Porting the Edelbrock Pro Flow XT 7137

Thanks Grumpy. I hope that I've helped cure this XT of what its flow ceiling. The as cast tests I've seen with it show what can only be described as a ceiling or plateau where it really hits the wall. While the XT 435, Eddy's own crate motor using the XT manifold, power cuts off at 6K. It makes 442 hp, but drops like a rock from about 5K. The same was true of the 383 install. That one used a too small cam for the heads and short runner intake, but I still blame the runners for much of the low ceieling that motor displayed. It is too bad I don't have before and after dyno results. Still, my own experience tells me that this intake should know support 6,500-6,800rpm from a 350 and 6,300-6,500 from a 383. Peak torque may not have moved much from the 5K it has shown in previous installs, I expect though that the bulk of under curve torque will have moved northward 500+rpm. I know that I probably moved the torque more than I had originally intended. Since this intake will find its way onto a largr motor in a few years, I'm not too worried about it. As I said from early on, this is a bit of old school work here. No solid data on my heads and no flow bench or dyno to quantify the results. I can think of a few 5th gen Camaro owners however that will come to fear this little 355 after it runs past their LS3s at the dragstrip. That will just have to be proof enough of my results.

Here are photos of the second pair of runners, #s 6 & 8. I still have smoothing and radius work to do. Some detail work still to do where the rear of runner #8 meets the rear plenum wall.
 

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Sorry about all the spelling and grammar errors in the last post. I try to proof read before I submit anything for the sake of the reader. I got rushed finishing up earlier. Reading that mess is painful.

I talked to my engineer friend tonight. Plan to get out to his place tomorrow for a look at his shop and to talk about this manifold. Sounds like his mill will be great for this project. I'll update tomorrow night.
 
Had a great evening Saturday. Hung out in my friend Travis's machine shop with Travis and my son Michael. Both are engineers and we had a nice time tossing around ideas for the XT plenum. At this point, since bank 2 runners are complete aside from radius clean up, I'm going to take the piece back to the welder and have him build up the areas where he cut too deep. Mostly at the rear of the bank 1 side and the front of the bank 2 side where he did get a little close to the runners. After that, I'll go to work porting the bank 1 runners. Once I'm able to finish bank 1 with plenty of room at the outside, the unit will go to Travis for flat milling the sides before installing the plenum side walls. Travis had one idea of replacing the cast side walls with aluminum flat bar, which may be easier to work with. I'll think on this between now and when we reach that point. If I do use the existing cast walls, Ill need to have Travis flat mill those to fit the milled mating surfaces where the walls attach to the plenum floor.

Overall, it was a great evening and I went away feeling good that Travis will be able to cover the machine work needed to bring this piece together really well. His mill will also be perfect for making the TB adapter.
 
Fuel rails and injectors arrived today. Mocked up one rail and injector to look at where the injector tip sits in the bung. Also wanted to look at clearance above the rail, how it will work with the TPI throttle bracket. As you can see, the injector sits about a 1/4" back in the bung. Still tons of room for trimming, if I decided to. For now, I think I'll leave it alone, since I've already got so much added CSA through that area. For the future though, it's nice to know the capacity is there for more trimming. Above the rails, there looks to be lots of clearance. I'll know more when I mock up the bracket this spring.

These PICO injectors are unlike anything I've seen. Working with factory EFI since 1992, I've seen every variation of factory fuel injector there is. These things from Edelbrock are tiny. Not only are they short, but they are just tiny. I guess they'll work okay. Just weird looking.
 

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well it looks like slow but consistent, and potentially quite helpful, progress is being made.
 
Lol. Sorry if these photos make you dizzy. I swear it's this cheap camera. Though i may be partly to blame. It was a long day.

Progress is slow to be sure. You nice folks will wonder if this will ever be done long before it is. I marked up the exits for runners 1 and 3 today after work but I'm thinking maybe I should get into the welder first. God knows what kind of mess I'll have to clean after he's done.
 
your not the first and you sure won,t be the last guy to find out,
that you can improve an engines performance by customizing the components,
but that process can take some research, hard physical and at times mental work,
new tools, new skills, and usually some minor mistakes and a lot of trial and error and cleaning up.
 
Progress is slow to be sure. You nice folks will wonder if this will ever be done long before it is.
Oh, I think I can handle it!!! I started my engine build in November 2010 and didn't finish
it until March 2012. Then there was transmission to build, so it was March 2014 before I
started the engine for the first time.
 
The process is most of the fun. The finished product is the icing on the cake. Here are some better photos. Not a whole lot better, but better.
 

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Thanks Rick. The Samsung S4 I had a couple years ago, and even the Kyocera Duraforce my wife got me cause I kept breaking the Samsungs, had flash and a great little camera. The high pixel count with flash usually always took great photos, even with me snapping shots of a carb or underhood of a car freehand. I take photos before teardown of anything that's different or weird for reference going back together. I get tired of re-routing harnesses and hoses on a vehicle after another tech has done a job and left things in a mess. I really work to make sure the car leaves with everything just the way it was built, if not better. After 40 years, I've learned to care about the small details.

I do see that the more still I can keep the camera, the clearer the photo. I will work on that. A tripod does sound like a great idea.
 
Second day in a row I couldn't find the welder. His shop was closed yesterday and again today. I already have some concern for whether he'll be able to do this job the way I expect it to be done. I have found another possible option. A shop here in town that did some work for one of my customers. I think I'll stop by there today and see what they have to say about this project. I'll feel a lot better having a good TIG welder on board.
 
keep an eye out for any place like that welding shop that might be moving or closing you might be able to score a good financial deal,
on a used welder, most places would rather make a few hundred bucks rather than store older equipment as they would generally prefer,
to upgrade the equipment at the new location or when they restart the business.
you might also look for adds in the local craigs list or bargain trader magazines.

https://www.eastwood.com/welders/ti...MIjvmesPeF2QIVXrbACh3r0ARzEAAYASAAEgKgXvD_BwE

https://www.red-d-arc.com/Used-Equi...US&BranchCode=016&Subclass=LK1478&BranchID=63

yeah freely admit I'm a tool junkie
ebay (look for local adds as the welder would ideally be tested before purchasing it)

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/bits-of-tig-welding-info.295/#post-71286

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...d-stuff-get-decent-equipment.1669/#post-70657


http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/lincoln-355-tig-welder.8344/#post-29025

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...r-to-check-out-used-welders-advertised.12992/

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ld-gas-selection-for-welding.1108/#post-56751

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/welder-deals.11418/#post-52349

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/most-versital-shop-welder.1594/#post-50625


http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ng-for-a-dirt-cheap-mig-tig.10697/#post-46484

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/planing-a-shop.8982/#post-32014

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/how-to-wire-a-shop.5/

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...sten-size-amp-chart-per-metal-thickness.9235/

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-gentlemen-feel-comfortable-tig-welding.3284/
 
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Thanks Grumpy. It sure would be great right now if I TIG welded myself. I thought about buying a TIG setup instead of the MIG I have now. In fact I looked closely at the Eastwood units you have linked. I ended up going with what was more affordable. Maybe I'll get into TIG sometime soon.
 
its fully possible to weld aluminum with some of the larger amp rated MIG welders, or convert some arc welders to tig


p20565.jpg

but the cost to modify those existing mig or arc welders with the required accessory kits now exceed the cost of a few of the available new tig welders in some cases.
obviously youll want to compare feature amp ratings and work/time

https://www.eastwood.com/tig200acdc...MI2fuG1MaH2QIVGbXACh3zAwl5EAQYAyABEgLtUfD_BwE








spoolmatic-30a_002.jpg

https://www.millerwelds.com/accesso...product-options-title=spoolmatic-30-ft-130831

https://www.millerwelds.com/equipment/welders/mig-gmaw/millermatic-252-mig-welder-m00218

both lincoln and miller have kits available to convert the mig welders to either weld aluminum as a mig welder or convert existing arc welders to tig welding


weld212.jpg
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several of my friends own this miller 212 mig welder and give it rave reviews
https://www.millerwelds.com/equipment/welders/mig-gmaw/millermatic-212-auto-set-mig-welder-m00456



weld252.jpg
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I bought this miller 252, mig several years ago,
and so far its performed well on everything I've attempted to use it on,
yes I think we all wish quality welders cost less,but you tend to get what you pay for in tool quality.
and it should be obvious that you'll need too read the manual and practice a bit.
before you get good results and loading the mig welder with quality wire
millfeedw.png

and using the correct shield gas is mandatory, and yes there,s adjustments on the welder wire feed and it helps to experiment a bit,
and it should be obvious that the wire must be maintained rust free so spraying it with a bit of wd 40 might be a good idea ,
and certainly covering the welder and keeping it stored in a well ventilated and dry place when not in use is mandatory.
milcov.png

https://www.millerwelds.com/equipment/welders/mig-gmaw/millermatic-252-mig-welder-m00218
I don,t know anyone whose purchased a better quality lincoln or miller mig welder rated at 200 amps or higher that regrets spending the cash required to do so later on,
but I,ve heard a good many people who bought much less expensive mig welder,
who deeply regret not waiting and spending a bit more on a better welder.
good option if you can afford too do so.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200383272_200383272?cm_mmc=Bing-pla&utm_source=Bing_PLA&utm_medium=Welding > Engine Drive Welding&utm_campaign=Lincoln Electric&utm_content=164593
164593a.jpg

164593b.jpg


http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200622186_200622186

hobartw1a.jpg
 
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I just bought the foot control in this picture (ebay - $109.) to replace the cheap piece of crap one that came with my Miller Econotig.
A resistance check of the potentiometer inside revealed the resistance was all over the place. No wonder I could not keep a steady arc,
and blow through with just a slight increase of the pedal. I was also going to add a second potentiometer to limit the maximum output
in TIG mode (foot control goes from zero to 100%), but this foot control already does this (knob on the side).
 
I decided to give the original welder a chance. I finally got in touch with him yesterday and dropped the manifold off with him. I'll see how he does on the filling in of the plenum edges. If the welds look good, I'll stick with him for the finish welds. If not, the welds he does will be milled down and I'll get someone else for the completion of the job.

The MIG welder I have is the Eastwood 185. It's a 220volt unit with a decent torch. It is an economy welder. The wire drive is plastic vs aluminum like those of better welders. I have to remember to be gentle with it so not to break it. As far as performance goes, it works fine. It came with a spool gun for aluminum. I would have to get different gas. I want better welds on this piece though than I have seen done with a MIG on aluminum. I want clean TIG welds.
 
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