The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Delays at the Offenhauser Foundry?

I have been waiting for almost two months for the delivery of an Offenhauser dual carb intake for a 235. It is my understanding that the delay is related to a problem that Offenhauser is having with their foundry. Does anyone know anything about the foundry problem? It almost seems as if Offenhauser is attemtping to create a false sense of demand by limiting production.

This is not intended to develop into some sort of vendor bashing. I just hoped to find an explantion for the delay and had hoped to get an idea of how much longer I will have to wait. I have tried to get similar answers from the vendor I bought it from; unfortunately, they don't have them.

Thanks

I could be wrong, but I thought Offy shut down years ago. I was thinking that what is being made new is manufactured by another company.

I may be wrong here, but it's Patrick Dykes who casts the manifolds nowadays.

Thanks Guys,

I had thought that Offenhauser was still casting the manifolds. I think Patrick is casting the Fenton Headers. I guess it sort of makes sense that he may be casting the Offy intakes too.

I bought the intake and valve cover for my 235 from Offy almost 30 years ago. read an article at that time how they have never destroyed a mold of any product they ever made.

Molds wear out. I believe the current molds are not the originals? Or I heard something like that.

Special order,slow moving parts,and obsolite stuff that's still in the Catalog are all cast with the leftovers from production pour

Don't tell anyone where you heard this!! It's the truth and not hard to understand given the volume of this stuff sold yearly

So there maybe a problem that really doesn't relate to the part you ordered

Please take it easy and wait for something new that you couldn't find at years worth of swap meets

I for one am very happy these guy even consider us and take the time to produce these things and at a fair price

Just curious who you ordered it through?

Just curious who you ordered it through?

Mugsy, I ordered the intake from Patrick's along with a set of fentons and I got a very good package deal on both items. I have already received the Fentons and I am pleased with their quality and Patrick's customer service has been top notch even though I maybe testing their patience by calling once a month looking for an update on my intake.

Jim, I agree with you about us being lucky that several vendors have chosen to offer parts for our obsolete vehicles. I spent 5 years trying to locate an original dual carb intake and an original set of Fentons and before I decided that it was not possible to locate either for a reasonable price at a swap meet.

Mr Muggs can tell you that there are always a fine selection of mainfolds at Big Three swap in San Diego

Personally I find the Offy/Fenton combo boring just cause they
are too easy to get Bur do understand the 'instant gradifcation'
factor

Got my dual offy from Patricks over a year ago and had to wait about 6 months - charged when shipped.
Can't say, if there are preferred customers that get it sooner, but it doesn't seem like that.
Seems like the offy shop is just not cranking them out.

After all the waiting, the holes on the bottom were all drilled about 1/8 inch off spec sideways.
Rather than waiting another round, I moved the perfectly drilled heat plate holes to fit.
Bummer when everything is brand new...

Regardless, I'm very grateful Offy is still making them. I would have waited as long as it takes.
Many other dual intakes don't fit, if you want to keep your three on the tree shifter box.

Put on a pair of Carter YFs, make the fentons fit and you will forget all the time & effort, when you push the pedal and make your iron buddy roar.

Ahh, life is good.

I don't think it unreasonable to call once a month for status.
Everbody's probably in the same boat but, what if you checked elsewhere, such as Langdon's, to see if they maybe have one on hand? And get your money back.
When I was looking for one, there was always 1 or 2 (or more) auctions per week on ebay. They just always got bid up too high. I was trying to get one for $100 or so and they usually went between $120-$140.
Here's another thought. Start checking ebay. Win an intake and get it relatively quickly. Then, when the other finally arrives, sell it on ebay to get your money back (or maybe more!).
You know what'll happen if you find another intake, the one from Patricks will show up the next day. And if you DON'T find another intake, the one from Patricks will show up in another 4 months. Isn't that the way things always seem to happen?
-David
Kustoms-and-Sleds

Hey all!
I keep hearing everybody putting Offy intakes with their Fenton headers. Are the Fenton intakes (aluminum 2x1 for 235) rare? I haven't seen any being offered for sale. I have one I picked up at a swap meet a few years ago. It's gonna go on my 48 1 ton when the motor goes in. I'm still saving for headers. I didn't have any trucks at the time I bought it. I was going to put it in my 62 Belair until I realized it wouldn't clear the hood. Then the pretty intake sat in the trunk.

I run a Fenton intake with original Fenton headers. I see them around, but not as common as the Offy's since you can buy the Offy intake new. I like old original weird junk. My Fenton was for a 216, so I had to bore the ports out to use it on the 235. I like using the smaller base carbs that fit the 216 manifold anyhow. What blows my mind is that the intake and headers interfered with each other, even though they were made by the same co. I had to do some light grinding on both the headers and intake, and when that wasn't enough, I angle milled the headers to tip them down and in a hair more. You would think this stuff would all bolt together, but ohhhh noooo.

Almost forgot. My understanding of Offenhauser is that they have all their old casting patterns, but will not run a batch of parts until they have enough orders to make it worth their time. A friend of mine had called them about an old Dodge hemi intake. They still have the patterns, but said he would have to wait until enough orders came in to make a run of them. They figured this could take as long as 2-5 years depending on demand. He could order a whole bunch of the intakes to make the run minimum, and sell them off, but he would have to pay up front for the whole run. Not cheap. I have heard that Offy has allowed Northwest Speed Equip. (Portland area?) to cast some odd old intakes using Offy's patterns for a fee. If this is true, this would be great as a smaller company might be able to do OK running small runs of odd intakes that are now in demand. And we could get our hands on some neat parts.

Yup! Barry the guys at Offy and pretty good to have kept their tooling all this time

I bet there are some guy here that seldom go to swap meets I see Chevy crap all the time

Just going through old posts and noticed that I didn't mention the fact that Patrick's took care of the problem by issuing a full refund for the offy intake.

Thank you Mr. Dykes, we are all fortunate to have such a vendor as you around.

Jon

Unfortunately, Offenhauser does not have ALL their original patterns; but do have many of them.

Each time in the last few years that I have ordered an Offenhauser manifold, I have waited 3 to 6 months; BUT each time the wait was worth the product, especially when you compare the product to many of the other products available.

In 40 years of working on and selling aftermarket units, I have yet to have to do any modifications to an Offenhauser unit to make it fit!

Jon.

That's exactly what I was going to suggest was happening.

There are a whole lot of parts out there like that.. somebody can make 'em, but they're not interested in setting the whole deal up just to make 2 or three.. so they take your order, and wait till they have enough pre-orders to make it worth their while.. then pump out a few 'extras' to either sell, or keep on hand for warranty exchange purposes.

What they sell 1 for I doubt would cover the cost of firing up the thing that melts the metal.

But if that's the case, I think they should tell you that.. and let you know it could be 6 months or more before you get the part.. I mean, it sucks when you order something and have to call them once a month and they still can't tell you when they'll have it.

Bought my 2 x 1 offy from jim carters, it was on back order for a week . I know patricks does the wayne valve and side covers.

Patrick told me about 6 months ago that he was going to have Fenton Intake's produced and that any day now he'll have them ready. They are supposed to mount up better with the fenton exhaust manifolds and should sell plenty with Offy's dual carb set up delay. I waited about 3 months for mine.