in need of more horses for my 67 pony :)

[Anonymous]

i have a 67 pony with a 200ci engine. what is the easiest and cheapest way to get some more power from it? i want to spend about 1k on this project. i am sure the answer is in these forums somewhere, but i am limited to the time that i can spend reading them. any help is appreciated. thank you

 

[MustangSix]

If the engine is in good shape, start with ignition upgrades. Duraspark or Pertronix, platinum plugs, good coil and wires. Add a lower restriciton muffler and get some cold air to the air cleaner.

 

[SixFoFalcon]

^^^what he said^^^

Also, if you don't mind paying a bit more at the gas pump, you can advance your initial ignition timing if you run higher octane fuel. This will enhance acceleration to some degree (ooh, what a delicious pun!)

You may want to consider a later model distributor too, as the pre-'68 distributors aren't as "performance oriented" (in layman's terms.) If you use the Pertronix w/ the existing distributor, that will be an improvement, but going to a Duraspark or Duraspark II distributor will be even better.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to take the question to the side, but MustangSix, what do you mean when you said "get cold air to the air cleaner"?? Do you mean a cold air intake like the ricers use, or is there a trick that I dont know about??

 

[SixFoFalcon]

The ricers don't use cold air intakes. They use hot air intakes because the "cold air intake" they bought from eBay still sucks hot air from the engine compartment.

 

[Anonymous]

LoL, ok true true, but seriously I've never heard of doing this to a Ford Six...

 

[hasa68mustang]

a few people have used a "ram-air" setup which is faily cheap, most parts you can find aroud my house.. some leftover rain gutter pieces, a new air cleaner and some parts off a ranger intake.. can someone provide links? I believe Doug and Matt have done this, thought I dont know if this will actually provide substantial gains... if you look under the post about engine compartment pics you can see some...

 

[Anonymous]

i have started to purchase the stuff reccomended in the above posts, i am having trouble finding the ballast resistor though. any one have an idea where i can find this thing under the hood? are all 67's with 200ci engines equiped with one? thank you

 

[ludwig]

Ram air setup using dryer duct from a collector at the firewall to the snorkle on the air cleaner. It really helps at higher speed with cooler outside air forced into the carb at speed.
I used real auto performance ducting from a speed shop because dryer duct looked a little too homegrown.

 

[Anonymous]

wow!!! installed the pertronix ignitor and the flame thrower coil, holy @$#@, unreal what a difference it is. by far the best 118$ spent on the car so far thnks everyone for the suggestions. what to do next? i want more horses now, i guess the exhaust is the next stop on my train to euphoria

 

[SixFoFalcon]

Ram air is purely a Pontiac marketing ploy. The whole principle of "ram air" doesn't even come into effect at normal land speeds. Ram air works on aircraft traveling hundreds of miles per hour, but NOT on cars traveling 100mph or less. Even at NASCAR speeds, the Ram Air effect is very weak.

A cold air intake is helpful. The driving force of a conventional internal combustion engine is the rapid expansion of gases within a confined space which forces the piston to travel downward and rotate the crankshaft. By starting with colder air which is more dense, there is more potential for expansion and thus more power can be attained.

It doesn't matter if you are talking about a top fuel dragster or a lawn mower engine. Providing colder air produces more power. A typical real-world gain might be a few HP on an engine like the small Ford six, depending on environmental conditions, and depending on how poorly the original setup worked at getting cooler air. At highway speeds, when the air in the engine compartment is being replaced continuously, a cold air intake might not help much. But sitting in traffic or in queue at the drag strip makes underhood temperatures soar. In such a situation, you can up your output 5% or more by getting cold air into the intake.

 

[Anonymous]

Gigabox,

It seems your thread has been hijacked into a discussion of cold air intake.

The biggest hurdle to making more power with our engines is the cylinder head design. Improvements can definetely be made without changing or modifing the head but that is the most effective.

$1000 dollars can make a big improvement.

Since you went with a Petronix ignition I would recommend getting a 68 or later distributor with both mechanical and vaccum advance, cap and rotor with brass fittings, a good set of wires (Accel, etc), and a good set of plugs. Get a 40,000 + volt coil and use dielectic grease on all your fittings. Gap you plugs at .045 to take advantage of the hotter spark.

With the ignition taken care of let's get it some more gas. I went with a Holley/Weber 5200 with a funnel type adaptor from Clifford performance. You can get the carb from Stovebolt engines rebuilt for less than $75.00 the adaptor is around $70.00. You will have to fabricate the throttle linkage but it is not hard. This carb is a progressive two barrell with a mechanical secondary. It has given me a big improvement in gas mileage and performance. I have a water heated choke that uses the heater hoses to supply the heat. It's a good carb and I would recommend it. You can also use a 1101 Autolite from a 250 engine if you want to keep you car looking original or if you want more power you can go with a Holley 2300 either direct mounted to the head, (you will have to pull the head and have it machined for this) or through a funnel adaptor from Cliffords. You will also have to manufacture throttle linkage for the Holley.
I don't have experience with either of these mod's but there is alot of information on both of them in this forum.

On to the exhaust. To this point you have probably spent $300 or so if you go with the H/W carb mod and recommended ignition upgrades. Exhaust can be expensive according to what you want. If you want to keep it looking original get a 69 or later exhaust manifold run 2.5 pipe to a turbo style muffler. If you don't care about keeping the original look get a single out header run 2.5 pipe to a turbo style muffler. Headers are about $300 the exhaust will probably run another $100 or so. If you want the sound of duals get a dual out header and run true duals out with 2 inch pipe. It will not improve the horsepower over a single out but it will have a better sound in my opinion. It will add weight and cost however your choice.

A nice flex fan, some paint to detail the engine compartment, a neat looking air cleaner, new hoses etc.. will spend the rest of your money. Then you can start saving for the next upgrade, hipo head work on that lopo head. Cam upgrade, t-5 tranny, 8" rear, disk brakes, new lowered suspension and on and on and on......

Have fun,
Bob

 

[Anonymous]

Agree with the exhaust. Bang for the buck, single pipe with headers. Straight-thru mufflers are cheap, flow well, and when they're large enough, sound level will be acceptable.
Cold air intakes are fine, if you built them the right way. Consider something that will prevent water entering the intake tract if you drive on rainy days. The pipe should be preferably be of the smooth type, as the corrugated, accordion like one will flow remarkably less. Try to make transitions as smooth as possible. You might consider some kind of insulation for the pipe, to prevent it to heat-up the incoming air.
Also, if you leave in an area that has warm weather or drive the car only in summertime, you might want to disconnect the carb heater pad if your car has one.
The ram air issue is a whole different issue, but let's just say that, from an aerodinamically standpoint, all of the ram air openings I have seen are designed the wrong way.

 

[ludwig]

all of the ram air openings I have seen are designed the wrong way.

Yeah, well I got my design from the Falcon Perfomance Handbook and David wouldn't give you a bum steer, would he? Plus, it actually helps at highway speed.

 

[Anonymous]

I can't say anything about that particular one, because I haven't seen it. Im talking about what's available on the end user market and I see on magazines. I strongly respect David's work and knowledge, and I enjoy and learn from everything he writes.
My conclusion came after some investigation, from the aerodynamics point of view, and also some really good information from hardcore racers. That's the same way I learned, for example, how some trumpets used for Weber carbs are also poorly designed. And the difference it's just a matter of a "lip".

 

[CZLN6]

Howdy All:

Gigiboss- Please know that this sidetrip to cold air induction to the carb is in the best interest of free or cheap horsepower. THe "Ram Air" is an ad campaign and of no performance enhancing value. You will likely see a 1% increase in HP for every 10 degrees temperature decrease in air to the carb. So the point is to duct fresh, cooler air into the engine compartment and into the Air cleaner housing.

Some have gone so far as to insulate the under side of their air cleaner and duct work to reflect heat away and insulate the incoming air.

In efficient ducting for performance, the ram effect through the grill or hood typically hurts performance. Paul Calaguiro's record setting Ranchero found out the hard way. He switched from an open element air cleaner to a duct source throung the grill and radiatior support and lost speed. The grill area is typically a low pressure area unless properly modified. The high pressure area is at the base of the wind shield at the cowl area. It might be worth exploring the performance enhancing value of an intake source through the fresh air intake grill in the cowl.

Another idea for you to explore is to remove the hot water heat source to the adapter under your carb, for the same reasons as the cold air intake to the carb. The hot water carb heater may be necessary in northern climes, but not in the summer time.

Adios, David

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for the tips david. i was looking at the house that connects to the bottom of the carb, can i just remove that house and re-route it to the house that comes out the other side of the bottom of the carb? i live in socal so i dont really need that hot water running through and heating things up. i would like to do that tomorrow maybe.

shay

 

[ludwig]

Just run a length of hose from the water pump to the heater core on the firewall. Forget the warming plate under the carb. You don't need it in SoCal. Heck you barely need the choke in this part of the country.