Yeah, I'd would have liked to have done that but the manifold didn't come with a spacer so I bought that one from Summit. Thanks ...

Doing Fords for 45 years. '56 Customline Victoria

E.J. in Havana FL

The factory holes in the 57 manifold should fit the 390 cfm holley anyway. The spacers from a 57 ford are already sized to fit and should be more than enough to help keep the fuel from percolating from the heat off the manifold. Any thicker spacers are probably overkill on a stock 272 so the easy route as I see it is keep it small and original looking and enjoy.

-Gary Burnette-

Why are people running spacers, anyways?

Ron Grove

Wauconda, IL

I have the 4 barrel linkage for a '56 on it's way. I guess I could rig the one on there to operate from the left side but I'll see what the 4 barrel linkage looks like when it get's here. Thanks.

Doing Fords for 45 years. '56 Customline Victoria

E.J. in Havana FL

No I have a 57 up manifold with the bolt pattern for a late model Holley or a Carter(Edelbrock). Some of those spacers are expensive as hell. The one I got from Summit was only like 13 bucks. I ordered a half inch but they sent an inch one. I'll figure something out. I'll take it to Home Depot and maybe find something there to reduce the holes in the spacer. Thanks to y'all ...

Doing Fords for 45 years. '56 Customline Victoria

E.J. in Havana FL

Do not use the 450 Holley. They are set up for 2x4 application on a tunnel ram. The calibration of the fuel curve is not suited to a street car

Steve’s method in tapering the holes in the spacer to match both the bore size of the carb and the intake is by far the easiest way to alleviate the hole size difference.  In lieu of pulling the late model ‘B’ manifold and making the carb bores larger to match the spacer, I have gone to the trouble of machining the plastic carb spacer bores so I could put a tapered aluminum sleeve in each bore that permits the carb and intake bore sizes to match up to each other.  Going this route, I machine a step in the top of the spacer which holds the sleeve in place.  If the manifold is already off of the engine, then by all means enlarge the carb bores in the intake manifold to match the bores in the spacer.

 

As far as the carburetor linkage goes, on the standard shift models the bellcrank on the intake manifold can be discarded and the linkage can be ran directly from the lever on the firewall (that originally went to the bellcrank) to the carburetor.

 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

The others have seen this pic before -  its a Moroso 1/2" phenolic spacer that is made to the diameter of the the smaller holes in the OEM Ford 4 barrel manifold.  There is also one sold by Speedway. Its relatively easy to lay out the "new" carb throttle hole size on the top and file/grind/sand a taper down to the manifold size below.

 

So - how many horsepower do the Nascar motors lose to the restrictor plate? Several hundred as I recall..... This isn't the best solution - but its the best I could get for almost no money and still preserve the original OEM manifold. Stepped bores are not a great idea for an intake system. 

If you don't care to keep the manifold original - look at a picture of the top of a "Blue Thunder" intake and have a machinist mill yours to match. Take about 1/8 - 3/16 off the deck and open the two bores on each side up to a single wider elongated slot.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Cosco has the adaptor for the tea pot manifold to a later carb.   God Bless

Eddie

Lake Forest, Ca. 92630

Is it a '56 manifold or earlier?  The one that used the original tea-pot carb?  If so, some folks make a nice aluminum adapter to adapt a modern carb to that manifold, and it has chamfered openings for a nice smooth transition.  I cant for the life of me remember where I found mine (and have subsequently switched to a Blue Thunder intake), but I have to think that a Summit or Speedway would have them, among others.  Hopefully someone will chime in here with more info?

Ron Grove

Wauconda, IL