Triple SU’s on a 4.2 Intake: To assemble or not to assemble

Hi all,

While the saga of the stuck manifold continues, I’m thinking positive and planning for my next assault. So…which is preferred, assemble the manifold and carbs on the car? Or preassemble everything and load it as one piece. Obviously it’s easier to get to all the carb components on the bench, but getting to all the nuts on the manifold, as well as the throttle connection would be easier if just the manifold was installed first. Maybe the water hose connections too.

Thoughts??

I assemble everything, including the trumpets, before installing the manifold. If you remove the distributor cap you can get your right arm under the manifold to put the nuts on with the exception of the back two, which you can get at from the rear. I’m speaking here of the triple carb manifold - I’ve got no experience with a Ser II manifold.

P.S. Be sure you understand the relationship of all the “choke” parts and adjust them as necessary before assembly

Series II is about the same.

I’ve installed just the manifold and then the carbs and linkage and also assembled everything and then bolted it to the engine. About the same amount of work either way, IMHO.

One thing I did find that made access to the lower nuts easier is since the engine was going in or coming out anyway, I disconnected the stabilizer and big bolts on the engine mounts and jacked up the engine as far as I could. The extra space turned the lower nuts from a royal pain to just a pain to get to. The part that gave me the most trouble upon reassembly was keeping the brackets that the water pipe hung from in place while a fumbled around trying to start the nuts with lock washers.

Bob, between Terry and John, you’ve got some good advice. I will only add one tip that was a big help to me when I bolted the manifold to the engine complete with the carbs attached. Strange as this will sound, I put some blue Hylomar on my thumb and index finger when it came time to install the nuts and lock washers on the underside. The Hylomar dries very sticky and it allowed me to hang on to the fasteners and “feel” my way around under the manifold to get them started on the studs. I didn’t drop one in the process. It worked so well it’s now my go-to process for starting fasteners that I can’t see or if they’re in tight corners.
Good luck
Anthony

2 Likes

Clever idea! Thanks Anthony

John,

Ha! Just last week I replaced the motor mounts and stabilizer bushing. Not sure I’m eager to undo them now… but I can see how that would help

Though the best ‘tool’ is a friend who is willing to get in there and help (Forum member Len W):

1 Like

That would be a great “tool” to have! It would also make it more fun. Sadly it seems people in Northern California aren’t the pitch in and help crowd.

One thing I have going is I’m putting the 4.2 su manifold back on, and that seems to have much better access to the lower nuts.

Move them assembled off and back on. This give you the ability to see that everything is in working order from all angles. Anything that does need fixing is much easier on the bench.

I like your bench bracket! :+1::+1:

Come on over to Texas. We’ll help y’all!

1 Like

P.S. Be sure you understand the relationship of all the “choke” parts and adjust them as necessary before assembly
I agree with Terry on that. Putting the linkage together and adjusting in place is nasty job.