Howdy,

Anyone tried any of the Edelbrock top end packages ? Specifically the Performer RPM Kit ?

How about any others that are in the $1600 - 1800 range , that produced good results for the dollar ?

I'm running a GMPP 350 , 1 3/4 JEGS headers , Performer intake and a jetted Holley 650, so I am looking to bolt on the power after a decent break in period. I am already impressed with the stock power, but I am extremely interested in the power kits offered by companies like JEGS, Summit , Trick Flow and so on...

 

Check out some engine builds on the Chevy High Performance web site.

 

The Edelbrock "kit" has some good parts, and some garbage.

Their intakes are possibly the best there are.

Their heads will NEVER make "the most power", but are VERY GOOD street heads. They're NOT a "most power" design. For a stout street motor though, they're a good choice. Hard to say whether they're the "right" thing for whatever your goals are.

Their carbs are OK, if all you want is lots of chrome, and relatively trouble-free operation. Again, they'll NEVER be "the fastest". OTOH, if the carb you have now works good, then you don't need that anyway; no sense in paying for it.

Their cams are GARBAGE. The WORST one of the batch is the one that comes in the RPM kit. There are only a few cams I can think of that would be ANY WORSE to put into a street motor; the GM 151 cam would be the only other really common, popular one that comes close. It's almost FUNNY to see people post on the car boards about "this combo is supposed to make 425 HP but I get beat by minivans" when they run it, and then try to convince themselves that they have a "timing" problem or something, when the REAL problem is the crappy cam; this one is a great example. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...ng-issues.html LEARN from other people's mistakes, instead of making the same ones over and over again.

Most of the other "kits" are like that in one way or another. They try to be a "one size fits all" setup, which as we all know, is IMPOSSIBLE. Any given setup only fits ONE situation perfectly. And for some reason, NOBODY that EVERY buys one of those "kits", is EVER in that exact situation. They're ALWAYS wrong. No matter what you're looking for, they're not it.

Tell us what motor you actually have, what the rest of the car is, and what you want it to do; and we'll help you pick INDIVIDUAL PARTS that support that upgrade path to that goal. But I can 100% ironclad guarantee the RPM kit won't be the way to get there.

 

Wow yeah that cam is pretty bad. Even if you wanted one with that excessive-for-a-street-motor duration, the lunati or comp with the same duration range have about 10 to 15 more lift for both intake and exhaust for only about 10% more money.

 

Excellent,
This is exactly the feedback I wanted . I am not sold by "advertised" numbers , but by experience. I appreciate the responses, as for the motor it is the 290/300 350 . I have a non overdrive th-300 hooked up to some crappy non LSD rear end. Both of those I plan on changing soon to a 700 r4 and maybe a 4th gen rear end with 3.55 gears...

Has anyone liked the comp cams 292 ?

 

Was a great cam in the day but has been surpassed with later technology. Are you going to run a flat tappet cam or roller? The Thumper series cams seem to be a home run hitter.

 

I haven't seen/heard too many good things about the Thumpr cams. They are good for sound, but not so much for performance. But that's just what I've read here on the boards.

 

If you used a Comp Cams XE268 with those heads and intake, you'd have a pretty nice combo IMO. Much better cam than the RPM cam. More power, better powerband, and more 'friendly' to drive. As Sofa said, the heads and intake in that kit are excellent for a street toy, but the cam is a really poor choice. A more modern grind like the XE268 would be a good match for those heads and intake. As for the edelbrock carb... I'd use a Qjet or a Holley before I'd use the edelbrock carb. Some people like them, but I don't.

 

Comp Cams XE268 is a great cam and is more up to date than an old H292, a thumper not only has the sound every one is after but has even later valve train technology than the XE268. Thumper cams have done well for us on street cars but do not compair to the cams we use in our race engines. I may buy a XE268HR to put in my next personal engine to see how it preforms compared to the thumper cams we have already ran on the dyno.