Matching Aluminum Manifold to Carburetor?

[savatreatabvr]

I just bought an Edelbrock 1407 and installed it on my mid 70's 454, I have a stock intake and it runs fine but everyone says I'd be much better off buying an aluminum intake! How do I find the right aluminum intake manifold for my application? There are many to choose from like "Air Gap", "Dual Plane", "Dual Plane High Rise", Single Plane Low Rise", I'm confused!

[INSIDIOUS '86]

There is only one currently made for peanut port heads and thats by Weiand http://m.summitracing.com/search/Dep...n/Peanut-Port/
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[savatreatabvr]

What do you mean by "Peanut Port Heads"?

Originally Posted by INSIDIOUS '86

There is only one currently made for peanut port heads and thats by Weiand http://m.summitracing.com/search/Dep...n/Peanut-Port/
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[INSIDIOUS '86]

The cylinder heads intake ports are small. Like small block sized. They are the smallest bbc heads from factory and only capable of supporting up to about 420 solid hp in modified form. Not a bad street head. Your next move should be headers. Will be a strong engine then for sure
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[Seventy]

Oval port intakes will work also. I still run my stocker iron intake, with a cam, Holley carb, and headers. Smoke the 31" tires on the 3:73 posi all day. Really, you would match your intake to cam, and intended RPM range, not to your carb, besides the style of the base.

[exfordman]

peanut ports are great for torque but not very good for hp or revs

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Originally Posted by exfordman

peanut ports are great for torque but not very good for hp or revs

You can tell that to demon engines they would laugh
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[i8tokyo]

Originally Posted by INSIDIOUS '86

You can tell that to demon engines they would laugh
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Demon did a 454 build for Car Craft with the peanut heads that did 445hp and 542tq. Respectable numbers for a low budget motor.

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Originally Posted by i8tokyo

Demon did a 454 build for Car Craft with the peanut heads that did 445hp and 542tq. Respectable numbers for a low budget motor.

Exactly.
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[Redcap]

Originally Posted by exfordman

peanut ports are great for torque but not very good for hp or revs

Don't have any experience with peanut-port heads, eh?

[donut]

If I were in your shoes (and down the road I will be.) I'm going for a dual plane.
Dual plane for torque. Single plane for high rpm. Air gap will give you a little more oomph, but I don't know the price (if any) that you would pay.
Everyone is assuming you have peanut port heads, without running the head casting numbers, don't assume. I know during the '80's they went to peanut ports, wouldn't surprise me if you have oval port.
Occasionally I browse CL and see if I can spot a bbc intake on the cheap.

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Truck engines have peanut port. Ovals and rectangle heads are for passenger cars and higher performance engines. I'm fairly certain they are peanut port
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[savatreatabvr]

Great info thank you! I do check CL and there is a BBC intake for $100 but the guy lives across town from me and said he was too busy working in his garage to meet me half way, I guess he really doesn't want to sell it, lol!

Originally Posted by donut

If I were in your shoes (and down the road I will be.) I'm going for a dual plane.
Dual plane for torque. Single plane for high rpm. Air gap will give you a little more oomph, but I don't know the price (if any) that you would pay.
Everyone is assuming you have peanut port heads, without running the head casting numbers, don't assume. I know during the '80's they went to peanut ports, wouldn't surprise me if you have oval port.
Occasionally I browse CL and see if I can spot a bbc intake on the cheap.

[INSIDIOUS '86]

If your going to buy new you may as well buy one that fits the heads. And if the heads aren't right for that intake then you at least have a return policy.
The Weiand is a dual plane and is like a better edelbrock performer.
A single plane or air gap will kill some low end on your truck and won't give hardly any gain since the engine don't have the lungs to use the upper rpm.

Make sure this guy has the right one and enjoy
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[savatreatabvr]

I'm looking for low end torque so the "Dual Plane" sounds like what I need! That guy on Craigslist is a putsis, can't expect much from Craigslist! Thanks for the info INSIDIOUS '86!

Originally Posted by INSIDIOUS '86

If your going to buy new you may as well buy one that fits the heads. And if the heads aren't right for that intake then you at least have a return policy.
The Weiand is a dual plane and is like a better edelbrock performer.
A single plane or air gap will kill some low end on your truck and won't give hardly any gain since the engine don't have the lungs to use the upper rpm.

Make sure this guy has the right one and enjoy
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[Firebirdjones]

I've run the Edelbrock oval port performer intake on my 79 454 for many many years, and it works excellent. Idle to 5500 is the claimed rpm range of this intake, which is perfect for a heavy truck meant for towing. Definately night a day over the sunken stock cast iron piece.

Your truck originally would have peanut port truck heads just as mine does, but I never assume anything as these trucks are getting old and things can be easily changed (unless you are original owner and know history).

The port difference between the Edelbrock Performer intake and the peanut port heads are so minimal that it never seemed to affect the power output on mine.

My truck with a matching performer camshaft went 14.70's at 93-94 mph, that's in a 5500 lbs. 1 ton pickup with 3.73's and a 400 turbo. I recently installed the GM crate 502HT which also comes with the peanut port heads, small roller cam, and slightly more compression than the original 454 had.
It was dyno'd with the very same Edelbrock performer dual plane intake I ran on the 454 and it made 377HP and 540 ft lbs. of torque, with an extremely flat torque curve at 500 or above from 2600 up to 4500 rpms. So even the port mismatch (although rather small) seems to work well enough.

I do agree though matching the intake port size to the head would be a better way to go, but the Edelbrock performer definately isn't a slouch either. You can usually find them used rather cheap at the swap meets.

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Originally Posted by savatreatabvr

I'm looking for low end torque so the "Dual Plane" sounds like what I need! That guy on Craigslist is a putsis, can't expect much from Craigslist! Thanks for the info INSIDIOUS '86!

The Weiand is dual plane as well just FYI
A dual plane will have the middle of the intake divided and there will be four runners low and four runners up high
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Now you can use an oval port intake and it will seal just fine. It's explained that it is ok even in engine books. Now over a stock a stock intake your torque is going to increase everywhere on the oval port. With a matching intake it's going to be about the same but low end will be a little greater since the intake flow velocity will be greater. This may be about 10ftlbs up to 3000rpm the only issue is is it worth the extra power for $100 more plus shipping.