I am building a 350, porting, bored 30 over 10.25-1 comp. and I have a question concerning my intake options which are pretty short!!! I would like to get opinions and hard facts of how good, bad or indifferent the TA intake is vs the stock cast iron. Is the TA worth the money for the gains in HP? Thanks Tim
Wow! I'm suprissed there haven't been any replys to this post yet. I am still using my stock intake. I had planned on switching to a TA intake but I've heard that you can make atleast as much, if not more power with your stock after gasket matching and plugging the heat riser. I have yet to do this to mine but that is the plan. Of course, plugging the heat riser may make the car very hard to drive in cold weather. Being in Ca I'm not too concerned with that but in Mn you may not want to. Unless the car is driver only in the summer. Take a look at the "She's Alive" post here in the small block tech. They used a stock intake with that engine and I believe the intake was determined to be holding the engine back. But not til well over 400 HP.
I was actually thinking the same thing with a good gasket match a stock intake could perform well on a mild build motor. Their is also the factor of ease of installation! with the aluminum intake! that in itself is worth the cost if you ever have to remove the intake in the engine compartment by yourself.
If TA had a 2 plane intake for the 455, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. The TA Stage1 dual plane intake for the 350 is the best intake available for the SBB, hands down. If I had a 350, that would be my intake choice. It's worth the money IMHO
Hey Phil: Throw your TA intake on the bathroom scale when you have a chance. I shipped iron piece once and it weighed in at 52 lbs per USPS. If one can save 30 lbs off the front end, that may be worth the $$ a used piece brings. Can someone post side by side pix of stock and TA intakes? I think they are very much akin to one another.
David I am pretty sure it ways in at about 20 pounds. I remmember reading somewhere I think it weights 22lbs.
I was thinking in terms of engine output only. Considering the weight difference I'd say the TA intake would be worth the $$$ if you know you'll be taking the intake off and on yourself in the future. I checked back on the "She's Alive" thread and they made 502 HP using the stock intake. My plan is to modify my stock intake and run it till someone comes out with something better. Tim, if you plan on switching over to a TA intake and you want to pawn off your stock one let me know, I may be interested. On an off note, anyone ever heard of thermal coating your intake? I was reading an article on thermal coatings where it was mentioned. I had never thought of it before but it may really help keeping the carb and air/fuel cool. If I can score a second intake for my car I think I'll give it a try.
Alum vs cast iron My own experience is that I don't care about the weight savings as my car did not go any faster with an alum intake than it did with the cast iron. Also everthing seems to fit better with the stock cast iron ( like hose locations and wiring for sending unit for water temp. and ram air ,air cleaner ) They say you can use your stock ram Air cleaner with the alum. Performer intake but they don't tell you that your Air cleaner rubs on the undersideof the hood because the carb pad sits up higher on the alum. intake. The weight savings converts to NO useable ET increase as far as I am concerned. I will never go back to a alum. intake unless I am building an all out race Buick for the strip. Eric
Ok, has anyone actually ran tests side by side on a dyno between these intakes, stock TA and Posten! I am hoping to find a used TA intake so I can use the money I save to run dyno tests. I am going to run my engine on a dyno the first part of August and I would like to dyno my engine with the stock and then with the TA intake to really see what the difference is I will post the results here. Does anyone have a TA intake I could buy or use for this Dyno test? I will need it in about three weeks! Thanks Tim
I think there is a fine line, some people want the stock appearing where everything should look its part and others really don't mind as long as it performs or looks tasteful to them. I say do what you like. If you think the TA intake would look nice Go for it. If the Stock one suits you go for it. I will be there checking out your car either way!:beer both have their intended use but it is not a single plane intake intended for all out racing, so to see a lot of change between them is very minimal eitherway. just my thoughts.
I had my engine dynoed last year with the cast iron piece and no spacer. My guy felt the iron piece was relatively good piece in regard to uniform fuel distribution/ flow given its street driven nature. I asked him about port matching and he felt that would not be worth while. Unless someone is racing, does the tiny difference in performance justify the upgrade?
My choice is easy since I have a cast iron 2 barrel manifold. TA Stage 1 for me. It seems to me there are only 2 choices for the SBB. Poston and TA right? Edlebrock used to make one I believe...way back in the day!
Derek, I have not heard that edelbrock ever made a 350 manifold. Someone mentioned earlier in this this thread about an eldelbrock intake but I feel he was reffering to a big block application.
Ahhh yes. Maybe it was Kenne Bell. I used to have a Kenne Bell catalog (about 14 years ago) full of SBB stuff. I used to dream about supping up my Skylark back then. Things have come full circle now I guess.
Tim, I may be able to help you out here. I have a TA intake I took off my 350 so I could go back to stock class racing at B.I.R. The best part is I'm right up the road in Duluth! I don't think I want to part with it just yet, but I would lend it to you for your dyno comparison. Who is doing your dyno work? I'd also be curious as my car actually has it's best times running the stock intake. Of course that was after I blocked off the heat risers, which I think made a big difference on performance.
Good offer Ken, I would also like to see what the diffrence between the stock manifold and the TA intake are as well. Tim who is doing the Dyno work out of curiosity. I'm wondering if it will actually gain as much HP as advertised. Some people are having there doubts. I just would like to know.
I am having Jim Wiese at Trishield build the motor, R&R performance has done all the machining ,porting and I will have them dyno it as well. I am hoping I can talk Jim into helping me tune the engine on the dyno. Ken, I will take you up on that offer to use your intake for testing. I talked to Mike at TA about the HP increase with his intake vs stock and he didn't have much to say other than it should be worth a 10th of a second and that would be money well spent!!!! I know that there are a lot of people that will love to hear the dyno results so I say I am going to have to try it. This will finally answer the question!! Ken, I am also blocking off my heat risers. Call me 612-310-4105 Tim
David, you say you had your engine dyno'd last year, what were your numbers? cam, compression, porting etc. Tim
Sounds Good Tim, Let us know how everything works out. Look foward to hearing the numbers you get out of it.
TA does good work and makes good parts but I would stick with a modded stock intake till the new single plain SBB intake comes out from TA. port matching, plugged heat risers and a 2in spacer should do till the new intake is ready. I hope its done this year.
