Aftermarket aluminum intake worth it?

[Old60Driver]

Okay, let's go ahead and get this out of the way. I'm an idiot. There. Done. I said it.

So, six months ago, I purchased an intake. Specifically, an Edelbrock 2701 intake. I shipped it to a work site, opened it up, and oooh'd and aaaah'd at the finish. I packed it back up, and dropped it off back at the house with future plans to install it. Fast forward to today. I finally go some time at home base to tinker. Today was intake and dress up kit day.

I grab the aforementioned intake, wipe the dust off, and open the box. THIS time, I actually look at the damned thing. It's for a square bore. Ummm, I'm still running, and plan on continuing to run, a Q-jet. (remember my first sentence?) While it's obviously my own fault, I DID call Summit before I ordered, and they recommended this intake based on what I told them. Like, what carb I was putting on it. Anyway, I called Summit up, and they took care of me. I'm still out 18 bones for shipping, but better than eating the cost of an intake I bought almost six months ago.

If you're still here, thanks. So here's the issue. In my frantic research in the last few minutes on an acceptable intake to put on my K20, I found SEVERAL online references that indicate for LOW RPM applications (below 4500), that the stock intakes were not only as good as the aftermarket aluminum jobs, but in many cases BETTER! Cliff Ruggles swears by the old, heavy cast iron jobs. Mentions past dynos and what-not. And he's not the only one.

Given that I don't ever really plan on getting north of 4500 RPMs, is the 250 bones for a new intake worth it? I'm really only after low end grunt for some weekend fun. Or should I just clean up my existing manifold, give her some nice paint, and call it good? For the record, it hasn't been a wasted exercise, as my intake gaskets were in not so bueno shape, and may have been leaking a tad.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and hopefully I'm not opening a can of worms here!

Cheers!

 

[WFO]

Just the difference in weight has to help some.
I generally don't put on an aftermarket intake unless I have, or also am putting on, headers.

An engine is like a pump. You can't let in more unless you're also letting more out.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I wouldn't get an aluminum intake. I run one only because I have to. I swapped on vortec heads, and had to install a spreadbore vortec aluminum intake. I like the cast iron intakes.

 

[Octane]

In my experience a edelbrock spreadbore alum intake with larger and more efficient runners helps over a stock cast iron boat anchor unit.Especially when adding headers.It has always been the way I roll.Some of folks issues with aluminum is that dont dont seal them correctly and/or retorque them and they will develop a vacuum leak at times because of this.All in my experience tho and my fellow professional shadetree mech.

 

[Frankenchevy]

If that’s the one thing you are changing, I don’t know how much power you’ll actually gain. Your butt dyno might get excited, but actual gains…I’m not sure.

 

[Octane]

If that’s the one thing you are changing, I don’t know how much power you’ll actually gain. Your butt dyno might get excited, but actual gains…I’m not sure.

Gives a bit better throttle response in my experience.A mild cam,headers and dual exhaust is where it would really add up to better performance.But of course if your in a lower compression engine anyway it aint gonna work a miracle but I enjoyed the ones I did.

 

[Bennyt]

First off, smart with sticking with a Q-Jet. Pretty hard to out perform one that is properly tuned.

If the truck is running good and not changing anything else, probably not worth doing a manifold swap. If you do, I'd probably stick to a 2101 which I see used in good shape on CL as cheap as $50 occasionally. I put a chinese copy on my son's but only because I got it free.

If you do swap intakes, I'd possibly look at doing a carb swap as well depending on usage. If you are towing/hauling, stick with the truck carb you have. If you are looking for faster acceleration off the line, I'd have a competent shop build a q-jet off a car. I think the truck carbs are 800 cfm and cars are 750. They will want the base off the truck qjet and use the top off the car and combined will net the best performance.

 

[shiftpro]

Back in the 70's everyone with a Camaro or Trans Am was dropping on intakes and headers. On their stock engines still under warranty!
Eventually a few of these 350s ran so hard.. needed rebuild. Good valve job, maybe deck the block, and for sure high compression pistons. Put the intake and headers on that same engine but with more compression and there you go... NOW you can feel the difference.

 

[Raider L]

@Old60Driver,

Like @Octane was indicating, there are a lot more runner shapes and sizes than any cast iron intake ever had that build torque and horse power in a more efficient manner, and depending on your engine specs will always be worth the money than keeping your vintage iron. Look at Weiand intakes for example, are a better tuned intake than most other after market intakes. I wish I had gotten one instead of jumping on the Edlebrock band wagon like everyone else was doing back then. It was, most people don't know that much about Weiand. You can find intakes that will make your stock engine run better without headers. That's why there are so many. The guys at Summit are there to sell parts not understand exactly what your engine needs are. Does anyone wonder why Edelbrock has such a large share of the market? They're pushed...hard. Are there better aluminum intakes out there that are what your engine needs that may not be found in a Edelbrock? Probably.

And the fact to that there are racing sanctions that don't allow headers but do allow aluminum intakes, certain stock drag race classes. But do the math to find out exactly what size carb your engine needs instead of putting a 750 Qjet on your engine. Efficiency is what you are wanting, not just a bunch of gas going in from those two huge back barrels cracking open at part throttle. It's not how well they run when they're "tuned", find a carb that is already tuned and then allows for even more tuning beyond that. Something a Qjet just can't do. Get yourself a Holley and don't look back!

Why else do 9.99 out of 10 performance vehicles and racers run a Holley? Because of the unlimited tuning they will readily accept that a Qjet isn't made to do. Period! It would cost you a boat load of money in machining just to come close to what a Holley comes from the factory already made to do. Then there is a ton of stuff you can do to a Holley and it gets better and better. Spend that ton of money on machining a Qjet and all you end up with is a modified Qjet that you can't do anymore to.

After you've done all you can do to a Holley all you have to do is take it all back to stock and start all over again and go off in an entirely different direction with it. After you've modified a Qjet all you can do is nothing but chunk it.

 

[Turbo4whl]

@Paladin .... read this ^^^

 

[Paladin]

Why else do 9.99 out of 10 performance vehicles and racers run a Holley? Because of the unlimited tuning they will readily accept that a Qjet isn't made to do. Period! It would cost you a boat load of money in machining just to come close to what a Holley comes from the factory already made to do. Then there is a ton of stuff you can do to a Holley and it gets better and better. Spend that ton of money on machining a Qjet and all you end up with is a modified Qjet that you can't do anymore to.

After you've done all you can do to a Holley all you have to do is take it all back to stock and start all over again and go off in an entirely different direction with it. After you've modified a Qjet all you can do is nothing but chunk it.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!

 

[Octane]

We owned a 62 Tbird in '71 and the thing we most remember and talk about years later is the way that 390 sounded with the holley on it with all fours kicked in!..That and that 29cent gal. gas being wasted.Gotta conserve!

 

[Bennyt]

@Old60Driver,

Like @Octane was indicating, there are a lot more runner shapes and sizes than any cast iron intake ever had that build torque and horse power in a more efficient manner, and depending on your engine specs will always be worth the money than keeping your vintage iron. Look at Weiand intakes for example, are a better tuned intake than most other after market intakes. I wish I had gotten one instead of jumping on the Edlebrock band wagon like everyone else was doing back then. It was, most people don't know that much about Weiand. You can find intakes that will make your stock engine run better without headers. That's why there are so many. The guys at Summit are there to sell parts not understand exactly what your engine needs are. Does anyone wonder why Edelbrock has such a large share of the market? They're pushed...hard. Are there better aluminum intakes out there that are what your engine needs that may not be found in a Edelbrock? Probably.

And the fact to that there are racing sanctions that don't allow headers but do allow aluminum intakes, certain stock drag race classes. But do the math to find out exactly what size carb your engine needs instead of putting a 750 Qjet on your engine. Efficiency is what you are wanting, not just a bunch of gas going in from those two huge back barrels cracking open at part throttle. It's not how well they run when they're "tuned", find a carb that is already tuned and then allows for even more tuning beyond that. Something a Qjet just can't do. Get yourself a Holley and don't look back!

Why else do 9.99 out of 10 performance vehicles and racers run a Holley? Because of the unlimited tuning they will readily accept that a Qjet isn't made to do. Period! It would cost you a boat load of money in machining just to come close to what a Holley comes from the factory already made to do. Then there is a ton of stuff you can do to a Holley and it gets better and better. Spend that ton of money on machining a Qjet and all you end up with is a modified Qjet that you can't do anymore to.

After you've done all you can do to a Holley all you have to do is take it all back to stock and start all over again and go off in an entirely different direction with it. After you've modified a Qjet all you can do is nothing but chunk it.

Yeah, I'm going to respectfully disagree on a few points you made.

First and foremost, the post is regarding a street vehicle, not a racecar.

I'm not bashing Holley's as I own probably 5-10 of them, most being double pumpers or Dominators for racing applications. A Holley is used by most racers as it is easy to work with and potentially can make the most power on the dyno and on the track. However, power gains would be minimal over a Quadrajet and you sacrifice drivability and fuel mileage.

Quadrajets are an amazing carburetor. Yes, truck carbs are 800 and car are 750 but they only use what is demanded of an engine. A 800cfm Quadrajet is used on a bone stock 305 as well as a 454 from the factory for that exact reason to optimize mileage, drivability, and emissions. The benefit to the car carb is that it has better throttle response. The Quadrajet can be removed from a stock 305 and placed on a blown big block with little to no tuning required and run pretty darn good. Yes, you can probably pull a few more HP with a Holley.

The downside to a Quadrajet is finding a Quadrajet performance competent shop. Hard to find any carb shop these days regardless.

Again, when you swap to a Holley you lose those things. Every parked, broken down muscle car, hot rod I know of has a Holley on it and people get frustrated with the performance as it continuously requires tuning.

Nothing wrong with Weiand, the QC went to hell when purchased by Holley many years ago but that was only temporary and mainly affected their 6-71 and 8-71 superchargers which burned a lot of people as I would have to open 4-5 boxes to get one usable and have the rep come get the rest.

I think both have invested significant amounts of time on SBC performance. I know I personally spent multiple days at Edelbrock R&D in Torrance watching and participating in sessions on my own engines, cars, as well as others.

As far as being pushed to sell Edelbrock, you are probably right as I recall when I was with PAW, Edelbrock had more incentives but....they also had the most support for staff. I could always reach the Edelbrock reps in minutes where the Weiand/Holley reps took a few days to sort. They were also far more generous with returns/ damages.

 

[Old60Driver]

I appreciate all the replies folks!

So here's the current plan. I need to get this thing back together before I leave for work again. Say, the day after Thanksgiving. So, I cleaned up the existing intake with degreaser, brushes, and whatever I could to get the 38 year old gunk off and in it. In the process, I removed a plate from the passenger side of the intake that had a heat tub running down into the crossover, that went all the way up to the carb. Now, what I'd like to do is just cap that off. Other than some cold weather issues, I can't see the downside. It should be noted that I live in Houston, so cold temps aren't really an issue. I'm trying to find a kit that has a block off plate, but I'm not having any luck. I could probably grab some plate and cut it down to size, and drill holes, and make a gasket, but a kit would be the better option, time-wise. The thing is, I don't even know what the port is called. LOL I'll attach a pic and maybe y'all could get me moving in the right direction?

Thanks again!

 

[Bennyt]

You need a choke block off plate. Every auto parts store should have them for $20-30 in the performance section. Probably get by with some gasket material and sheetmetal temporarily and buy a $10 one on Amazon, Summit, etc.