Well I was up at the junkyard today, looking for a distributor for my 352 ethanol engine project. They were stuck. Quite. So I kept looking for one that would move.

Eventually I got to this red truck parked in back. The hood latch was broken off, and the hood was closed. Anyway, I looked through the grille (no radiator) and saw an FE and a distributor. Cool! So I spend like 5 minutes trying to get the hood open.

So I pop the hood open. Take a quick look around. 360, stock exhaust manifolds, electronic distributor. I was looking for a points distributor. Rats. But then I got to looking at something else. Why is the carb sitting up that far? It was just a stock 2 barrel. Got to looking a little more, and notice the intake runners were all on one plane, going back to a single chamber. Interesting. Then I see the 2 to 4 barrel adapter. Even more interesting. So I try and scratch around on it, and see a raised area through the gunk that was covering the thing. So I quick scratch the gunk off, and read it:

"Streetmaster 390"

WTF???

This thing isn't supposed to be up here, at Rons (junkyard name) especially, and on a craptacular old 360!

So I run down the hill, tell Ron what it was, ask if I was to pull it, how much would he want for it? Anyway, he says $100. Woohoo!!

So anyway, now I'm the proud owner of a Streetmaster 390 single plane intake. Now what do I use it on...

 

eBay, eBay :-)

 

Email me Rusty, we'll talk. I got 2 points style distributors also.

 

They are (or were, maybe still are) smaller runner single plane "X" type design manifolds that were supposed to run good from idle to either 4500 or 4800 RPM's. You can modify them to become an excellent racing intake from what I have read. I have one on the original factory 4 barrel 390 in my 1976 F-250 2x4. Probably will sell it when I get around to parting it out. Engine has never been rebuilt and supposedly has well over 200,000 miles (according to orginal and part owner, my dad) orginal clutch, L.S. rearend, and 4-speed. The motor is one of the few things I will keep out of that good old boy.

 

I may just keep it and run it on the ethanol engine project. I notice it does have the coolant crossover passage, so it looks like EXACTLY the manifold that would work good on an ethanol motor in a Mustang. It's light too, I think lighter than the Performer RPM that's on my truck. When I was up at the junkyard, I thought it was worth more than the $170 they seem to be going for. Thus, I may just use the thing.

I'll power wash it tomorrow and probably take some pictures.

 

I thought the ethanoal project was a 360?

 

It was originally. As I refined the plans, I figured it would be better to use the 352 block I had in the garage, since you can get pistons for that with higher compression height. It'll be .030" oversize, so it'll be 357.2ci. Close enough if you want to call it a 360, but it's really not.

 

You can't get those in a .060 oversize? Then again, I guees that would only be .010 oversize for the 360 and that's not much.

 

When I last e-mailed a tech at Edelbrock he told me the Streetmaster woul run strong past 5500. On my sons 390 it has no problem going to 5500. Won't push it any farther though. Needs the truck every day.

 

Well, I was up at the machine shop today, but the guy that runs it is off playing pool or something. He'll be back monday.

That's good to know about the streetmaster. I think I'll use it on the ethanol engine project. Not only can I easily pick it up with one hand, I think it'll work better on a mustang motor. I might have to spec a bigger cam now too. Last time I talked to the guy at the machine shop, we figured it would have 11.75:1 static compression. This opens up a lot of cams to me, while still having high dynamic compression for the ethanol. We were planning on the 343901. With this intake, that may have to change. I was thinking the 343941. Should I go with something bigger? Would mileage (which was originally intended as the main purpose of this build) be affected by a bigger cam in a car like a mustang, with a manual transmission? If it sounds like I'm getting greedy for power, I might be...

Also, what would everyone say as the maximum RPM for long rods in a 3.5" stroke engine? I've heard they stretch and / or break above 6000rpm. Anyone run 'em higher?

 

rusty, sounds like my truck i got the streetmaster intake along with the 2bb to 4bbl adapter running a autolite carb it runs way better and revs better it is almost too easy to hit 5,000 i found mine on ebay for 100.00 and they go for over 200.00 sometimes

 

I would go with the electronic distributer for the ethanol project FE.

My town is blessed with the only Ethanol distribution station on this side of the state. So for *****s and grins I just tried some E85 in my truck, and it wouldn't start. I know my engine doesn't run the greatest, but I am sure that my stock points and coil are the main reason. If I just about flood it, it almost starts.

 

Rusty, If you can get it cheap, take that streetmaster 2 barrel setup home. But think about it for awhile before you run it. Do you really want a single plane ? I prefer dual planes,on almost everything, especially if you are running small ( under 400 inches ). You might buy it and sell it to a drag racer. And on the distributer, buy all means, get the duraspark dizzy. Points and condensor dizzys are just plain junk. You can wire a Chrysler box to it ( 4 wires ) and use a TFI ford coil and have LOTS more energy at the plugs, more than a point system can even dream about. Cap'n Tea, make sure your points are up to snuff, advance the timing a bit, and jet up the carb 4-6 sizes. Turn the idle screws richer too. Tell us how it goes. DF, at his Dad's house

 

Before I wrote that engine off as being a 360, I would check the stroke? Obviously someone invested money in it at one time. If the motor still turns, check block numbers, and stroke, might be anything.

Rich

 

That's good news but I really wanted to guess like the post tittle asks