I have a fairly stock (ie. no cam/head changes) 1979 350. It currently has a torker2 intake, holley 4160 600cfm carb, and 14x3" k&n filter, msd stock hei module/coil, flowtech headers etc.

What I've determined for using search is that the torker2 is really not recomended, especially as I am more interested in low end driveability, and also fuel economy. I've tuned the carb for reasonable fuel economy on the primaries and slightly richer on the secondaries. Most of the driving I do involves cruising in the 1,000 to 3,000 range, and I only rev it to about 5,500 at most.

Does anyone have a feel as to how much of an improvement I could expect by switching to a edelbrock performer intake?

Cheers,

Si. :lala:

 

I know this is an off topic reply, but I personally wouldn't bother swapping intakes. Save your money and spend it on a cheap mild cam and pocket porting a set of 305 heads (use the button to find what I am referring to). I think you will gain back some of your low end power, as well as a big gain in the middle and up top.

EdB

 

Get rid of that junk intake, it is old outdated technology that never worked. You will probably gain 50 ft-lbs of tq down low switching to the performer. You will probably also not lose a bit of hp up top. Its a win-win situation.

But if you have plans of building some power latter on, you might as well get the performer rpm. You might lose a little power down low but not much. It will still be much better then that crap torker2 ****.

 

i agree with him, the torquer 2 is better than a stock manifold, but is far outdated and just isn't going to get you the velocity you want to have at lower rpm cruising. doing the change will make it more responsive and probably get a bit better fuel milage.

 

OK, so the torker2 is on the way out but what to replace it with. Given that I'm more interested in the bottom end economy/power than top end power I think the edlebrock RPMs are not what I want.

What's the real difference between the following options :

# Edelbrock Performer
# Edelbrock Performer Air-gap
# Edelbrock EPS
# Weiand equivalent??

I think I can cope with the extra 1/4" of height that a performer air-gap or eps would introduce, but will need to check. I have no plans to change the cam/heads in the forseable future. economy and driveability are my main concerns at the moment

Cheers for your help,

Si. :lala:

 

Another victim of the "the guys on the net said" You dont need to get rid of the manifold. Talk to Air_adam, he can give you a comparison of the manifolds, and the differences after swapping on a torker manifold. The big thinkg is that it is a single plane, and is this what your engine is designed for? Do you have the heads, cam, etc to back it up??

 

single plane manifolds are just fine for everyday driving i had one on my 72 monte with a very very mild 350 in it with an edelbrock carb and it ran very strong all the way from idle to 6000 where i would let off without a problem .....

 

I had a friend with a 68 Z-28, and he put the original design Torker on it, with an 800 CFM Holley double pumper. With the 4.11 rear end, that car could literally jump when you nailed the throttle. He seldom lost a race.

 

ljnowell: Hope I didn't get the wrong idea here but the point is that I don't have the cam/heads to back up a single plane intake. Everything I've read indicates that for a stock cam/headed 350 that is mainly used at the low end of the rev range and where economy is important, that a dual plane intake is recomended. Also many things seem to indicate that the rpm versions of the edelbrock range are not ideal for this low rev range.

Tremo: no offence but that doesn't sound like a similar engine to my stock like 350 with leaned out 600cfm carb used for street use mainly. One size does not fit all, and I'm sure that the torker2 has its ideal uses but is it for MY engine?

And yes I have to rely of "the guys on the net said" which is kinda the point of this forum. Otherwise I'd just get a selection and try them all. At $6 a gallon I can justify almost anything that improves my fuel economy. However I don't want to degrade the performance, but just get the best value out of the fuel that goes through the engine.

So any help that you guys on the net can give on which way to go with this selection is most appreciated!

Si.

ps. oh and don't get het up on the $6 a gallon.... I don't want to discuss that here!

 

If you are running an all stock engine, the performer or performer RPM would be a much better intake for you. No doubt about that.

 

i would get rid of the torker 2..the original torker is better than the 2 version..but they are for the upper end..i personally have had the torker 2 with a 600 vac sec..very mild cam stock heads..with out any other changes but the intake i gained 3 tenths..going from torker2 to a performer..and low end is much better..this with a stock converter shifting at 5500..you can do what you like but i sold my torker 2 for $75.00 and went out and got the performer for 125..beleive me the 50.00 and gaskets was worth the 3 tenths..it seems everyone has an opinion..i can only go from my experince..good luck

 

If you got hood clearance go Performer RPM airgap.

 

Exactly... the biggest difference is that its a single plane, and unless you have an adapter plate, will need a Holley or other square bore carb. Its not a really wild single plane though, so you don't need the best heads and cam for it to work well. I still have the stock heads and cam on my 350, and it works fine.

I actually REALLY like what my Torker (not a Torker 2, but close enough) did for my engine. The down-low punch still feels about the same as the factory aluminum intake did, but once it gets up to around 2200 or so, it really takes off and leaves the factory intake in the dust.

As for making gas mileage worse... My gas mileage didn't change much at all. And this is going from a factory L69 intake/cc carb/cc distributor to a Torker/Holley 750 VS/vac advance HEI.

I really don't see why people bash the Torker and Torker 2 so much. Its not the latest hi-tech wonder, but its still a really nice intake, especially for a stout street engine.

BTW - Unlike alot of aftermarket intakes, you won't need a taller hood to use a Torker (and same for Torker 2 I bet).

 

Don't listen to the silly canuck. All the cold has gotten to his brain (just messing with you Adam )

The use of a single plane and what you get from it depends a lot on the engine itself and what you are upgrading from and what you want to get out of the engine.

My friend runs a Torker II in his S-10. He's pretty happy with it. It's by no means a high horsepower monster. It's a mild 327. Small cam, xe262h IIRC and mildly worked heads.

I say, if it's cheap enough, go for it.

That, and a single plane just looks cool.

At that, the Performer is really nothing more than a factory replacement. I would rather go to the ZZ4 intake myself, over the Performer. The ZZ4 has both square and spread bore bolt patterns, is fully emissions legal, and is just overall a better piece than the Performer. I have both and the ZZ4 is the one I am using now. The ZZ4 intake is like $150 at gmpartsdirect.com.

 

Not much different than my 350. A little more cam, but not much more. The Torker/T2 are pretty nice manifolds for mild street small blocks.

I say go for the Torker 2. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised.

 

Air_adam & Stekman : Could you please go back and read what I wrote at the top of this thread, especially the bit about already having the torker2 on the car!!!!

Madmax : Thanks for your input thats the sort of info that is really appreciated!!

Why are a couple of you recommending the performer RPM over the performer? Or performer rpm air-gap over the performer air-gap? Just wondering given that I'm more interested in the bottom end power/economy and don't rev past 5,500rpm.

As for hood clearance, here's the figures I got from edelbrock, taking the average of their A-B measurements :

Torker2 : 4.08"
Performer : 4.05"
perf. EPS : 4.27"
perf. air-gap : 4.32"
rpm air-gap : 4.725"
perf. rpm : 4.725"

So since I already have the Torker2! the performer is no change, eps or performer air-gap would be an extra 1/4" and 5/8" for the rpm pair. Don't know yet is this is an issue.

Cheers,

Si.