Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Buddy got a new Part number 1981 BBC oval port tunnel-ram for his 396.
Thinking of sending it back due to the ports being way off .one side actually overlaps the gasket.

Is this what to expect from new stuff today.

here is the other side.

SPEED SECRET !




JOE SHERMAN RACING

That could be a fact.
Anti reversion going on and some other trickery

How does it line up to the head? The gasket is second in importance.

But if the gasket sticks into the port, it doesn't matter what the head is doing.

I wonder how the distributor fits... Meaning, did they drill the mounting holes in the wrong spot, and it's not port mismatch?

Old School wrote:How does it line up to the head? The gasket is second in importance.

^^This^^ you need to set it on the engine to see if the error is ports or bolt holes.

Did buddy contact Weiand about it?

Did his money have printing errors or otherwise was of poor quality?

What Old School said, the gasket could be stamped wrong.

Well in the first photo the pair of ports on the left are off set such that it would not hurt the flow, but with the pair of ports on the right that's a different story, as that off set is making for a tighter bend !

The Gaskets themselves look good to me and with the exit of the runners being so much under sized I do not see a issue once a normal port match is done but for what I posted about those right side pair of runners, as getting those right will take more work then just a port match!

Also a factor is these are cast to work with the peanut port heads too!

I hope your buddy understands that with amount of cid and today's other Manifolds for these oval port motors that there is no need for a 2-4bbl tunnel ram unles your into the eye candy of it ,or buzzing the motor up to the needed 8000+ rpm with that cid to use it!

I built this engine before the last Moore Oklahoma tornado destroyed the town and destroyed the truck this engine was in.
I helped him stick this in a different truck and we are/were running the strip dominator intake with an 800 edelbrock AFB.
Which needed much more jet.

The gaskets in the picture line up perfect for the strip dominator intake so not a gasket issue.
Yes he e mailed the manufacturer .. no word yet.

When I get a chance I will swing by his house.. it is about 35 miles from me.
I thought the ports were tiny but that did not bother me as much as the offset .. And the one or 2 runners that only allow about 1/16" of gasket sealing area bums me the most.. actually needs epoxy in those spots or just weld it up.

But spending over 400 bucks on an intake I expect it to be right or at least closer than this one.

I have 2 rectangular port tunnel- rams one with staggered size exit ports and the other all ports are the same size.
He did not want to run one of them and thought this val port would be better.

On the too big deal.
I have never found that to hold water.
I have ran bowl ported 305 and 350 heads on 350" engines with small cams like 224@.050 (Comp 270H) and the 280H and larger going from an RPM intake to strip dominator I gained Nothing and lost nothing.
It was like I never swapped intakes.

Then I swapped a 12" tall old school dual 4 tunnel-ram and 2 600 Edelbrock (AFB) carbs and WOW!! the low end and everything was incredible.

I just pulled a ported Qjet intake off my 385 stroker ,,it made 10 HP less than the performer rpm intake.
I stuck a weiand dual 4 intake on it with 2 stock 600 edelbrock carbs and picked up 50+HP everywhere this was a wheel dyno.. more past the peak.

Idle AFR with the tunnel-ram was 15.5. Part throttle cruise 14.5 and wide open 12.09 AFR.
Tunnel-rams work even on mild stuff.. the above was a 184-150 valve 305 head on a stroker chevy with 280H comp cam.

Every time I stuck a tunnel-ram on something it went quicker and street manners greatly improved.
Probably because the low speed TQ improvement.

I like the Edelbrock Street Tunnel Ram (oval Port) better for this stuff.

The PN #7520 Eddy Dual Quad Air gap RPM with 2x750's (and {1", 1.5", 2"} carb spacers for effect) would work real good for you too. (new Holley/Demon 750 "StreetDemon" carbs are another route)

If it is from Jegs or Summit and not marked up you can send it back for exchange.

I would have been tempted to put the square port tunnel ram on this one too.

I am surprised that the off shore budget manifold makers have not jumped on this band wagon.

I never liked the short dual four intakes.
Never liked the 3 deuce intakes either. I have always liked long runners to add to the ram effect.
Long runners always gave me best MPG also.. more time for the fuel droplets to tumble and break apart.. could be why I never lost MPG with the tall tunnel-ram vs a dual plane intake.

Ultimate goal for this 396 is to go quicker in the 1/4.
At 4200 lbs now with 308 gear it runs 13.51.
I think it can do better.. ultimately it needs more gear as he stated last time out he shifted at 7000 rpm.

It could tolerate a bit more cam also.

Todays intakes all seem to need something. Keep buying cheap stuff guys it will only get worse
Have a brand new 300-25 cast overseas...ports are ok but bolt holes need some help. oh well its light anyway
I try to keep an eye out of older pieces when I want something then tune em up

I have an older Team G on my car, noticeably heavier than a new one

We put ourselves there, or many. Even replacement parts for new cars are junk, Ill keep my 180k mi tie rod ends before I buy chong lees they will both give up anyway. lol