NPN 273 Aluminum 4 bbl Intake Manifold-prototype

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68 CUDA FORMULA S

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Has any one ever heard of this 4 bbl intake? Is this some kind of experimental intake, it says it's for a 273 CI motor. What does it mean when it says made from 2536564 marked print?

intake.jpg


intake 2.jpg
 
Has any one ever heard of this 4 bbl intake? Is this some kind of experimental intake, it says it's for a 273 CI motor. What does it mean when it says made from 2536564 marked print?

View attachment 1715164661
2536564 is a 66-67 273 intake. Looks like it was cast from the cast iron specs. Cool stuff. Never seen one. Something you own?
I might be interested if so.
 
NPN means No Part Number...

In the early stages of prototype, they may not assign a part number in case the concept does not work, then they do not have to cancel the part number since it won't be in production....
 
No I do not own it but I might have a chance to. So is this intake something that someone just made up from the cast iron castings or were these made up and used on 273 commando's. Also if I do decide to pick it up what would something like this be worth and would it be a good intake for the 273 in my 66 when I pull off the 2 bbl cast iron intake?
 
Has any one ever heard of this 4 bbl intake? Is this some kind of experimental intake, it says it's for a 273 CI motor. What does it mean when it says made from 2536564 marked print?

View attachment 1715164661

(Made from Marked Print) on the box:

Because it takes time to make the drawing for a new prototype part, they use a drawing from a similar part and change some dimensions to the new specs...

The engineer circles the dimensions that are changing from the original part and modifies the drawing by hand...

Then they have a machine shop machine the new changes into the raw casting...
 
So because this is a one and possibly the only one of these intakes "who knows" that's around it would be a crap shoot 1st to see if it worked on my 273 and 2nd would it be any good as far as performance like the cast iron ones only lighter, you can see that it has never been used. Or would something like this be better off just being garage art.
 
So Karl are you saying that this intake does not exist? I mean that it was never made for production.

It could have been made for production, but that one was one of the first ones made to those specifications... (Hence made from a marked print)... If it proved itself in the testing, then they would have tooled it for production... If it did now show enough improvement over the last design then they would have to change it to make it better or go in another direction and scrap that idea...

If you have a part number book and can trace what manifold supersceeded the original 2536564 intake and compare it to that one...

If that is a true prototype, all of the ports should have been machined on a mill and be very smooth, not the rough casting like when made in production cast port...

Remember those were back in the days with hand drawn prints (drafting) and they took some time to draw and finalize... That was way before the days of computer aided drafting which still takes time to change the model in the computer...

When you make a new part, sometimes you can just use the original concept drawing and then circle the parts that you are changing and give the new dimension and geometry and make the new changes by hand. then the engineer signs off on that print with his signature for the prototype order...

Then when the part passes all testing and is released for production, the engineer will write the change notice and give a copy of that marked print to the drafters to use as the template to make the new drawing for the new part number to... It is then that they will pull a new part number and assign it to the new part...

I kicked off many parts by signing and dating the drawing with hand modifications with a note: OK TO TOOL

This way the supplier can start working on the tooling to make the part and not wait for the official drawing to be released which could take a few weeks...
 
So because this is a one and possibly the only one of these intakes "who knows" that's around it would be a crap shoot 1st to see if it worked on my 273 and 2nd would it be any good as far as performance like the cast iron ones only lighter, you can see that it has never been used. Or would something like this be better off just being garage art.
I would say garage art or collector piece
 
So because this is a one and possibly the only one of these intakes "who knows" that's around it would be a crap shoot 1st to see if it worked on my 273 and 2nd would it be any good as far as performance like the cast iron ones only lighter, you can see that it has never been used. Or would something like this be better off just being garage art.

It may not be one of one, depending on how many tests they needed to perform with it, they may have ordered a half or full dozen for testing and one or two spares for back up... The prototype supplier would start with raw blank castings and then machine all of them by hand on a mill in a machine shop... They would order a few for testing on dyno engines, then some more to be put on running prototype development cars and tested simultaneously while they ran the dyno tests...

That one could have been one of the extra back ups that were ordered for testing and not needed...
 
Is that a single plane manifold? looks like it is to me.

Is the exhaust heat crossover passage closed/not machined yet?
 
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I think I might give him a call and go look at it. I will check out the ports and see if they are smooth like you said and give it a good look over and depending on what he will take for it maybe I'll pick it up. I thinking in the $100 to $120 range.
 
I think I might give him a call and go look at it. I will check out the ports and see if they are smooth like you said and give it a good look over and depending on what he will take for it maybe I'll pick it up. I thinking in the $100 to $120 range.

You can see the dykem blue stain below the carb base that they use in machining to mark the dimensions for machining
 
I think if you can get it for 100 to 150 you should roll the dice and then see what you can find out from Chrysler historical society and see if it is a truly unique part. It might be priceless? it might be a paperweight if the casting or milling has issues. But I would not use it if it is truly a one of a kind Mopar made part.
 
What do you think that ZYGLO??? OK means

Under ZYGLO there is an arrow pointing to the thermostat housing and a line on the side of the housing. Might it be pointing to a crack or suspected crack???
 
ZYGLO:



Bring a black light when you go look at it!

Zyglo is referenced in a book from the 50s so it could have been used in the 60s
 
Has any one ever heard of this 4 bbl intake? Is this some kind of experimental intake, it says it's for a 273 CI motor. What does it mean when it says made from 2536564 marked print?

View attachment 1715164661

View attachment 1715164689

It could have been made for production, but that one was one of the first ones made to those specifications... (Hence made from a marked print)... If it proved itself in the testing, then they would have tooled it for production... If it did now show enough improvement over the last design then they would have to change it to make it better or go in another direction and scrap that idea...

If you have a part number book and can trace what manifold supersceeded the original 2536564 intake and compare it to that one...

If that is a true prototype, all of the ports should have been machined on a mill and be very smooth, not the rough casting like when made in production cast port...

Remember those were back in the days with hand drawn prints (drafting) and they took some time to draw and finalize... That was way before the days of computer aided drafting which still takes time to change the model in the computer...

When you make a new part, sometimes you can just use the original concept drawing and then circle the parts that you are changing and give the new dimension and geometry and make the new changes by hand. then the engineer signs off on that print with his signature for the prototype order...

Then when the part passes all testing and is released for production, the engineer will write the change notice and give a copy of that marked print to the drafters to use as the template to make the new drawing for the new part number to... It is then that they will pull a new part number and assign it to the new part...

I kicked off many parts by signing and dating the drawing with hand modifications with a note: OK TO TOOL

This way the supplier can start working on the tooling to make the part and not wait for the official drawing to be released which could take a few weeks...

Just thinking a little more, if there were no changes to the ports, then they would have just used the existing cores for the ports and they may not have been machined on a mill...

If that's just a carbon copy of the cast iron intake with the only difference being the material is aluminum, then they would have just cast it in aluminum and ran it through the production machining process to make the proper machined surfaces for sealing...

If there were some changes to the machining, then they would have been done on the mill... The only way to know for sure is to get the original print for the 2536564 and the marked print that the part was made from and see what they changed (marked-up)...

It does look like it's a prototype piece and would be very rare... It would definitely be a cool find if you could pick it up at a good price...
 
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