1948 F1
 

Help---- I have a 1946 straight 6 in my 48 truck and am looking to change the carbs as a first step to increasing performance but first I need to change the inlet manifold.
Any advice is welcome???
:-jammin

Welcome to the forum. Not to rain on your parade but that truck, that engine will never be a performer, able to run with current vehicles. The only way you will get any performance out of that truck is to re-power and re-gear.

You can put performance parts on the flathead 6, but they are expensive. My advise is to enjoy what you have. Don't mess it up trying to "improve" things.

Too much carburetor is BAD - Holley
 

I agree with raytasch. Unless you want all show and no go I would leave the carb alone (unless it is not working right then a kit will be more effective). According to Holley over-carburetion is the biggest mistake that many people make (including me at one time). They actually have a chart in one of their manuals that shows how many CFM and which carb to use. They also now have an online Interactive Carb Selector at Holley Interactive Carburetor Selector. Make sure that you read it carefully before making selections (i.e. don't pick "Performance" options if you don't have the cam, pistons and compression ratio to go with it). Again I agree with raytasch, your best choice is to leave it alone unless you want to spend a lot of money.

I have a flatty 8 and there are a lot of old (and new) performance parts for sale. But I like how easy it is to start and the sound is classic.

:) Enjoy!

Hello, and welome to the FTE forum from California. I sounds like there must be some history with your truck. You should post a picture!

Dan

Pictures of the F1
 

Dan in response you can check out some video of the truck on my youtube channel at
TheHiggys999 on you tube.
Cheers
Andy

Haha....that is pretty cool truck...and your girlfriend/wife wants to know "who would watch it?"....

I'll bet that you get a few views today!!!

Dan

Hey Andy,
Welcome aboard! I've got a 1950 F1 - nice to have some of the original F1's on here! Your wife is a good sport on the video - she doesn't seem to be frightened for her life - that's nice. I see you passing a Sainsbury's there - where are you guys in England? Looks familiar - I can feel the rain & cold from here (I spent a lot of time in Bracknell outside of Reading).

It runs great - I like the bed & the little American flag in the window.
Where did you get it from?

Ben in Texas

Dual carbs on a straight six does really wake them up more than you'd think, especially if you replace the crappy log manifold. The end cylinders don't see much gas and the center cylinders get too much. It will never be a barn-burner but if you put the right carbs on it, not big ones, and spend some time dialing them in, you can get noticeably better mid-range power. You'd be limited by the intake passages in the block, but I wouldn't say it's a waste of time. My experience is limited to OHV 6's but they all suffer from a cheap intake design, the only exception being the Chrysler Slant 6's which put out very good power for their size. The Ford 170/200 ci 6's were the absolute worst IMO. They couldn't have spent 15 minutes designing that intake. BTW I've seen Brits who drilled into the side of the stock manifolds and put sidedraft SU's on them, which wouldn't be my first thought but it apparently works pretty good, and on the 170/200's you don't have many choices.

A nice set of 3-into-2 headers will make it sound better too.

Welcome to FTE! :-wink Very nice truck. Love that old flattie sound! I've got the 49 F-1 with a V8, going completely stock. The poor guy has been sitting in the garage very patiently for a year now waiting for me to get my chassis done. Sweet truck you have there, very impressive.

Thanks for that, nice to know there is friendly help and advice out there, I am now on the look out for new manifold and carbs so if you have any ideas please feel free to point me in the right direction.
Andy

Thanks for the message, I am pleased that there are people out there interested in the old stuff still. We are in Norfolk England and believe it or not this is one of the warmest and driest counties we have.
I would imagine I will need lots of help and advice from across the water so thanks for the reply.
Andy

You were right Dan, interest is mounting, I have told the boss she will have to clean the Truck in her bikini in order for the hits to really soar !!!
Cheers
Andy

Depending on your skills and time, you might be best off making your own intake for the carb(s) you want to use (which might not be the ones we over here would use). It's not as hard as you'd think on a six. Take the intake gasket to a machine shop, have them cut a flange out of 3/8" stock, weld up some tubes....

Or you could cut into the side of the stock manifold and put two S&S Harley carbs (side-draft), make a cable throttle system, blank off the stock carb hole... Have some fun with it!

I think that might work!!