Installation of Intake and Carburetor

I started on the installation of my new Weiand Stealth intake and Holley Street Avenger carburetor last Sunday. I started rather late in the day as we were out of town for most of the weekend. However, I removed the distributor, drained the coolant, and removed the stock intake. I then installed the thermost and mounted the housting the new intake. Finally, I primed and painted the Stealth intake Ford Blue.



On Monday, I intalled the temperature sensor, vacuum port, and a plug in an extra hole in the back of the intake. I cleaned up and installed the factory bracket for the throttle spring. I then painted over these with the Ford Blue. Finally, I painted the black plastic 1" spacer with some aluminum paint to make it look more like the original spacer.

On Tuesday, I ordered a heater elbow and a few other parts from NPD. I checked locally but no one had a heater elbow which fit the intake. After work, I intalled the intake. I took my chances with the cork seal coated with RTV at each end. I used Felpro gaskets and some high tack sealer on the head side of the gasket. I tightened it to spec (15 on ouside bolts and 25 on the inner 8) in 5 ft/lb increments.



On Wednesday, I noticed the cork end seal pushed out a little overnight. I was a little discouraged and concerned about a leak but moved on. I touched up the valve covers with a little Ford Blue. I then bent a new fuel line out of 3/8 brake line. I tried to locate metal fuel line but the auto parts store indicated this was all they carried.

On Thursday, I cleaned up the distributor and worked on reinstalling it. It was difficult to mount because the oil pump shaft was laying against the side of the distributor hole. I asked on VMF and found this is common. I used their advice and put a little Vasoline in the hole to hold the shaft in the middle. This did not work perfectly but made things slippery enough it slid into place after about 12 attempts.

Tonight, my parts arrived from NPD at about 7 o'clock. I was concerned they would not arrive. Once they made it here, I mounted the carburetor, installed the throttle linkage/spring, ran the spark plug wires, connected the heater elbow, and connected all the heater hoses.


I need to make an adjustment to the fuel line, change the oil, and add water to the system in the morning. Once these are done, I'm ready to start the car. I'm told the carburetor should be set well out of the box. My main concern is how off my timing is after removing the distributor.


Comparision

The original intake weighs 38 lbs. The new one is 18 lbs. The ports are much larger. The intake looks very tall when natural aluminum but once painted it looked more like a Ford intake. The height is actually about the same as the stock intake with a 1" spacer.