Fitting Tripple Su's

[spider]

 :)Hi to all,
                Wondering if anyone out there has put tripple SU'S on there 186 in a fe. I couldnt even put the manifold on without hitting the firewall, and thats not with the carbies on. It seem's there has to be a fair bit of metal that has to be moved to fit them. Just want to find out if other people had this problem , before i cut and weld in a section for the clearence. As i dont want to bash in the firewall, would rather cut it out and play with some sheetmetal. Also was it worth it in the end, when it was all all bolted up.  
Cheers Spider  

[Jockster]

Hi Spider
The clearance problems on fitting triple SU's on an FC or FE depends on which brand manifold you use, some are designed with the manifold branches angled  forward, these will clear the firewall, but the rear carby and air cleaner will not, so you still have to do some bodywork if you want to run SU's. I experimented and decided to run twin strombergs, although my final aim is to run triple downdraft Strombergs when I find a manifold.

Depending on what else you have done to the motor you can get some awsome power out of the triple SU's (I personally prefer Stromberg CD's as they are less tempramental). Some years back I ran an FX with a 186 XU-1 engine, M20 4 speed and HK 3.08:1 diff and it was a fierce beast with excellent pick up and a genuine 130 mph top speed ( I know this because it took me 12 months to pay the speeding fine and I got used to walking for a while).
Cheers
Jock

[Effie C]

G'Day Jock
There is a triple strommy manifold on ebay at the moment, both one side draft with carbies or one down draft (i.e normal holden carbies) bare manifold. Sorry no link but already logged in to this site.
Spider
One of our members has triple su's on his red in FC, he mounted motor further forward, engine mounts on crossmember where EH would have them. This required the moving of radiator forward about its own thickness and a slight dent in firewall, he says it works great.(This is the same FC in the pick a mod thread)
Good Luck
John M

[Jockster]

Thanks for that info John, I'll take a look on Ebay for the carby manifold. I had heard of others moving the motor further forward, but was told it made the cars a little nose heavy and prone to unersteer, I would be interested to hear from someone who has done it as to how they felt about the handling.
Cheers
Jock

[RET]

One of our members (Rod Lay) has an FC with triple SUs in it, and it required extensive firewall massaging to make fit.  I don't think I have a photo of its engine bay, but will check.

As far as the understeer is concerned, it's nothing a couple of bags of cement in the boot won't fix.  

cheers
RET