Lets "Clear the air" on MAX WEDGE engines and performance....

[Sonny Black]

Bet That nice 440 set up would bolt-up nicely in Sonny's '63 :eusa_think:Belvedere!....
I am praying someone would,.. (just like yours),.. would give me one.
then I could clear the air!

 

[super-bee_ski]

Sonny's Belvedere is just simply gorgeous BTW!

 

[Cornpatch MO]

Manual chokes are mentioned in this thread. I am going to use one and would like to see a pic of the max wedge correct choke knob and where it is located on the dash. 1964 Dodge if it makes a difference.........................MO

 

[Jeremiah]

I can't imagine that a decent mechanic would have that much trouble getting a pair of carter carburetors and a dual point ignition to be reliable and tuned for reasonable streetability.

My new 511 MW Victor engine will be street driven with ease utilizing a pair of 1050's on a tunnel ram and a roller cam that has .730ish net valve lift and duration spec'd to keep it under 7500 RPM. I have no doubt that it will be streetable but I am used to lots of duration and the engine waking up at 3500 rpm.

Proper timing and carburetor adjustments make a night and day difference. If you can't do it don't hate on those who can. My first engine build was a 440 with a .509 and an 800 DP and I couldn't get it to run well on the street to save my life. Eventually I ran into a guy that could tune anything and after that it could sit there and idle until it ran out of gas.

 

[glassman]

I am glad that the air has been cleared on these max wedges.

 

[Raminducted 63]

Drove a '63 Polara back in the '70s with a 426 maxie, factory 13.5/1 pistons, 308deg. 510lift solid cam 3447afb carbs( factory jetting ) on factory crossram. Ran on Sunoco 260 with total timing set at 32 through the mufflers on the street, 4.56 rear. Used the car in temps down to 40deg., even 12 miles back & forth to work. I would fire it up, warm it up a little, shut it down then throw a heavy moving blanket over the whole motor to build heat in the intake for about 15min. & you were good to go. It didn't like idling in gear so the technique was to push it in neutral at a light, on green, push it in low & feather the thottle. 11" street converter was a little too tight for this motor, other than that it ran real nice on the street. Didn't have any of the so called drivability problems that the "experts" always claimed these cars had. Stayed on top of valve adjustment & timing (factory Maxie dual point mechanical adv. distributor) & no problems. Would go 12.00s at 118 through the mufflers @ 3500#. Pretty good on the street for the early '70s. Could cruise around in traffic but when you stood on it, it would just go!!

 

[383man]

I can understand the driveability problems with 13.5 comp and the crossram back in the day. Guess thats one reason I dont know if I will ever put the crossram on my street car. Today with nice aluminum heads and the technology of cams and intakes you can have a nice fast driver. With the Indy dual plane and the Indy EZ aluminum heads I run 10.6 comp and good quench to run on 92 pump and have a nice sounding and driving wedge eng thats drives so nice I can cruise all day in it with no plugs fouling running a single 850 DP and run 10's thru the pipes and have a nice driver car. But the crossram sure does have one heck of an impact when you see it under the hood on a Maxie car. I give up the cool impact of the crossram on mine to have great driveability. Guess its hard to have both but I have seen guys run the crossrams today and drive them on the street. Not sure how good their driveability is though with the crossram and dual Carters or Eddy carbs. Ron

- - - Updated - - -

But I do love this look ! Ron

 

[slantman]

I have no problems driving this on the street, starts okay with no choke. Give it a minute or so to warm up and off you go. 511 cubes, 10.5 to 1 comp, solid roller cam, pair of original 3705S carbs, 3.91 gears. Modern ignition and converter certainly help. Don't be scared of the crossram.

 

[383man]

I guess there is two reasons I dont have the crossram.
One is I did not have the money for the complete setup when I built my eng.
Two is it runs so darn good with the 850 DP and Indy dual plane that I dont think it could be as a nice a driver with the crossram as I need no choke with this setup. Like "Slantman" said I fire it up and let the eng warm a minute or two and its ready to drive. And I would like to try a single plane intake with a dominator some day also to see how it runs. Then try the crossram and see which I like best. Ron

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

my 63 with crossram and a decent converter ran great on the street. it's all in the staggered jetting to get them to run smooth.

 

[383man]

Chris you do mean with the stock crossram right ? Because there was a car in Car Craft I believe with the Indy race crossram that he drove on the street and he said it drove nice. Ron

 

[67 Power Wagon]

I asked why my 383 was hard starting. its a '67. and I was talked too like no one knew what the hell I was talking about, YES, its an old 67. they were KNOWN for hard starting in the winter, and this past winter, SUCKED! AND these people I asked? ALL were "Mopar related" guys too!

This doesn't prove much more then what I knew then and know now, the old Mopars were known for hard starting in the winter, BUT, I found that adding a block heater source, AKA keeping the oil "warm" might make a big difference this year.......

I know the Cross-Ram was a turd for being difficult hard starting. that intake is a bitch to keep warm! I only have a little Carter 4 barrel on the 383 so.....

AND my manual choke actually works! I was told thats normally one of the few things that sticks and doesn't want to function properly. A little spray of anti-seiz goes a long way on the end of that cable, and linkage....

 

[AMX364]

Friend of mine in the late 70's was in the junkyard and looking at a wrecked, about 68 Charger that was badly beat up, he said it looked like the driver died in the wreck. Took him over 30 minutes to get the hood opened and it had a Max Wedge engine there. He was quite surprised and got as many parts as he could. We believe that only the driver really cared about what was under the hood and when he was gone then no one looked.

 

[Mr4Speed]

...blah blah blah hard starting blah blah temperamental hard to tune blah blah iced up intake blah animal blah blah.

A Max Wedge is like Bambi in comparison to my wife :hello2: