H
A
N
D
S
O
N Look closely at this
real SOHC 427 and
you’ll see the Bosch
green-top electronic
fuel injectors.
Hilborn offers
eight-stack setups
for the mighty FE
cammer and other
popular V8s. Back
in the Match Bash
days, mechanically
injected eight-stack
Cammers, Hemis,
Rats, and Super
Duties propelled
altered-wheelbase
door-slammers to
fame from coast to
coast.The D,C&O eight-stack EFI system
employs the usual EFI sensors (TPS, O 2 ,
AIT, camshaft, crank) to keep the Holley
engine controller informed. Here, the IAT
reads from flow into the No. 4 ram tube. It
was transferred from the long tube to the
short tube (close) during our test. NextGen
Performance handled the installation and
initial tuning of the Holley EFI system.On any eight-stack induction, gas-pedal
movements expose a larger throttle area
than a conventional carb. To prevent gulps
of air and lean hiccups off-idle, a FAST
idle air control valve supplements the
computer’s fuel-enrichment map to keep
tip-in smooth. It’s threaded into a common
plenum in the base of the D,C&O manifold.
K&N unit filters incoming plenum air.Its wheelbase-alteration scars still healing,
the Funny Fairmont cranked out 274.3 hp at
5,370 rpm and 285.5 lb-ft at 4,515 rpm. If
the vehicle driveline and Mustang dyno sap
20 percent, we’re looking at about 330 hp at
the crankshaft, suggesting the eight-stack
and headers bring an extra 25 hp.2000220024002600280030003200340036003800400042004400460048005000520054005600580060002402702101501801209060300300Long Tubes, Torque (LB-FT) 9-Inch Ram Tubes Long Tubes, Power (HP)
284
273Pow
era
ndT
orqueBelow: The 4,500-rpm torque peak with the eight-stack setup happens to be very close to
the 4,200-rpm peak with the factory Mach 1 “barrel ram” and twin-throat throttle-body.
Despite the modest output, in this 2,759-pound (minus driver) ’stripper, stopwatch tests
show it to be a high-12-second quarter-mile machine.22 CAR CRAFT AUGUST 2019
energy is available to “crash the gate”
into the combustion chamber when
the valve opens again. It’s a form of
free supercharging we can tap into.
Again, we’re only scratching the
surface with this explanation, but
generally speaking, longer ram tubes
enhance low-rpm torque output while
shorter ram tubes pay dividends with
added high-rpm horsepower. And
know this: If you slice open and
unravel virtually any modern EFI intake
manifold, you’ll find tuned-length, indi-
vidual intake runners. Since most new
car buyers (and the Fed) don’t want a
forest of stacks poking through the
hood skin, they’re curved into what’s
known as a “barrel ram” configuration.
But unroll them and you’ll see runners
measuring as long as 14 inches (typi-
cally on SUV, van, and pickup-truck
applications where torque is king).
To test the ram-tube-length theory,
the Funny Fairmont’s Ford Racing
DOHC 4.6 Mach 1 crate engine
(PN M-6007-M146) was fitted with
an eight-stack, direct-port, electronic