My Huffaker intake showed up yesterday. I purchased it off the
net along with a Holley 390 and Moroso air cleaner but I was
beginning to wonder if I would ever see it as UPS could not
track it for 6 days.
Anyway, it's here now and that solves a stumbling block for
the phase II TR7V8 stroker motor. I've gathered most of the parts
required to do a 289 cubic inch stroker (3.9L Rover block, Buick
300 heads and crank, 215 rods, etc.) but I needed an intake that
could feed the displacement and heads and still fit under the
TR7's hood. The common GM, Offy, and Edelbrock intakes are sized
for 215 ports and would strangle a 289. That left the single
plane race intakes to consider - the Huffaker, Harcourt, and Wilpower.
The Harcourt is very pricey ($456 last time I checked) due to the
exchange rate between the U.S. and New Zealand. The casting also
looks quite rough. The Wilpower sounded promising, as the exchange
rate with Australia is more favorable. I emailed Wilpower for a
cost quote and some dimensional data but never heard anything back.
That left the Huffaker which is no longer produced. That may not be
quite true as someone in England is supposedly making illegal copies
of the Huffaker. I've been told the copies have a rougher casting.
In any case, I now have a real Huffaker (smooth casting, Huffaker and
BL logos) in hand and it looks like it will fit the bill. Interestingly,
it's ports are the same size as the Buick 300 heads. I wonder how many
Rover 3.5's and Buick 215's these things were just bolted up to with no
port matching? That would leave quite an obstruction in the flow path.
I also wonder if British Leyland was running Buick 300 heads on their
TR8's?
The Huffaker is an open plenum, single plane, design with turning vanes
in the floor. A thin 4 hole carb base is attached to the intake with
recessed screws. It accepts either the standard Holley carb bolt
pattern or the early AFB pattern. Mine has no webbing between runners,
giving it that spider look. I'm not sure if that is stock or not. Is
yours like that Ben? It does not have a built-in thermostat housing but
does have bosses on the four corners just over the coolant transfer
ports in the head. Three of the bosses on mine have AN fittings. I'll
need to get a remote thermostat housing and hoses. I think PAW sells a
housing made by Offenhauser.
Of course, I still haven't finished the 215 rebuild I started a couple
years back. I've been out of town on job assignments (currently in
Atlanta) so it sits quietly on the engine stand. In between assignments,
I bought a Pantera so that got my attention for a while. Most recently
(as in I haven't even picked it up yet), I bought a '56 Ford F100
truck project (actually a bunch of aftermarket parts - some assembly
required).
Anyway, my vehicle plans are shaping up like this. Drag F100 project
back from northern Ohio to southern Ohio over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Over Xmas holidays, let Dad finish up the motor. If there are no
gotchas, maybe drop it down in the TR7 engine bay. While Dad works on
the engine, I'll work on the F100 with my brother. In February, when I
move back to St. Louis, I'll put the '66 Mustang in storage and put the
F100 in its bay. Sometime, when work permits, I'll take a week off and
get the TR7 wired up and see how she runs. When summer rolls around, my
brother and I will take two weeks vacation and start the garage expansion
so I can put at least four cars under one roof. As soon as the F100 gets
roadworthy, I begin building the big motor for the Pantera. When it's
ready to go, I pull the 289 out of the F100, give it to my brother in
exchange for his labor on the garage, and swap in the Pantera's 351C.
Then the 400 goes into the Pantera. After that, I can start on the 351C
rebuild for the '66 or the stroker Rover for the TR7. Somewhere in between,
I'll rebuild the TR7's suspension, install dropped floor pans in the
Pantera, and ...
So many projects, so little time.
Dan Jones
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