409 headers for dragster

[Iowa 409 Guy]

Yikes, looks like my old girlfriend.

 

[Howard Hull]

I am rebuilding Ford 97s for the 8 carb manifold I am building . I just bought an ultrasonic cleaner. As you can see the carb on the right looks better . After two 15 minute session in the ultrasonic cleaner. And the brown solution is after 15 minutes of rusty carburetor screws in cleaner, the green color is what it looks like at first

 

[Howard Hull]

Here is the new linkage. Now the shaft is 3/8”. Made all new linkage arms and new ball bearings. This should work very smooth with eight carburetors. Still don’t have the new 8 carb manifold back . But busy rebuilding Stromberg 97s. Bought another 1/2 dozen and going to use the best one’s.

 

[Howard Hull]

Just got my 8 carb manifold back from the shop. Will show more pictures as available

 

[327]

 

[La Hot Rods]

Interesting idea.

 

[Howard Hull]

This is with 8 97s, linkage about done and fuel line.

 

[Howard Hull]

8 Carb manifold on 409

 

[409Kid]

Cool project you’ve got there.

I made a set of 2” dragster zoomies for my nostalgia 23T altered back in the ‘80s to go on my Algon injected motor. Still have both. But sold the car years ago. I used my bench vise to square up the ends to stuff them in the flanges.

 

[Howard Hull]

Yes, a bench vise sounds like a clever way to square up an exhaust port. Is the injection for a 409? I would lie to try your Algon injection.
Howard

 

[Howard Hull]

Had to take the carburetor tops back off to synchronize the butterflies with the throttle
linkage. Because the RPM jumped to 3000. And would not idle

 

[Howard Hull]

I added a return spring to each carburetor. This was suggested by Robbi Davis and helped a lot to the get the idle down to 1800 rpm

 

[Howard Hull]

New homemade manifold for eight Ford 97 carburetors on a 409 engine. Now tuning for best performance. I've been adjusting butterflies to control idle. It was idling at 3000 but after adjustment it's now down to 1600 rpm. Still hoping to lower it. It does have great throttle response.

 

[boxerdog]

...and I am afraid of 6! More pics please!

 

[Howard Hull]

I found out that Eight carbs take a lot of gas. I keep running out of gas in the carburetors fuel bowls. So now I have a Red Holley electric fuel pump. But at 6 psi it over powered the needle and seats, so had gas leaks every where. But after replacing a few new needle and seats and lowering the fuel pressure to 4 psi by a pressure regulator. Now no leaks and enough fuel volume to keep all eight carbs full and 409 now happy. Will be heading for the “Estranged” car club vintage races this Friday and Saturday in Toutle, Washington. This will be the first test on the track of the eight twos. Hope to see you there.

 

[Barry Taylor]

Good luck Howard! Be safe!!!

 

[Howard Hull]

Rather explosive off rhe line. The throttle response was instant.

 

[Howard Hull]

It was still idling at 2000 rpm. So removed throttle shaft arms and found two carbs butterflies slightly open. So made adjustments and got the idle down to 1000 rpm and then did not have fight the torque converter.

 

[Iowa 409 Guy]

How were the time sheets? Cool setup...

 

[Howard Hull]

After we fixed the electrical problems, bad battery, the engine ran the best ever. the 409 really liked more air from the 8 carbs, the fuel consumption increase to a gallon per 1/8th mile, and the plugs stayed clean. best time was 113 MPH with ET of 6.6