In the process of buying all the parts i "thought" i needed after purchasing my T, i bought one of those "high flow" intakes that claimed that the intake flowed 50% better than the stock unit, and i have no doubt that their claims are probably true. When i had the intake on my car you could definitely feel a major performance advantage at upper cruising speeds, unfortunately my car ran like absolute crap from idle to those upper level speeds. It popped and spat till it reached higher revs, and i finally pulled it off and put the original one back on and admitted defeat that i just spent $100.00 on something that will just hang on the wall of other useless parts i have bought in the past. Has anyone else used these, and do they perform better with different carbs other than a NH?

I have one on my 21 touring with a NH and I definitely can tell a difference vs the old cast iron manifold. Car idles good. I took off a Winfield model M and I really can't tell any loss in performance. Check to make sure you had a good intake port seal. sounds like maybe your sucking air at idle. Be sure to use the gland ring style manifold gasket.

I run them on three cars all with NH Holley carbs. All run good with no problems.

I've got the high-flow manifold and an NH carb. Also have a high-compression head.
Funny thing is, I almost never open the throttle more than one-third of the way for fear of breaking the crankshaft, so extra available power does me little good.

The engine generally idles and runs smoothly, but it does lug and vibrate a bit when accelerating away from the up-shift. I'm told that's normal for a Model T.

Hi John,

I too have that high flow intake.. I had to grind the top a bit to get it to fit the motor without fouling on the exhaust manifold... Did you have to do that too?

If I didn't, there was a good chance the interference would cause a bad seal. I use those copper gaskets with the built in gland ring... They are the best in my books.

Backing up a bit.. I had read guys complaints that the car battled to start and only ran well at high revs.. so when I finished my engine I fitted a steel Ford manifold and the Kingston 4 ball from Russ Potter...

Well I used this setup for about 200 miles, but then changed it to the high flow manifold, and a bit of grinding...

Well, It took a fair bit more choking but she started and idled fine! In fact, one cold morning in the garage I got a free start and that has never happened with Old Muffy.

On the road, she is going like a Boeing as they say. Climbing hills in high she has never done before etc etc. 70kph average speed ... and more to spare...

So I would say, before you admit defeat, just check that fit again... That might just be the problem.

Cheers
Justin

I bought one of the high flow intakes and it made my 15 run poorly. I took it back off and sealed the ports so I could attach my vacuum pump to an adapter on the carburetor end.

Using motor oil on the outside of the manifold I was able to find an area that would get dry almost immediately after dropping oil on it.

Long story short, there was a porous area about centered between the intake ports. It needed a weld spot about 3/4" in diameter to remove the porosity. After welding I could tell no difference in performance from a stock intake. Sold it on eBay.

Royce. If your manifold had a defect you could have returned it for a replacement. As for operation, We have over 2,000 satisfied customers. Don't know what your problem was but you should have had a noticeable improvement. I have one on my on car and there is a definite
improvement.

Glenn, I agree . Any starting/running problems will be adjusted with the Mixture. Royce has an original aluminum intake on his '13..... he should know better.

Bob Jablonski

Glen,

Having access to a TIG welder it was easier and quicker to just weld it up. I always get great customer service from you and Dave. You guys are great!

Thanks guys for the input, appreciate it...Justin, now that you mention it, it was a very tight squeeze between the two manifolds and even though i used the same gaskets as you did, maybe its possible that i did not have a great seal. That would probably explain the lean symptoms that i had after installation. Will give it another go tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks again.

The new manifolds are obviously larger and some times need a small amount of fitting depending on the exhaust manifold you are using. Some fit just fine and others don't. It all depends on the exhaust manifold. A small amount of grinding at the top will fix the problem and will never be seen.

Well, like usual you guys were right Even though the manifold seemed tight and square, it was indeed slightly cocked due to the tight fit. Some slight massaging of the tops of the runners and it popped right in with some daylight between the manifolds.


These manifolds truly do make a noticeable improvement in the way my T runs, definitely a lot smoother and the old gal seems to to have a new found spring in her step Thanks again for all the suggestions, you guys are great!

On a side note, did anyone else notice a big change between finding that "sweet spot" between the lean/rich stumbles? I had at least twice the adjustment i had over the stock manifold, and after tuning it while driving ended up the best at about 1/4 turn richer, which makes perfect sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhFUBQZteLs&index=1&list=UU-iWqNXjszxjQ3W01x

Now that the problem is solved, does anybody know why Henry chose a sidedraft carb? An updraft manifold is cheaper to make.



Ed Winfield reportedly didn't like sidedrafts, although he made some.

He didn't, Ford carby configuration is up-draught, on the side is side-draught and from the top is down-draught.

Frank,
The flow through a T carby is horizontal. That is what I understand to be a side-draft carburetor.

Roar, that is good to know, at trade school, and that was many years ago, I was just told that any configuration below the horizontal plane of the port was an up draught, throttle butterfly position was never considered, so I put that in the 'live and learn'.

Frank,
I said "that is my understanding". That doesn't mean I am correct. Yes, the flow from carbie to ports is vertical up, but would it change the designation of the type of carburetor if it was mounted on a manifold like most Skinner Union carbies were?
Just a rhetorical question.

Ricks,
The Ford carb had to be low enough for the gas to flow by gravity from the under seat gas tank to the carb. Probably cheaper to add a little longer/lower intake and a side draft then something like the Schebler up draft.

Jim

I tried one of Glens manifolds on my '13, and couldn't notice any improvement, so I put the original '13 back on. There was no problem with the replacement manifold, I just couldn't tell the difference. I gave the new one away to someone.

Anyone have a high-flow intake they want to get rid of? Now I am curious and want to experiment on my T.

Thanks,
Jim

Original Smith, Don't you realize that your original 1913 manifold is a high volume manifold? Our manifold is slightly larger but I doubt that you would notice the difference. However, when comparing it with the cast iron manifold there is a big difference.

Glen:

That's the same thing I thought in my response to another poster who has a '13 with the larger aluminum ( 1913 standard ) intake. Duh ???