500 HP Edelbrock B4B? What Happens to Low End?

Regarding the Edelbrock B4B intake manifold:

I will definitely use this manifold regardless of answers (as opposed to upgrading to a TA SP) because, among other reasons, the engine will be spending 98% of its life span running along at less than 2500 RPM on surface streets and seriously crowded freeways. However, I'm curious....

1 - Can it be ported enough to support a 500 peak HP engine? Assuming the rest of the combo is built for it, will it produce 500 HP on an engine dyno?

2 - Will that much porting have a negative affect on the improved (as compared to a high-rise single plane manifold) off-idle throttle response, vacuum signal to the carburetor, etc. that the B4B is designed for?

I understand that the TA SP will give me the HP I'm looking for with considerable less porting work, maybe even no porting work for considerably less money... And it's a better looking manifold (especially polished to a high luster). I'm sticking with a B4B, regardless.

As always, thank you for your response.

 

A B4B ( or Performer) will not prevent you from hitting 500HP. You can easily exceed that number before a dual plane starts to become a limiting factor. What else are you doing to the motor to get to 500 HP?

 

Generally speaking... mild porting improves low end and midrange response.
What the porter is doing at that level is NOT increasing raw flow solely via enlargement, but rather improving the port's overall ability to pass air by working on the dead areas and evening out the airflow within the port (or intake runner).
The increase of measured CFM under that directive is via an increase in velocity and port efficiency.

It also has a strong tendency to mellow out a borderline rough camshaft and wake up the engine sooner in the powerband, so in that regards it makes things easier to hit your power goals and actually helps with keeping them tame enough to drive.
That part throttle behavior is very difficult to quantify on a dynamometer due to test protocols and procedures, but it is quite noticeable actually driving it.

IF the intake itself passes enough air to meet the engine's needs and distributes evenly enough to the cylinders, there is little to gain by porting it.

 

Here you go Dan.. I built this last summer

470 Shortblock with roller cam upgrade



10.4-1 compression- TSP 237/247/115* roller cam .506/.504 lift for stock 68-9 rockers

My Street/strip port Stage 2 SE heads



Performer intake (same as B4B in performance)- Port match only- NO plenum or internal porting.



On the pump..



Produces this with 800 cfm Q-jet



Intake is plenty big to make power, with the right combo.

JW

 

what's the cost to have a engine like this built, I was looking around 500 hp or so with plenty low end torque if possible. I also have a 3.23 9 3/8 posi I would like to run also. please lmk what it would take to get this all running to make everyone "honor" the buick. thx in advance4

 

That type of build is going to range between 12 and14K, depending on options and what parts you might currently own to use.

500 HP version would save you about 1K..

JW

 

Great engine build Jim with the dual plane intake. Impressive!! With an rpm type high rise intake so much more power to be made. The b4b was made 47 years ago. There have been improvements in intake technology since then. Not so to the BBB however. Thx edelbrock for nothing.
Ray

 

Would you want to give up the specifics on this build Jim?

 

Your right Ray, if we had a Performer RPM style intake for the Buick, it would fall right in between the current dual plane, and the single plane intakes.

While we have had little support from companies other than TA over the years, most builders are constantly looking for better combinations. Speaking for myself, I will tell you that I am always tweaking specs, within the confines of a given build when I have that opportunity.

This motor was the first I had built in a while, with good breathing heads, a roller cam, and a dual plane intake. These were customer requirements. I was intrigued by the very small roller cam motors I have been building recently, for stock appearing stuff, that regularly produce 475-500 HP, with alum heads, but using factory intakes, exhaust manifolds and sounding exactly stock. Tiny camshaft specs but with wide lobe centers. This motor is known as my "Super Stage 1" and I have built a number copies now.

IN this case, I employed a much longer duration camshaft, but kept the wide lobe center of the original Stage 1 camshaft.

Guess what?..... the OE engineers were not wrong.. the motor likes the valve event spacing that the wide LCS provides.

So the tweaking of combos continues..

JW

 

Are these roller cam profiles available or is it a custom grind for the specific build. The more I read about it and with the available oil these days, I'm leaning towards a roller even though it is hard to swallow the initial investment.

 

Would not be any problem to have one ground for you Rich

JW

 

I'm not up on things and wasn't sure of what all is involved. I read the article. Learned something. Thanks for the help.

 

Hey Jim...

If you don't mind, please provide the flow data for the heads in your example engine. Rather than typing out the info for all valve lifts I would be more than happy with the 0.400", 0.450" and 0.500 valve lift numbers, along with the test pressure (H2O").

Thanks Jim.

 

MR. J.W, Those nums are hard to believe with stock rockers, but seeing is believing , thats dam good. Are roller cams easier on the rockers at the lift your running there? Also am I looking at your Diamond piston 0 deck combo? What ex manifolds did you have on it for the dyno run? And are those the latest version of TA stage 2 heads you got there? Have I succeeded in asking something that Larry cant answer.. That build can eaisly hit 600HP with a few tweeks and bolt ons.

 

Hey Dan, you may want to check with Sam Davis, he is running the B4B and Quadrajet although getting viable info may be a challenge. John Osborne put his motor together and he figures around 500-520 hp with the dual plane and Edelbrock heads. Sam drives on the street and runs 11.50's, I've got nice ceramic coated Stg1 headers if you need em.....

Tom

 

Hey Jim, has anyone ever used the Mopar to BBB adapters and used one of these?;

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-7186/overview/




Derek