Straight Eight Manifolds

T

Tom Gallagher

Team Member
:waving: Hey Guys

I just happened accross and Advertizement for:

Empire Motors INC
13451 Montana Ave.
El Paso, TX 79938-9616
915-8569607

They Have a Casting and Machining Division
and have Exhaust Manifolds for Straight Eight Buicks 1926-52

Might be something worth L(.)(.)KING into:thumbsup:

Regards,:beers:

Tom Gallagher
 
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Thanks for the heads up Tom. I bought a manifold off ebay but it had been cracked and welded back together so it won't fit the head. I would rather buy a new part whenever it is available.
 
:waving: Hey Jim

I got the Advertizement from "OLD CARS" Weekly New and Magazine.

They Mention the Manifolds He has:

But doesn't quote any prices.

I wonder if he has Intake Manifolds?:confused:

The Duel Carb intake would be a rather nice Option

Just for personal information, What years where the dual carb intake available?:confused:

I realize that they would be a rather "Popular Item /Option

Perhaps Buick Teams Members could convice him to come-up with a re-pop
if there is enough interest.

Apparently, He has the Know-How and Machinery to accomplish this type of re-production.

If He could come-up with something it would be. I think a worthwhile project.:thumbsup:

Regards,:beers:

Tom Gallagher
 
Tom Gallagher said:
Just for personal information, What years where the dual carb intake available?:confused:
Click to expand...

Hey Tom,
The dual carb intakes were available in '41 and '42. I'm always on the lookout, but they always go for way more than I'm prepared to pay.
 
The dual system from Buick had two carburetors and the exhaust manifold was actually two 4 cylinder manifolds that originally used a "Y" pipe to run out the left side.
I have the exhaust manifolds on my 40 Super convert,and run dual exhaust pipes but I did not install the carbs. I have the intake, but did not use it as I have the later (263 ) intake ,and run a 39 Century carb. The big carb feeds it quite well, and it still almost looks original. The exhaust system looks like it belongs there. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :beers: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
Straight Eight Dual Carb Intake

:waving: Hey Scott and Joe T

Thanks for Passing along the "Valued Information" :thumbsup:

I wonder why the Dual Carb Set-Up was restricted to ONLY those Two Model Years? :confused:

Also: Was it restricted to Only the Large Straight 8......or:
Was it also available on the small one? :confused:

Regards,:beers:

Tom Gallagher
 
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"I wonder why the Dual Carb Set-Up was restricted to ONLY those Two Model Years?"

The dual carbs were introduced to up the power in '41. The '42s also had the option, but then WW II came along.......
The dual carbs were available on both the large and small straight eights.

After the war, Buick decided not to reintroduce this option as it was 1) expensive, and 2) getting the carbs in synch and keeping that way was a female dog. The latter was according to my stepdaddy, an oldtime mechanic. A friend of mine also had a '41 Super for a while and he confirmed the old man's story about the set-up.

Postwar cars, 1946, 47 and 48, were warmovers of the 1942 models for all manufacturers. Plus, the dealers would order them from the factory loaded. Cars were a seller's market those years. Stepdaddy bought a 1946 Super convertible because the Navy officer who had ordered it was sent to sea and my old man was next on the list.

Prewar, the Buick Special was the big seller, as it gave a considerable jump in quality over the Chevy at very little additional cost. After the war, Buick concentrated on the Supers and Roadmasters and the Supers moved into the top seller spot.

Back to carbs, the dual carb set up lead to the introduction on the 1952 Roadmaster of the first factory 4 barrel carb.
 
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In 1941 the 320 inch Buick was rated at 165 HP. Caddilac was rated at 160, and that knocked their nose out of joint! Caddy was supposed to be GMs "premier" car, and they prevailed on the suits to make the Buick subservient to them. :confused:
 
'49 Super manifolds.

I did it this way:
1) Take apart everything left side of cyl. head.-
2) Clean PERFECTLY this side of cyl. head.-
3) Take a copy (type contact-vegetable-paper-and-sticky fingers) of the cyl. head left side. Every hole, I say: Bolts, exhaust, inlet, GUIDE RINGS, etc. Then, apply this fine paper to the cyl. head and check that it's aligned O,OOOO1 inch with every hole in da head.
4) Cut a piece of square steel tube, genre 1,2 mm. thick wall, 1 1/2 inch faces, 1 metre or so long.
5) Project PERFECTLY all the holes from the paper onto any side of the square tube. Mark it, and drill only the holes you need for the bolts.
Note.- Don't use NEVER (I repeat, NEVER NEVER), any type of manifold gaskets. Never. Neither original 'uns, or used ones, or NASA original space-aged ones, and much NEITHER GM stock gaskets. This is fundamental, sorry I don't know this word in english.
6) Install firmly the two main bodies of the manifold combo over that damn square-shaped tempered steel beam.
And now, (after recovered from the heart attack when seen the effects of 60 years over the supposed aligned parts), NOW is the time to go happily to where the welding magicians are, with the entire exhaust system safely bolted to the jig you made before. The materials of these headers, er, pardon, manifolds, are weaker than cookies; thus, you'll need an artist to weld each body. Ain't just blinding each crack, hole or gap in the weak manifold, but reinforce it.
When the artist finished, the header silver lacked, the new & fine gaskets instaled and all of the bolts & screws tightened, then you light the powerplant, and it fires, and purrs like a happy tiger after a three-female session of... well, yes, welding, dontcha?
 
Actually, it's looking like to me( I've been looking at this for many years now) that there was a lot more going on at buick than we've read. Caddilac probably was "bent" about buicks "extra" 5 hp but I think its more than that. I have a early photo of Harley Earls car , the Y-job, about 1939, it's got dual carbs. The 263 str8 of 1950, was not R&D'ed in the late 40's but the late 30's. Why? One thing particular, if you look at a clean 263 block, at the side motor mount bosses, you can tell that the bosses were added to the casting molds at a later date. The engine was desighed to be front mounted. Like 40-41 engines, etc. Its also clear that the guy(s) that did the dual carbs did the 263, both very advanced units. There was no doubt that there was a cool head to go with. The whole thing was a package deal. Ready for 40-41 model year. You can bet there was a engine for the big series as well. These engines were going to be blockbusters. The little engine would have easly out powered Caddillac, and made everything in GM's line up look antique. Caddie was upset? I'll bet even chevy had something to say. All out war was probably more like it. Buick got punished, for a very long time. alleycat
 
Empire Motors

There's no way to sugar coat this Empire motors is NOT even a place to consider doing buisness. They have been sued, removed from Hemmings, and I had them removed from The Bugle, after thet relisted with an alias. I would like to know where they are advertising now. It was more than a year it took to get my money back and never recieved a manifold, and I am not the only one. Only after I joined others in alerting people in forums and had their ads stopped in the Buick Bugle did they refund my money and they wanted me to pull all my postings. They will have you send a check and you will not get a product. I have no problem with saying they are dishonest, and that is the nicest thing to say about them. ~T~
 
Well if they are that bad I don't want to take a chance. I found the front dual manifold on ebay and so now I just need the rear section. I thought I would do the same thing and run dual exhaust.
 
Empire Motors

:waving: Hey Tbone.

Thanks for the "Heads-Up ! :thumbsup:

I got the advertizement from "OLD Cars Weekly New and Marketplace

Regards,:beers:

Tom Gallagher :shield:
 
Jim Carmichael said:
Well if they are that bad I don't want to take a chance. I found the front dual manifold on ebay and so now I just need the rear section. I thought I would do the same thing and run dual exhaust.
Click to expand...

I was watching that and saw that you won. I was going to bid, but I thought it had another day on it. You got a great price, partley because my head was somewhere else. Good luck finding the exhaust manifolds, I think that seller had them, but already sold them. Congrats on a good deal.
 
248 cu in Straight 8 Intake & Exhaust what are they worth?

What are 248 cu in Straight 8 Single carb Intake & Exhaust manifolds worth, with No Cracks?


Lowest and Highest prices for 1948 to 1950 era Manifolds
 
The main reason that the dual carbs was dropped was gas mileage. The engine ran on one carb only until the second was brought into play by mashing the gas pedal, sort of like the later 4 barrels worked. But they sucked up gas like Saudi Arabia was next door, probably since the fuel distribution while running on one carb had to be absolutely terrible. The thing to do now is run the manifold with two primary carbs and tune it accordingly. There are some postings here about that. One other thing about the dual carb engines was that they used smaller spark plugs than earlier. These also gave a lot of trouble and the dealers were provided a kit to re-drill the heads for the earlier, larger plugs. These may have also contributed to the lousy gas mileage.
 
buick dual carbs

I have a 39 buick century that has the dual carbs 42 buick. It runs great,smooth strong power, and works just like a four barrel. Went on a Buick run to Santa Maria and got 14 mpg. I was trying to drive it easy with mileage as a goal, trying not to tip in the secondary however their were some mountain climbs, but overall thats not too bad [4000 # car with 3.90 gears]. Following a club member on a uphill section I had it in second gear and were waiting for a chance to pass a slower car, as he whipped out to pass in his big 71 buick convert, I stomped on my 39 and stayed with him all the way around the other car till I had to shift. Love them straight 8,s. I have many miles on my duals and never a problem,. An oldtime tuneup shop owner gave me some of his carb tools and asked about tuning the dual carbs, he had lots of experience with them.and said they worked fine if you knew how to work on them, a lotta tuners didnt. Also Buick had introduced the small plugs for use with a newr reformulated gas but when WW2 came along the govmnt reintroduced the older gas, it didnt work well with those plugs. there was a recall on that problem to drill out and tap for the big plugs.
 
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