couple questions about aftermarket TBI intakes and other parts, upgrades

[jjlaughner]

I dont want to go as far as installing a new cam but it looks like a have a small oil leak developing at the rear of the intake manifold. I was thinking about pulling the intake and just replacing the gaskets then I got thinking well these heads have 100K miles on them also. Truck has always run great never really started smoking at startup till recently. I've been pondering having the heads rebuilt (stock or buying new ones, dont want to mess with the vortec stuff yet). Then tossing on an aftermarket TBI intake and upgrading the ignition to something with a rev limiter.

-So, who makes the aftermarket intakes and what ones flow best?
-anyone with 6" of lift running a TES ypipe? Problems with clearence on the crossover section?
-is MSD about the way to go for a good, reasonable priced, ignition upgrade?

-IF, I did end up going to a vortec head, what aftermarket vortec/TBI intake manifolds are on the market right now? Remember I want to stay with the stock cam for now... Most likely I will run this motor for another year or two then toss it in the project truck after I build a stout 383 TPI motor for this truck.

I'm wanting to start collecting parts for this to be another (late) winter porject... (along with my frame swap on the project truck and maybe finding a clean 2wd to start building into a drag racer /forums/images/graemlins/whistling.gif..... /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif maybe I should find a job first?).

 

[sled_dog]

jobs are good. Holley and Edelbrock make aftermarket TBI intakes. Have heard the Ebrock one is just slightly better than stock, Holley is suppossed to be the better piece. Heads, I'd rebuild them and have some work done to them or get aftermarkets. Even with port work the TBI heads suck. Heads and the throttle body itself are the big choke points on TBI motors. MSD is a good ignition, never had trouble with it and it definetally is nice to have a rev limiter. As for the Vortec stuff, GM makes an intake as well as Edelbrock. I wouldn't go with Vortec stuff unless you get a good deal on it, there is more work in it than you think. TES Y pipe, Skratch runs one I believe and he has had nothing but clearance problems.

 

[dyeager535]

Re: couple questions about aftermarket TBI intakes and other parts, upgrade

I second staying away from the Vortecs if you can. They are good heads for the money, but I think they are really only a "value" for carbed rigs. This may change if they get more intakes designed for injection setups out. I don't believe any but the GM piece is smog legal, since it has EGR provisions.

Pro-topline heads are pretty much cheaper, and better all around, short of some claims that they don't flow as well as advertised. (goes both ways though, some get more flow, some less) Not a big deal on a fairly mild engine, so take that with a grain of salt. Still have fastburn chambers, better casting, better ports, and better springs. (than stock vortecs)

As to rev-limiter, if you are going with a cam/intake/head swap, why not delve into having your ECM do it for you?