Port alignment

[Rick Parker]

Has anyone else noticed any misalignment with the IDA carb bases (throttle bores) and their manifold? My manifold aligns perfectly with the ports on the heads but leaves a lot to be desired between the carbs and manifold. I'll deal with it this Winter. It will require Filler and grinding to gain correct alignment.

[Snakebit]

My manifold was off on both. I took a die grinder and matched the ports to the heads. I lined up the carb base gaskets on the manifold and matched the ports to the carb bases. Smoothed everything out using sanding rolls from Eastwood.

[Rick Parker]

Anyone else?

[cobrajeff]

I marked all of mine using base gaskets as a template, and opened them up with a die grinder.

Jeff

[Rick Parker]

I understand what you mean Jeff, but it is going to take some filler on one side, wondering if I will need to have weld material to build up the void or if some sort of epoxy material will surfice. I think there is a off white 2 part epoxy type mateial used inside conventional manifolds (4bbl etc) that allows for shaping and recontouring of the ports and plenum etc.

[rokndad]

Originally Posted by Rick Parker

Has anyone else noticed any misalignment with the IDA carb bases (throttle bores) and their manifold? My manifold aligns perfectly with the ports on the heads but leaves a lot to be desired between the carbs and manifold. I'll deal with it this Winter. It will require Filler and grinding to gain correct alignment.

Hey Rick. RE: port alignment, I too had always thought that a good port alignment and polishing job would mean increased HP through better unobstructed flow into the intake area of the combustion chamber. However, with these Weber IR intakes, there is no area for the emulsified fuel mixture to further completely mix with the turbulence you get from the runners in a traditional intake manifold. What I read said that some of the non-emulsified fuel droplets don't get efficiently burned in the cylinder since they are still liquid and not a compressible vapor. I know this sounds like splitting hairs, but it actually said not to try and make a smooth transition between the intake and the head to create a little turbulence to further along the mixing and emulsifying prior to entering the valve. I don't know, have you ever heard of this? And forgive me, I don't recall where I read it. My carbs and the intake align pretty closely. The head/intake is not.

[onefastmustang]

My intake and heads are a perfect match.. the carbs and intake not so much but I figure for the little bit they are off I would not gain much for all of the work.