The Sonoramic Commando Intake?

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67 Power Wagon

67 Power Wagon

Hemi Pawr or BUST!
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...yes guys I'm at it again! :violent1: LOL Simple, yes maybe a little, learning ohh HELL YES!

Anyway, with a buncha guys like this, and a abundance of knowledge, I've got myself stuck on a few thoughts, I can't find anything on or about besides the "general" notes....so-to-speak. :banghead:

So, here we go....

The Sonoramic Commando Intake, I know a few things about it, one is they made it 2 different ways, SAME over-all length of long tube, the internals were different long and short ram tubes. There was a "internal" wall that in one set, only went 2/3rds of the way to the end, and the others went the whole distance! Granted, I'm not sure what that actually ment for "feed" but.. It begs to be asked, what difference would that have made?

The other part of them I know, they were a ***** to get tuned right, between the 2 carburetors.

Now, I think they were only offered in the early 60's and were in A body cars? Yes/No? Not sure they would fit any later model cars....

Then, engines with them, that I know of, well first and fore most, the 413.....Followed by the 383. Now, did these ever get to the 440? FACTORY, I think, (Not certain) that they would bolt right onto a 440 head but,. I don't know, this is why I'm asking!

I bet they made setting valves, and replacing head and valve cover gaskets a real PITA....BUT when all was working I bet they were something! (I've never seen a real set in person!)

Now comes the real question(s).....Granted the 426 WEDGE had its own "Cross-Ram", to make it the Max-Wedge, BUT, were these EVER made to fit the heads of one? OR again, would they simply swap from one RB motor to another?

And my final one, was there a chance these type intakes could have been on a 426 Hemi? OR I'll re-phrase that, was there ANY,
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Sonoramic Commando Intakes made by Ma Mopar, OR any of the aftermarket companies to fit the 426 Hemi?

It be cool as hell to see a 426 Hemi in say a '33 Plymouth, all chromed up and painted Hemi Orange, with the 2 'carbs and a set of matching air cleaners as a tear drop forward facing going down the road.... BUT I doubt anything such as that has been made/done for the 426 Hemi....

Thanks for any and all input!


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They were Chrysler OEM only. Tuned for low RPM torque. The "shorter length ones were for a higher RPM. They were not on newer cars, mid 60's, not on "A" bodies that I know of. I always thought they were very cool, just too expensive to justify for myself. I'm pretty sure they will bolt to all but the Max Wedge or Hemi heads. They had different exhaust manifolds also. By the time the Hemi was deigned they would be a serious power loss as the Hemi was built for high RPM.
 
So, they were merely for low end torque and low RPM's, that, I did not know.....

I knew that the Cross-Ram used on the Hemi back then was for high RPM's, why was the Sonoramic Commando Intake low RPM tho? Or well rated as such, did it restrict fuel/air flow or what?

different exhaust manifolds, why?

These damned things look cool as hell but are a complicated SOB just to understand, I can see why the guys trying to "tune" in the whole set up complain!
 
The length of the runners is how they are tuned. The modern crossram has shorter runners that use engine pulses to increase power at higher RPM. The early full length runner long rams were great to about 4500rpm. Past that and they couldn't breathe. So they shortened the inner runners.
 
The first time that I saw one of those engines was in a 62 Imperial at a show back in 81/82 at the Chelsea proving grounds. It had the sono-ram 413 in it (My dad called them the "plumber's nightmare").

After taking a tour of the proving grounds, we were coming back, and before we pulled into the show area, we went around the "short oval" track. Everybody lined up and waited their turns. We were towards the back of the pack, and the black 62 Imperial was about 6-10 cars in front of us. When his turn came up, WOW! What a burnout. He smoked those bias ply tires for over a block and left a HUGE cloud of white smoke behind him. Very impressive....
 
67 Power Wagon said:
So, they were merely for low end torque and low RPM's, that, I did not know.....

I knew that the Cross-Ram used on the Hemi back then was for high RPM's, why was the Sonoramic Commando Intake low RPM tho? Or well rated as such, did it restrict fuel/air flow or what?

different exhaust manifolds, why?

These damned things look cool as hell but are a complicated SOB just to understand, I can see why the guys trying to "tune" in the whole set up complain!
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To put it simply, the cross ram was just a high rpm version of the sono rams.

Long runners are for lower rpm, and shorter runners are for higher rpm. When you shorten them enough to get high rpm efficiency, you end up with cross ram....


They tune the intake pulses and exhaust pulses to peak at certain power bands.
 
It's physics. They tuned the length of the runners so at certain rpm as the intake valve of one cylinder closed, creating a pulse wave, it would then travel up its length of runner, into the plenum, and push air and fuel down another runner as that intake valve opened.
 
MTmopars said:
It's physics. They tuned the length of the runners so at certain rpm as the intake valve of one cylinder closed, creating a pulse wave, it would then travel up its length of runner, into the plenum, and push air and fuel down another runner as that intake valve opened.
Click to expand...


Another way to put it is that they tuned the pulses in the intakes so when the pulse arrived at the valve, it was just opening, creating a ram effect to fill the cylinder.
 
First off, the longram intakes do Not fit on Hemi's.
They were only available on some high-end Chryslers, Dodge and Plymouths. Not on Imperials.
That's not to say someone could have swapped them into an Imperial or any other cars that they would fit in ofcourse.

I have installed a set of longrams in my '60 NewYorker.
It originally came with a 4bbl-413, but I replaced it with a 496" stroker with longram intakes.
 
Thanks guys this whole Sono-Ram now makes a bit more sense then before. the short Cross-Ram fitted to the Hemi makes the most sense, BUT there of course I have had a hands on experience with unlike that of the Sono-Ram....

So really it works as a plunger/syringe as the engine runs its pulling into the intake channel VIA piston movement.....Makes a bit more sense....

SO, the Sono-Cross Ram on a 383 is a bit more powerful of an intake then the normal one on the same engine! Interesting!
 
I bet "cracks" weren't the only issue or worry over time when they found coolant in the on top of the cylinder(s)!!!!!

Almost as bad as a thin walled bore and cracks form, you got 6 tries to find it to know what to junk and what to keep searchin for! I myself, would NOT hook 'em up if it was a summer "show" rig.....

I do tho have a question, on the high-RPM cross-rams, they seem to have A LOT of "soft plugs" I guess you call them, why is that? knock out plugs for inspection when being worked on, extra locations for hose connections? I'm not sure I understand all these "extra" places that look like locations for drilling, and taping if not a soft plug insert......

Any ideas?
 
Well, to put this in far more general terms, a cross-ram, a tunnel ram, and a "long tube" ram all "are the same thing" they are just tuned at different RPM / torque levels. A tunnel ram, with variations, is basically simply a vertical crossram with a lot more plenum, and with the plenum far more interconnected than "some" crossrams. Hell, there's Great Big Books written on this, and it turn out, not all of them were right, LOL.

Just look at the mods you were supposed to do to an Edelbrock SBM crossram to make the darn thing run.
 
So really the hi-RPM cross ram, Sono Cross ram, and tunnel ram, intakes are merely a slight different version of each other. Just ment for different RPM levels....

Interesting to say the very least.

As far as a plumbing nightmare, well if you got coolant going through the intake to "warm" it and a crack forms wouldn't that put coolant in the top of the cylinder through the crack mixed in with the gas an air from the carburetor? I mean really the "intake is to hold, mix gasoline and air to be put into the cylinder combustion chamber to then be ignited by the spark plug, a crack forms in the walls that separate this with the "warming" there of from the cooling system, it skirts that too into the cylinder as well as the petro and oxygen to make complete combustion.....Same thing really as a cracked head more or less.....Just different location, makes for a messed up trouble shooting with the engine not running right, with coolant in the mix!
 
67 Power Wagon said:
.....Same thing really as a cracked head more or less.....Just different location, makes for a messed up trouble shooting with the engine not running right, with coolant in the mix!
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Many vehicles have coolant through the intake. Many modern 4 whangers do, at least until EFI came along

And, the heavy duty truck (Mopar) engines do also

Below is a 413-3, used in heavy trucks and motor homes. There's a lot of difference in the top end of these between a light truck / car RB engine

The heads and intake have coolant through them instead of exhaust for carb heat. Hard to see, but if you look right in the upper center of the exhaust manifold, directly to the right of the chain and above the hook, there's a temperature sender, a LIQUID temperature sender screwed in there



In some ways, this would be "no worse" a problem to find, than if you had EXHAUST type heat crossover. A crack between the exhaust and intake could drive ya nuts for awhile............this was exactly how the very early (72?) EGR setups were done..........jets (orifices) in the bottom of the intake into the exhaust................

29w4wtz.jpg
 
bbrroowwnn said:
Just sold a pair on here last year

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=229809&highlight=sonoramic
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Went to have a look just because (I'm not looking for a set of them) Altho they would be AWESOME on my 383 but, NO! LOL

But I had to quote and ask a question, went to look at your sell posting, where they originally painted "orange" from factory Ma Mopar? OR did someone paint them that way before you got them?

I've seen those same pictures under a google search I did.....
 
67 Power Wagon said:
Went to have a look just because (I'm not looking for a set of them) Altho they would be AWESOME on my 383 but, NO! LOL

But I had to quote and ask a question, went to look at your sell posting, where they originally painted "orange" from factory Ma Mopar? OR did someone paint them that way before you got them?

I've seen those same pictures under a google search I did.....
Click to expand...


I think someone painted them hemi orange before I got them.....Originally I think they came out of the factory as cast.....
 
...simply unpainted I'd assume! I had to ask tho! Thanks for clearing that up!

Nice Signature GIF, to bad she isn't a red head with an orange shirt, with "Hemi" written on it...... LMAO
 
BigBlockMopar said:
Longrams came in cast, red, gold and blue I recall.

Here are the rams in my car when I build it up;

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And what car are these in to fit under the hood?

NICE heads too! The whole set up looks impressive, can't imagine what it generates in power.....
 
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