Just stay away from the gold-anodized Moroso valve covers and other refugees from that manifold's native era. Okay. One other thought -- why the hell did someone have to cut a hole in the hood of an F100 to make room for ANY induction system? There's something like two and a half feet of clearance above the engine on those things! Dave
You can make them work on the street ok. I've had a setup on a 283,but used q-jets.they didn't look as mean as Holleys,but they worked like two two barrels(tiny primaries),until you were really movin,then the secondaries opened up just as the engine needed them,and you got your top end push. Like the other's said,with the right air filters,or early Hilborn scoop(not a bug catcher with the butterflys) they will look 60's not 70's mullet mill. Sparky
Cool.........Yeah there was a sheet metal scoop riveted to the hood..I just found that in the cab!! Its hidious!! I'm going with Vette finned Valve Covers by the way..God I had a pair of those Gold anodized Morosos at one time..hahahaha...too funny!! From lookin the mags..I see that the TR1 by Edelbrock was like the first production Tunnel Ram and that was in a 1967 magazine..so..I'm not as far off as i thought with a tunnel Ram set up...I found a TR2 on Ebay right now...this One I have is from the 1980's it has new Edelbrock 600CFM carbs on it..I have two NOS Cal Custom louvered air cleaners I think that would look perfect on it...Also dug out a Mallory dual point from the 60's and matchin Magspark Coil.. the truck is going to be green metalflake with the engine the same color white full length headers...5 spokes upfront and Chrome reverse in rear with Hurst Slicks!! Should be cool when its done..
Heres the ugly duckling now.. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2495123480&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT
[ QUOTE ] they worked like two two barrels(tiny primaries),until you were really movin,then the secondaries opened up just as the engine needed them [/ QUOTE ] Oh yeah -- I forgot about those comically tiny Quadrajet primaries and those monstrous secondaries. Reading that brought back memories of my '64 Impala. It had a 400cid small-block and a Quadrajet. When those big secondaries kicked in, they let out this beautiful, carniverous sounding induction howl. If you had any kind of open-element air filter, it was awesome! I just remembered one other thing that would probably make Quadrajet a decent carb for tunnel rams -- it was super easy to adjust the rate in which those secondaries kicked in. You could delay them until the thing had gobs of vacuum built back up, thus preventing massive bog. Dave
Yeah, it's pretty fugly at the moment. But I could see it being pretty kickass if done right. I think your plan for it would be awesome. I think it's the right direction for a piece like that. Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, even with the tunnel ram, it still barely pokes out of the hood. He should have just gotten some different air filters and left it all under that hood. Then again, when that thing was probably "built," it was the epitome of cool to have big-assed induction stuff poking out of the hood. And obviously, this guy was an astute observer of good style and important trends.
It has a TH350 with a stall and shift kit in it now..so he says...and a 9" with God Knows what gearing...
I have a TR1_Y with a single four top on it. I thought about putting it on a stock 283 with two strombergs on an adaptoer from NW Speed, just to look goofy. Probably wouldn't work........
Its funny I did some research and they said that the first Tunnel Ram was in 1959 on a Mopar..I think I know the car they are talking about too...It was like one of the first gassers too....I need to find pics of it
here it is... "Tunnel-ram intake manifolds made their first known dragstrip appearance on the legendary Ram Chargers "High and Mighty" '49 Plymouth in 1959." -Car craft
As long as the converter is loose enough to not lug the engine down, and the gears are likewise steep enough to get the rpm up pretty quick, then you should be ok to drive around on the street. Tunnel rams are not what you want for low rpm operation, you need to keep the air moving fast enough to keep the fuel/air from separating. I'd suggest you drive the truck and see how it works. I recall that a friend's 55 ford pickup with a tunnel ram on a 460 didn't need a hole in the hood...but it's been over a decade since he had it running, so I'm not sure.
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