Best intake manifold

[monkeyy337]

I'm trying to get my little TR7 British sports car (bracket car) with a Buick even fire V6 to run in the 13's but I haven't been able to do so yet as the best et is a 14.145 @ 93.39 mph. I am presently running a performer intake manifold and also have a Holley Strip Dominator but have never tried the Holley manifold. My question is, is the Holley manifold and improvement over the Performer manifold? I shift the car at 5000 rpm and the cam shaft is still pulling buy I feel any more shift rpm would slow the car down. Thanks for any info.

 

[fuzzyGN]

Unless you have over about 9.5 to 1 compression, a single plane intake won't really help. I have a really big cam, ported heads, and would shift between 6000 and 6500 depending on weather. It still has only about 8.5:1 compression though. I had the Performer on it and then switched to a Kenne Bell single plane. It didn't help and it may have hurt the performance. You might try a spacer if it will fit. I just don't think a manifold change will help much especially if shifting at only 5K.

 

[charlief1]

Can you give more info on the engine? Cam, compression ratio, ect? That may give a better idea if whether or not an intake swap is worth it. There's lots of factors going here that may be the limiting factor to your ET.

 

[monkeyy337]

The Holley Strip Dominator manifold is not a single plane intake, it is a dual plane just like the Performer manifold. I already have a fresh pair of big valve ported heads with Kenne Bell roller rockers (standard ratio) that I'm going to use but was just wondering if the Holley manifold was better then the Performer as I of course have to remove the intake manifold to change the heads.

 

[charlief1]

Most of the Holley intakes I've seen for the Buick V6 are low port, not high port. Easiest way to check this is look and see if there's a drop between the siamesed ports and the single one. If there is then it's a low port design. Are you using headers and what carb? That will also make a difference on how it works. Total timing?

 

[monkeyy337]

No drop between the ports, headers yes, 600 Holley Vac Secondary, timming 36 degrees.

 

[ek02]

The Holley intake will probably only fit the low port heads. I had one on an odd fire V6 years ago in the 70's and it was the best available at that time. The other manifold I ran was the Dual Port Offenhauser. It really choked the engine. I dug through my archives and found some tests run by Kenne Bell in the mid 80's. The engine was an even fire with 10.2 to 1 ratio and a KB Mk 2 cam. The Performer manifold dyno'd at 168 RW HP. The Kenne Bell # 1 saw 207 RW HP. Of course, Kenne Bell was selling manifolds and always claimed they had the best parts no matter what it was. In a light car like yours, a Kenne Bell or Weiand single plain will work fine. In a heavier car, the Performer is probably a better choice for Street/Strip use. I have 2 KB's that are ported to match my ported heads, and they work well with a 600 CFM Edelbrock carb on my stroked 4.1. The 3.8's I have run worked best with a 500 CFM Edelbrock. The difference was noticeable with the smaller carb on a 3.8. I have used Holleys also and they worked well with vacuum secondarys. I would say stick with the Performer if you shift at 5,000. If your cam will pull higher, and your heads are ported, the single plane will probably give you more power. If you plan to use nitrous, you would need the open plenum design. A TR7, or any Triumph, is a perfect swap for a V6. I have my stroked 4.1 in a Toyota pickup with way too much invested in the drivetrain. I often thought about building a TR6 with a V6 Buick.

 

[charlief1]

You might also try a spread bore carb. The spread bore give you more bottom end if it's vacuum secondary and when the secondaries open up it will be at a higher RPM so it will help more on the top.

 

[fuzzyGN]

Intersting. All other Holley manifolds that are the "Strip" Dominator are single plane and the "Street" Dominator is a dual. No matter, the Performer IMO is the best dual plane manifold available, especially with lower compression. The Kenne Bell is also a great single plane manifold but not good for a lower compression engine. So, if you have close to stock compression, no matter what other mods, I say stay with the Performer and tune around it. Your 60' must be good because the MPH is a little low for that ET. What spark plugs are you running? What does the car weigh? Maybe a tad lean on the secondaries? It is close to that elusive 13 second time slip.

 

[monkeyy337]

Correction, I was wrong, the intake is a Street Dominator not a Strip Dominator. The engine compression is stock with the exception that the motor is .060 but that only raises it a small amount. The 60' is 1.88-1.89 and the spark plugs are AC Delco (what ever a 84 Regal V6 calls for). The car weighs 2163 without driver and about 2365 with driver.

 

[charlief1]

Back in the 80's my NA car had TRW forged pistons and I shaved the block .040 and the heads .030 to get the compression up. I was running a stick how ever. I'm assuming that you're running a turbo 350? What stall is the convertor and what gears do you have in the back?

 

[monkeyy337]

Turbo 350, 2800-3200 stall convertor, 373 gear with a 235-60-15 rear tire (26.1 tall).

 

[charlief1]

Do you manually shift or let the tranny do the work?

 

[monkeyy337]

I used to manually shift the car at about 4500 rpm but modified the governor weights so now just leave it in drive and it shifts at 5000 rpm.

 

[charlief1]

Are you starting loaded or dead footed?

 

[monkeyy337]

I leave loaded at 2200 RPM. The car has everything new (front/rear) in the brakes but the brakes are small so you can't push them much farther.

 

[charlief1]

I used to run 42 degrees total timing on the NA car so you might try bumping the timing up some. You might want to post some pics of it launching or maybe a vid which may help some.

 

[fuzzyGN]

With the exception of the 60 foot your combo and times are very close to my Vega. The suggestions below are things I did to my car and were all tested at the track. Your 60 foot is excellent but the top end is slightly lacking so we will concentrate on that first. I would try an open (not a 4 hole) carb spacer if it will fit. With the Performer this will help the top end some and was worth almost 2 MPH. Not sure if you have a plate or tuneable secondary plate on the carb but it is worth converting. The plate may be holding you back some. How tall is the air filter element? I was working on one car with an extremely short air filter. We removed it and picked up 3 tenths! Not kidding. One other thing to try and it is free is to retard the timing. Again, the 60 is excellent but the MPH is a little low. The reduced timing will help the top end. In the Vega I picked up 4 tenths with a 9/16" wrench. went from 20 down to 12 initial. If the car MPH improves but the 60 sufferes badly then go one step colder on the plug and increase the timing back up. I strongly believe with the suggestions above, a 13 second timeslip is yours. Now all you have to do is figure out which combo works

 

[FlintBuick4Life]

I have the Edelbrock Performer intake too... works pretty well, but my carb is only a Edel 500cfm, but I`m stuck with 2.83 gears... so its hard to power launch without it wanting to flood out. I won`t have this N/A setup for much longer anyways:biggrin: