Dove Tunnel Wedge
 

I have a new Dove Tunnel Wedge never bolted on a Motor complete with all the parts plus linkage and fuel log. Dove is out them in and isn't planning to make another run for several months....picture upon request...$1000 plus the ride from NJ
Jon
*

Has it been pressure tested?

Pressure tested
 

No it hasn't....

Mine and several others I know of required remedial welding or epoxy.

One answer... Vacuum pressure impregnation. I had it done to my Tunnel Wedge. It's now tighter than Dick's hatband!

Vacuum Impregnation

Dave, what does that cost to do?
Jon

Some of the Dove hardware can be a challenge.:eek:

I was at the All Ford Nationals in Carlisle, PA in about 1998. I was talking with a well established vendor there. He stated he'd typically receive x-number of Dove intakes, look them over, and reject about 50% of them, and then sell the remaining 50%.

Well........I looked at one of the vendor's "keepers", a Tunnel Wedge that was on display. That one wasn't for sale. So I gave him money and he shipped a Tunnel Wedge to me several days later.

When it arrived, I built my own Rube Goldberg pressure testing set-up and it passed my test. I figured all was good.

After mounting it and my pair of 600cfm Holleys I was giddy with anticipation. (I had just taken off a Sidewinder intake and single 4-bbl.) While driving with the new set up, I noticed the water temp gauge was unusually high. I came home and looked at the plugs. The engine was running so lean the plugs were whiter than white. I installed larger jets and test drove it. Still lean. Installed larger jets, still lean. And...........I installed larger jets and went for a short interstate drive. The engine was missing and popping because it was still too lean.:CRY:

All this occurred in my formative years, and I realized I wasn't capable of finding the root problem.

I removed the intake and took it to an engine builder's shop knowing he had a bare 427 block on a work bench. He popped a pair of heads on his block and mounted the intake without gaskets, then inspected all around it. The intake was not seated on the heads by a noticeable amount. We installed gaskets and the intake was still standing above the gaskets by maybe .030-.050".

After lifting off the intake and looking at the bottom of it, we discovered excess casting thickness that hadn't been properly machined off, to be the culprit.

I went home with the intake and attacked it with a die grinder. When I did the final installation, all was good.:rolleyes:

David

They did a Dove "double dip" on mine and it ran about $200. They do it for all the OEMs, Crysler, Ford & GM. A lot of their aluminum blocks got through that process.

That's a good thing to do however, clean all the seams and slag out of the runners and plenum first. Port matching is advised for the eventual buyer.