Are custom water necks needed for BBF's ???

Hey everyone,
I recently had a customer ask me to build a custom water neck for his BBF build. We went over a few details and I was able to build him what he needed. I did a quick search and found a couple people who were in need of this same sort of deal. This one in particular is offset to one side to clear the distributor, has an overflow built into the radiator cap housing, and also has a -12AN fitting facing the front.
I just thought I would see if anyone else was in need of something similar. Not limited to water necks, but really any other products that the current aftermarket may be lacking when it comes to building a BBF setup. Any and all thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!

i sure wish i could weld aluminum that good.

Thanks...its not as pretty as I was hoping for, but Im never happy with my work. LOL. Thanks again.

Yep. they are needed. We've been shortchanged on those,,,,,,,as compared to the Chevy boys.

Charlie

Good to hear Charlie. If anyone needs something built/fabricated, let me know.

Good to see there are other fabricator's with a common mindset

Prices would vary, depending on how many fittings a person wanted and other small details. Somewhere around $150 for a basic one as pictured. Educate me on the SBF outlet. Once I know what they are, I can see if I would be able to make anything similar. Thanks.

Kyle,

The FRPP H429 Victor, and C-460 Ford intake manifolds have the traditional production style thermo housing with the thermo gasket being horizontal. This style "crowds" those front two manifold to head bolt holes on aftermarket manifolds.

To resolve that problem, TFS, when they cast their current A-460 single plane and A-460 tunnel ram manifolds,,,,they rotated the thermo housing down 90* (clocked) and started using the small block Ford water neck with bypass hole. In this situation the thermo gasket is vertical. At the end of the day, it gives more room for those (right hand) front two bolt holes.

So,,,many of us that race the BB Ford have need for both styles of water necks, SBF and BBF.

Uncle Charlie

Thanks for the clarification Charlie. So the water neck mounting surface is simply vertical instead of horizontal. Same bolt pattern? Im assuming if one used this style, the tube portion of the filler neck would need to bend up in order to stand vertical and allow one to fill the motor with water?

curleysracecars wrote:Thanks for the clarification Charlie. So the water neck mounting surface is simply vertical instead of horizontal.

Yes, if it's a SBF then the maounting surface is vertical.

Same bolt pattern?

No, it's the SBF WITH the bypass hole. The thermo housing is different and it uses a different gasket. Go to AutoZone and buy a $10 SBF OEM replacement thermo housing/water neck and you'll see.

Im assuming if one used this style, the tube portion of the filler neck would need to bend up in order to stand vertical and allow one to fill the motor with water?

Yes, it would need to bend upwards about 90* in order to allow you to fill it.

Hope this helps,
Charlie

Kyle ( curleyracecars ) you have a pm

I know this is an old thread, and others have made these in the time since. I wanted to bump the thread, to let everyone know I am trying a small production run of these. Flanges have been cut from 3/8" aluminum, on the water jet. Radiator cap piece should be here tomorrow or Friday. If anyone needs one, please let me know.
Thanks.

Here they are...waiting for whatever AN fittings are needed, as well as welding the radiator cap portion off(have not yet because Id rather point the overflow fitting in the direction the customer needs). Let me know what you think.

  you'll move some of them i bet!

Im hoping! LOL.

Kyle's work is top notch, I've been to his shop, and he fabricated some parts for me. You should see the chassis work & sheet metal he does too, pretty fantastic stuff.

Thanks for the good words. Anyone else need one of these? I have 2 left...sitting on the shelf. $140 shipped in the lower 48. Let me know.
Thanks.

Curley, don't suppose you have a billet unit that will work to replace the stock piece? I've spent hours looking for a nice piece and as you must already know there isn't much available that's not already chromed.

Thanks, Clint

Very Nice!

Anyone else interested in these? I think I still have 2 available...

Clint, Im not familiar with what the stock unit looks like. If you can send me a picture of it, I can tell you whether I can make something or not.
Thanks.

Hey everyone! I know this is an old thread, but I just recently found a box with another one of these water necks in it. The main flange is welded on, but the Im waiting for a customer to tell me what(if any) AN fittings he needs on it, and what direction they want the overflow nipple facing.
If interested in the last one, please email me directly at curleysracecars@gmail.com

Thanks!

So do you have just the T stat housing with the normal hose output? I realize you were asking for more custom application but these look great and I don't anything else ven close.

Thanks, Clint.

Im on the hunt for a water neck. For the forward facing small block style. It needs to turn up and go up about 6" or so. I have a rear radiator in the dragster, and i need the cap to be as high as the radiator. plus i need a 12an outlet. anyone have any thoughts. Im about to fire up the bridgeport and just make one. lol