Autolite In-line

[Sandy]

The Autolite carbs really look cool, don't know if they work better the a Holley but way cooler IMO. The BG stuff looks cool too, but seems to be a lot of $$. Something unique I guess and interesting. Doesn't anyone love the old Holley 4bbl anymore ;-)

Sandy

[Jac Mac]

I dont like any of them if they are not behavin themselves. Somehow the inline just looks right & knowing that it originated in the same time frame as the GT40 etc is a plus. There again its big enough in the body to 'hide' a set of injectors & slide throttles for all you playstation types who tune with chips-bytes etc rather than spanners, ears & screwdrivers. Real mechanics bite the chips

[Earl J. Castillo]

Hello Jimmy Mac and Jac Mac,
fficeffice" />

I haven’t posted in a while. Been busy with work and when I have time to tinker with the car I’ve been away struggling with my 48 IDA Webers and linkage and stuff. Anyway the photos here are of the Shelby RamBox in both 4V and 8V configuration tops. This manifold was produced for the 289/302 in 1969 and marketed under AutoSport Products Inc. As everyone knows Ford focus for TA racing was on the BOSS 302 after having a dismal season with the Tunnelport 302. I can’t really understand why this manifold was produced with the exception for Drag racing as where it was marketed for. Very few people know of it, even fewer people have seen it. And only handfuls have tested it. I know of only 1 person who actually races with it in Vintage TA racing. I so happen to own it with both tops unmodified and was going to run it in the single 4 barrel configuration as a 331 stroker in my toy car until changed my mind and fuss with these Webers. 8.2 deck block (new M-6010 BOSS302 block) ported C7ZE hipo 289 heads. The base can be fitted to a 9.2 deck block via the 351w adapter. One could even fabricate a top to accomodate the Autolite inline. Anyway I just wanted to throw this out there. To let you know the photo is relatively current here it is on the trunk (boot) of my SLK55.

Regards,
~Earl

[Jac Mac]

Interesting & Rare piece of Alloy you have there Earl, The center pic gives a good idea of the (large) plenum volume, especially on a 289ci motor. would require a healthy accellerator pump shot to get things underway alright & would be fairly sluggish in the lower RPM range, you can compare with the Boss 302 manifold in James earlier post and see the reduced volume in that manifold. be interesting to see the coolant flow rates for L&R banks with that runner design from LH bank. Thanks for pics.

[Kelly]

Hey Jimmymac


Just joined the forum a couple of days ago and noticed this thread. If you really want to run an inline Autolite we should talk. They’ve been a hobby of mine for about 15 years and I’ve rebuilt or restored over a hundred of them. I also have parts to rebuild or configure them for anything they are capable of doing and have a number of carbs and induction systems.

I’d like to offer a couple of observations from the pictures you have posted. The carb is not the 875 cfm “A” carb (D0ZX 9510A). It is a 1425 cfm “B” carb (as in D0ZX 9510). I can tell by the butterfly. It’s the 2 ¼” diameter variety which corresponds to the larger carb. I believe I recognize this set up as having sold on ebay a couple months ago. Is that where you acquired it? If so, I noted there were some other issues to address with the carb.


If you run that carb on a Cross Boss intake, after considerable tuning, you will likely have a system that runs at wide open at throttle or nothing. Doing this would be like putting a 1400+ cfm Holley on a large (in this case huge) open plenum, single plane, intake, only worse. Why worse? The linkage is not progressive and all butterflies open simultaneously on the inline; there are no primaries or secondaries. There will be very poor booster signal and it will be genreally poor performer that will barely run at low Rs, stumbles badly off idle and through transition, fouls plugs, and generally won’t run worth spit accept WOT.


With an 875 A carb it’s better and can be managed, and more displacement will help, but again, will be an induction system more suited for high rpm system and is not a street friendly set up unless you have considerable tolerance and don’t do much in city or stop and go driving. There are plenty running around on Boss 302s.


Contrary to a comment earlier in the thread, in my opinion, the best use for the larger “B” inline carb is IR configuration. They are actually very nice performers in this configuration, especially on bigger displacement engines, since the 2 ¼” butterflies are 57mm compared to the popular 48 IDA weber. The inline Autolite carb is elegantly simple, easy to tune, and will support much higher HP than a 48 IDA since it won’t run out of wind at higher RPMs but still deliver great torque/throttle response like an IDA due to the exceptionally strong signal to the booster, similar to the advantage in Weber IDAs. Some of you will remember that 58mm Webers were actually available for a while.


Below are a couple of pictures of a pair of inlines on a Doug Nash IR intake. It’s a 3-piece intake and can be bolted to anything you can bolt 335 series heads by merely fabbing a Valley pan. This how I set them up for mustangs with 9.2 deck Clevelands complete with integral fuel log and linkage. I have several of these systems available for sale if you are interested.


Best Regards,
Kelly

[JimmyMac]

Hi Kelly,
Firstly, welcome to the forum and many thanks for the worthy information. Also for those pictures of your set-up.

I often wondered about these carbs since I read the Hot Rod reports in the Musclecar series a while ago, hence the purchase. I checked the part numbers after my last post here and found the "B" so you are spot on with your observations regarding cfm. At the time I discovered this, I did consider the possibility of engineering in some smaller venturis (who knows?).

I have always had the idea to cast an IR manifold for a pair of these carbs to go with Canfield heads (Windsor) on a spare block of mine. The idea came from my dis-satisfaction with a 4X2 throttle body set-up which I built on a Cobra manifold a few years back. I made patterns from this manifold then but these require copying and modifying for the Autolite bore centres.

The Cross Boss plenum can go to the back of the shelf as I have no need for it presently. It's a case of too many projects and too little time, twixt ambition.

[Kelly]

Actually Jimmy, You can fab an IR intake fairly easily for fitment to sbf since the inline bores are on exactly the same center as sbf intake ports. If interested, I could potentially help on approach. Drop me a line.

kcoffield@mchsi.com.

[JimmyMac]

Kelly,
Thanks so very much for your kind offer but I've really too much on the go with my chassis at the moment. However I will have a sketch done soon, and all I want to do is replicate the flange face from the Cross Boss to the manifold runs.

I have always been conscious of height in the 40's engine bay and the two Autolites on an sbf IR manifold should be indeed quite short.
My first observations of the Autolite was how simple and well built it was and that throttle mechanism appeared bulletproof in contrast those skinny Weber fittings.

I did buy some Autolite set-up manuals recently so will get around to understanding the layman's view of induction and set-up one of these days. (can't keep pestering JacMac)
Expensive toys to have just lying around ? ~ but the experimentation is fun.

[Jim]

I believe Roush is making or going to make this set up. It's based on the inline but for FI.

[Kelly]

Originally Posted by coupe3w

I believe Roush is making or going to make this set up. It's based on the inline but for FI.

It would be interesting to know if that is really the case. I was told that they weren't going to offer them. Has anyone actually spoken to Roush about this? That set up has been displayed by at SEMA for several years now. I was told the base was just a modified original piece. The top plate may have been soft tooled but the real $ and effort are in tooling the base. It should make a decent FI set up. The original inline carb was intended to better manage fuel distribution on the Cross Boss. Given the placement of the injectors, I doubt the inline throttlebody does much for ya other than the looks. Nice for retro/resto modders.

Kelly

[Big-Foot]

Have you noticed the new Barry Grant inline called "The Badman" ??



Two New Fuel Pumps Especially for Hodrods and Trucks

Looks like it's first development efforts are geared towards the GM line of engines.. Good news for the Lola / McLaren crowd perhaps...



http://horsepowersports.com/barry-gr...el-carburetor/