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Brabham Manifold

Limey

Limey

Donation Time
Hi All,

Just secured this one on eBay along with two raw un-machined Rootes compatible Weber manifolds after following a hunch. It's a Rootes Brabham but has a servo (booster take off) that I've not seen in pictures or articles. Can anybody shed some light?
 

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alpine_64

alpine_64

Donation Time
Oliver, the ribbed brabham manifold with the angled vac outlet is the same as the one in the photos i sent you a while back.

Did that and the other manifolds all come from the same source we discussed?
 
Limey

Limey

Donation Time
alpine_64 said:
Oliver, the ribbed brabham manifold with the angled vac outlet is the same as the one in the photos i sent you a while back.

Did that and the other manifolds all come from the same source we discussed?
Click to expand...

They did indeed. It was hard work and I had to buy blind.
 
bernd_st

bernd_st

Bronze Level Sponsor
Superb thanks. Love the finned inlet runners. Additional mixture cooling - wow.
180km/h in a Rapier on crossplys must have been quite a challenge in those days .

The head looks rather unexciting for a stage 3. Heavily skimmed but the chambers look not much different though...
 
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Limey

Limey

Donation Time
bernd_st said:
Superb thanks. Love the finned inlet runners. Additional mixture cooling - wow.
180km/h in a Rapier on crossplys must have been quite a challenge in those days .

The head looks rather unexciting for a stage 3. Heavily skimmed but the chambers look not much different though...
Click to expand...


Lots of 'fun' around corners...
 
bernd_st

bernd_st

Bronze Level Sponsor
Must have been fun indeed. Wonder where Brabham got the mainfolds casted. UK or Aussie Land. There must have been tools to fabricate such a complex design. Wonder how many kits he did/sold back in the day...
 
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R

RootesRacer

Donation Time
bernd_st said:
Must have been fun indeed. Wonder where Brabham got the mainfolds casted. UK or Aussie Land. There must have been tools to fabricate such a complex design. Wonder how much kits he did/sold back in the day...
Click to expand...

You can tell by the roughness they are sandcast, so tooling is pretty simple and not a great value. I would bet they were wooden negative moulds and easy to toss after production.

If someone really wanted new manufactured parts, one could design them in CAD (3% oversized) and print them on a 3D printer. Take the moulds to a casting house and make some. The money is in the machining of the castings.
 
Limey

Limey

Donation Time
With respect, Rootes Racer perhaps my original pics were too low resolution but you are mistaken. There is no way these are wood cast??? I mean since when?? The finest carbs were and still are sand cast so the process is proven. I have Mangoletsi, Holbay and now Brabham manifiolds and these castings (though unmachined) are their equal. There are zero defects nor any pockets nor porosity. The clear part number impression and fine cast grain indicates a professional batch as do the minimal flash grindings.

The money is in the molding not the machining. Good casting = minimal machining. Casting is costly. Machining is relatively cheap on a good cast.
 

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R

RootesRacer

Donation Time
Limey said:
With respect, Rootes Racer perhaps my original pics were too low resolution but you are mistaken. There is no way these are wood cast??? I mean since when?? The finest carbs were and still are sand cast so the process is proven. I have Mangoletsi, Holbay and now Brabham manifiolds and these castings (though unmachined) are their equal. There are zero defects nor any pockets nor porosity. The clear part number impression and fine cast grain indicates a professional batch as do the minimal flash grindings.

The money is in the molding not the machining. Good casting = minimal machining. Casting is costly. Machining is relatively cheap on a good cast.
Click to expand...

Wood cast? No I said sand cast. The tooling/moulds were wood. Was then and quite often is still today.
You can clearly see the sand grains on the manifold. The other option is investment cast which clearly they are not.

BTW, I have overseen casting of various aluminum parts, sand, investment and diecast injection moulded so there is a bit of experience here on manufacturing process and cost.
 
Gordon Holsinger

Gordon Holsinger

Diamond Level Sponsor
Limey said:
Hi All,

Just secured this one on eBay along with two raw un-machined Rootes compatible Weber manifolds after following a hunch. It's a Rootes Brabham but has a servo (booster take off) that I've not seen in pictures or articles. Can anybody shed some light?
Click to expand...
I noticed that the carb flanges are pointing up to clear the steering box on a LHD.
 
Limey

Limey

Donation Time
RootesRacer said:
Wood cast? No I said sand cast. The tooling/moulds were wood. Was then and quite often is still today.
You can clearly see the sand grains on the manifold. The other option is investment cast which clearly they are not.

Thanks RR and I defer to your greater knowledge. My point was that however these were made they are equal in casting quality to the period manifolds I have and I'm therefore happy to have found them. I'm dropping them into my machine shop soon for finishing so it will be interesting to learn the cost of that process. Cheers for now.
Click to expand...
 
R

RootesRacer

Donation Time

No question on the quality, my statement related to tooling cost/value.

Since the Brabham manifolds were designed for the Rapier (which has a roomier engine compartment) you may find that they are are very tight fit. Ive never seen one in a a series alpine.
 
alpine_64

alpine_64

Donation Time
I used to have an article from 1961 with a SI alpine raced in NZ that had been prepared by brabham Uk with the DCOEs .. Dont have the photos with me...but will try and get it for oliver..

Iirc the owner was a B Stewart
 
GlennB

GlennB

Silver Level Sponsor
What makes you think they are Brabham? CDMS stands for Chris Draycott Motor Sport known in the UK for his Sunbeam tuning. I have one of these he put on my Harrington in the 80's.
 
alpine_64

alpine_64

Donation Time
GlennB said:
What makes you think they are Brabham? CDMS stands for Chris Draycott Motor Sport known in the UK for his Sunbeam tuning. I have one of these he put on my Harrington in the 80's.
Click to expand...
Glenn the brabham manifold is the ribbed runner one. The others as you state are morr recent manifolds.
The ribbed one is the period brabham kit ;)
 
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