Trivia! 299 CI R3 Manifold

[mfg]

The first few Avanti R3 intake manifolds (the 299 CI R3) were not cast in aluminum....True?

[brad]

It's a definate possibility....I have seen Iron R4 manifolds in the flesh. This was around 1972 or so. Perhaps the same could be said of R3's but, I have not personally seen one in iron.

[Gunslinger]

It's certainly possible that a few were cast in iron as proof of concept of the design. That would likely have been cheaper for test purposes before casting production versions in aluminum. But...I've no idea whether the answer to the question is true or false.

[PackardV8]

I have a reliable source who's seen iron R3 intakes.

jack vines

[mfg]

Hmmm! I'll call Mr. Thibeault on this....The jury's out till then.

[64Avanti]

I have a cast iron R3 manifold.

In fact the R3 heads were really designed for the larger bore engine that would have come out in 1965 and would have used the R3 heads, cast iron R3 intake and the R3 exhaust manifolds. In fact there are R3 exhaust manifolds with the mounting bracket for the alternator as used on Hawks and Larks. The larger engine at 340 cu in would have been good for something like 310 hp.

[r5duecento]

The early R3 299 cubic inch engines used a cast iron manifold and standard Avanti heads which were ported and polished, as the R3 head was not yet designed for the 1962 runs. The Avanti EX2942 featured in "Bonneville Record Breaker" which set the 29 land speed records has this setup. This information is from Andy and son, Vince Granatelli.

[Geoff]

63r1025 (engine RS1021) has an iron intake manifold. It was built as a factory R2 but was the first R3 prototype. Ron (my dad) and his brother Doug Crall have had the engine apart and say the head work is incredible. The heads were ported, polished, and flowed but that's the extent I know, not having seen them off the block.

My dad had a phone conversation with Andy Granatelli a couple years ago and Andy verified a few things, among them that 1025 had its engine stroked to 299 by pairing the stock 289 3 9/16" bore with a 3 3/4" stroke, instead of the square 3 5/8" bore × 3 5/8" stroke 299 cars.

Edited September 14, 2014 by GeoffC312

[ron@crall.com]

I had a couple of 2x4bbl 289's that used Cadillac manifolds. They lined up with remarkablly little work. Early manifolds used the Carter WCFB 4bbl carbs, and later manifolds used Carter AFB's as used on the R4's. I had one of each.