UPDATE II: Bill added a couple pics of a similar, but different burns head.
UPDATE: **SOLD** for $1025 on eBay!
Matt spotted this rare dual intake manifold manufactured by Burns. I’ve never run across one.
“Up for auction are a used Burns aluminum 2 X 1 barrel carburetor intake manifold along with the cast iron exhaust manifold and two Carter YF carburetor cores for a Willys Jeep four cylinder 134cid L-head engine. Although there seems to be a plethora of accessories for vintage Willys Jeeps there exists very few horsepower enhancements for the early Jeep flat head four cylinder motors. A few after market manufacturers in the 1950’s such as Hickey Enterprises developed a high compression cylinder head and Burns, who had been manufacturing aluminum 2X1 intake manifolds for Model A and Model B Ford banger motors, developed and intake manifold for the Willys Jeep four cylinder L-head engine .
This intake manifold bolts up to the exhaust manifold just as the stock 1X1 intake manifold does thus takes advantage of the heat riser warm up and does not require any modification to the engine or exhaust manifold. The manifold also has a threaded port for the PVC valve. The only fabrication required is for a linkage for the carburetors you will be using.
The manifold is made of aluminum and retains the original patina. There are no cracks or stripped threads. The exhaust manifold is in very good condition and the heat riser flapper has free movement. The two Carter YF carburetor cores will require rebuilding if you choose to use them. These intake manifolds are extremely rare and difficult to find. A nice addition to any collection or if you are looking to give your Jeep a little more horsepower and add some eye candy under the hood you definitely need this manifold.
Welcome Dave.
These are RARE. As are the aluminum head, T-1(?) Air compressor and maybe the bed-extender but if you do some online searches you’ll see this set-up on an MB some guy did a while back. (intake painted OD)
Info on these is pretty scarce but what I remember pulling up online was a HOTROD magazine article from the 50’s (also ran a Hickey Head I believe), some homemade dual intake (2A page I think?) and a possibly a different style dual intake (Edmunds?) that uses the F-head exhaust manifold (no heat riser)
I think it’s more of a cool-factor as the ceiling for power output would be fairly low in my opinion. Still, period “after market” pieces are kind of neat and bring a little more character to the vehicle.
If any of the eWillys readers has run, seen, or has info on this set-up, it’d be interesting to hear about it and what they thought.
Dave-
This Burns setup is being sold by my long time (20+ years) Jeep and Corvette buddy Al up in Fish Creek WI. If you have ever dealt with Al, he is the most honest guy you will come across and easy to work with. He has decided to downsize his fleet of Willys vehicles and extra parts. He recently sold a 2WD Willys pickup and a Darland L-134 intake and hopes to sell this Burns. Both of those intakes are very rare and as such expensive to buy. As Matt mentioned, overall power increase is not too noticeable, but combined with either the Hickey, Chuchua or even a milled Super Sonic Kaiser head, you can tell the difference. The Hickey and Chuchua heads are identical and provide about 8:1 compression as opposed to 6:48 on the stock Willys head. You can expect about a 10 hp increase with those heads.
As you know, I wanted to find a Burns setup a couple of years ago to go with the Hickey Head I put on our Surrey and at the time Al wasn’t interested in parting with this one, so we undertook a project to build our own dual intake using an old L-134 intake that we cut and re-welded into a dual setup with a balance tube in between. We used the F-head exhaust manifold due to it having no heat riser(don’t need it here in Phoenix) and having much better flow characteristics. We mounted two small Weber carbs and with a Pertronix ignition, our 1960 DJ3A Surrey starts quickly and runs great. We believe we are putting out about 80hp now. We didn’t do this for the power increase, but the entire setup with the Hickey head just looks cool and something you don’t see on the old L-134 engines very often.
Colin … that’s so funny. I just wrote to Matt suggesting that you’d probably comment on this post 🙂 .. I hadn’t gotten to you comment yet. I did send him the post about your build and Nate’s dual carb build. Here are the links to both below as well:
http://www.ewillys.com/2015/10/21/colins-surreys-head-games/
http://www.ewillys.com/2013/03/21/nates-dual-carb-setup/
I WANT THIS — BAD !! — ANYWAY TO GET A FEW MORE PONIES OUT OF A L4 -134 , I’LL TAKE IT !!
Auction just ended.. sold for a whopping $1025.00 !! WOW..
If the seller has any other cool old jeep parts, I’d like to see whats available/ for sale..
Thanks for the update! Wow is right!
Does anyone know where another Burns Willys Intakes are? Due to a poor internet connection and waiting until the last 2 minutes I couldn’t get my bid to go through in time.
Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me,
Jason
Jason,
Sorry to hear that! I did a quick google search and the only other one I could find was sold 8 years ago on eBay. https://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/twin-carb-intake-for-l-head_topic17543.html .. I hope you don’t have to wait another 8 years!!
Thanks David, I hope not either. That is not a very encouraging thought. I will definitely keep looking, maybe something will turn up eventually. Note to self, never wait until the last minute to bid on an item that you really want. Go with your strongest bid and make someone outbid you. Early Willys speed parts are definitely tough to find.
Jason
Hey Guys! I have one on my 41 Willys Coupe Yes Very Rare! Its different than this one! Don’t know how to add a Pic if you would like to see it email me mtnmanbf@aol.com Tks Bill @ Solo Speed Shop
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the note. If you want to email the pic to me at d@ewillys.com I will add it.
You might also be interested in a new site I just took over and redesigned that deals with Willys cars of different vintages: http://www.ewillysonline.com.
Thanks,
– Dave
thanks for sharing, great set-up. Those other pics are cool and would absolutely love to put one of those on my 3A.. a guy can dream…
Now that has to be the most unusual Willys gasser drag car that I have ever seen ! I wonder if the Go-Devil will be able to do a wheelstand when it launches off the starting line ??
Allan