Exploring the Richwood manifold

[Zuffen]

My engine is in the throes of being assembled (I know the Pyramids were built faseter than my engine) so I started looking at the manifold to see what needed to be done.

First comment is it fits on the engine nicely and doesn't need any machining to clear the front and back water bridges. I know some of the plastic covers won't fit anymore. The fuel rails all fit (one is a tight squeeze below my 90mm T/B).

I had to intall 4 additional hosetails for:

1. The Map sensor
2. The boost gauge
3. The Water/Meth controller
4. Fuel Pressure Regulator (FMU)

There was already a hose tail for the Supercharger by-pass valve.

I will need to install an additional hosetail after the T/B for the charcoal canister purge line and the vac line for the brakes.

After removing the top plate I was able to see how it lined up with the ports in the head and the general layout within.

First comment is not all the ports are perfect matches with the head. I need to do a little grinding, perhaps 0.5-1.00mm to make things perfect. I'm pretty happy with what I have.

Second thing is the outer ports look a little more restrictive than the inner 4. I know John Cribb had commented his outer cylinders ran richer then the inners. This would explain it. Again some judicious porting should improve that.

Third point is there is a sharp ridge right above the port which I feel will alter airflow leading into the port. Again out with the Dremel and smooth it off.

Fourth point is none of the ports have any "bellmouthing" to speak of. Again I'll round off the sharp corners to improve flow.

The attached photos show whah I mean.

All in all I like what I have and I didn't expect to recieve a "drop it on and drive off kit" as we all have different needs/desires from our engines.

Another point is most of us have had some porting done so the standard maniflod sizes may need enlarging anyway.

I feel the quality of the casting is good and the machining in general is neat.

The blower drive that I was supplied is beautifully made and looks great. I would be very surprised if it doens't work perfectly.

 

[JustenGT8]

Good to hear you and Cribby got some good ones mate.

Any progress pics worth a look?

 

[cribbj]

Mine required just a bit of relieving to sit down without fouling the bridges and heads. It only took 5 or 10 minutes with a grinding wheel. No biggie.

The sharp edges of the ports have been smoothed out now as well by Dennis' head porter, and again, it's something I would have expected to do with any head or manifold to optimise its performance.

All the machining of injector ports, and mounting holes were fine.

And my set of 8 rib pulleys works a treat also.

 

[Zuffen]

John,

You're right.

I expected to do some tidying up and I will.

As you said the injector bosses etc are well machined.

I will say the ports all had one long side that was alittle corrugated but it will be fixed with a few minutes of work with sort wet and dry.

The 8 rib gear supplied is a beauty to behold. It's the best looking bit of my engine!

 

[cribbj]

For others' benefit, Rod and I went two different ways on our supercharger drives. Rod's setup features a separate 8 rib belt "just" for the supercharger, c/w idlers and tensioner, etc. Very posh looking too, IIRC.

My setup was a complete new set of pulleys, including crank dampner, to replace the OEM serp belt setup with an 8 rib setup.

So Richwood can, and has provided, both types of setups. At the end of the day, for high boost, Rod's will probably work better than mine as he has a full 8 rib belt dedicated to driving the SC, while my 8 rib is driving the SC plus everything else.

If you have the space in front of the motor, Rod's setup is probably the way to go. If you're concerned about space, and/or prefer to keep an OEM look, a complete replacement set of 8 or possibly even 10 rib pulleys can be done.

And if you want the 50's or 60's retro look, I'm sure Andrew @ Richwood could come up with a toothed Gilmer belt drive for you.

 

[Zuffen]

I thought about the Gilmer drive.

Love the sound of a Gilmer drive but it may become tiresome and I could well imagine a stone getting caught in it whilst off road.

I think the stone would make light work of the belt.

I can provide photos in a couple of weeks when the motor is more complete.

 

[Lextreme II]

I am extremely excited to see your progress... Keep it up gents..... John,
Where did u get the 8 ribs pulleys? Especially the AC compressor if you plan to keep it.

 

[cribbj]

David, Andrew @ Richwood provided me a complete set of 8 rib pulleys. The idlers of course were smooth, not grooved, but they were wider than the stock ones to accommodate the wider belt.

 

[hypronet]

my manifold had to have a little bit of work done too it, only due to the heads been modified an im using a separate 8 rib belt to run my SC.
i should off taken some pic off it, my top surface for topplate on the manifold had a extra 10mm taken off an the plate made to fit semi inside the manifold as to lower SC in engine bay by 25mm

 

[AeroPC]

Manifold

Hi Guys

Have the blown alky 4.7 apart, so thought I would show you some stuff.

I added a 30mm spacer plate to mine, then a 25mm top plate to fit the PSI blower. I was not happy with the square edges on the ports, so I ported them to a nice radius and port matched them.

8 dribbler nozzles, and 8 port nozzles for alcohol

Spacer and top plates have o-ring grooves.

Porting

Spacer - made this height for the blower belt size and clearance for the nozzles

Regards PC

 

[JustenGT8]

^^^ looks the business mate, pity the ports don't come cast like that in the 1st place?

 

[Zuffen]

Justen,

The ports are machined into it.

From what I can see the manifod is cast without ports.

Aero,

Did you machine the ridge above the ports?

Whilst we all see "faults" in the manifold we want to fix/change, it will bolt straight on and work. We just want the most out of it.

I don't see the square port lips as a fault because if you look at a lot of other manifolds from different makes you will see similar sorts of stuff.

 

[AeroPC]

Did you machine the ridge above the ports?

No - just got in there with a die grinder.

I have had my heads ported as well - will let you know how they go when the new billet block is finished.

Regards PC

 

[Zuffen]

Seeing my heads are ported I don't expect the ports to match up for size.

When the engine is back together I will make any port size changes needed.

 

[scotturnot]

Holy smokes! That intake spacer is awsome! Did Andrew supply that as well? I cant say enough good about the products Andrew makes. I am getting ready to make another purchase from him as well.