six / 2 barrel mercury V-6 manifold

**stormbringer1** · 05-15-2018, 08:45 PM

In the early 80s I believe some formula drivers were using a six single barrel Tilotson carbureted manifold on the 2 liter V6. I also saw several six 2 barrel carb manifolds. I remember an acquaintance of mine from Oklahoma had one on his Merc on the back of a Kober cat. I acquired one from one of the top formula boat drivers in Missouri but an unforeseen devastating event required returning it. We had it on a moded 2.4 and had to re jet it leaner to bring up the RPM but it was a beast. Does anyone have any history behind these and know if any still exist? Appreciate the help and thanks guys.

**FMP** · 05-15-2018, 09:20 PM

I believe they were mentioned on a here on the Merc V6 history thread, it was discussed somewhere.

**WaterZebra** · 05-16-2018, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by stormbringer1

In the early 80s I believe some formula drivers were using a six single barrel Tilotson carbureted manifold on the 2 liter V6. I also saw several six 2 barrel carb manifolds. I remember an acquaintance of mine from Oklahoma had one on his Merc on the back of a Kober cat. I acquired one from one of the top formula boat drivers in Missouri but an unforeseen devastating event required returning it. We had it on a moded 2.4 and had to re jet it leaner to bring up the RPM but it was a beast. Does anyone have any history behind these and know if any still exist? Appreciate the help and thanks guys.

I would assume there are several of them gathering dust in somebody's garage or shed. I had two of them at one time. One even had a tube insert for nitrous injection. Only catalog listing I remember for the manifold was Land & Sea Performance. I used Merc carbs rather than Tilotson. The RH and LH carb banks used a standard Merc linkage tie bar but the throttle cable link rod was a custom assembly also made by Land & Sea. They were very tempermental to cold start as the primer squirt never worked on its own without a little boost of starting fluid. With the advent of fuel injection (especially the ECU / chip type), these "six pack" set-ups had a very short racing life BUT they sure were impressive to look at especially with velocity stacks bolted to the carbs. Changes in elevation and temperature would require a small fortune in high speed jets to keep them running right. It took 45 minutes to change 12 jets either by changing the jets in their mounting seats or save a few minutes by changing both the seat and jet as a ready-to-go assembly. Either method would have somebody taking a bath in fuel running out of the float bowls. No wonder we switched to EFI...............way easier than fiddling with TWELVE jet assemblies.

**WaterZebra** · 05-16-2018, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by stormbringer1

In the early 80s I believe some formula drivers were using a six single barrel Tilotson carbureted manifold on the 2 liter V6. I also saw several six 2 barrel carb manifolds. I remember an acquaintance of mine from Oklahoma had one on his Merc on the back of a Kober cat. I acquired one from one of the top formula boat drivers in Missouri but an unforeseen devastating event required returning it. We had it on a moded 2.4 and had to re jet it leaner to bring up the RPM but it was a beast. Does anyone have any history behind these and know if any still exist? Appreciate the help and thanks guys.

These 6 Paks work best with a 225HP reed cage front end (7 pedal).

**Mark75H** · 05-16-2018, 04:17 PM

Wasn't one of these a Dick O'Dea product?

**Dave S** · 05-17-2018, 07:58 PM

Yes to Dick O'Dea deal. Bad thing, never should'a been made. Have on I am going to cut into 3 parts and use on a 3.4 OS front with 12 venturies will make puddin happy. When off my mill will be better breathing than a 7reed as OS has 18 reeds and need for cfm. On the OEM... L/S D/O the carbs don't line up with reed cages. Shuttering the carb flow. Sorry no pixs.

**stormbringer1** · 05-17-2018, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by WaterZebra

I would assume there are several of them gathering dust in somebody's garage or shed. I had two of them at one time. One even had a tube insert for nitrous injection. Only catalog listing I remember for the manifold was Land & Sea Performance. I used Merc carbs rather than Tilotson. The RH and LH carb banks used a standard Merc linkage tie bar but the throttle cable link rod was a custom assembly also made by Land & Sea. They were very tempermental to cold start as the primer squirt never worked on its own without a little boost of starting fluid. With the advent of fuel injection (especially the ECU / chip type), these "six pack" set-ups had a very short racing life BUT they sure were impressive to look at especially with velocity stacks bolted to the carbs. Changes in elevation and temperature would require a small fortune in high speed jets to keep them running right. It took 45 minutes to change 12 jets either by changing the jets in their mounting seats or save a few minutes by changing both the seat and jet as a ready-to-go assembly. Either method would have somebody taking a bath in fuel running out of the float bowls. No wonder we switched to EFI...............way easier than fiddling with TWELVE jet assemblies.

I wanted to thank you guys all for refreshing my memory. Understand about the jet changes it could be a big enough pain doing it on just three carbs if strapped for time. Fortunately I am not going to race again and just playing with my 2.5 carb for fun and experimentation. Eventually I will go te full treatment on it and a Brucato system would be phenomenal but the$ involved with sons in college is a stretch and if not racing a good general jetting would probably work fine. Maybe I will locate one someday just for S&Gs. On a side note when a kid I raced go Karts. We had a pair of Mac 120s with four carbs on each engine and a progressive linkage. Could not open it up till you hit 3500 rpm or it would choke out lol but it would really howl pretty with megaphones and alcohol. Looks cool like this manifold we are discussing. Thanks again. If anyone runs across one let me know.

**stormbringer1** · 05-17-2018, 08:46 PM

Thanks

**nitro_rat** · 05-17-2018, 08:48 PM

I can’t imagine the 6 pack being cheaper than going efi by the time you scratch up all the parts, jets, burn down a powerhead trying to tune it, etc...

Way cooler, but not cheaper (unless somebody gives away a complete setup)!

**WaterZebra** · 05-17-2018, 10:06 PM

Originally Posted by Dave S

Yes to Dick O'Dea deal. Bad thing, never should'a been made. Have on I am going to cut into 3 parts and use on a 3.4 OS front with 12 venturies will make puddin happy. When off my mill will be better breathing than a 7reed as OS has 18 reeds and need for cfm. On the OEM... L/S D/O the carbs don't line up with reed cages. Shuttering the carb flow. Sorry no pixs.

Yeah, I forgot about the left side reed cage line-up..........it was pretty poor. Back in the days of when these were made, multi-axis machining tools were just beginning to be used by aerospace companies. This 6 Carb manifold was sand cast (pattern and core equipment) and machined on basically 3 faces (reed cage (1) and carb banks (2). The surface of the passages from each carb to reed cage was pretty porous and somebody took some serious labor time to grind them smooth. This thing also weighed a ton for what it intended for. In this day and age of technology, you would be better off acquiring one that was made via billet machining.