well, here i am again, in another interesting situation. i need some opinions, people, so reply with any thoughts.

i had planned to get, piece by piece, the performer RPM package from edebrock to get a little more kick out of my car. they claim 420 hp with all of their parts plus some other things i need a machine shop for.

well, the performer RPM intake that i got is for a pre'87 350. i have center bolt valve covers, so that makes the engine post'87, correct? the bolt guides for the center bolts on the intake going into the heads are at an angle, whereas the holes for the bolts in the heads are straight. i initially thought about drilling out the excess aluminum in order for the bolts to go in straight, but i thought about it and there might be other issues: ports lining up, removing too much of the boss might weaken the intake at that point and i could expect leaks, etc.

it seems that when the previous owner swapped in the 350, he used a tpi engine. since the 6 cylinder engine didn't have tpi, take the tpi off and throw a carb on it. now there is no need for the computer, which i guess he didn't get with the motor. what a shame.

so... since i am going to be changing the heads anyway, i am at a decision point.

scenario 1: i keep the intake and when i get the heads, i get pre'87 iron or if i can get lucky at e-town saturday next, maybe aluminum. everything else is still scheduled(cam, heads, pistons, after motor cleanup), but the intake threw me off. the intake will bolt right up to pre'87 heads and i'm good to go.

scenario 2: sell the intake on eBay, hope i get my money back (because although i only bolted the intake up it is considered used), and buy the correct RPM intake, bolt it up an proceed as planned. then, when it's time for the heads i just buy post'87 heads and move on.

now, the guy i talked to at a local speed shop wants to turn me away from the RPM package. he said for the same money, maybe a little more, i can get heads and build them up to spec myself. i can keep the intake and carb i have. then i have to do the cam and pistons after i get the motor cleaned up.

he stated that the numbers for the cam are for a 1.6 rocker, and the motor only has 1.5, does that ring true? (basically i am gauging whether to trust this guy or not) in that case, i'd need heads with 1.6 in order to get the duration, etc, out of the cam. so that would throw off all of the other numbers given for the package, including hp and torque. in addition, he said that when a manufacturer does numbers for a certain product, it's on a dyno with absolute perfect environment, etc, so basically they are hyping up the numbers. i can buy that, who wouldn't want to publish numbers from the perfect world. so, real world applications are going to suffer a little and an advertised 420 hp may only end up being 375 horse in my car.

the solution, he said, is to build my own. thereby getting the real numbers that i want, which, in my case, is about 460 lb/ft of torque. we had about an hour and a half conversation (slow day at the store, so i took advantage) and i hope i absorbed some info from this guy, who is a hard core racer, but knows streetability as well. if you couldn't tell, i've never tinkered with anything that wasn't hanging off the front of the engine - and then only to change parts out.

ok, now i need your opinions. above scenarios? anything else you can suggest? i feel real confused, as i was just going to get the motor cleanup, then follow the directions for the performer RPM package...

i really want to utilize this guy's store because of his experience and know-how, but i don't want to overpay for my stuff, either. hey, i know that in retail it's all about the dollar, so they do have to make a living.

oh, yeah, and he told me that if i could absorb the cost to go ahead and throw the edelbrock stuff away. seems he's a holley fan.

this is all my mechanic's fault. he had my car for a little over three months - and all he had to do was install the carb. i got so sick of waiting for him to do it, and feeling so full of myself i actually thought i could do the work necessary. then, i thought, as long as i am going to install a carb - why not an intake? then i got the bright idea to do the RPM package... this, i know, is the normal progression, from reading other people's posts. you start out with one thing, typically a simple goal, then it kind of mushrooms into a major project.

now comes the subject line - i feel like i am in over my head and i need some opinions to shape my decision as to where i go from here.

the car is still sitting. which bums me out. am i making this too complicated? i know i wrote a lot, but that's because i wanted to include all of the info you might need to give me an honest opinion. i'm not even sure i am in the right forum for my question, as this only has to do partly with the carb.

 

There really isn't a carb related question in all of that, so I'm gonna move this. You'll get more answers there.

I think you're making this a wee bit overcomplicated. You're getting new heads anyway, just get them for the older bolt pattern and call it good. If you have to use it on post-87 heads in the mean time, just elongate the 2 center holes and make some angled washers. Kind of a PITA but it works fine, and you can still use it on the older bolt pattern later.

The Edelcrock package is a load of **** anyway. Don't waste your money. If it's a post 87 block than it'll be roller on top of it. Get a set of AFR's, or vortecs even if you have a limited budget, slap in a decent roller cam of your choice and call it good. You'll be way ahead of the edelcrock package for cheaper.

 

thanks for the movement. i knew i wasn't in the right place, but since i already had the carb and the intake, and my situation started out as being a carb related issue... suffice it to say i just had carb on the brain.

i also appreciate the input. i know from seeing previous posts how you feel about "edelcrock", but hadn't heard from you on this issue. thank you.

-jim

p.s. hey, this is cool. at least on this board, i can see how many people pass over my post without responding. 58 views, one reply.

 

one good answere is better than 58 guess's