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Killer Parts: A Vintage Edelbrock SY1 Smokey Ram


Killer Parts: A Vintage Edelbrock SY1 Smokey Ram

When we recently got a call from our pal and fellow BangShifter Mike Casella of Then and Now Automotive in Weymouth, Massachusetts, informing us that he had something we “needed to see” we dropped everything and headed over. We walked in to find a vintage Edelbrock SY1, better known as a “Smokey Ram” for its inventor, Smokey Yunick. This piece definitely has a place in the parts hall of fame and there’s some neat history behind its development as well.

Casella was working on the intake manifold because many of the threaded pockets that hold the mounting studs for the intake top were stripped and needed thread inserts installed so the top could be torqued down. The top needs to be off the intake for it to be installed so it is imperative that all those threads are in good working order.

The story behind the intake dates back to the mid 1960s. Yunick had just developed a special intake manifold for Pontiac to use in NASCAR. The most noteworthy part of that project was the fact that he dropped the floor of the intake manifold and moved all the runners off of it, literally inventing the “air gap” intake manifold for Chevys. In his book, Yunick recalls talking to then Pontiac chied Pete Estes about the design and Estes telling him not to bother with a patent because it wouldn’t be worth much in terms for performance. To quote Yunick, “Well, I should not have listened to that bit of advice.”

Bringing the “air gap” concept to the next level he began working on the intake design he would later famously sell to Edelbrock. Here’s Yunick’s account of the relationship with Edelbrock straight from the pages of his epic, three volume book set, Best Damn Garage in Town:

“Next I built a single four-barrel cross ram manifold for a small block Chevy with the same principle and made a deal with Vic Edelbrock to manufacture and sell it. I called it the air gap manifold. Edelbrock called it the Smokeram. All performance manifolds now use that principle.

I invented it and I believe Vic’s bank account appreciated it.The Smokeram really worked on engines up to 327 cubic inches. I paid for half the tooling and was to receive five bucks a manifold. My half of tooling was taken from royalty but my manifold sales were taking sales from other Edelbrock manifolds (with no royalty ).

I asked a friend at Edelbrock why sales were slowing. He said, “pick up the phone and call out technical help department. I got the answer. The answer technician said cross ram was junk (sic). Use a Spider type. Shortly Edelbrock cancelled the manifold.”

Click here to see a small gallery of photos of a mint Smokey Ram intake manifold

Smokey Ram 


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