Here I have posted pics of a modified Performer, which I have sawed off the water crossover passage. This effectively makes a two piece intake. I did this on a band saw, taking care to move slow and steady. There are Four main benefits to this procedure...
1) Thermal isolation of the fuel delivery from the coolant heat.
2) Flexibility to line up ports properly after port-maching.
3) Salvage an intake which has a broken bolt, corroded passage, or otherwise mangled water crossover.
4) Easy intake quick change at the track. With a separate crossover the intake section can be removed without draining the coolant.
In the pictures it will be noted that I cut the intake directly even between the bolt holes. This was somewhat arbitrary. But my thinking was that all Intakes would have the same dimension here so it would be able to match all my intakes up for swapping. Upon retrospect, I feel it may be better in some instances to cut where I drew a line with a marker, in the pics. This would move the break over solid metal and away from the dead hole leading to the inside of the head. This would allow you to replace tired gaskets on the fly by only cutting the section you need (water or intake) and unbolting the part that needs the replacement, thus serving the convenience on the fly of intake swapping. If you chose to cut directly between the holes it could still be useful. You simply need to Copper coat or similar, and seal the face of the intake gasket going on the head and use a very light application of grease on the intake side. This would make the intake gasket reusable. If damage did occur to the gasket the whole assemble would need to be removed and the gasket as a whole replaced to prevent oil from seeping out of the dead whole on the head. Whew. Any questions feel free to e-mail me!
wdonovan@austin.rr.com
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