Drug up another one

[Lost in the 60's]

That pic of the 292 looks like a twin to mine. My engine builder said the block had a million hours of idle time with only .003 wear but shiny as a mirror. He remove the slight ridge and stone honed it for the original pistons with new rings. Milled .060 off the head and installed the cam, lifters and larger valves I got from Tom at 12bolt. Static compression is about 9.5 I had the long tubes ceramic coated for a '52 2.5 ton I had at the time but have since sold. Sold the long tubes, DEEP regret on that now, for a song and bought the cast split manifolds from the other Tom that was making them just before he sold out to 12 bolt Tom.

['68OrangeSunshine]

292 A/C Compressor Brackets are very rare indeed.

Clifford intake might indicate Clifford headers, IDK.
I have Clifford Research headers from 1978. Not sure if Clifford had their own intake ready on the market back then. I bought the Offenhauser intake, which mimics GM's stock cast iron intake in shape and conformation. It would function with stock cast iron exhausts, if for any perverse reason one would want to do so.
The Clifford intake will only work with headers. Also water cooling lines are plumbed in for a water heated/cooled intake. I live in the desert, so I haven't needed Carb Heat.

My Clifford headers are still going well on their second engine.
They have a characteristic long tube aspect. But they later produced 'Shorty headers' for kids with their cut down [lowered] trucks.

Pace and Heddman copied the Clifford design. I can't comment on their quality compared to the original -- never having seen real ones in person.

[MS66]

Originally Posted by Lost in the 60's

That pic of the 292 looks like a twin to mine. My engine builder said the block had a million hours of idle time with only .003 wear but shiny as a mirror. He remove the slight ridge and stone honed it for the original pistons with new rings. Milled .060 off the head and installed the cam, lifters and larger valves I got from Tom at 12bolt. Static compression is about 9.5 I had the long tubes ceramic coated for a '52 2.5 ton I had at the time but have since sold. Sold the long tubes, DEEP regret on that now, for a song and bought the cast split manifolds from the other Tom that was making them just before he sold out to 12 bolt Tom.

Nice!! Looks like your intake has the water heated section that rarely gets used. L6s are notorious for needing heated manifolds. I know my 250 likes heat in it.

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

292 A/C Compressor Brackets are very rare indeed.

Clifford intake might indicate Clifford headers, IDK.
I have Clifford Research headers from 1978. Not sure if Clifford had their own intake ready on the market back then. I bought the Offenhauser intake, which mimics GM's stock cast iron intake in shape and conformation. It would function with stock cast iron exhausts, if for any perverse reason one would want to do so.
The Clifford intake will only work with headers. Also water cooling lines are plumbed in for a water heated/cooled intake. I live in the desert, so I haven't needed Carb Heat.

My Clifford headers are still going well on their second engine.
They have a characteristic long tube aspect. But they later produced 'Shorty headers' for kids with their cut down [lowered] trucks.

Pace and Heddman copied the Clifford design. I can't comment on their quality compared to the original -- never having seen real ones in person.

Yessir, same thing I came to conclude, Clifford intake and exhaust. I am actually looking for the water heated box section to mount to this Clifford intake. I know from the mid '70s an old friend had Clifford intake and headers on his 1970 G10 van. He was a Ferrari mechanic, but crazy about the 6. Knew what made them work! Miss those old days.

I wasn't aware the Clifford intake wouldn't mount to the factory exhaust manifold. The bottom of the carb pad looks similar to a factory intake, so I took it for granted that it would mount up like factory. I do have a new Offy intake that's never been on an engine, looks like the Clifford from the bottom, I'll look at that again.
From my experience L6s love heat. I went as far as welding in a high flow cat as close to the exhaust manifold as I could to keep heat in the pipe on the 250. That truck never ran better. Clean burning, great throttle response, and mpg actually got quite a bit better.
I like the fact that your headers are holding up so well. Not sure if these are Clifford headers, one thing I do see is someone welded a heat riser tube to the front header tube for heated cold start air. I remember seeing that short tube in header kits from way back.
Unfortunately I don't have a factory 292 intake/exhaust manifold, so that option isn't available. I like options.

[Lost in the 60's]

I now have the split, cast manifolds from Tom Langdon, Stovebolt 6. Both he and Clifford stress, repeatedly, how important it is to heat the intake for best performance. The ceramic coating I had put on the intake and headers were for that purpose too, along with the clean appearance. The cast manifolds are supposed to help retain the heat much better than tubing headers. Can't find any pics of them fresh out of the box. This is the only one I find in my files. This reminds me I need to get them cleaned up in the blast cabinet and get some manifold paint on them.

[MS66]

Originally Posted by Lost in the 60's

I now have the split, cast manifolds from Tom Langdon, Stovebolt 6. Both he and Clifford stress, repeatedly, how important it is to heat the intake for best performance. The ceramic coating I had put on the intake and headers were for that purpose too, along with the clean appearance. The cast manifolds are supposed to help retain the heat much better than tubing headers. Can't find any pics of them fresh out of the box. This is the only one I find in my files. This reminds me I need to get them cleaned up in the blast cabinet and get some manifold paint on them.

Nice. Am I seeing the manifold heater in the pics? I need to round one of those up for the Clifford intake on the 292.

They are speaking truth, these engines love heat in the intake manifold. You can get away with a leaner mixture making for a more efficient, cleaner running engine. I HATE exhaust fumes from running a fat mixture, especially on a semi daily driver, it's unnecessary. After putting a cat on my 250 truck (all original engine) it gets up to heat much quicker now and pulls smooth from low rpm. Took a while to get the metering rod in the monojet dialed in but it was worth it. Next step will be an A/F gauge to get it where it needs to be year round. Not the easiest thing to do with the variance in corn fuel we get these days. I'm going to put a water separator on it to monitor how much water and condensation I'm getting. I see signs of water in the fuel when I pull the filter out of the carb sometimes.

[slomotion]

I'm glad Tom is still in business! I bought my headers and a WC T5 from him years ago.
My outfit consists of the Langdon headers, Offenhauser intake, and Edelbrock Carb.
The intake is heat capable, but I never hooked it up and haven't experienced any issues.
The only problem I had was the intake mounting flange was a little thicker than the header flange. A little grinding on the spanner clamp fixed that.

[MS66]

Originally Posted by slomotion

I'm glad Tom is still in business! I bought my headers and a WC T5 from him years ago.
My outfit consists of the Langdon headers, Offenhauser intake, and Edelbrock Carb.
The intake is heat capable, but I never hooked it up and haven't experienced any issues.
The only problem I had was the intake mounting flange was a little thicker than the header flange. A little grinding on the spanner clamp fixed that.

Nice engine bay! 500 cfm carb? I have that exact intake/carb set still new in the box. How does the 250 like the OD transmission? 3.73 rear?
Am I seeing manual steering on your truck? I'm working on getting all the parts together for PS/PB swap off of a square body. My old shoulders don't like the manual box on the C10.

[slomotion]

Originally Posted by MS66

Nice engine bay! 500 cfm carb? I have that exact intake/carb set still new in the box. How does the 250 like the OD transmission? 3.73 rear?
Am I seeing manual steering on your truck? I'm working on getting all the parts together for PS/PB swap off of a square body. My old shoulders don't like the manual box on the C10.

Thank you!
The engine is a 292, and the 600CFM carb. The T5 is a Mustang box with a Sonoma tail shaft which puts the shift lever in the right place. (Mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds had the shifter too far back to work in the truck.)
The only other requirement was a spacer ring outside of the T5's forward bearing retainer to accommodate the larger 292 bell housing opening.
With the overdrive the engine turns 2500 RPM at 65 MPH. Just a dite high, but acceptable.
You're right! "Armstrong Steering" - you really want to be moving a little to turn the front wheels !

['68OrangeSunshine]

Some pretty L25s.

If Clifford's Intake manifold is compatible with stock GM L6 exhausts, that's news to me. I never had one, so I don't know how it would fit. I'm always amenable to proper correction when presented with factual examples.

A model year '63 L25 block I have has the 3-Stud HD exhausts. Leo Santucci says good things about the Heavy Duty exhaust.

Tom Langdon copied the Fenton exhaust from early Chevy L6s [235, 261] and adapted the design for ''Late model'' Chevy L6s. He retired and sold the ''Stovebolt Six'' business to Tom Lowe of 12-Bolt, when the older Tom retired.
Lowe had developed Turbo Induction for what Inliners International calls ''Late Chevy L6s.''

Although in the 21st Century the term seems imprecise.

[Lost in the 60's]

Originally Posted by MS66

Nice. Am I seeing the manifold heater in the pics? I need to round one of those up for the Clifford intake on the 292.

As far as I recall, the manifold is all 1 piece. I haven't looked at it in a few years. It's "resting" on an engine stand, waiting for "someday". I've entertained selling it, but no one wants to pay anywhere near what I have in it for a "lowly" 6 cylinder. It has 1 hour of break in/run time since built.
Yes, the mounting flange is quite thick and it did require some imaginative spacers for the steel header. From what I recall of the cast exhaust is, it is a better match, but I have never run the engine with the Langdon manifolds.

[MS66]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

Some pretty L25s.

If Clifford's Intake manifold is compatible with stock GM L6 exhausts, that's news to me. I never had one, so I don't know how it would fit. I'm always amenable to proper correction when presented with factual examples.

Hey '68Orange, I had seen this post weeks ago asking about the Clifford being compatible with factory exhaust and meant to post the pic of the mounting pad on the bottom of the Clifford intake that came on the 292 I bought. This is the only Clifford intake I've ever owned. It appears to me that it is compatible with factory exhaust. I immediately assumed it was the day I took it off and saw the mounting pad.
I also have a new Offy intake and Eddy 500 that came in a deal when I picked up two 250s a few months back. My '69 van needs a new lump in it, got these engines with NiB clutch and pressure plate with a synchronized Saginaw tranny for a song.
Have a good one.

[MS66]

Originally Posted by Lost in the 60's

As far as I recall, the manifold is all 1 piece. I haven't looked at it in a few years. It's "resting" on an engine stand, waiting for "someday". I've entertained selling it, but no one wants to pay anywhere near what I have in it for a "lowly" 6 cylinder. It has 1 hour of break in/run time since built.
Yes, the mounting flange is quite thick and it did require some imaginative spacers for the steel header. From what I recall of the cast exhaust is, it is a better match, but I have never run the engine with the Langdon manifolds.

I believe your Clifford intake is different than mine. I did not realize there were two different designs. The one I have is designed to mount to the factory exhaust manifold for heat. I thought the water heated piece could be added to mine is the reason I made that comment. If anyone knows the answer to that question feel free to chime in. Have a good one.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by MS66

Hey '68Orange, I had seen this post weeks ago asking about the Clifford being compatible with factory exhaust and meant to post the pic of the mounting pad on the bottom of the Clifford intake that came on the 292 I bought. This is the only Clifford intake I've ever owned. It appears to me that it is compatible with factory exhaust. I immediately assumed it was the day I took it off and saw the mounting pad.
I also have a new Offy intake and Eddy 500 that came in a deal when I picked up two 250s a few months back. My '69 van needs a new lump in it, got these engines with NiB clutch and pressure plate with a synchronized Saginaw tranny for a song.
Have a good one.

Thank you. I stand corrected. I bought my L6 HiPerf gear in 1978 -- with a student grant. At that time I bought ''Clifford Research''* headers and the Offenhauser 4-Bbl intake. I understood the Offy part to be 'the only game in town' at that time. I also bought the Holley 4160, R8007 /390 CFM. The Holley ran 25 years, but I preferred the AFB. My Holley was fine after a rebuild for the first 500 mile break-in run. Then on the way to work -- having decided the truck was good -- my 8007 lunched at a stoplight. Power Valve blew. We figured the base/tnrottle plate had warped. We could not set it up again. It was cheaper to get the EDL1404, 500 CFM W/ MAN Choke. [I prefer manual chokes.]

*Clifford grew out of the Research label and became ''Clifford Performance.'' Jack Clifford passed away, and they stopped innovating.
Looks like the one in the picture is for a 2 barrel. Clifford advisors would promote a 2 barrel Holley over a 4Bbl for whatever reason.

You made a great score. I have 2 292 cores lying fallow. I have the 4WD L25 X-member. Just waiting for a pile of money to drop out of the sky brfore I can greenlight a project. I have talked with Larry Page [Twisted 6] about Lump Porting. I may try it on my next project, but the Head having 'No Visible Means of Support' is scary.