You mentioned the quest for MPG's vs performance and the thing that came to mind with me was a Quadrajet.

You said your truck had a 351? You could always pull the Quadrajet off an old Chevy 350.

The Chevy Quadrajet's have a spread bore venturi pattern, with small primaries and secondaries that many refer to mildly as the "toilet flusher".

If you pull a Quadrajet off a early to mid 80's Chevy 350, it'll be pretty close to tuned for what you need for your 351. It still might need tweaking with though.

 

OK, since you are working it you are probably geared about right. And, that gray tail pipe is the key. I have a E'brock fuel/air meter that I need to install a bung for in the exhaust so I can accurately track the ratio. Picked it up off craigslist for $45.

 

If i can run into a good buy on a 12 bolt mid 80's manifold or even in the future the Edelbrock Performer manifold interests me even..then I can play with some 4bbl options maybe. I have to say though i have really enjoyed getting re-acquainted with the Autolite/Motorcraft variants in the last few months. I may look for a 4100 of some kind as well..I like the simplicity of the way they were made in the 60s. Less worry for emissions but actually very efficient if tuned well.. I mostly would want to change the manifold eventually to get rid of the exhaust crossover heat that came w/the egr system.

 

Keep an eye out for another one?

 

Something that might benefit you is a set of headers for your truck. Long tube headers or even shorty headers help eliminate the EGR tubes/system, help the motor flow better, and long tubes supposedly help get heat away from the motor. Depending on what type of headers you pick, it'll boost your mpg's and low end torque too. I'd definitely look for a set of shorty headers. Check Summit Racing. Also make sure they fit.

I agree about the 60's and the older vehicles. The smog era (mid 70's to 80's) wasn't one of the automotive industry's finest moments. Motors lost power as emissionization took over, it complicated engines, and increased production costs in an attempt to reduce pollution.

You can buy carburetors these days that are marketed as "performance" carburetors that don't have all of the emissions hookups on them, but still retain the PCV systems, locations for vacuum brake booster hoses, and spark ports etc. If you're interested in keeping the 2v carbs, I'd check out some of Holley's other offerings (most of the old Motorcrafts were Holley for Ford anyway).

Welcome to FTE!

 

Well I've accumulated half dozen or so of good 60's cores..and pretty much for 20+ can have the same amount of new carbs so I'm probably set for that for now..my main area of interest is getting a carbed engine to run acceptably with added ethanol which we use in Oregon..and of course the tinkering gives me something to pass the time ..

I've had most everything I ever wanted in computer technology regarding cars..and now I'm enjo0ying driving w/o the CEL popping up..or some relay failing etc...even thjough a computer is the ONLY way for actually efficient regulating of our modern fuel I just don't like to have to rely on one for my driving anymore...

I also have a mountain bike so I'm not entirely stuck with 4 wheeled options..(humor)

about headers...I AM interested in this but I'm stuck with that side 2nd tank for now and since I'm going to build a new complete exhaust next week..I AM interested in some options but from what i can see a true set of duals are not cost effective?..maybe not at this moment anyway..still thinking about it.

 

Twenty plus what? What does that mean?

About that, HERE is something you might look at.

 

For the time being, you could always look at a single inlet, dual outlet muffler and run "fake" duals out the back. If you've got a second tank though, things will be easier on you if you run shorty headers or "fake" duals.

Maybe run the pipes parallel out the muffler, bend over the rear axle, then dump out at each corner?

EDIT:

I'm ghetto enough I'd get a cheap 20$ glass-pack, put a piece of inexpensive Y shaped tubing on the end with a clamp (found on the racks near the mufflers at auto parts places around the country), and tell them to run the exhaust from there out back with "fake duals".

Something I had to deal with, if you can't find a glass pack on the shelf and they tell you the only mufflers they got are on the shelf, tell them to go check in the back just to be sure (they stock stuff in the back). I had to deal with a bunch of lazy bozo's that didn't want to help and said, "The only muffler's we've got are the ones on the shelf" and all three of them were 90$. This was funny considering the week before I went in and got a glass pack from behind the counter after I asked a different man to go in the back and look.

 

20+ dollars or so i can have a kit for a rebuild per carb...I actually have quite a few jets, gaskets, etc and misc parts for most all the 2100/2150's..and the collection seems to be growing..I seem to not be able to turn one down when I see it for almost nothing..(core)..

and thanks for that link...I REALLY need to address this exhaust next week..

 

Ah, I see now.

Well, you'd do yourself a pretty big favor if you'd put a $ in front of numbers when you're talking about money... Nobody can read your mind and intuitively know what you're talking about, the $ sign immediately lets people know what you're referring to, OK?

 

I am lucky to have near me a couple shops that will do anything you want to an older truck exhaust wise...actually one shop here locally did some surgery on an 06' Dodge ram diesel I owned then to pull a 40' 5th wheel. It ran great after that and the mileage was awesome...

After reading Gary Lewis's thread..I think I'm going to PB-Blast the rusted manifold bolts for a few days while I'm finishing the duraspark, and then see if my guy can start from the manifolds back with a custom crossover and go the 2in-2out route perhaps...I'll see how it looks when it's up in the air...thanks for all THAT input..

I just hope the manifold stud-nuts lossen up..maybe new manifolds?...maybe not.. Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - JohnSmith3524's Album: Past Projects - Picture

This shop actually made my front mount recvrs...(I hope you don't mind if i put in a pic from an album i have here...if it's not kewl I'll refrain) I don't have any other pic/host source on the web right now. ..

 

I'll be more careful...I have a few faults and my puter shorthand is definately one of them..THAT and being dislexik when I type..so I edit a lot..please excuse me...

 

I realize that everyone says that headers will boost the mileage. But, while I don't have any hard proof I really doubt it. Here's why.....

I had an '82 F150 Explorer w/a stock 351W, factory manifolds, factory cat, single exhaust using a run-of-the mill muffler, C6, and 3.50 gears. I did a valve job on it and installed a Comp Cams low RPM torque cam, rebuilt the 2150, and drove it. Ran well and turned in ~13 MPG on the highway running a true 60 MPH.

Through some stupidity on my part I had to build a new engine. Had a different block bored .030 over and built it up to factory spec's with exception of the same Comp Cams bumpstick and home-ported heads. (If anyone is interested there's a thread on here with LOTS of info about that work.) IMHO these heads were fairly well ported and the valves swirl-polished. And, a lot of attention was lavished on the exhaust side with the huge bumps ground out to really clean things up.

When complete the new engine sported the exact same factory 2bbl manifold and 2150 carb as the old engine, and exhausted through the stock manifolds but into true duals with no cat and glass packs. That rascal ran. In fact, the way it wound up made people think it had a 4bbl on it. And, from a stop it would turn the tire (no LS) easily, so it really had torque. But, making the same 110 mile each way run to visit my father in KS it turned in exactly the same mileage the old engine did.

I guess it is possible the factory manifolds were the bottleneck and changing the exhaust ports on the heads and the exhaust system down stream of the heads had no effect, but I doubt it. I had the heads flow-tested and know the exhausts were better than stock. The heads were port-matched to the factory manifolds, and the manifolds themselves don't appear to be restrictive. And I feel quite confident that going from single exhaust to dual and dumping the cat made things flow much better.

Given all that, I don't think it is wise to expect better mileage by changing to headers on these trucks.

 

can u let me know what diameter pipe your guy used form the manifolds back etc?...I've heard 2 1/2"-3 " etc...

I really appreciate this input.. as I will hopefully tackle this by next weekend..

 

Sorry, but I used a setup that came on a truck that I bought, so didn't have it made. And, I've already sold that truck so can't measure the pipes. However, the exhaust pipes were the same size as the factory exhaust pipes and the mufflers were the same inlet as outlet, so I think it was all 2 1/2".