Immediately, the aluminum plate to which both Holley carburetors are attached separates from the ‘glass manifold’s upper plenum surface, flopping over on its side and pointing four float bowl vent tubes (still under 7 psi of fuel pressure) toward glowing header pipes. Quicker than I could even think you know what, Jensen has disappeared behind a wall of flame engulfing the dyno cell. I envisioned him to have become a human torch. As I reach to pop the cap on the pressurized fuel tank, stopping the flow of fuel, one Edelbrock employee dashes around to the right side of the cell while the other goes left…each snatching an extinguisher in the process. Simultaneously, both doors open and extinguishers now aimed directly across the flaming engine and toward each other let fly. Directly in the line of fire is, well of course, Jensen. While all this took less than ten seconds to evolve, turning Murray into something that didn’t resemble Chris Cringle required much more.
Bottom-line? This little event spawned the idea that a sacrificial “back-fire” valve would prevent another such fire drill. Not surprisingly, it was Murray’s idea. Thus, all future ‘glass prototype manifolds were fitted as such. Now, here’s the second event.
Remember the 2X4 cross-ram manifolds of the Z-28 era? You’ll also recall that there were aftermarket iterations of this concept, too. Even cast in aluminum, these manifolds had cold-start and hot-start problems, due largely to poor cylinder-to-cylinder air/fuel mixture distribution exacerbated by ill-designed and unavoidably flawed plenum chambers and runner entry locations. As a result, they often contributed to start-up back-fires and damage to the plenum lid, just for openers.
This time there was a 340-inch Mopar piece coupled to the pump. For the record, it was one of John Dianna’s drag race efforts…in his early stint at HOT ROD Magazine and prior to his becoming a Petersen Publishing Company fixture. Back then, we called him “Johnny Jr. Stock.” He’ll know what that means.
The dyno scene is the same, only this time we need to note two additional elements not identified in the previously shared experience. Edelbrock had a shop dog we called Hap--shortened from Happy--a moniker which fell well below this animal’s enthusiasm for virtually any female…canine. During the day, Hap would troll the surrounding neighborhood for connections, literally. At night, he slept outside the dyno room on an Edelbrock-red wool blanket that, over time, collected a measure of his hair and scent. The blanket was situated not far from a water fountain with an over-flow tube directed into a small bucket. As it turned out, this same water-laden bucket was the repository for some of the shop employees who enjoyed chewing tobacco. Draw your own conclusions about what it contained…in aggregate.
At the time, Jensen was becoming familiar with running the dyno and I was helping him with the task. Following a brief warm-up period and setting ignition timing, Dianna’s piece hiccupped during its maiden power-run start-up and sat with a small flame lingering above one of the two cross-ram carburetors. As was the procedure, Murray simply walked into the dyno cell and snuffed the flame with a shop towel. We repeated the starting procedure, which produced another barf and a second flame above the other carburetor. Once again, the towel treatment. When the third attempt to bring the little Mopar to life failed, we then had a small flame hovering above both carburetors.
Enter a passing-by Edelbrock shop person who had just joined the company. Upon seeing the “fire” that Jensen had not yet snuffed, he bolted out of the room grabbed Hap’s blanket and threw it over the engine. Observing small fire flickers and smoke emerging from beneath the blanket, he grabbed the aforementioned bucket of “liquid” and dumped it over the blanket.
Bottom line? The bucket’s contents turned into steam (the headers were still piping hot) and the stench was immediately picked up by the company-wide air-conditioning system, distributing a odor that consisted of whatever it is that years of dog sheddings and chewing tobacco residue produce. The first person into the dyno room was Vic, and my vocabulary falls short of what spewed from him at the time.
What about Jensen? He became a stellar engine dyno operator (among other accolades). Dianna’s MoPar package? Just one of more than one he blew up. The dyno? It’s one of those currently populating Edelbrock’s R&D department. And me? You likely neither want nor need to know. Besides, if I was still in the company’s employ, there’s no way this piece of text would have passed the corporate censure committee.
