Man-A-Fre Manifold & Induction

[Snake45]

From time to time the old Man-A-Fre 4x2 induction setup gets mentioned/discussed here. They're rare these days, both real and in plastic. The AG Milner's Coupe had it, so if you want to model that car, you need it. 

There's a GREAT article on them, with loads of detail photos, in the new (November) issue of HOT ROD DELUXE, now available at Walmart. 

The only Man-A-Fre I know of in scale came in the original AMT '67 Camaro annual, now also rare. I don't think anyone has it in aftermarket, but they should. I have at least one or two of the manifolds from glue bombs, and THINK I could come up with a complete set of carbs if anyone wants to do molds for repro parts. (I'm giving thought to actually using the setup on a '67 Camaro custom I'm building.) 

[Dennis Lacy]

The Man-A-Fre intake is virtually identical in layout to '57-'65 Rochester fuel injection bed plate with the 4 Plenum mounting flanges modified to take Rochester 2GC 2-barrel carburetors.

 

Probably the best source to create one in scale is to use the injection bed plate from Revell's '62 Corvette and mount carburetors to it.

[High octane]

Maybe the four carb manifold from the Revell Parts Pack Cadillac engine will work, or no?

[Deuces]

How about the 6 carb one from the Revell '57 Chevy kit.... The one with the opened doors....

I think that's a man o fre intake.... I could be wrong.... ?

[Ace-Garageguy]

30 minutes ago, High octane said:

Maybe the four carb manifold from the Revell Parts Pack Cadillac engine will work, or no?

Not for a smallblock Chebby.

A Chebby uses the manifold AS the valley cover, and has the forward water crossover cast in, as well as a hole for the distributor shaft in the rear.

The Caddy manifold is a VERY different design, and can't really be adapted to work on a Chebby...if that's the engine you want to use a Man-A-Fre on.

Chebby Man-A-Fre   

Typical Caddy 4X1 manifold:  

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

48 minutes ago, Dennis Lacy said:

The Man-A-Fre intake is virtually identical in layout to '57-'65 Rochester fuel injection bed plate with the 4 Plenum mounting flanges modified to take Rochester 2GC 2-barrel carburetors.

Probably the best source to create one in scale is to use the injection bed plate from Revell's '62 Corvette and mount carburetors to it.

 

18 minutes ago, Deuces said:

How about the 6 carb one from the Revell '57 Chevy kit.... The one with the opened doors....

I think that's a man o fre intake.... I could be wrong.... ?

The old Revell '57 Chebby kits also have the fuel-injection base Dennis mentions.

[Deuces]

Yes, I know... Thanks!... ☺️

[Jon Haigwood]

Then there is the Horne manifold 

Possibly whats on the Kookie T 

Edited October 5, 2018 by Jon Haigwood

[Jon Haigwood]

The one in the Parts pax looks to be an Edelbrock 

 

[High octane]

7 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Not for a smallblock Chebby.

A Chebby uses the manifold AS the valley cover, and has the forward water crossover cast in, as well as a hole for the distributor shaft in the rear.

The Caddy manifold is a VERY different design, and can't really be adapted to work on a Chebby...if that's the engine you want to use a Man-A-Fre on.

Chebby Man-A-Fre   

Typical Caddy 4X1 manifold:  

 

Ahhhh yes, thanks for the info.

[alan barton]

I photographed this Man-A - Fre manifold in the swap meet area of the Bakersfield Hot Rod Reunion in 2014. I figured it would be a handy reference point one of these days - looks like today is it!  Hope it helps you guys in your discussions.

 

Cheers

Alan

[disabled modeler]

Cool old piece.....years ago I had a nice collection of the odd 1 to 1 intakes..etc.   I still have a factory one for a 70 Yenko Sport Nova small block.

Edited October 6, 2018 by disabled modeler

[Rider]

That looks like it would be rather easy to scratch up. No runners to sculpt, only a short water passage runner. The gasket flanges could be traced from an any existing Chevy kit manifold and cut out. 

[Modlbldr]

Would this be one?

http://

Found it among my 67 Camaro parts.

Later-

[Rider]

Sure looks like it is from here. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 hours ago, Modlbldr said:

Would this be one?

http://

 

Doesn't look right to me, at least if it's s'posed to be for a smallblock Chebby.

Compare. The carb flanges are in the wrong relationship with the rest of the manifold and the thermostat housing...and what's that big hole above the t-stat on the yellow manifold?

On the Chebby Man-A-Fre below, the hole below the t-stat housing is for the oil filler tube, other smaller holes on the coolant crossover are for water-temp sender and heater hose. Big hole all by its lonesome at the left (rear) of the Man-A-Fre is for the distributor shaft.

Most kit engine makers get these things fairly OK...at least recognizable.

                                                                                       

 

[Modlbldr]

Yeah, I realized that it has some differences from the real ones pictured but since there isn't one pictured from a kit and this one came from an old 67 Camaro rebuilder I thought that it may be what it was supposed to be. Anybody got a pic of one from an original kit?

Later-

[Snake45]

6 hours ago, Modlbldr said:

Yeah, I realized that it has some differences from the real ones pictured but since there isn't one pictured from a kit and this one came from an old 67 Camaro rebuilder I thought that it may be what it was supposed to be. Anybody got a pic of one from an original kit?

Later-

Yeah, I think that's from the '67 Camaro. I was noticing that the location of the ports on the one I have don't look right, either--too far back. The kit gave you the option of short velocity stacks instead of air cleaners for the carbs, too. I don't think I have any of the stacks.