Autolite In-line

JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
Jac Mac / Sandy,
I took this thing apart this evening for a peep inside.
It's much better made than those Webers in my opinion.
Now I can't wait to try it.
 

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James, Im not sure but I think you will find a lot of small parts are similar to those in the 1100/2100/4100/4300 series Ford/autolite carbs- yes even the single barrel carb fitted to plain jane escorts/cortinas/capris with x/flow pushrod motors. stuff like acc pump diaphragms etc.
 

JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
Jac,
I guess that you are correct.
The box of spares that came with this piece was pretty comprehensive and some of them looked familar. I have an old Ford/Autolite carb spares catalogue somewhere so I will have a look this weekend.
Looking at the water passage modifications to change the set-up and fit from Cleveland to Windsor heads. Otherwise I will make a new lower manifold to fit the Windsors - interesting Ford stuff.
 
James ,Can you show the mods made to change boss Ceveland to windsor. I think the windsor with 9.2 deck leaves room for adapter plates. I am wondering about doing this to a 347 with 8.2" deck but i fear the port missmatch would be hard to fiX.
Randy
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
Which inline is it, the "big un" (1200CFM) or the smaller 850 CFM unit? I used to have rebuild kits for those, but sold them all a few years ago. If you go to boss302.com there is a guy who has numerous parts and such for the Autolite inlines. And yes, some bits are shared amoungst the Autolite carb series.

See Four Barrel Inline Carb - Popular Hot Rodding Magazine for the modern take on the inline carb.
 
James ,Can you show the mods made to change boss Ceveland to windsor. I think the windsor with 9.2 deck leaves room for adapter plates. I am wondering about doing this to a 347 with 8.2" deck but i fear the port missmatch would be hard to fiX.
Randy

Randy, If your not concerned about originality then CHI 3v heads should be a bolt on swap to an 8.2 block with the lower Boss 302 inline base. To make it fit Windsor heads on 8.2 would require a windsor specific base. I would also look into the possibility of adapting it onto a modern Ford Fuel Injection lower half with a mini plenum if you wish to do a Windsor.
The 8.7" Dart- 9.2" Clevland/Sportsman Windsor- 9.5" Windsor could all be done with adaptors.
Bud Moore used to make a 351c Mini Plenum type base also.
 

JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
Rick,
A very informative article so thank you very much.
I've been told this is a type "A", the smaller version 850 CFM for Trans am.
 
There is a fellow on the ClubCobra website that is running 2 of these on a specially designed manifold on a 427 FE. He made some very nice air filters for them too.

I seem to recall a problem with them was the fuel level was above the parting line of the assemblies(??) and there was some seepage. Is that correct?
Rick
 
Just thinking out loud here, its pretty obvious that they were always intended for manifolds of the plenum type rather than IR. With no ram tubes etc reversion would be a problem in IR application. I wonder if the case that Rick mentions is an IR application.
 
Jac - By reversion do you mean simple spray back or is it accompanied by a pressure wave sent back due to overlap that affects pick/off and atomization? AJ
 
Jac - By reversion do you mean simple spray back or is it accompanied by a pressure wave sent back due to overlap that affects pick/off and atomization? AJ

AJ, Webers on dedicated 1cyl per barrel manifolds with no balance passages to other cyl runners/barrels will virtually always have a point in the rev range where atomized fuel will [stand-off] above the carb bellmouth/ram tube. the height that it stands off away from the carb is dictated by cam timing/RPM/Runner & carb volumes/areas. The ram tube helps to contain most of this which is then ingested in the next induction cycle only to be replaced by another lot when RPM is held at the point this occurs. Now with the inline carb on a common plenum type manifold this reversion pulse/wave which occurs as soon as the intake valve closes is able to take place within the manifold plenum as other cyls will be on the intake cycle to absorb it.
There is no reason why Webers could not be adapted onto a similar manifold for similar results- indeed Stan J was looking into a setup along these lines not long ago. The new BG inline is not available for sale yet, but prices for a SBC are up around US$2150.00/$2600.00 on his website ( I think that includes the intake as well ).
As I suggested earlier the late model injection bases would be good start point to adapt one onto a Ford 302/351w.
 
JacMac, I get what you're saying - a common plenum allows the individual port reversion pulse to be absorbed somewhat by other cylinders on the intake stroke - but don't you think there's some flow and efficiency lost by the atomized fuel hitting some hard corners and flat bottoms (of the plenum) of a typical common plenum spider arrangement and then partially condensing on the wall on impact v. individual runners without hard turns and flat sides/bottoms??
 
JacMac, I get what you're saying - a common plenum allows the individual port reversion pulse to be absorbed somewhat by other cylinders on the intake stroke - but don't you think there's some flow and efficiency lost by the atomized fuel hitting some hard corners and flat bottoms (of the plenum) of a typical common plenum spider arrangement and then partially condensing on the wall on impact v. individual runners without hard turns and flat sides/bottoms??

Power output of Nascar stuff all of which use a 'spider' type plenum intake tends to dispell that Cliff.

But in this particular case that AJ raised we were thinking of the Inline Carb on an IDA type manifold or adapted to the lower half of a SBF Windsor intake, either of which would have a plenum between carb base & manifold runners-preferably with a divider setup to pair cyls @ 180° intervals. Fuel seperation is a bit weird to understand at times and sharp corners etc can actually help rather than hinder this. I remember a conversation with a guy who did a lot of back to back testing between dyno & flowbench on clevelands years ago who gave me this little gem of info.
The Cleveland intake valve dia dictates that the cyl wall be notched for flow & clearance. In flow testing on a dummy block setup the best numbers were obtained when the notch matched the cyl head chamber & was nicely blended into the cyl wall ( above the top ring travel). However on the Dyno this did not produce the same power as the previously unmatched setup. After several experiments and a lot of head scratching ( just as well it was a dummy block:) ) it dawned on him that the airflow at that particular point was slower and the fuel was dropping out of suspension , attaching itself to the cyl wall & playing no further useful purpose. To cure the problem instead of blending the notch into the cyl wall he created a ''skateboard ramp'' style notch that 'flicks' the flow at that point into the cyl.
On further testing he was then able to decrease the jet sizes to increase power, a sign that quite a lot of fuel was being wasted by the problem.
So a manifold along the lines of the CrossBoss of Jimmy Mac's can and does work well at higher RPM, but may still require some work at lower RPM. Makes me think that it might also need some means of plenum volume reduction to work on the street. Gotta admit that I might be persuaded to try a setup on my own car just for the hell of it, but that wont be soon enough for most folk.:)
 

JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
Jac,
Here are a couple of pictures of the plenum inside the Cross Boss manifold.
There are lifts in the casting at the top of each port.
 

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JimmyMac - We're going to test JacMac's memory here as mine has suffered terminal fade but I remember some years ago a well known tuner had modified a set of heads to produce that same effect only IN the port itself.Reasoning was that it produced a turbulence causing the flow to turn more easily toward the entry around the valve and keep the fuel in atomization - that sort of 'kick' in direction that Jac had mentioned. A.J.
 
A.J., That wouldnt surprise me in the least, there have been many different approachs to this, Think it was either AFR or Brodix that applied 'dimples' in the valve throat & chamber walls to create turbulence for this reason, Im sure others were doing similar tricks to achieve the same. Must be nightmare for the cyl head manufacturers to build a product where 'one size' fits all ( disregarding the common intake port volume designations ) as most people opt for -bigger is better-. Often not the case particularly in road racing.
 
in_lines_003 - Club Cobra Photo Gallery

The Autolite inline was concieved as a way for Ford to bend the rules in Trans am Racing in approx 1970. The rules makers discouraged Webers by stating the "Four throttle plates or venturies had to share a common casting" or something like that. This was in an effort to direct everyone towards the common Holley which all the manufacturers had some experience with. Then Ford devised these. They were allowed for some time and then I don't know if they were outlawed also or became more trouble than they were worth. I think at that point at Fords insistance the Holley Dominator type carb was concieved.
This is how I remember it evolving, anyone closer to the source?

Around 1988 (?) Ernie Elliott (Nascar Ford engine guru) experimented by placing dimples throughout the combustion chamber to create swirl of the mixture and that year he and his Brother bill were the ones to beat in Nascar.
 
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Howard Jones

Supporter
Here's a picture of what listed on Barry Grant's website.

Jegs Racing has them for about $2000. Here. That's about twice the cost of a 4 barrel and intake but it is a interesting alternative and I bet the cost comes down with increased production rates.

bad man - JEGS High Performance
 

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