Tunnel ram or no tunnel ram...

[Miszny]

Hi

I have a nice running 470ci in my car now with 1050 Dominator on Indy single plane intake. This is 11.3:1 setup with decent size solid roller cam and ported Indy SR heads. I cant complain about the combo as is now, I also played with some deeper intake mods to get better fuel distribution on that intake and it payed off nice.
Thing is that Indy tunnel ram intake got into my head like a year ago and I keep wanting to get it more and more.
What do I gain by going this route? Frankly when I think about it, the only downside seems to be stuff sticking out of the hood and lots of money on the table. The rest seems no brainer, but is it rally the case?
I imagine drivability with two smaller carbs is better, more fuel sources for better fuel distribution, cooler charge, more direct fuel delivery. I wanted to get 2x 650 or 750 cfm carbs. Was looking at FST no choke manual secondary carbs at 1st but also started looking around for some nice custom carbs.
Does anyone here have this intake and can share some feedback about it?
Anything I should worry about besides hole in my budget?

 

[clementine]

I'd like to see a picture of the car for reference. I like tunnel rams, but is it used for performance? or looks? both?

 

[MomsDuster]

Well to be honest, I have no experience with the Indy stuff. I'm sure alot will depend on what your use of the car is. I do however have a limited experience with tunnel rams. I'm a trial and error guy, and sometimes that's cost me $$. But i also learn more that way. My car is all street, with the occasional romp. It's reliable and and can drive it anywhere. Don't see myself ever going back, unless I want to put the stock hood back on. I say if you can afford it, do it!

 

[66Valiant528]

I have no experience with that intake and it sounds like this is race only. Is it? All I can say is make sure the carbs have replaceable bleeds screwed in everywhere so you can change them if needed. And don't forget your fuel system. Is what you have now adequate? Just may be an additional expense. Good luck.

 

[younggun2.0]

Hi

I have a nice running 470ci in my car now with 1050 Dominator on Indy single plane intake. This is 11.3:1 setup with decent size solid roller cam and ported Indy SR heads. I cant complain about the combo as is now, I also played with some deeper intake mods to get better fuel distribution on that intake and it payed off nice.
Thing is that Indy tunnel ram intake got into my head like a year ago and I keep wanting to get it more and more.
What do I gain by going this route? Frankly when I think about it, the only downside seems to be stuff sticking out of the hood and lots of money on the table. The rest seems no brainer, but is it rally the case?
I imagine drivability with two smaller carbs is better, more fuel sources for better fuel distribution, cooler charge, more direct fuel delivery. I wanted to get 2x 650 or 750 cfm carbs. Was looking at FST no choke manual secondary carbs at 1st but also started looking around for some nice custom carbs.
Does anyone here have this intake and can share some feedback about it?
Anything I should worry about besides hole in my budget?

View attachment 1715974785

View attachment 1715974786

Do it! You won’t regret it! I have one on my 470” as well!

 

[Miszny]

Do it! You won’t regret it! I have one on my 470” as well!

Looks good!

 

[Miszny]

I'd like to see a picture of the car for reference. I like tunnel rams, but is it used for performance? or looks? both?

 

[Miszny]

I have no experience with that intake and it sounds like this is race only. Is it? All I can say is make sure the carbs have replaceable bleeds screwed in everywhere so you can change them if needed. And don't forget your fuel system. Is what you have now adequate? Just may be an additional expense. Good luck.

I have magnaflow 300 pump with return system, should be fine with fuel.

 

[Miszny]

Well to be honest, I have no experience with the Indy stuff. I'm sure alot will depend on what your use of the car is. I do however have a limited experience with tunnel rams. I'm a trial and error guy, and sometimes that's cost me $$. But i also learn more that way. My car is all street, with the occasional romp. It's reliable and and can drive it anywhere. Don't see myself ever going back, unless I want to put the stock hood back on. I say if you can afford it, do it!

I also try stuff on my own, I had major pain with fuel distribution in my Indy intake, so I tried different ideas and finally it works pretty good. At least plugs look very similar now. Unfortunately I don’t have a photo after final sanding, but this photo shows what needed to be done.
Frankly I really like the looks of that Indy tunnel ram intake ;-)

 

[Miszny]

Do it! You won’t regret it! I have one on my 470” as well!

What’s the deal with throttle linkage? Is it diy stuff or is there a ready solution that can be bought? What cfm carbs are on your engine?
What is your spec?

 

[MomsDuster]

I also try stuff on my own, I had major pain with fuel distribution in my Indy intake, so I tried different ideas and finally it works pretty good. At least plugs look very similar now.
Frankly I really like the looks of that Indy tunnel ram intake ;-)

View attachment 1715974800

That Indy ram with those FST's would definitely look insanely cool!

 

[Miszny]

I'd like to see a picture of the car for reference. I like tunnel rams, but is it used for performance? or looks? both?

I saw this before, also not long ago I built a 440 with cross ram intake and was very happy with how it ran.

 

[younggun2.0]

What’s the deal with throttle linkage? Is it diy stuff or is there a ready solution that can be bought? What cfm carbs are on your engine?
What is your spec?

470” low deck
6.700 chevy rods
Molnar 3.91” stroke crank
10.6:1 -12cc step dish piston
Solid roller 254 @ .050
Trick flow 240 heads
Twin 750’s built by bigs
Runs 9.80’s on pump gas driving to the track.

 

[Miszny]

That Indy ram with those FST's would definitely look insanely cool!

Yep frankly looks of that Indy tunnel ram made me want to do this route, then I did some reading, talked to some people and started to think that this is the way to go.

 

[younggun2.0]

What’s the deal with throttle linkage? Is it diy stuff or is there a ready solution that can be bought? What cfm carbs are on your engine?
What is your spec?

Throttle linkage was custom deal, bought kit for BBC and modified it to work

 

[Miszny]

470” low deck
6.700 chevy rods
Molnar 3.91” stroke crank
10.6:1 -12cc step dish piston
Solid roller 254 @ .050
Trick flow 240 heads
Twin 750’s built by bigs
Runs 9.80’s on pump gas driving to the track.

My setup is similar, just 11.3:1
263/[email protected] 106lsa .740 lift solid roller
Compuflow ported Indy sr heads. About carbs, I’m kinda in between. Custom built carbs will be like 3100$ vs 1600 for 2 FSTs… Frankly price difference covers intake price with linkage and some other small bits so I’m kinda puzzled.

 

[younggun2.0]

My setup is similar, just 11.3:1
263/[email protected] 106lsa .740 lift solid roller
Compuflow ported Indy sr heads. About carbs, I’m kinda in between. Custom built carbs will be like 3100$ vs 1600 for 2 FSTs… Frankly price difference covers intake price with linkage and some other small bits so I’m kinda puzzled.

Bigs did my carbs for $1800

 

[Rat Bastid]

My setup is similar, just 11.3:1
263/[email protected] 106lsa .740 lift solid roller
Compuflow ported Indy sr heads. About carbs, I’m kinda in between. Custom built carbs will be like 3100$ vs 1600 for 2 FSTs… Frankly price difference covers intake price here so I’m kinda puzzled.

Assuming you can even get the FST carbs you will have to set them up. You will have to correct the idle circuit first and work from there. Even if FST (or almost all non custom carbs) says it’s calibrated for a TR, you have to take them apart and verify and correct the tune up.

Don’t buy your carbs based on CFM rating. Look at the venturi diameter and throttle blade diameter. As big as your engine is you can use a 1.4XX venturi and 1.75 throttle blades.

 

[rumblefish360]

Draw backs?

Twice the carb to tune
Limited vision
More weight

Who cares?!?!

Pros?

More power

The throttle tip in will be very responsive and more touchy because the overall area of throttle blade opening is double. It won’t take much pressing the go pedal to feel the improvement! That’s for sure.

MoPar used to have an advertisement for there tunnel ram which said, “20 hp out of thin air.” Which just makes me laugh because I think very much so that’s a low estimate. However, everything is combo dependent. You do have an excellent intake system now. I’d still get a 20hp min gain.

To top the list of which is just that it simply looks bitchen. The only other bolt on item that screams power as loudly as a tunnel ram is a big fat 8 or 10/71 blower. Which is probably not to good with an 11.3-1 combo right now. LOL! It could be bad…..

I definitely have plans for a tunnel ram X’s 2!
I’m just stock piling parts.

 

[clementine]

I am looking to run a tunnel on the 34 coupe....need to find the engine first. I have a 400 block and a 360 LA roller. They look really cool.

 

[Miszny]

Draw backs?

Twice the carb to tune
Limited vision
More weight

Who cares?!?!

Pros?
More power

The throttle tip in will be very responsive and more touchy because the overall area of throttle blade opening is double. It won’t take much pressing the go pedal to feel the improvement! That’s for sure.

MoPar used to have an advertisement for there tunnel ram which said, “20 hp out of thin air.” Which just makes me laugh because I think very much so that’s a low estimate. However, everything is combo dependent. You do have an excellent intake system now. I’d still get a 20hp min gain.

To top the list of which is just that it simply looks bitchen. The only other bolt on item that screams power as loudly as a tunnel ram is a big fat 8 or 10/71 blower. Which is probably not to good with an 11.3-1 combo right now. LOL! It could be bad…..

I definitely have plans for a tunnel ram X’s 2!
I’m just stock piling parts.

View attachment 1715974827

Tuning it sure will be fun, but after headaches I had with my single plane with single dominator I feel that I'm ready for it ;-)
Also tuning that cross ram with Edelbrocks which I domt like too much made me think its actually not that hard. Beginners luck perhaps.
I was thinking to get all the stuff ready for next season. I just recently killed Spicer slip yoke in my trans while street racing and had too much idle time to think about whats next so here we are. I guess I need to buy this intake while its available, you never know these days.

 

[Miszny]

Indy tunnel ram comes with option of having carbs inline or sideways mounted. Whats the best option to go with and why?
I remember that hemi 2x4 intake has inline mounted carbs, but most of the tunnel ram stuff I see has them sideways...

 

[younggun2.0]

Indy tunnel ram comes with option of having carbs inline or sideways mounted. Whats the best option to go with and why?
I remember that hemi 2x4 intake has inline mounted carbs, but most of the tunnel ram stuff I see has them sideways...

I think linkage and fuel lines are easier with side mounted plus I don’t think you can run 4150’s in line

 

[66Valiant528]

I have front to rear mounted 4150s but it a Weiand TR. Nice cheap linkage. How the floats work is also an issue. The sideways carbs require some $200 linkage. It is certainly easier to jet with sideways bowls. I think the hole in the hood would be bigger. So this is a hot street car that runs 9s at the track?

 

[TT5.9mag]

The tunnel ram with its long long runners and straight shot fuel delivery will make gobs more torque than your current single plane and 1050. It should pick up a little on top but you’ll really notice it down low. Lots of horror stories float around about tunnel rams not being good on the street and hard to tune but I think that comes from guys not willing to dive deep into their carburetors. The more time you put in the better your result will be. I second the replaceable brass comment from above. Whatever carbs you choose, make everything adjustable.