first im trying to decide to stay with tbi or to switch to tpi or go with carb. im in the process of building my 350. im trying to figure out which is the best dual plane intake that will fit under the my firebird hood. that is if i go with a carb setup. my car is just gonna be a street driven car. hardly any use at the track. only gonna drive it on the weekends. is the edelbrock performer manifold a good setup? or is there something better flowing?

 

Just stay grab a 350 TBI truck ECM and stay TBI.

 

edelbrock rpm airgap

some say it has fitment issue with stock hood though

 

i dont want to run into any fitment issues. im not gonna cut up my hood. i like my double power bulge hood. ive thought about staying tbi. but will it get me up to my horsepower goals. i want to at least get 300 at the wheels. if i get more then great. shoot 400 would be nice to. thats why i was thinking about carb. its easier to make power, and it i wont have to worry about the computer. and i know several people around here that knows how to tune a carb.

 

ok i just read that the edelbrock performer is not to much better than stock. so what dual plane manifold is better than stock, and will fit under the firebird hood?

 

300hp to the wheels and tbi....well that would be stretching it IMO. On a camaro I've fit a solid motor mounted SBC with a vic jr and a nitrous plate with a 750dp, don't remember if I had an air filter as this was years ago. I also have fit a performer rpm with 750dp and L88 drop base air cleaner with no choke in my camaro. I believe the firebirds have less hood clearance than a camaro though.

 

thats why im most likely gonna switch to carb. its easier to get to the power i want and then some. i dont want to run tbi really because im not a computer genius and i have read up some on how to tune a tbi system and i get to confused about things. i do like the look of tpi though under the hood and i already polished up my plenum i have here. but again theres that dreaded computer. but at the same time i know of a few shops here in jacksonville that can tune a tpi motor. but lately i have been thinking about carb. its easier, the car isnt my daily driver. is just gonna be my lil street play toy. and so far it seems to be cheaper to.

im pretty sure if i go carb, im prolly gonna run a 650 or a 750. depends if i stroke the motor or not. i know im gonna run mechanical secondaries.
im just no sure which intake to run. which ones are better, holley, edelbrock, wienand (i know i spelt that wrong) or whatever else is out there. which one will perform the best, and give me hood clearance?

 

RPM Air Gap. You won't have fitment issues with a drop base air cleaner.

 

are you sure about the air gap, so far everything that i have read said that the air gap wont clear a firebird hood.

 

The Performer RPM Air Gap is the same height to the carb mount base as the Performer RPM, which is about 1/2" higher than a Performer (or about 3/4" higher than your TBI system).

 

I have an RPM Air Gap on my Z28 with a 750 Holley, and it fits under the hood just fine with the 14x3 air cleaner. Its a very tight fit, but it does fit.

The RPM and RPM Air Gap are both good. The Air Gap is a bit of a pain in the *** though if cleanliness is a concern - it likes to pick up dirt and debris in the valley cover part under the plenum/runners. Its not a big deal, but just kinda pain if you want to keep everything new-looking.

 

the clearance between the hood of a firebird and camaro are different. the camaro has more room that the firebird. so im thinking the rpm air gap might not be the best choice for me. not unless someone with a firebird, using the stock hood without cutting anything out on there hood, can prove me wrong.

my other questiong is edelbrock the best dual plane intakes?

 

I know that it is no longer pretinent in this discussion, but FWIW, I personally put down 375 RWHP with a 2bbl TBI setup on a 350.

 

im sure you had to tune the tbi to run that. ive read alot of the tuning threads for tbi, and it still seems like another language to me. i figured since its only gonna be my weekend driver. i aint to worried about mileage and i just want to get more power quickly. from what i understand carb is the cheapest and easiest way to make power.

 

Carb is OK, IF you don't have to worry about emissions laws and smog.

 

My buddy has a '86 Trans Am with the flat hood with the RPM air gap on his 406. It fits just fine. Look up "trevor jacek" and see if you can find pics of his car. Its a blue '86 TA.

 

I am currently running an RPM Air Gap (which as five7kid said, is the same height as a traditional PRM) with a 750 Speed Demon DP and a 3" filter housed by a crappy Edelbrock drop base air cleaner from NAPA. Its like this: http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_...s_chrome.shtml

Old motor mounts must help, because some people have a hard time fitting all of that under the TA hood. A Vic Jr. or a Performer would both be slightly better fitting options but maybe wouldn't match your powerband as well.

Trevor

 

thanks, i think i have figured out which manifold im going with.

 

so which one is it?

 

.... and which carb are you going to use?

 

well i was thinking if i stay with 350, ill use a 650 dp, and if i stroke it, then prolly a 750 dp. what do you guys think.

 

i was also thinking about building this motor, the superchevy built. still debating on it. dont know how it will handle the street though.

http://www.superchevy.com/technical/...no_graphs.html

 

scooter, im most likely gonna use the rpm air gap. that intake is looking more interesting to me. i just hope it fits under my stock hood. i understand that other peope have success with it under stock hood. just hoping mine isnt some freak of nature and it wont fit. if it doesnt fit, then ill go with the performer.

 

FYI- using a Holley (squarebore) carb you should know that there are IMPROVED versions of the venerable Performer available from Edlebrock and their direct competitor, Weiand.

Edelbrock makes a Performer EPS intake which is still a low-rise design like the regular Performer, but with improved computer designed runners patterened off of the excellent Performer RPM. Kinda like a half-way design between the standard Performer and Performer RPM. It's one of the few manifolds available that will not only outperform stock on the high end, as you would expect, but still also make more torque than stock even at very low RPMs (very few intakes have ever out-muscled a stock intake at the very low end of the RPM range).

Weiand's competitor to that is the Action+Plus intake (new design). It's also done with new computer designed runners and such and is their direct competitor to the Performer EPS. The specs on them are so close it's like either Edelbrock stole the design from Weiand or Weiand stole it from Edlebrock. Probably every bit the equal of the Performer EPS, although I have not used one myself yet. Both Edlebrock and Weiand intakes are true "Made in the USA" products of very high quality- not Chinese made knock-off crap.

BEST news... Summit house brand intake are ALL Weiand intakes with the Weiand logo removed and a Summit logo put on. And they sell for less money, of course. Here's the Summit version of the Weiand Action+Plus for a square-bore/Holley carb and standard bolt pattern heads:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...2&autoview=sku

This same intake is also available for Vortec heads as well under Summit part number 226018.

And, of course, there are Weiand-built Summit house brand intakes (again, all new designs) to directly compete with the Performer RPM (Summit 226014), Performer RPM Air Gap (Summit 226010) and Performer RPM Air Gap Vortec (Summit 226019).

 

thanks for all the info. i did see the performer eps. thats a good possiblity to.

 

i have a holly dominator on my camaro and both my intake and headers are match ported this combo makes exeptional power for what i use it for... also i have a 670 cfm holly street avenger with a drop base air cleaner and it sits under my stock fiberglass hood with no problems at all...

 

that on a camero, the camero from what i understand has a lil more hood clearane than a firebird.

 

im using a higher rise intake than the dominator on my 89 trans am with the same carb and from what im told its going to fit no problem