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Saw this today at the Auto Fair. Anyone know the story on this intake? Allegedly this was a 1 of 12 and Smokey Yunick had them for some test engines in 1966?
MY 69 L-88 had the missing divider "milled out" of the manifold. That is, the divider was in fact missing, and there was evidence of milling marks where the missing divider had been (It was NOT cast like that). So, THIS manifold was apparently cast in this condition, so it was NOT milled out. I can't answer for this or other L-88s, but my original 69 L-88 manifold was different from this one. (Mine is a late VIN with open combustion chamber heads and pistons).
MY 69 L-88 had the missing divider "milled out" of the manifold. That is, the divider was in fact missing, and there was evidence of milling marks where the missing divider had been (It was NOT cast like that). So, THIS manifold was apparently cast in this condition, so it was NOT milled out. I can't answer for this or other L-88s, but my original 69 L-88 manifold was different from this one. (Mine is a late VIN with open combustion chamber heads and pistons).
I talked to the guy that had it on his table it wasn't his. He noted that as you did that the divider was not cast in this intake. Allegedly this was cast in 1966. Pretty cool piece of history.
These L88 style 396/427 intakes with the plenum divider milled out were available over the counter for years.
Are there any modifications other than Yunick's name stamped into the gasket surface (port runner modifications, etc.)?
It could have been in Yunick's possession at one time, but the stamp would have to be consistent with similar parts of known and undisputed provenance or include paperwork and photos for definitive proof.
What did PT Barnum say?
PS. Most experimental GM intake castings have a number like( see correction below: )
Edit: "0-XXXXXXX" with a "0-" prefix leading the part number.
I had to look at my notes from an experimental GM dual-quadra-jet BBC manifold.
Last edited by 63 340HP; Apr 7, 2017 at 04:29 PM.
Reason: correction
Smokey Yunick certainly may have owned it at one time, but Chevy made more than 12 and is NOT an L-88 intake. It was used on some 66-67 Chevelle 396-375 engines.
Smokey Yunick stuff shows up occasionally. Like anything else purported to be rare, some type of documentation is always beneficial. GM gave a LOT of stuff to Smokey for evaluation and when he had the auction in the late 80s a lot of people got a piece of the "Smokey pie"..............................some really neat stuff still out there. I even have a few "top secret Smokey parts"...........................and I'm sure many of you do too. Just some neat Americarna.
There were actually quite a few of these manifolds made in late 1965. It was not installed on any production engines for passenger cars or Corvettes. It was the 1st design manifold without the septum, or plenum divider. I'm sure Yunick had a few but a lot more went to several Nascar teams for the 1966 season.
It was most likely supposed to be installed on the never released or produced 66 L88 Corvette.
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