I think it was Jason Torchinsky over at Jalopnik who made the bold observation that the intake on the Infiniti VH41DE has an uncanny resemblance to the face hugger from the Alien movies. Once you make that realization you’ll never open your hood again. Sorry Infiniti owners, it’s time to let somebody else check those fluids.
Intake manifolds used to be simple things. Hell, for the longest time they were logs cast right into the heads! As computer-aided design and the goal of eking out every last bit of efficiency and power from our engines, intakes have taken on a life of their own. Some are multi-stage, while others look like French Horns on LSD. We want to see those weirdos today. What is the weirdest intake manifold you have ever had the pleasure to behold?
Image: ECS Tuning
Hooniverse Asks: What's the Weirdest Intake Manifold You've Ever Seen?
By Robert Emslie
Feb 16, 2016
Jeff Glucker
VR6 has some weird going on…
http://i.imgur.com/8gKenMgh.jpg
It’s genius. The runners closest to the inlet are longer than those further away to balance the airflow. Of course, it does look a bit odd.
I tried to find a diagram of how the head flows to the valves- that’s a trip too.
I always thought the Subaru SVX had more facehugger than anything else.
http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/files/Chiketkd/24826.jpg
Speedforce Racing’s 350z intake raised a lot of eyebrows…
Chrysler’s Cross Ram.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Chrysler_300F_cross_ram.jpg
One of my all time favorites. So much so that we equipped my son’s first racecar with one (the one on the left)…
Always thought it would be cool to hot rod one of these, with through-the-hood butterfly style air scoops on top of each of those carbs. Especially since they’re offset a little bit.
I once watched a guy take a brand new Edelbrock manifold and machine off everything above the base in order to weld in runners and a plenum of his own design.
I don’t have a picture of it, so here is a Chrysler long ram.
http://image.moparmusclemagazine.com/f/miscellaneous/fuel-injection-long-vs-short-ram-tubes/35583624/-long-ram-induction-in-street-form-the-long-tube-intake-us.jpg
http://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Saleen/saleen_S7_DV-07_NYC_e01.jpg
Well this just looks dirty.
What on earth is that from?
The Kama Sutra
More like Carma Sutra.
…I’ll show myself out.
Saleen S7 Twin Turbo
Caution
“Beware Of Limbo Dancers!”
My answers a little biased, but still legitimate.
http://wordpress.carthrottle.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/SHOengine.jpg
I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the awesome.
Weird? No. A freaking work of art? Yes.
I suppose it’s weird in that weird just means out of the ordinary. You know what else means out of the ordinary? Extraordinary. This intake is extraordinary, and that makes it weird.
So many clamps. So many points of failure.
Darn. I do love the look of that intake, but the engineer in me has to agree with that. (Though I’d like to give the original designers the benefit of the doubt and assume that those parts were chosen for their long-wearing characteristics… Might also be the case that having that manifold split up like that somehow makes service significantly easier, though I don’t know enough about these to know.)
It certainly increases the number of parts, and therefore assembly cost.
Ford flathead V8s with reversed flow.
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/wp-content/uploads/01-web.jpg
Honorable mention goes to sidedraft Weber V8 crossover manifolds.
http://carmacarcounselor.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/corvettewebers.jpg
No, it doesn’t. This triple sidedraft V6 manifold is a hundred times weirder.
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDUwWDgwMA==/z/M48AAOSwxN5WbCjf/$_20.jpg
Wow, it really is just a V4 half over again.
http://i0.wp.com/www.sportscardigest.com/wp-content/uploads/SAAB-8-LD.jpg
Twin L-power?
Wha…? Why? Were the flow characteristics actually significantly improved by this? [Edit: having seen a dragster down below running a reversed-flow setup on a Nailhead, maybe so, but still…wow.]
One turbo per cylinder.
http://image.superchevy.com/f/8664938+w640+h426+q80+re0+cr1+ar0+st0/0504sc_01z%2B1957_chevrolet_convertible%2Bturbochargers.jpg
You’re going to have to elaborate on the car and engine here.
All I see is laglaglaglaglaglaglaglaglaglagKABOOOOM!
http://americaloveshorsepower.com/24-cylinder-custom-show-truck-with-12-superchargers/
No, not the giant diesel! The one-turbo-per-cylinder!
Oops. Link should work now.
Perhaps, but for a given amount of target boost/power gain, by running an individual (smaller) turbo per cylinder you’d hopefully only get laglaglag-boom, as opposed to laglaglaglaglaglaglaglaglagKABOOOM, no? Actually not sure where the balance point is between having a smaller/lower-inertia compressor, but being driven by less exhaust flow over the turbine…
I’m more worried about one turbo/cylinder combo spooling up earlier than another. What are the chances all eight come online at exactly the same time? Because if they don’t, the turbo that spools up first feeds it’s cylinder more fuel/air, which causes it to spin up its turbo more, which… That seems like it can create a nice little drivetrain imbalance
Fore and aft side-drafts nestled within the valley of a Ford Y-block struck me as particularly weird until I learned this was originally a marine application with a premium on maintaining a low profile.
http://image.streetrodderweb.com/f/tech/14917080+w799+h499+cr1+ar0/0809sr_25_z%2Bvintage_engines_fomoco_y_blocks%2Binterceptor_marine_intake.jpg
Wow.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/80/0d/7a/800d7ad04f11b8f590da00d153dfec79.jpg
V24 two-stroke diesel. 9 superchargers.
What was that thing used in, an oceanliner? Tug? Had to be marine. Nothing land-going could use that. Well, maybe a locomotive.
Actually, 12 superchargers. Yes, marine engine.
http://americaloveshorsepower.com/24-cylinder-custom-show-truck-with-12-superchargers/
Where are the rest of them? I count 9 — three down each head, and three down the Vee.
http://campusriot.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Zoom-in-castle-gasp-gif.gif
Went Google-diving and came up with this…
http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/attachments/makin-progress/21883d1334516855-motorcycle-carbs-tunnel-ram-passengerside.jpg
And then this Daimler V8.
blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2015/01/27/hemmings-find-of-the-day-5-0l-daimler-hemi-v-8/
http://assets.blog.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads//2015/01/5LDaimlerHemi_03_700.jpg
When what I was really trying to find was this…which at this point doesn’t seem nearly as weird as I remembered it being.
http://i49.tinypic.com/121afsm.jpg
One runner per cylinder. I’ll bet that sounds incredible.
I’d bet it sounds like this, times two.
this might require more precision than YouTubeDoubler allows
http://youtubedoubler.com/hCtX
Well done.
and i should have scrolled down a bit further before adding the above comment
Can someone who knows more about intakes explain to me how this would work, and why it would work better than a 4-bbl mounted to a dual plane? Or, if high-end power is the only concern, a dual-4bbl setup?
It’s mostly economic. Four Yamaha R1 CV carbs will out-flow dual DCOEs and meter more precisely than a 4-bbl for a fraction of the price.
seen a similar thing but using two banks of m/cycle carbs on a hotrod engine
Pow! Talk about blowing your stack(s).
http://image.carcraft.com/f/thehistoryof/9579792++w750+ar1/p135215_large+Buick_Nailhead_Powered_Dragster+Passenger_Side.jpg
Reverse-flow Nailhead with a remote blower fed by four carbs?
http://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/stop_penis_erect_archer.gif
Thank you for that — I was having difficulty parsing the awesomeness of that engine.
yes. http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae16/bhambulldog/Play%20album/Reverseblownnailhead2.jpg
“For Trolling Purposes Only” on the air filter cover, love it. I saw that motor on the same HAMB thread as the dragster, but didn’t realize it was in a boat.
Am I interpreting this correctly, that this is actually passing fuel-air mix through the blower? Hoo boy…that’s a whole ‘nother meaning to “detonation”. Watch them boost pressures.
I always take a step back and behold the owner with awe and a sense of impending doom when I see that; I want to take their picture for posterity. There was a goof who used to show up at Italian Motorcycle Day at the Larz Andesson Museum with a home brew supercharged Ducati single (just take a step back and let that sink in) with the cart before the horse, as it were.
I have a built 215 with 300 heads… I have to do this. I must have exhaust coming out of the V.
On the “things with superchargers in front of the crankshaft” tip… Blower Bentley’s eyes seem to follow you wherever are in the garage.
http://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Bentley/31-Bentley-4-5Ltr-SC_DV_13-BQ_e01.jpg
I always thought this made no sense whatsoever, as the Q45 has a longitudinally-mounted V8 and RWD:
http://st.motortrend.com/uploads/sites/5/2015/01/1992-Infiniti-Q45t-engine.jpg
This makes my brain hurt.
http://www.engineworld.org/uploads/90-93%20infiniti%20q45%204.5%20engine.jpg
It’s for those who want their RWD car to look FWD so they fit in with everyone else in the neighborhood. Being different is not tolerated in Suburbia and is banned by most HOAs.
But isn’t opening the hood already an offensive act there?
Next it’ll be up on blocks!
Burn him! Burn the witch!
That has to be an encyclopedia Hointanic question. Front longitudinal rwd, are there any others?
Longitudinal RWD… plenty.
Transverse RWD would be more rare.
Only found in mid-mounted form, to my knowledge.
The only ones I can think of off the top of my head were Ford’s experimental ‘T-Drive’ Thunderbird and Tempo with transverse straight-six and straight-eight engines, respectively. Photos below, details here.
And had I been the person at Ford in charge of these rather unusual packaging exercises, I would have given the engines the intake manifold aesthetics to match the driveline oddness. T-Drive was strange enough by itself, but the Tempo gets the straight-eight and the Thunderbird gets the straight-six? Madness, I tell you. Madness.
Volvo 240, 740/760, 940/960, S/V90 – more crumble zone with such a setup.
edit I might have misread the challenge.
Was the Hointanic a sistership of the Britannic, Olympic and Titanic? 😉
I actually just bought one of these this past weekend. Though my engine bay looks a bit different. This must be an older model? Probably the 4.5L then.
Huh. This might be the winner here — many of the other entries on this thread are various flavors of unusual/awesome/why not, but this one really is just weird. …and also extremely facehugger-y (if we include the feeder tube from the filter box to the throttlebody), for extra bonus points.
The Allison X-4520. The intake manifold feeds 4 cylinder banks arranged in an X pattern.
http://oldmachinepress.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/allison-x-4520-rrhtab-rear.jpg?w=625&h=591
I’m a fan of this iteration of the AER Dyson Mazda:
http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/j3u1466_130510_laguna_10_zpsbmsthzw8.jpg
they brought it back and it’s still weird
http://www.racer.com/images/2016/January_2/Mazda/mazda_engine.jpg
the Corolla tubular intake that looked like a tubular header but made of aluminum was a little confusing
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b90/compost_bin/car/IMG_6336_zpsf4fd94c0.jpg
I feel a little bad for it, but I’m just going to say it — that’s a lot cooler than I would have expected on a Corolla.
How has no one said Corvette L98? Totally a facehugger.
http://images.gtcarlot.com/pictures/41019522.jpg
The weirdest intake manifold I’ve seen on a Ford BDA was this one.
http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-global/dims3/GLOB/legacy_thumbnail/750×422/quality/95/http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/01/ford_mta_03.jpg
But it makes sense if you want your BDA to look like a stock Ford Model A motor because it’s in a Model A Ford.http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1090836
http://www.engineswapdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/1929-Ford-Model-A-With-A-Ford-Cosworth-Rally-Engine-04.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a106/DBevis/random%20car%20pics/modela2.jpg
A tractor pull tractor with 4 VW engines fed from a single 4-bbl Holley