tunnel ram question

[jeremy_e87]

hey guys i am currently building a pickup and am going to put a sbc 283 in it. i am not really knowledgable about tunnel rams but my dad has a tunnel ram with 2 4brl holley 600cfm carbs(i think...i'll have to look to make sure)on it. could i put this set up on the 283 and have it run ok or would it be way too much for it? i know how to make linkage on the carbs where it will only use the 1st carb til you lay into it and it will start using the 2nd one. also would make my gas mileage super horrible? thanks for any info.

thanks,
Jeremy

[LilD]

I wouldnt consider myself a mechanical wiz but that sounds like it would be too much carb for a smaller engine. And yeah, gas mileage would be out the window as pretty much with any carbed V8.

[donsrods]

Tunnel rams only really work at high rpms. They are dogs at normal street speeds, lots of flat spots and bog. That being said, they also look great, and lots of guys put up with them on the street for that reason.

Two 600's are a bit much, one would be slightly too much. However, I ran two 500's on a low riser manifold on my 302 for years, and it worked ok. I wanted the look of two fours.

Maybe change the jets to a smaller size???????


Don

[jeremy_e87]

thanks for your input guys. still up for some helpful comments to help me make my decision. i'm not planning on driving it all the time when i get it done...mainly because of gas prices to income ratio lol...tryin to make it through college and support my hobbie at the same time so probably just a weekend cruizer so i guess it is mainly for the look...tunnel rams look so sweet!

thanks,
jeremy

[LilD]

An old timer that I work with says youll more than likely have to switch to two smaller carbs like 450s as the 600s are way too much for the 283. Re-jetting and adjusting the 600s wont work. He said pretty much the same things donsrods stated about the bogging and such. Even with smaller carbs youre gonna have the same issues. But hot rodders always do stuff others say we shouldnt like tunnels rams, single plane intakes, high stall convertors, and spooled rear diffs on the street. The look would be cool but youll have to decide if you can live with the drivability yourself.

[six3amc]

I like the way you think.

I did a cross-ram with two holley 450s on my 350. I am new to the whole carb tuning thing too and it has taken me a while but I think I finally am very close to getting them just right.

Even with two smaller carburators on your car, it still won't really feel like it has any balls until you hit right under or around 3000 rpms. It does like to scream from 3000-5500 though. I think it all depends on how well your motor breathes. I would like to do the 2.02/1.96 heads and a bigger cam to really get it going. But that probably won't be happening all too soon.

If I had a 283 to do and wanted something cool looking I'd get an intake that had two two-barrels sitting beside each other. I saw one at a swap me last month and I almost bought it just to have it for the future.

Another thing you might consider is going with an aluminum flywheel if your car isn't too heavy. It allows the motor to rev up a little quicker.

here is a shot of my motor. http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n125/aralbright/100_0053.jpg

[jeremy_e87]

thanks again for your help guys. i guess i'll have to start lookin for some smaller carbs if i want to attempt putting a tunnel ram on eh? i could just forget about it and it would be a lot easier but i want something different than just a boring intake and carb...i want it to stick out a bit lol. i do have some different heads that are 62 cc so it has pretty high compression and i have a mild cam for it. that's what i have right now...i might run across other parts in the future but for now i just want to get the motor in and running and then when i get everything i want for it i'll put all my stuff in/on it at once. would an aluminum flywheel help a lot?

thanks,
Jeremy

[Bones]

I ran a 283 with a tunneled ram with 2 Holleys on it on the street a long time ago ,gas was cheap i could tune my own car and i love rough idleing
cars that are overcarbed and have a big cam .but if you want to do it i
would go with the 450 carbs.

[gasser55]

the tunnel ram on my 327 works very good on the street with 600 holleys but if gas mileage is no object and you really want to haul ass then use two 660 center squirters . heres a pic of my setup

[gasser55]

Tunnel rams only really work at high rpms. They are dogs at normal street speeds, lots of flat spots and bog. That being said, they also look great, and lots of guys put up with them on the street for that reason.



Donman someone was doing something WRONG with your setup. mine kicks ass on the street and is always making consistint power if you know what your doing you can make a tunnel ram work very good

[jeremy_e87]

thanks for bringin my hopes up gasser lol. my tunnel ram looks like yours but it's polished. did you make your own air breathers? they look pretty neat. i think i'll just haVe to try it and see what i can do with what i have. if i can't get it tuned right i guess i'll just go back with a high rise intake or something. i'm not quite ready to mess with the motor yet anyways...still gotta get some other things done but that will give me something to think about. thanks guys.

Jeremy

[cyclopsblown34]

I think you are on the right track making progressive linkage. Any increase in compression will help as well. It will work, you just might need a convertor or standard trans to make it work well. If the car is relatively light you can get by with less stall.

[jeremy_e87]

well actually i'm not goin with an automatic...i have a muncie 4 speed that i'm gonna put in it. would manual tranny work better?

[gasser55]

well actually i'm not goin with an automatic...i have a muncie 4 speed that i'm gonna put in it. would manual tranny work better?
manual trans would work better with that setup .also a hell of a lot more fun to drive.

[jeremy_e87]

yeah no kidding! i was lookin through the summit mag today and saw a velocity stack style 4 barrel air cleaner. it looked like 4 mini stacks on one carb and i think it would look pretty sweet with a dual quad setup...think a guy could make some easy enough? i don't feel like payin 300 for 2 of em :S or does anyone have any ideas on something out of the ordinary? i posted a pic of what i was talkin about

[gasser55]

yeah no kidding! i was lookin through the summit mag today and saw a velocity stack style 4 barrel air cleaner. it looked like 4 mini stacks on one carb and i think it would look pretty sweet with a dual quad setup...think a guy could make some easy enough? i don't feel like payin 300 for 2 of em :S or does anyone have any ideas on something out of the ordinary? i posted a pic of what i was talkin about

here's a pic of the one's that i made for my 331 chevy, i made these a year before summit came out with theres its funny i wonder were they got the idea?

[bigd4xman]

This is just an Idea, but you could get adapters and put two small holley 350cfm two barrels on a tunnel ram and it would look just as cool and run a whole lot better on that little 283. By the way those engines like to rev so a tunnel ram would work well as long as you had it geared right.

[Greezy]

On your 283 keep in mind if you are planning on changing the heads 2.02 valves are too big for the stock bore. 283's lack in low end torque and you will also be compounding that with a tunnel ram, which has been said earlier is mid to upper rpm range intake. But if you are running a manual(which any self respecting hot rod has) you can kinda over come that.