Cam Design Guide for Weber Carbs

If you’ve visited MyRideisMe.com before, you know I have a 27 Ford Roadster with a fairly hot 2.3L Ford four cylinder that’s better known as a “Pinto Motor”. I’ve got a not-so-cool problem with the Weber 44 IDF induction setup right now though…

When I get into the throttle, not that I’d ever do that, I get a misting of fuel over the top of the carbs. OK, it’s less of a mist than a toxic ozone killing cloud of gas vapor. (I’ll commute tomorrow to make up for it!). I owe you a video of this, before and after.

So what I’d do? I knew Inglese Induction Systems are the experts.  Inglese has been making intakes for this setup for a long time so they must know what’s happening and how to fix it. Even more cool? Inglese is now owned by the Comp Performance Group that also owns, Comp Cams. I’ve always had great success with Comp Cams in my Ford V8’s and my pops has been really happy too. Having 2 great reasons, I called over to Comp Cams.

I spoke to Jay over in Comp Cams tech support. Jay knows his cams and was super polite. I asked him to write down what he was thinking for my set up and this is what he said:

When doing cams for engines equipped with Weber carburetors, it’s imperative that you keep overlap of the cam reduced to that similar of what would be acceptable in an OEM injected throttle body type engine. The reason for this is the Weber carburetors are rather finicky as to what they like at idle and part throttle operation, and really prefer a strong/consistent vacuum signal.

When using long(er) duration cams, and/or tight (110 or less) lobe separation angles, the Weber carbs are bad about “vaporing” fuel out of the top of the velocity stacks, (as in your application). Reducing the length of duration, and using a quicker ramp profile on the cam lobes, naturally reduces overlap; as does widening the lobe separation. The combination herein provides a more consistent vacuum signal, flatter torque curve, and should (in your case) promote some low end throttle response and torque.

What I’ve come up with for you is a solid lifter cam that will be a 226 @ .050 duration on the intake; and 236 @ .050″ on the exhaust. More difference between the intake and exhaust durations (aka “split”) should help to burn some of the excess gaseous vapors that would otherwise continue to travel back up your intake manifold runners, and linger above the carbs. I’m going to suggest that we us a 112 lobe separation angle (as opposed to the 110) you have now. This, along with the change (reduction) in duration, should get the torque to come on sooner and make the car more fun to drive on the street; and in a more user friendly RPM range.

These cams also require nitriding (p/n 1-111-1) service as well.

So I asked, What’s with the Nitride treatment? It’s kinda pricey…

Nitriding over head cams is absolutely necessary. It’s strengthens the cam which has the constant load pressure associated with the follower/rocker and spring combination. The reason it’s become so necessary now (rather than long ago) is a two part answer:

Lobes have gotten far more aggressive (this doesn’t necessarily mean BIGGER); they have much faster ramp rates, more dwell time at max lift, etc. Secondly, the “big 3” haven’t manufactured anything with a flat tappet cam in nearly 20 years, and thus, the EPA has come down on the oil companies to reduce the good stuff in their oils such as zinc, sulfer, etc. (These are the things that help a flat tappet cam and lifter combination live) They are, however, hard on catalytic converters, and since the EPA doesn’t see the necessity in keeping it since none of the newer cars need it, well, it’s out. We have to find ways to combat this. The nitriding of the cam is a vital ingredient in the longevity of its life.

More to come on this story. Anyone reading this? Please leave a comment.

Pinto Power at it again! Hydroplane Racing

It’s no wonder there are a ton of 2.3 engines out there making power. They’re one of the top engines for Ministock racing, we knew that, and there’s a few companies making go-fast parts for them like Esslinger (http://esslingerengineering.com/) and Racer Walsh (http://racerwalsh.zoovy.com/). We’ve even got a near fanatical following for the turbo 2.3’s over at turboford.org. But, I had no idea folks like Dennis Wright were racing these Pinto ‘bangers in hydroplanes! I met Dennis over on the HAMB board. He was responding to my post about this finned aluminum valve cover I designed. I think the market for it would be big enough to manufacture it for profit, but I’m busy working on other things, like MyRideisMe.com!

Dennis wrote the info below in an email and said I could post it with a few pics. This isn’t a car or a bike, but you’ll see by reading, this story fits: My Ride is Me.

The 2.5L stock class boats have the letter “S” designation with the boat number. Most “S” boats these days use the Ford 2300. The motors are basically the pure stock version of the OMC marine motor. We are allowed to run a Holley 350 or 500 as a replacement for the Rochester. We don’t run a water pump or alt. to free up power and we can run an aftermarket distributor. The cam profile is based on the stock marine version, which has been duplicated by several custom cam grinders. The heads are limited to any Ford 2.3 head with 4 spark plugs and a combustion chamber volume of at least 61cc. Stock followers only, no roller rockers allowed. Pistons must be the Federal Mogul H435P. This keeps the compression down to about 8.5:1.

The boats are typically about 16 feet long and a little over 8′ wide. The minimum weight is 975 pounds including the driver and top speed is right around 100 mph on a good day. My boat is 10 years old and is on the heavy side. I do good to hit about 90 mph and finish in the middle of the pack. Most are built from composite materials (fiberglass and carbon fiber), but there are still a few wood boats being built. Mine is a hybrid. The center section is made from wood and the out appendages, called sponsons, are made from carbon fiber.

Our sanctioning body is the American Power Boat Association. I attend races in Ohio and Michigan. But there are races along the east and west coasts as well. This class is one of the most popular classes due to the manageable size of the boats and reasonable cost to operate.

Thanks Dennis! I’ve never been a big fan of speed on the water (for some reason, that scares the crap outta me!) but that looks like fun. Going fast on a budget is the foundation of hot rodding. I’ll have to watch for one of these races and check it out.

For more info about the S class of racing, check out this website: http://www.marinepropriders.com/tech/index.html

Then, check out the American Power Boat Assoication’s website. (http://www.apba-racing.com/index.html)While you’re there, take a look at the Superlight Tunnel Boats. (http://www.apba-racing.com/Categories/pi/index.html) Who thought that up?

Finally, credit for the photos goes to Phil Kunz. Click HERE for his website. While you’re there, make sure to check out the Phil Kunz Scrapbook. It’s filled with vintage pics of powerboat racing. Most of the black and white pics show flathead powered boats of all shapes and sizes trying to grab the racer’s edge back then. Too cool!

Please take a look at our sponsors:

MyRideisMe.com teamed with Dub Wheels Pimpstar

In addition to the sleek new set of 26×10″ wheels and tires from Dubs, I’ll also be installing a new LT1 fuel injected crate motor to replace the pinto power!

Check out these new rims! (They make spinners look like 13″Centerlines!) Gonna be ROLLIN baby!!

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Oh, and APRIL FOOLS! (did I get’cha? Please leave a comment)
(MyRideisMe.com is not receiving advertising money from Dubs, I just thought this was outrageous and a good prank for April 1…)

Finally Assembled! Pinto baby!

I’m not sure when I started working on this project, but it was at least 4 years ago. I wanted to build a trick intake setup for my Pinto Powered Roadster called Bonnie. Bonnie’s always turned heads, even parked next to MUCH higher dollar rods. I have to admit that I like that. The intake design is from a tech article I read from the Inglese website. It explains why individual runner intakes and weber carbs are the hot setup.

Now, with the new intake finally on, I’m gonna get more people asking, “What engine is that?”

So here’s where I left off… the last thing to do was weld the flange that would hold the throttle cable:

My Friend Aaron welded everything up for me. It came out nice, then I took it to the sand blast cabinet. After, it looked like cast aluminum, but it weighs less than 3 lbs. These are the before and after blasting shots.

Then finally, here’s what it looks like all mounted up. I can’t wait to spend hours trying to tune this thing!

But, I’m gonna wait to fire it up cause I’m also putting a new header on! This thing is gonna be nasty!

If you have a build you want to show on the front page, get in touch with us! Pikesan or Napalm. We’d be happy to feature your ride! Get building!

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Gearing up for Scottsdale Goodguys Show

Some how while trying to make this website and taking care of my family, I’m also working on my Pinto Powered 27 Ford Roadster, “Bonnie”. I thought I’d update everyone on the progress. I’m doing this so that all of the 230 users of My Ride is Me will do the same! We’re talking to our web designer about how to show EVERYONE’s blogs all in one place. That way, we can all keep up with what’s new.

First off, here’s the car… if you haven’t seen it yet, I haven’t done enough self promotion! (hardly possible) This is what it looked like before the 2006 Goodguy’s show.

That red paint you see on the header is GONE (as soon as it got hot!) and the car hasn’t been that clean since! Plus, the paint (primer really) had faded here and there unevenly, so here’s what I’m trying to finish before the show:

1) Custom dual Weber 44 IDF carbs. Here’s a few pics:

The idea here is best said by the guys at Inglese: Weber-carbureted engine to idle smoother, have a slicker “feel” to it a low speeds (particularly if a hot camshaft prevented that feeling before), and generally feel much more powerful throughout the entire rpm range. This is largely because they use an independent-runner manifold, which does not incorporate a plenum. In a typical four two-barrel Weber layout, there is one barrel directly feeding each cylinder without any intercommunication between barrels or cylinders. This totally “isolated runner” design ensures that each cylinder is fed exactly the same as the next, without any chance of charge-robbing or over-feeding. I’m trying to grab some low-rpm torque, so the runners I’m using are longer. We’ll see how that works out!

2) Fix the floor (in prep for an interior that probably won’t make the show) This is pretty straight forward. I’m cutting out the 1/4″ thick ‘freakin’ PIPE that the previous owner put in for a driveshaft hump. I don’t need that much room for the driveshaft, so I’m taking it down and prettying it up some.

3) Redo the header (so that it doesn’t hit the body!) to get a little more performance from the engine. In addition to the intake and cam, I’m trying to squeeze some more Torque from this motor. The header tubes should be small enough diameter to keep good exhaust gas velocity at lower rpm, and have a longer primary runner. The header that’s on there now looks cool, but it does nothing for performance. I’ll have to take some more pictures to show my plan for that one.

I’ll post more pictures when I make some progress… that’ll have to be soon or it’ll look exactly the same as last year! *not gonna happen!*

See you at the show. Here’s some info, in case you need it, from the Goodguys web page. MyRideisMe.com will be there and we’ll be taking a TON of pictures!

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Model T Hot Rods and Typewriters

It was my pleasure to meet Kirk Wright of Scottsdale, AZ at the Scottsdale Pavilion’s show. We started talking about my car, a 27 Ford Roadster and the the 2.3L Pinto motor I run. Then Kirk started telling me about some of his cars. After hearing about the Model T ‘banger motors he was building, I set up a meeting at his house to see what he’s up to. His card says AAA Typewriter Service on it, so I didn’t know what I was getting into. I got into this:

If you’re into nostalgia racing or old-OLD time hot rodding, or just really into Model T’s, then you just spilled your beer. You’re looking at a one of kind Hemi headed model T engine. The valve cover is also a unique piece.

It’s a modified original Ardun valve cover. Kirk added extra room to clear the custom made aluminum roller rockers. Displacing 190 cu. in, Kirk expects this engine to put out about 320Hp. Don’t believe it? Kirk’s basing that number on another T engine he’s built and dyno’d. That’s in another T pickup that Kirk’s owned since 1951 when he was 11, bought with $50 saved from 3 years of picking cotton. The whole story’s told in a book Kirk wrote himself called “Me and the T”. It’s on old trapper’s truck used in Young, AZ.

At first glance, you might see this truck as an unusual, but not extraordinary rat rod. You’d be mistaken. Looking past another 4 cylinder bad-ass, you’ll find 4 wheel, power assisted disc brakes, rack and pinion steering and a cleverly hidden alternator mounted on the rear axle near the wheel. Too cool.

This ‘banger makes 278Hp. I asked if that’s dyno proven and Kirk honestly told me that this engine’s an exact copy of one that did dyno at 278. How can an engine designed almost 100 years ago take that much power? Even Kirk thinks Henry would, “Shit his pants” if he saw what’s being done to his engine. I thought for sure it’d run hot, but thanks to an external oil pump from a Subaru and an entirely new oiling system and cooler, it hold 12 quarts of oil. It never gets hot and never stops turning heads. What could be better? Kirk drives the truck all the time and runs it hard! He just got a speeding ticket on the highway a few days before we met. GO KIRK!

I couldn’t be happier with what I’d seen so far, then I saw this vintage Hill Climb racer and record holder from 1976:

Then, walking past the Dodge SRT-10 Ram (naturally, it’s way beyond stock) I saw this speedster in progress:

And then this 1911 Ford Model Torpedo that belongs in a museum but is plugged into a battery tender, just in case Kirk want to go for a spin:

I plan to write more about another T motor in Kirk’s garage, the T parts he’s got, the custom race T parts he designed and made, his plans for the hill climb racer and even the vintage racing pictures he’s got on the wall. I’d do it now but I can’t remember everything Kirk said! I left amazed and anxious to write this story but had to wait almost a week until Sunday’s paper came out. Seems the local paper found Kirk pretty amazing, too. Look for more info and details about everything soon. It’ll be a good excuse to go back and see the soft spoken gentleman who repairs typewriters.

If you like this story, please join! It’s free and a great way to share pictures with friends.

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