merc 885 dual carb manifold

[lefty rodan]

Year ago at Hershey if memory serves correctly, a guy from the Midwest claimed to have cast a dual intake for the 49-51 Mercury 885 carbs. He said the carbs mounted sideways and operated off of a bell crank linkage set up like that use in Ford six cylinder trucks in the 70's. Mounting carbs sideways conserved space behind the generator and kept the air cleaners at the carb level. Anyone know anything about these or have one? Sure be neat looking on my 296 Merc flattie? Lefty Rodan

 

[tubman]

The only flathead manifold that was made for 4 bolt base carbs I know of is the "Edmunds Racing" for later flatheads. Note that the carburetors on this manifold are mounted in a conventional manner, not side ways. I think what you are referring to is a chimera. This is probably OK, because turning the carbs 90 degrees would screw up the fuel distribution and I don't see how it would help with generator clearance. The air cleaners might fit better, though.

 

[rotorwrench]

I'd like to see one if they still exist. I've only recently had knowledge of the one in post #2. The big Lincoln/truck 885 has the higher CFM but Mercury types would also work on them.

 

[Alaska Jim]

I have one like the one in tubman's picture. I have had it for over 15 years. I was always going to put it on my Merc. , but could not bring myself to disturb the originality of this true survivor car. It only has 86K actual miles on it I have the manifold setting on a shelf. I started to polish it at one time, but it still needs a final polish to look really nice. I think this manifold would work well with a couple of 2gc's or some of the carter back draft carbs. I thought about using some of them with a paxson supercharger, but like I said , I could not bring myself to take the car apart. I like it the way it is, and it runs, and drives great. I do believe that this manifold may not be "rare" , but I think that it is not very common either. carb placement is directly over the runners, so fuel distribution should be good. It would require an off-set Generator mount though.