My brother (cfabe) and I are nearing completion of our winter- turned spring - project. We basically freshened the 350 with a new cam, cleaned and painted it, and are waiting to install the Holley stealth ram intake. Right now, its just sitting on the block. Still waiting on the fuel rails to arrive on backorder. Power is going through a t-56 transmission to a 2.73 posi disc 4th gen rear (installing 3.42s when it gets running), and 17" ROH zr6 wheels. We installed new steering components, all poly front end kit, 36/24 mm sway bars with poly bushings and endlinks. We are waiting on an adjustable panhard bar and adjustable torque arm/transmission cross member from Spohn. Exhaust will be hedman shorty's, hedman y-pipe, hi-flow catco cat, and a hooker catback.

For anyone worrying about clearance of the stealth ram, i have heard it will clear the hood on camaros, but on the base model firebird (yes, on a trans am) hood, about 1/4" of persuading the braces was required just above where the throttle body and the plenum meet.

rest of album is here, check out the haneous vette
here

 

Ah, so that's a stealth ram! Beautiful engine bay, dude. Sounds like a wild ride... so what are the other specs on the engine and expected power of the stealth ram? Also, I guess no EGR provisions, huh?

 

Looks good. Lets see some more pics! (Yes, I am too lazy to go to his album!)

 

for those too lazy

 

more

 

ok forgot the pic on that one

 

im quite proud of my tpi plate

 

The engine is an 87 truck 2-bolt 350, stock bottom end, S/R torquers, 9:1 compression, XE262 cam (i forget, but somethign in the neighborhood of 218/222 @50 and .462/.469 on a 110 lsa). According to dyno2000, horepower should be around 350 at 5000, torque peak 400 at 3500.


As soon as I get the fuel rails and get the chip tuned I'll have some timeslips.

 

Looking good, give us some more pics when it is done.

Oh, what kind of alternator bracket is that, just wondering? I dont want one, but I've never seen it before.

 

Hmmm..........Looks like the Team Home Depot alternator bracket......been there, done that

A Tuned Port Tunnel-Ram........I want one:hail:

 

loosk good......nice TPI plate

 

Yep, gotta love the angle iron bracket. The stock 82 brackets brought the alt too close to the center for the tpi setup that was on there. The old bracket might work now, but the belt we've got is longer now. I just got a mig welder so one of my projects is going to be fabbing a nice bracket, but not until the sfcs are on.

 

Once again, looks great! Love that plate...

So does it pass emissions? I know carbed tunnel rams can't have EGR capabilities (no "high rise" with runners separated from the base can), but is an EFI tunnel ram legal? Or do you just run some monster cats to pass the NOx requirements?

 

It is a regular carb tunnel ram drilled for fuel injectors, with a plenum on top. No provisions for EGR.

Does it pass emissions? Nobody knows. It is just sitting on the block and the fuel rails aren't installed yet (see first post).

And yes, it does look great! I want one.

 

Yea, theres no egr provisions at all, however i dont think this is just a normal carb tunnel ram converted, the ports are D shaped where they go into the plenum. I'm still waiting on the fuel rails unfortunately (If anyone has some they dont need right away I'll buy them) so I havent installed the intake for good yet, just set it on there to see if it fit. In ohio we just have a sniffer test and they check for a cat. I'm pretty confident I can pass without the air injection or egr, but with a brand new cat.

 

This isn't their tunnel ram designed for carbs, but if you look at their fuel injected offerings, they've had a system for quite some time that ran this manifold with a pair of "4bbl" style throttle bodies. All they did is smarten up and build a plenum for it. Funny thing is, www.tunedport.com has had this combo for big blocks for a long time, with a plenum that looks just like a TPI plenum.

 

Does this look like it? That is a picture of the Team G tunnel ram. I think that is what the Stealth Ram design is as far as the runners themselves go. Of course, there are a few small differences (injector bungs and maybe thermostat mounting angle?)

And yes, I shouldn't have said carb earlier. Should have just said that it was a previously existing design.

 

The runners on the stealth ram look like those in the picture you posted. A couple more differences I notice are on the stealth its got 2 dist hold down bosses, and the water passage on the front is significantly different, theres an extra hole for a CTS and the thermostat hole is moved more toward center of the intake.

 

Yeah, I keep seeing more differences each time I look at it. Lemme ask you some questions about the Stealth Ram though since I'm wondering about the hood clearance issue. I know that it is too tall to fit in a Firebird without messing with the hood. What do you think the chances would be to modify the stealth ram to make it a little bit shorter. Does it look possible to mill (for the sake of arguement) 1/2" off the top of the base, port the plenum openings to match, make the holes in the top of the base deeper if needed, and then bolt it all back together 1/2" shorter than before? You wouldn't happen to have any pics of the underside of the plenum and top of the base would you?

Thanks,
MikeS

 

For the sake of argument, yea, I'd say chopping a bit off the runners would probably work. I'm not at home now so I cant look at it but my concern would be is there room to drill the bolt holes down any farther... I thought they might have been in a boss in the casting on the outside of the runners so you might run out of room there.

Honestly, unless you're building a show car thats going to be judged, I'd say just dent the hood supports. The angled spacer idea i dont think will work becuase the top of the plenum hits up front a little bit.

 

For a bird, what size hood would ya need? Would a 2.5" or even a 2.25" work or would you have to go monster like a 3" or 4.5"? Just wondering whether it'd fit under one of those controversial 4th gen ram-air style hoods like 86Fyrbird or Scaufiel's...

Also, to pass the sniffer test, you mentioned a new cat. Are you running a single 3" like I will or would dual 2.5" cats stand more of a chance of passing?

Just wondering about that awesome setup of yours! Thanks, ~Chris

 

I have no idea what sort of cowl you'd need, I've never seen one. All I can say is that with the stock firebird hood on my 82 t/a i had to make maybe 1/2" of clearance on the support.

 

So where'd the top end of the intake (upper) come from. The actual tunnel ram part is the lower part, correct? You had to buy the upper part separately? How much was all this? Once, again, looks absolutely wicked, guys! Thanks, ~
Chris.

 

do a search on "stealth ram" and you'll find all the info you ever wanted.