I read this section every now and then and see a lot of people offering the advise of going with either the LT-1 conversion, Stealth intake, mini-ram or Superram intake.

I am considering a change from my Superram on my 383.... but I need to be convinced. I don't completely understand why some of the people suggest these other intakes.

Why should I change ? Any results you can post of naturally aspirated Fbodies running strong with any of the above intake systems ?

Sell me !! I'll make the change within the coming month or two if sold on one of the other intake manifolds.

I do have one pre-requisite, this is a street car that see's weekend duty at the strip, thus I will not run any more gear than 3.45's or anymore converter than 3000 rpm.

thanks
Todd

 

I think people would advise you not to change. The SuperRam is an excellent system. Its main downfall is price... so if you already have it, that means you have already overcome its biggest downfall. Sure, maybe one of the other intakes might be slightly better... but the key words in that sentence is "slightly" and "might be." I would stay with what ya got if I were you. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

 

stick with your super ram, it fits your combo better than the other intakes mentioned IF your cam and heads match, your rear gear and stall keep you in the rpm ranges that the super ran holds a slight advantage in over the intakes like the steath ram that operates in a higher average rpm range than that gearing will normally keep you in most of the time

 

Todd85...aren't you Beach Bum on the vette board?

Anyway, your car runs pretty damn strong. What are your goals? Are you shooting for 10s NA? I've yet to see a 383 SR motor hit 10s NA, but you might be able to do it with a Miniram, or even a Stealth Ram. But then you'd need a bigger cam than the 219 to match, more stall, and possibly more gear. And of course that would not meet your criteria of not changing your gears or converter. It's more than just an intake change, it'll snowball into putting in more parts to make an optimized setup, but I'm sure you know that already. Not to mention that since you're in CA, you need to pass smog so that'll throw out any of the above intakes....though I imagine you have some kind of hook up or else you wouldn't be asking.

In other words, I'd stick with the SR.

 

Thanks for the reply guys

Regarding the 383 SR getting into the 10's.... never heard of it either. I do know that the owner of Cartek on the east coast used to have a 406 naturally aspirated Superram motor than ran into the 10's with a 10.6 @ 125 best.... that car was lost in a flood though.

On the corvette forum there is a 85 406 naturally aspirated running 11.1 @ 123 mph or thereabouts, he is running a solid roller cam... I'd like to avoid that if I can, but not out of the question either.

But, I am also not aware of any 383 Mini-ram or Stealthram 383's in the 10's.... I'm really curious as to see if there are any, there must be right ??... its a big world. I haven't really been paying attention to all of the build-ups that were taking place in the last year with the Mini-ram.... would love to hear some results from those build-ups.

If there is anybody in the low 11's or 10's with another intake manifold, I'm very interested in hearing how much cam, gear and stall they had to run to do it. I have an email friend who has run into the high 10's with a Mini-ram and stock L98 shortblock, however, he is set-up identical to a stock eliminator with th350, 4500 rpm converter and 4.11+ gears and very light racing weight... not exactly a true street car unfortunately.

But my real point to this thread.... a lot of people recommend the Miniram & Stealthram intakes over the Superam.... Why ? Who's results are these based upon ?

thanks
Todd

 

11SEC91Z is the one you might wanna talk too..

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=143846

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=103711

 

Wow... thanks for the links, very interesting.

But unfortunately, I do not buy into the et's and mph posted.... don't get me wrong, I don't think the poster is lying.... I think he is stating what is on his timeslip....but the thing that kinda me me in doubt is his opponents numbers.

On one slip, his opponent ran a 1.62 60 ft with a 87 mph 1/8th and finished with a 12.21 @ 107.11 mph

The other ran a 1.65 60 ft with a 7.68 1/8th with with a 87.92 mph and 12.27 @ 101 mph....

Neither of those add-up to me unfortunately, thus I believe the original poster is telling the truth.... but I believe the slip in itself is in-correct..... Some dragstrips I think that happens. I guarantee you the guy who ran 12.2 @ 101 mph is the happiest guy this side of Texas. As one other note, these were not bracket races where the racer got out of the throttle on both passes.....

As one other note though... a lot of guys feel he could not have ran the et and mph based upon the 22lb injector size.... I actually disagree with this, I think the 22lb injectors have no bearing on his results... whatever they really are.

But then again.... who knows.

cheers,
Todd

 

So what are you running now? ET wise?

 

The reason the super-pita-ram doesn't get recomended too much is because it is expensive and too much of a pita to install. You could do a complete R&R on a miniram or stealthram in the time it takes to get the upper off the SR. Abd besides the actual labor, all of those flanges are prone to vacuum leaks too.
Other than that, it's a fine intake manifold and makes decent power. You might make a little more with something like a miniram due to it's bettershot into the head and shorter runners.
Also, being from CA the SR is your only CARB legal choice. Since what you have works pretty good (from what others are saying), and is legal, and without more gear than 3.45s it doesn't really make sense to swap to anything else.

 

Danny, I am just a mid to high 11 second car depending on track & weather conditions. I really want to be quicker, looking for a good xmas vacation project.... I like the Miniram, but I just want to see a couple of proven set-ups to talk myself into making the move.

Ed,

Yeah, the Superram was a pain in the butt to put together my first few times, however, with a complete change of fasteners and the right tools, I can have those infamous plenum belly bolts on within 10-15 minutes nowadays as I did last weekend.... but no doubt about it, its a pita.

thanks guys

cheers,
Todd

 

do a search,
the flow rates and rpm ranges differ bye a huge amount between the varies intake systems available, if your smart you pick the intake that matches the rpm range, cam timeing and flow rates, displacement and power ranges your trying to match

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...am+stealth+ram

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...am+stealth+ram

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...am+stealth+ram

 

It would have had to happen at two drag strips. The first slip posted from April is Maryland Int.,, the second slips posted from May are at Richmand Dragway.

As far as the other guy's times, just because it wasn't a bracket race doesn't mean the guy didn't lift the throttle for some reason.

 

Wow Grumpy,

Interesting threads, you're the first I have seen that has run all of those intake systems. I see where you posted some hp increases you had form intake to intake. Can you post where in the rpm range the hp and torque peaks occured on each of those ? Very interesting stuff.



Bad, yes, perhaps both of those racers got out of the throttle... I'm not going to take anything away from the racer, maybe he did run those times... don't honestly know....its not for me to doubt him I guess. Would like to see more from him.... does he still post on this forum ?

cheers,
Todd

 

LOL, JUST mid-high 11s? Sounds pretty impressive to me, my goal is mid 12s on street tires. What kind of 60fts are you pulling?

Can you elaborate on those "plenum belly bolts" and any other pita things about the SR? I am going to be ordering the SR runners and plenum soon and want to know what I'm getting in to as far as the install. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Danny,

Others run better than me, I think my results are very average. Would like to go quicker.

Regarding the Superram install.... the only hard part is the interior plenum belly bolts. A lot of people will tell you to slot the upper side of these cap screws, thus you can grab em with a screwdriver and get the thread started from the top side, but I went ahead and replaced these fasteners with allen screw pattern on this side, thus with an allen wrench from the top side, which locks into the bolt much easier and is much easier to start the thread.

In addition, buy a small wratchet wrench from Sears.... and lay the cap screw in it and come from underneath to match to the hole.... very, very easy and fast. The only problem is at the #3 fuel injector, you want to disconnect the fuel injector connector to so that you can get your wratchet up in their. I can have all plenum screws started in their threads within 10 minutes, including the easy outside ones.

If you think about it... installing a Superram isn't all that bad. Laying the intake down is easy. hooking up the egr is easy (2 or 3 bolts), putting on the fuel rails & injectors is easy (4 bolts plus 2 bolts holding the fuel lines on the front of the block) Sliding in the distributor and finding tdc on #1 and and pointing the rotor at # 1 is easy and tightening the distributor is easy (1 bolt)..... starting the intake runners is easy.... (Don't tighten, just go into the threads 1/2 way).... placing the plenum and starting the plenum belly bolts is easy, then re-tighten everything once all of the plenum screws are started. The lid is easy... I have a billet lid nowadays, thus no leaks. Putting on the valve covers is easy.

I do recommend you also get from Sears a long T allen wrench with the ballend for getting the runner bolts started... the ballend will allow you to come at the bolt from slightly different angles.

Without the right fasteners and tools though... the job is a pain in the butt... no doubt about it.

hope this helps....

cheers,
Todd

 

Sounds like you got a lot to think about and seems like others are posting a lot of good info about the different systems available.
If you decide to change out please let me know by E-mailing me at Candysharkvette@aol.com.
Good luck and thanks for the response to my past E-mails

 

Do you need to stay smog legal, or do you have a friend around here? That kinda limits your choices right there.

If you havent already been there, check out Mike Davis' website. He has used just about everything on his car. He seems to like the Stealth Ram the best out of all of them, but he is running 'only' 11's, which isnt what you are looking for anyway. I think your intake is ok, unless you went to a miniram with a radical cam. Probably have to look elsewhere for more power.

What is your MPH?

 

Madmax,

Thanks for the webpage tip... I really liked that page, lots of well documented information. That gentlemen is running very good.

The best mph my car has seen is high 118's with a lightweight friend driving. (3350 lb raceweight), with me in the seat the best it has seen is high 117's (3450 lb raceweight) Don't have a lot of hp.... lots of torque though, thus decent 60 fts in the 1.52 to 1.56 range depending on the track.

take care
Todd

 

For what its worth, I have a copy of an 98 Corvette Fever magazine with an article titled L98 Horsepower Recipe.
In this aritcle they have a 90 Corvette with a 355 with a MiniRam, TPIS intake, ported L98 aluminum heads, TPIS headers and cat back exhaust, ZZ-X cam 239* duration @ .050 and .558 lift and 4.09 gears and a 6 speed.
This car has supposedly run 11.184 mph @ 121.77 mph and dynoed at 465 horsepower at the crank.