Tunnel wedge intake

This is just a thought. With the way the Ford tunnel wedge intake works on an FE engine I was wondering why nobody has designed and built a tunnel wedge intake for the 385 series engine. It is very nostalgic looking and works real good for the serious FE guys. Like 8 and 9 second cars.

why these are not FE engines. much better design and build way more power than any FE will....


Randy

The tunnel wedge looks great and does make lots of power on an FE. 750 plus for an inline valve engine ain't all bad. An engine is just an air pump and we know 385 is a better one but low 9 and high 8 second SS stockers show it does work. And if it works good on an FE why not work even better on an engine that is an inherrent better breathing engine. Just some thoughts on a rainy evening.

57custom wrote:The tunnel wedge looks great and does make lots of power on an FE. 750 plus for an inline valve engine ain't all bad. An engine is just an air pump and we know 385 is a better one but low 9 and high 8 second SS stockers show it does work. And if it works good on an FE why not work even better on an engine that is an inherrent better breathing engine. Just some thoughts on a rainy evening.

dam i wish it'd rain here!

IMO for all out hp a 2x4 4150 set-up is a waste of time on a 385 series ford, seeing the displacements they are capible of. The more modern approach is a sheet metal tunnel ram.

rmcomprandy wrote:

Why don't you put-up the money involved, (about $50,000.00), with designing one, casting one and machining one and YOU take the chance on whether it sells or not.

THAT's why...!

He can have a sheet metal one made for much less. I've often thought one would look trick. Not sure how it would perform but I think it would look cool.

G-

rmcomprandy wrote:

57custom wrote:The tunnel wedge looks great and does make lots of power on an FE. 750 plus for an inline valve engine ain't all bad. An engine is just an air pump and we know 385 is a better one but low 9 and high 8 second SS stockers show it does work. And if it works good on an FE why not work even better on an engine that is an inherrent better breathing engine. Just some thoughts on a rainy evening.

Why don't you put-up the money involved, (about $50,000.00), with designing one, casting one and machining one and YOU take the chance on whether it sells or not.

THAT's why...!

Did you forget he said its just a thought i mean is it always necessary to come back with a smartazz comment

I don't think it was such a "smartazz" answer....but maybe a pretty good explanation for why it hasn't been done. Maybe it wasn't sugarcoated, but some guys are "matter of fact" like that. After all, how many of them do you think would be sold?.....And what price would they have to bring to cover costs? JM.02

nuclearcobra wrote:

rmcomprandy wrote:

57custom wrote:The tunnel wedge looks great and does make lots of power on an FE. 750 plus for an inline valve engine ain't all bad. An engine is just an air pump and we know 385 is a better one but low 9 and high 8 second SS stockers show it does work. And if it works good on an FE why not work even better on an engine that is an inherrent better breathing engine. Just some thoughts on a rainy evening.

Why don't you put-up the money involved, (about $50,000.00), with designing one, casting one and machining one and YOU take the chance on whether it sells or not.

THAT's why...!

Did you forget he said its just a thought i mean is it always necessary to come back with a smartazz comment

Sometimes reality or the truth isn't what you want to hear ???? His answer is pretty simple, Cost vs Demand. He may not sugarcoat it but he's right.

Ok my bad then rm ,i just thought maybe you could explain with your experience and i know a lot of you guys know the in's and out's of these motors just why it would'nt work as well on a 385 as they do on a FE motor, nothing to do with cost for producing one, maybe i read it wrong i thought he was askin from a performance standpoint not a how much would it cost ?

Well it's a fact as of now, we are sure hurting for a cast 4500 tunnel ram for conventional heads.

nuclearcobra wrote:Ok my bad then rm ,i just thought maybe you could explain with your experience and i know a lot of you guys know the in's and out's of these motors just why it would'nt work as well on a 385 as they do on a FE motor, nothing to do with cost for producing one, maybe i read it wrong i thought he was askin from a performance standpoint not a how much would it cost ?

And I did, Randy mearly expanded it to the supply and demand thing, FE's had them avaliable from the factory, 385's didn't thats why the FE guys use them, its what they have avaliable.

IDT-572 wrote:Well it's a fact as of now, we are sure hurting for a cast 4500 tunnel ram for conventional heads.

If Kaase ever gets caught up and finish's the one he's started........ it should take care of the need....

dfree383 wrote:

And I did, Randy mearly expanded it to the supply and demand thing, FE's had them avaliable from the factory, 385's didn't thats why the FE guys use them, its what they have avaliable.

So if someone was building a "high effort" FE would they be better off running a Tunnel Wedge or an Edelbrock Victor with a single Domi ? Power range 5,500- 7,500. what would you run?

Post from the other site: On return on investment

Some years back at SEMA I had that conversation with two guys from TFS when I told them I thought they should build a T/R designed for a 400" Windsor with good heads 320 CFM's and a power range of 7,000 but build it with room to port for guys who want to build a bigger engine or rev it higher.

They said we don't see a market for that, not sure we'd sell many of them. I told them " you'll sell a lot more of those than that $ 600 A-460 T/R you guy have on the market. There are a lot more people building stroker Windsors than 540+ inch big blocks"

They still haven't firgured that out.

G-

I'm partial to the single dominator myself, But I will admit I've never built and FE with a tunnel wedge intake so ?? as far as 385 motors, my experiance tells me 2 dominators will make more steam than a single 4500, so on a real race car the dominators get my nod.

Also alot of the Factory FE manifolds are pretty antiquated by todays standards.

I wonder what the single domi on the new edlebrock intake will do against a tunnel wedge with to 750's or 850's on something like a 450"+.

G-

Thats a question for Barry R.

Go ahead and spend the money Randy refereed to and if it doesn't work on a Ford 385 I'll give you $100 for it and stick it on one of my old FE's ! Your effort won't be a total loss!

Dave.

Just so we have pictures. 'Cause pictures are good. Here's mine. It's a Dove copy of the old Ford Tunnelwedge. It flowed about 400-415 cfm per runner unported. With mild porting it now flows 470-475 cfm per runner. I think a ported FE Victor could get similar flow and you could use a Dominator then. But I like the T-Wedge.



just fyi yo,

paulie

Paulie, the valley cover portion of the intake .... below the runners, is that a different material, a different piece other than the manifold or does it simply appear that way? However it's a nice piece, especially in my and your mind! ... ...

Dave.

livermore daves mind......................... very very dark !

LivermoreDave wrote:Paulie, the valley cover portion of the intake .... below the runners, is that a different material, a different piece other than the manifold or does it simply appear that way? However it's a nice piece, especially in my and your mind! ... ...

Dave.

Yes, you are correct sir. There is a flat plate (stainless?) that bolts onto the bottom of the intake to cover the valley.

paulie

plovett wrote:Just so we have pictures. 'Cause pictures are good. Here's mine. It's a Dove copy of the old Ford Tunnelwedge. It flowed about 400-415 cfm per runner unported. With mild porting it now flows 470-475 cfm per runner. I think a ported FE Victor could get similar flow and you could use a Dominator then. But I like the T-Wedge.



just fyi yo,

paulie

What good is an intake that flows 470 when your heads won't flow anywhere close to it?


Randy