swapping to a 4 barrel carb

dotcentral · Post by **dotcentral** » February 20, 2008, 6:44 am

My old, stock 2 barrel has gave it up. I am going to put an edelbrock 4V on it, hopefully this weekend. I am dropping the cast iron 4V intake off to be tanked today. I will stick with the manual choke.

The spacer between the carb and the intake, there is a vacuum line from the valve cover to the spacer. Pretty sure it goes to the spacer, not the carb. Do the parts store spacers have that fitting? I know I had a 4V spacer at one time, but I gave it away about a year ago. Didn't think I'd ever need it. Would a small block spacer work?

Is there an existing fitting on the manifold I could use, so I can run a regular spacer?

DV65CustomCab · Post by **DV65CustomCab** » February 20, 2008, 6:51 am

That's the crancase breather line, right?
I think I got a fitting-equipped spacer at the junkyard off a newer (1970s) Ford. Probably aluminum. If you look on Ebay you can probably find them also.

Jonas · Post by **Jonas** » February 20, 2008, 7:21 am

Tim,

Here are a couple tips learned from my exsperience.

#1 - Very Important - Drain all antifreeze. I would drain the block. Pretty easy to knockout a freeze plug. The block drain is probally clogged.

#2 - The cast iron intake coming off and going on is going to be very heavy.
Not a easy one man job, without a lift.
#3 - Mark the position of the distributor the best you can. Before you remove it.

#4 - Some intakes have a dowl for alignment, some don't

#5 - I always use RTV for the front and rear gasket of the intake. Careful not to block any oil holes.

Bob Sprowl wrote a really goods article about doing this swap. But I don't know were it is.

It will take a while 1/2 day to day, but pretty easy

jakdad · Post by **jakdad** » February 20, 2008, 7:37 am

I admire your courage but the price of an aluminum manifold for an FE would out weigh any amount of courage.

ICEMAN6166 · Post by **ICEMAN6166** » February 20, 2008, 1:44 pm

after lifting too many of the cast iron FE manifolds and now having a bad back i really like the aluminum intakes.

dotcentral · Post by **dotcentral** » February 20, 2008, 1:49 pm

jakdad wrote:I admire your courage but the price of an aluminum manifold for an FE would out weigh any amount of courage.

I know what your saying, but this was free so I'm going to use it. Maybe one of my buddies with a hoist will come over and help. Kaylle, you busy this weekend?

Jonas · Post by **Jonas** » February 20, 2008, 2:41 pm

Tim,

You are welcome to borrow my engine hoist. But I am knee deep in projects . So not much chance of breaking away this weekend.

Do you have the gaskets ? Spare freeze plug?

I have never used an engine hoist to do it before(but wish I would have). Always lifted it on and off. Lot easier with the hood off. You can kinda stradle the the engine. Then lower it in place. I'm five years older and weaker now since last I changed one. I would use the hoist now.

Last time I pulled off the cast iron intake, I had a bad head gasket on my 65 (352). For some reason the previous owner used double head gaskets, on both sides. That was a back breaking one man job. I learned, do not let the rtv set up to much before trying to install the intake manifold. It did not want to set in place right.

I should not say "one man job". Daniel helped me. He was about 11 or 12 then. I increased his vocabulary in a negative way that day.

blackagatha · Post by **blackagatha** » February 20, 2008, 9:31 pm

hahah negative increase in vocabulary... that's how it goes...

I would never want to deal with an iron manifold in the truck. I respect my back too much for that. Get a hoist. Even if you COULD manage to get it to the engine without breaking something (back, manifold, truck, etc) you'd probably screw up the seals in the process.

Even my Weiand Aluminum intake was too big of a job for just me. NO, not heavy, just awkward. I managed to knock a slug of silicone out of the rear seal and didnt realize it until it was too late. It made a big oil slick down the back of the engine and onto the exhaust pipe. I cleaned the spot up real good with brake cleaner and squirted more silicone in there, but it still leaks a bit.... AH she's a beater rat. A little oil smoke from the pipe is acceptable. And the oil level stays up....

why would somebody double up the head gaskets????
Kill the compression, make 2x the chance of blowing out, make the intake not line up, make the distributor sit too high, etc.... IDIOT!

Jonas · Post by **Jonas** » February 21, 2008, 7:17 am

The only thing I could come up with about the double gasket. Enable the truck to run cheap gas.

66 POJ · Post by **66 POJ** » February 21, 2008, 8:33 pm

I did this last winter during my top end rebuild. What carb are you using? I went with an Edelbrock 650 and my crankcase tube is running to the front of the carb, at the base. Those cast intakes are heavy but seemed easy as I was standing between the motor and grill. I've still got that heavy bitch on the floor of my shop. Great door stop!

dotcentral · Post by **dotcentral** » February 22, 2008, 9:52 am

66POJ, I am using the same carb you mention, an edelbrock 650. Thanks for the info on routing of crank case venting.

My intake should be ready/clean today. I'll paint it this evening, buy some gaskets and RTV. I also could use new upper and lower radiator hoses. I already have new heater hoses, ought to just do it all now. I am tempted to pull the heads while I'm at it. Check the condition of the top end, pant some things.

Are you running any sort of spacer between carb and intake. I bought a cheapie universal from Autozone for 17 bucks, it is the large opening type, but with an insert to convert it to 4 holes. Not sure if I will use it, and if I should do 1 or 4 hole setup.

Kaylle, I may swing buy and get that hoist saturday if your going to be home. I think it will just be me working on this.

rc1099 · Post by **rc1099** » February 29, 2008, 2:46 am

I just did the same swap on my 68 truck. I used a spacer between the carb and intake. I left it with the open spacer plug and didn't use the 4 hole plug. Everything runs fine after messing with the timing for two weeks off and on. I discovered the distributor was loose. I ended up tightening the distributor clamp too much and stripping the aluminum intake bolt hole, I had to drill it out and put a steel repair plug in to fix it.

dotcentral · Post by **dotcentral** » February 29, 2008, 8:06 am

Thanks for the info RC. I drove over to Kaylle's (Jonas on this board) and got his hoist. Didn't get to it this weekend, kept waiting for it to warm up Sunday and it never did. I'll try again this weekend.