Right now I have a regular old crappy perfromer intake, EGR. I have the EGR blocked off, and the engine runs out of steam right at 5,500 rpm.

I think I want a lower single plane intake like an older TM1 edelbrock or a weiand x-cellerator. I figure that since I have 3.73's in the rear and the car is a manual....the low end torque is no big deal. I need more Horsepower, I think the motor is fine on torque. Everyone says to use a higher rise dual plane so you can keep the low end torque but between a Regular performer and a Weiand X-cellerator, how much low end torque are we talking about? Since the Perfromer is such a crappy intake I figure it's only like 5 lb feet at the most.

What do you guys think. I'll be getting an intake in the next few days.

 

Ther are two types off weiand x-celloraters, I can get the one that looks like an edelbrock torker for cheap, and I was also considering a Torker actually.

Anybody have anything to say about torker manifolds?

 

There is actually an article in one of the car mags from last month (don't remember which one) but they did a build up of a SBC and ended up comparing an RPM-AirGap and a single plane manifold.

At extremely high RPM there were 6 or 7 more ponies, but through the rest of the power band there was more horsepower and torque with the high rise dual plane. At appx. 4500 rpm here were 18 or so more horsepower with the dual plane.

Peak numbers don't always give you an accurate description of how fast the car will be. On that application in particular the engine with the lower horsepower (dual plane) would've been faster than with the single plane manifold.

So I would stick with a high rise dual plane manifold, depending on your set up.

I recently purchased a Holley Street Dominator intake and I'm pleased with it so far. It was reasonably priced too, about $40.00 cheaper than the edelbrock RPM Air-Gap and both are pretty much the same thing.

EDIT: After reading your engine set up in your sig, I'd guess that you'd want to stay away from the single plane.

 

You denfinitely don't wan t a single plane, it doesn't fit your engine at all.

 

BTW the performer is just a stock replacemnet manifold, about the same as a LG4 intake. I would suggest a Weiand Stealth.

 

B/c you have Vortec heads, your options are limited, but I would ditch the Performer, and get the RPM. Air gap, or not, it will be better than what you have.

 

Never put a single plain on a (carbed) 305, you can get away with one setup on a TBI but not a carb. Your options are very limited with the vortec heads, the performance manifold GM makes would be your best bet, #12366573.

 

This intake will be for my 84' not the 91'. So I have stock heads on this setup. I know that I would get the very best performance from something like a Air Gap, But I don't have the money, I'm getting something off of ebay. I just want something that does not have egr provisions and will give me better performance than my performer intake, especially at high rpm.

 

I'm taking it this is your first car listen in your sig


204/214* of cam timing I noticed


couldn't that be part of the reason your car is running out or breath?

 

Right now, your combination is matched. The cam and intake are running out of steam at the same time.

Put a Stealth or RPM on there, it will still run out of steam at 5500, and you'll lose low-end torque. End result? You'll be slower.

 

BS. That cam is plenty big to benefit from a better intake. Just buy an RPM intake off Ebay, you can get them for cheap. You'll pick up some power up top.

Check out this article scan on my site : www.inter-scape.com/ray/305buildup.htm

Even the LG4 with the peanut cam picked up 15+ hp with the RPM over the regular Performer. I would say you would pick up at least a slight bit more having a hotter cam in there... Notice that the torque peak remained the same, the RPM was only behind at just off idle, it quickly matched and beat the performer throughout most of the power curve.

I'd look into getting a Vortec Performer RPM for your HO too. I don't have the mag scans but a recent Hotrod did a buildup and found another 15+ hp and torque with it over the GM Vortec intake as well...

 

Get the RPM intake. You'll be happy with it over the performer.

 

OK, I've decided on a dual plane high-rise. I just talked to a guy who will sell me a Holley "Contender" intake, This is the same as the newer "Street Dominator" that has the idle -7200 rpm powerband. His S-10 with a 350 ran low 12's with it.

I would assume that this intake is very similiar to the weiand Stealth considering they have the same powerband and are made by the same company. The new part # is 300-36.

What do you guys think? I think if he ran low 12's with it, it will be perfect for my 305 and I can expand my setup without having to change the intake again.

BTW- There is no way in hell my setup is matched now. This intake I have sucks. I will be putting 1.6 rockers on it soon to, so I'll have higher lift and more duration coming shortly.

 

HEADS

You need heads if you want to make any power.

 

A buddy of mine ran low 12's with a mildly ported and notched (divider) 2101 Performer. With no more engine than you have now, I'd do that before buying another one.

 

The performer i have now is for EGR. I blocked the egr off cause I have a AFB carb on it now. I want to have an entirely different setup for smog purposes. I.E. put my quadrajet back on the performer inatek and get a non-egr intake for the afb carb. That way I can just unbolt the intake and swap the whole business when it's smog time.

AS FAR AS HEADS: This is my daily driver. Heads cost a lot more than an intake and are much harder to install. I'm going to do this first. The Heads will be last.

 

I agree with the above posters. The intake is not holding you back seriously. Not compared to the heads.

Putting a single plane intake on that motor will really kill the midrange torque and mileage will be in the toilet.
The motor will feel flat. (no torque).

The little TBI heads are costing you a lot of power and rpm.

A performer intake can make 390/400 hp. Just need to bolt it
onto a 400 hp motor.

If you're hell bent on trying a single plane intake, then put a cam in that matches it. Something between 222 and 230 @.050
will do it. You'll have lots of top end.

HardCore HotRods

 

HITHERE do not have TBI heads.

HITHERE 400hp motor with HITHERE regular performer intake is HITHERE 425 horsepower motor with HITHERE mathcehd intake.

HITHERE never said HITHERE was set on HITHERE single plane, HITHERE said HITHERE'm going to get HITHERE high rise dual plane.

 

Well fellas, I'm getting a Holley "Contender" intake for a reasonable price. This intake is .75 inches taller than the weiand stealth and has a powerband from idle-7200. The Weiand stealth has a powerband on the Holley website of idle-6800 rpm, not that I really care. The port size is a bit larger on the Contender one so I guess that is why it flows a bit better.

 

Hope the "Contender" isn't too big, I'm not familar with it at all....

 

I agree with FBIRD-88. Cam and heads will be the limiting factor with a single plane.

BC