Merlin Intake
 

Has anyone tried the Merlin single plain intake for bbc, if so how did it proform ?

It is very equal to a Dart, plus it has brass water jackets in it for salt water use.

I was told that it may be a little better than the Dart in the typical marine rpm range. Has anyone done any back to back Dyno testing?

I dyno'ed the Merlin back to back with the Brodix HV 2001. Both were port matched and balanced at Wilson Manifolds. Both were the same at the top and the mid-range was stronger on the Merlin. Pre-dyno testing, Wilson's comments was we were going to like the Merlin better in the boat...we do! Very strong on acceleration.

We offer both the Merlin intake and Dart intake which are both excellent parts. The Merlin Intake is slightly shorter in height and does have a great advantage due to its brass water jackets. Past discussions with Mercury Racing were that the Dart intake produced the flattest torque curve for them and thats why they opted for the Dart intake on all of the HP500 carb engines. Here's another Thought we offer a intake manifold from Hardin Marine that is an exact duplicate of the Dart intake at about an additional $100.00 savings. Just some info for thought.

http://www.cpperformance.com/detail.aspx?ID=937

I am running a merlin on my 540ci and it works great. It made a little more midrange than the dart on the dyno.

Ben, Thanks for the input. Did Wilson have any comments about the Dart single plane intake and the mods they do to/for them compared to the Merlin and Brodix??? Thanx

I haven't done any recent work on a Dart single plane intake. Many of the old A & B Class racers used the Brodix HV2001. Most of my $ & time was spent with polishing on this manifold. I expect the Dart performance would be similar to both the Merlin and Brodix. Wilson's comments were the Brodix was too big. Like intake runners on cylinder heads, big generally means lazy, especially in the mid range in a marine application.
The Merlin has two basic advantages. It is smaller than the Brodix and provides more mid-range torque and the has the brass water jackets....hugh to me. Wilson's is a good place to go if you want to convert a $400 manifold into a $1500 one :D
Both these manifolds are way big at the port for most heads with a 308-325 cc intake runners. The port match work can be significant if you want them welded-up to maximize performance.
One other tip, best dyno results for my combination was a 1" carb spacer on the Brodix and 1.5" on the Merlin. HVH and Wilson both offer good spacers.
If anybody is interested, I also have a reworked Brodix HV 2001 port matched to a pair of Dart IE's 308's ported to 320cc by Sonny Leonard.

I have two stock Merlin tall deck for single Dominater manifolds that need a new home.

Can you PM me a price for 1 of them? Thanks, Chris