Any perferred source of tubular pushrods for a 312?

I bent one on Sunday AM at a dead cold start - another Sunday afternoon "playing". I'm going to have to quit hopping it up and start taking care of business elsewhere (making it live). These are original 56 parts in there........Had a box of "Clevite" tubular spares (4) - now down to two. No more "test" runs without a full set of tubular pushrods. The new spark curve (changed springs) and carb have ended up with a rate of engine acceleration these parts cannot live with.

Mummert lists them - how about the outfit on e-bay? Anyone tried that source - $50 with shipping? The tubing is so much stronger than the solid bar that weight is more of an issue than anything else. Last fall Charlie had a problem with hardening of a cup I believe but can't remember what brand. The Clevite parts look well made - may not even be available anymore -and were spinning nicely while I ran it with the covers off.

Pulled the fuel filter apart (old post) and had some rust in it - not too bad - but also a helping of sand (?) - funny what 50 years of fillups will put in your tank. Disconnected (no back pressure) fuel pump flow looks OK - but without a regulator for loading it - no telling what the real capacity might be.   

The new 525 Demon Jr. doesn't drain the primary bowl (and flat spot) quite like the Holley 4160 - more bowl capacity I think, even with this side-hung float version. The throttle return spring in the carb is much stiffer than the original or Holley either one - so the kickdown linkage is screwed up big time. I finally resorted to the old "heavy washer and bolt" through the linkage arrangement to get on with tuning. This throttle thing will have to be re-invented I'm sure - Frakes send me an e-mail.....please.

The Demon 525 is congfigured with a bit bigger accelerator pump orfices and the engine definitely likes that better - must have been starving it a bit before. The secondary barrels are 1-11/16 - a full 1/8 bigger than the Holley 600 cfm I was working with - but they have stuffed the secondary with some very restrictive (flowwise) downleg boosters that really must tone down the total flow.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Steve:

I just bought a set of pushrods from NAPA, they were TRW brand, which I think absorbed the Clevite company somehow.  The '54-'55 pushrods are about 3/16" longer than the ''56 and later ones, they are all tubular.  About the same price as Mummert's.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Steve, I use the Isky pushrods that came with my cam kit.



And as far as the throttle and tranny kickdown. I went with Lokar and made my own manifold bracket because I thought Lokars was wimpy and didn't fit well.

All this, as you know eliminates a bunch of swivels, springs, joints and adjusters. Which I hope is a good thing, but it's for the AOD not the fordo so can't say right now if it would work for your app. You still may be able to get the kickdown to function properly-it worked fine with my eldebrock and Fordo prior to all this new stuff.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

Thanks guys - I'll check with the NAPA guys up the street tomorrow. Al, what kind of attachment is there down at the place where the throttle rod comes through the firewall? Is there a crank to translate the motion of the rod to pull the cable?

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Steve, The bellcrank of the throttle pedal assembly protrudes thru the firewall. I'll try to get a picture of it up today.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

Steve, here a shot of the pedal assembly hopefully you can see how it goes thru the firewall. A small vertical hole thru the floorboard. Much smoother and more efficient than the old rod and lever deal sliding thru an old grommet. Carb springs provide the resistance.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

The Lokar throttle must have enough travel to open the butterflies wide open - just chose the right hole in the carb lever?

The spring in the Demon is so stiff, it reaches a point (not wide open) where it stops moving the carb lever and pulls the kickdown lever way up into the slot.

 

I could put a bushing in the upper hole (large hole for the GM style throttle) and use it for less effort - but the travel requirement is huge to move the 90° to wide open. I measured the old teapot to get a close(r) matched lever travel position but finally had to move it up to the point shown. For now, the bolt and fat washer make it answer the foot-feed directly. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona