TOrque plus gaskets...review...Thumbs up

[Longhorn Man]

Well, as many of you know, I went out on a limb and tested a voo-doo power maker on my trusty and rusty '69 GMC.
As we all know, the differant engine combos react differantly to upgrades...my engine could react positivly to an item, while a stocker would choke on it. (carb spacers come to mind)
Background;
350 small block...virgin block, about 8 to 1 compression, 882 heads with 2.02 valves and a little bowl clean up (last owner claims) Has an Eldebrock "500 intake 501 exhaust cam (again, engine builder...he forgot the rest of the cam spcs..healthy lope at idle) Rhodes lifters, and an eldebrock true doubl roller chain.
On the outside, it has a fairly stock rebuilt HEI with a crane adjustable vac advance and the lightest springs in the kit, Eldebrock performer RPM daul plane intake, a performer 600 cfm man choke carb, a set of Hooker super comp headers, and a 3 foot long 2 1/2 inch exhaust with loud @ss turbo muffs.
Timing was set at about 16 degrees at 800 RPM with the vac advance hooked to ported vacume. 160 degree thermostat ensured I never saw the high side of 175.
Ran great on 87 octaine fuel.
Installed the gaskets...
they fit great...seems to be higher quality than the normal 'blue Fell-Pro gaskets. You can see the screens that re-atomize the fuel and air as it goes into the head.

Here you see the bolt holes all line up, and fitment seems to be spot on.

They don't come with the end seals, and warn against them. Not that a real gear head would think twice about tossing them in the trash as soon as they were opened anyways.

HERE IS WHAT JEGGS HAS TO SAY ABOUT THEM....

Torque Plus has found a way to take racetrack technology and apply it to the everyday high performance street vehicle with their intake manifold gaskets. The result is more low end torque, fuel economy and throttle response. The theory behind their screened intake gaskets is easy: The Torque Plus System reduces atomization fallout of the fuel by fittinga small mesh screen into their gasket, which runs directly across the entire mouth of the intake port (the closest accessible point before fuel mixture enters the combustion chamber). As fuel flows into the cylinder head, it will re-atomize, forming finer droplets. These finer fuel droplets allow the fuel to burn faster, creating more horsepower from the same amount of fuel!! This results in improved throttle response and an increase of between 10-15% on fuel economy. Torque Plus is a worthy addition to any engine.

You can see the 2 previouse posts here; http://64.246.42.114/vboard/showthre...e+plus+gaskets
And here; http://64.246.42.114/vboard/showthre...e+plus+gaskets
RESULTS!!!!!
I love them.
I had to retune for better combustion...timing is now set at 10 degrees BTDC.
The off idle torque is much better than I have ever had on this engine. It idles in gear now instead of chugging and killing its self. (torque converter has too low a stall speed)
The Improved torque is from right off idle, all they way up to about 3000 RPM. Which, with my crappy gearing, by the time I hit 3K in drive (3rd) I am breaking a couple laws... So with a 3.07 gear, and 28 inch tires, it is whithin your entire LEGAL power band.
All this was seat of the pants testing, so in reality, i was wondering if it was real, or if it was all in my head.
The truck would have a hard time spinning the tire in straight line acceleration. The almost stock torque converter and freeway friendly gears were too much for the engine which wouldn't wake up untill 2500 - 3000 RPM. Now it will light up the right rear at will...just a blip of the throttle. IT still wont do 1/2 track John Force smoke shows, but it is an improvement.
Now, the real test, and this is where they shine.
ROAD TRIP
I went on a 400 and some chainge road trip to Kentucky on Saturday, and I observed 13 MPG on the way there, and 14 on the way back. This was also at a higher rate of speed than what I normally hold it at here in Columbus. I held it at 80 MPH 1/2 way there, then on the way home, I was going 80 for about 3/4 the way. The best I was EVER able to get before, was a dismal 10 MPG, but recently, it was more like 8 to 9 MPG.
So, I give these gaskets a 2 Thumbs up.
Even though they will set you back about $36 bucks, with an improvement like that in MPG, they WILL pay for themselves.