Compact ram tube engine air intake manifold

A compact ram tube plenum type intake manifold for an internal combustion engine having V-arranged cylinder banks with opposed inner side walls and spaced cylinder intake ports opening through said walls, said manifold comprising

• outer walls of curved elongated partially cylindrical configuration and compact construction sized to be disposed between such engine cylinder banks, said outer walls internally defining the periphery of a barrel like space having a bottom, opposite sides and an upper periphery,
• two laterally spaced longitudinally extending external mounting surfaces formed on said outer walls along opposite sides of the manifold and adapted to engage the opposed side walls of such engine cylinder banks, said outer walls having outlet openings through the mounting surfaces from adjacent sides of the barrel like space and spaced to be aligned and connect with the cylinder intake ports upon assembly of the manifold to the engine,
• internal walls within said outer walls and defining in said barrel like space a plenum and individual ram intake passages, said passages being located immediately inboard the outer walls and each extending in coiled fashion peripherally within said space, one from each outlet opening, across the bottom of the space, up the opposite side, across the upper periphery and down to an inlet opening from the space, each said inlet opening being located on the same side of the manifold as the outlet opening of its respective ram intake passage, those of said ram intake passages which open through diverse ones of said mounting surfaces being oppositely curved and interdigitated with each other around a central portion of said plenum to direct flows from the plenum in curving paths of opposite sense through their respective outlet openings to the cylinder intake ports of the opposed cylinder bank walls, and
• an intake conduit supported on the outer walls and extending longitudinally from one end of the plenum to define an inlet passage connectable with associated induction means for providing induction air to the plenum for delivery to the ram intake passages.