Was working on my car and cut part of my head off =(

so I thought... hmmmm what a perfect opportunity to weld an intake on! plus it was an old spare head, and I have always wanted to try my hand at porting.

I cut off more on the top side of the log, because of the exhaust ports being the way they are. I bought some steel from a local supplier and went at it. welded it in smaller sections, tried not to get it too hot, and everything seemed to turn out good. I threw some paint on it to keep it from rusting and heres the outcome....

Before:



During:



After:



Also thought I would throw in that this is probably not the best design and stuff but for now it works...

Howdy Back:

Well it sure looks cool! What carb/s? How is it working?

Adios, David

very interesting, cool!

Very, very nice. Does it use a carb, or Dilithium crystals?

you could mount a couple of four barrels to that...

Excellent work, that is very close to what I want to do to mine but your plenum is much bigger than I was planning and mine would be a log style with a throttle body on the end.

But hoobah and congrats on what looks to be a job well done.

interesting...looking forward to seeing how it runs!

yea its huge... I just wanted it to be large enough to mount a 4 bbl like my own little aluminum head... I painted it aluminum and it feels like 20 pounds lighter! (I wish... lol) I should probably have done some research about intake manifold design.... oh well I'll be sure to let you guys know if it sucks, and if it doesn't suck too bad I'll let you know too... at least it looks kind of cool... kind of... if everything else fails I can turn it into a boat anchor.

hasa68mustang":35mhbs88 said:

yea its huge... I just wanted it to be large enough to mount a 4 bbl like my own little aluminum head... I painted it aluminum and it feels like 20 pounds lighter! (I wish... lol) I should probably have done some research about intake manifold design.... oh well I'll be sure to let you guys know if it sucks, and if it doesn't suck too bad I'll let you know too... at least it looks kind of cool... kind of... if everything else fails I can turn it into a boat anchor.

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I can think of a few people who would be interested in that head if you decide to get rid of it.

Anlushac11":1et71cer said:

hasa68mustang":1et71cer said:

yea its huge... I just wanted it to be large enough to mount a 4 bbl like my own little aluminum head... I painted it aluminum and it feels like 20 pounds lighter! (I wish... lol) I should probably have done some research about intake manifold design.... oh well I'll be sure to let you guys know if it sucks, and if it doesn't suck too bad I'll let you know too... at least it looks kind of cool... kind of... if everything else fails I can turn it into a boat anchor.

Click to expand...

I can think of a few people who would be interested in that head if you decide to get rid of it.

Click to expand...

I think it would need ALOT more of that aluminum paint to make it shippable...lol

now all I need to do is figure out what carb I am going to run and depending on how fast I end up making my turbo manifold maybe a shot of giggle juice... I have a full bottle I need to empty from my other stang

You made need to weld some support tubes through the plenum. I seem to remember some guys with smaller plenums with a similar design had cracking problems due to the large surface area flexing.

hasa68mustang":3crk528a said:

I painted it aluminum and it feels like 20 pounds lighter!

Click to expand...

:rolflmao:

hasa68mustang":3crk528a said:

oh well I'll be sure to let you guys know if it sucks

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I'd bet you would be disappointed if it didn't 'suck', right?... (ya know 'intake') :roll: groaan...

Seriously that is some impressive welding :!:

I have a few questions:

1) What did you use for welding stock to weld to cast iron?

2) Why not go MPFI now? with those tubes, it looks like you have almost a perfect angle to hit the back of the intake valves if you mount the bungs vertically.

EFI would also reduce some of the stress created by the bending moment of a heavy carb.

Looks like a good platform for an Eaton M90 and EFI 8)

CobraSix":39wjlljz said:

I have a few questions:

1) What did you use for welding stock to weld to cast iron?

2) Why not go MPFI now? with those tubes, it looks like you have almost a perfect angle to hit the back of the intake valves if you mount the bungs vertically.

EFI would also reduce some of the stress created by the bending moment of a heavy carb.

Click to expand...

I have a feeling I may get crap for this HOWEVER to answer your question I used my dad's old snap on mig welder with cheapo harbor freight wire. I don't really like the wire but it ended up turning out nice. I weleded in couple inch sections and searched every post on here that I could about pre-heating and stuff and started off welding pieces of the log I cut off. I saw another member saying they did the same thing and had good success doing this and it looked like the project never went further. For the bottom, I welded it all the way across on the top (the inside of the manifold) and then welded the bottom so it would be nice and strong and leak-free. I was able to jump up and down on just the bottom plate so I don't think I will have any problems. I never did end up pre heating the head though. The metal is just 1/8" plate steel but I am sure it will be plenty strong. I was planning on bracing it from the bottom or something but after seeing how strong it is already I don't think it would be necessary.

The tubes you see are actually just the stock log runners. IF you look at the 2nd picture I just cut the log in two places, down the center of the top of the log and as far down as I could go on the bottom without interfering with the exhaust ports. I flared out the ports on the intake side to try to help with flow then welded it shut. Again probably not the best design, oh well you live and learn. I could still change that if I wanted.

I think I will add that I know that jumping on an intake is NOT the same as an engine vibrating while being heated up... just trying to cover myself... lol

Efi scares me sometimes. I like turbos and carbs better... lol I originally wanted to do efi, but I lost interest for some reason. I could still make the 4 bbl mount and run an elbow with a throttle body later on. Anyone have any suggestions on design other than the support tubes, I tihnk I may run some sort of brace still. I good insurance because if that thing comes off my cars now on fire....

*****'-yesss! that's what I call a PLENUM!

works well on European and Japanese fourbangers. Must be something to it, so GO FOR IT!






...moderators, please forgive me my attempt at a gerund of a certain four-letter strong verb. I might have an excuse - I am drunk (again).

LMAO why is it that no-one tells me that I should NOT be welding next to a gas can..... :wow: :rolflmao:

I just noticed that... heres a couple more of the in progress pics this shows the continuous weld along the bottom, I then welded the seam across the bottom.



sorry for the crappy quality but heres the plan. I am probably going to bolt a plate to the plenum and then bolt the carb to the plate.


I need to get better metal tools, cutting that steel was a pain with only a sawzall

5/64" cut off wheels are your friend, they're a lot easier to keep a straight cut with, and can be just as safe as a sawzall.

Looks really good! I should have mine done in the next ten years... On the spool of weld wire it will probably say ER70S-6 or ER70S-2 if it's hard wire, i'm betting it's a 70S-6.

I was over at the garage while making my rear caliper brackets, and looked at the roll of wire. IT said chicago pneumatic or something like that (whatever harbor freights brand is) and it said ER70s-6 solid wire. care to explain what is is? lol its the same stuff we have been using for years to weld everything from my turbo manifolds to exhaust and everything in between.....

Sure, ER70S-6 is:

ER- means this filler metal can be used as both an (E)lectrode-MIG and filler (R)od-TIG
70-- multiply by 10,000 psi and you have the minimum Ultimate Tensile Strength of the weld deposited, so it's 70ksi.
S-- S is for Solid Wire, if there was a C here it would be Composite(flux-cored or metal-cored)
6-- this is the chemical composition.

The main difference between a 70S-2 and a 70S-6 is the amount of Manganese and Silicon. These two elements act as cleaning agents when you're welding, kinda like a flux. They will help you out when you're welding on something that still has the scale on it or a rusty part...But our cars don't have rust, right?!

The S-6 has ~40% more Si and Mn than the S-2. 70ksi filler is probably the most widely used, and they make 6 different compositions of the ER70S-

Sorry it's wordy, I tried to thin it down a bit.

EDIT: I meant to add this. I asked my boss, 35+yrs as Welding Engineer, about how you've welded your intake on with a 70S-6 and didn't have any cracks. He said if it didn't crack within the first 48hrs, it probably wasn't going to crack! I'd still brace it up somehow to alleviate extra stress of driving it everyday.