Intake and cam ?

[bajaviking]

I am planning on installing a performer intake and a mild cam(one with good low end torque) in my 350 next week, I am planning on using my q-jet as it is and I also have a 3" exhaust with a flowmaster and no cat. How much extra power should I get from this set-up? /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif

 

[dyeager535]

Opening up for more questions than answers, but if you are looking for low end torque, I'm curious if you'll see ANY actual increase over stock. Truck motors were built for *low end* torque and meet emissions (key) from the factory, and although the HP numbers aren't that impressive, even the "smogger" 350's were fairly torquey.

I guess the only way to know would be to dyno the thing before/after, or run the stock cam numbers through desktop dyno, then try it with your new cam.

I really kind of doubt the "smog" heads of the 70's up to early 90's are capable of much increased flow with just an intake alone. In my thinking, the heads are the limiting factor (if stock still) not the intake.

 

[Sandman]

I think you'll notice some difference. A set of headers would go great lenghts to balance out the package and complement the cam and intake better.

 

[milspecjimmy]

performer intake? like as in the EDELBROC PERFORMER RPM? that and the performer intake are made for mid to high end power. if you want TQ then go with an edelbroc torkerII intake and a comp cams RV cam that has mild lift and mild duration. the q jet will be fine, but you wont notice as much with it as you would with say a 670 cfm Holley truck avenger or someting along those lines.
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[bajaviking]

I'm kind of /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif with the whole header thing, I have heard a lot of people say that it helped their power and also I've heard a lot of people say that besides the nicer exhaust sound they didn't notice much difference. Because of that I have decided to not go with the headers for now, if the power gain is minimal I would rather keep the stock exhaust manifold and not deal with headers leaking and them burning up my starter and other stuff under the hood.

 

[dyeager535]

I don't think I've ever heard anyone with a GM V8 say that they went from manifolds to headers and didn't notice a difference.

Testing of a Chev V8 in the low 400HP range (obviously pretty high, but still applicable) showed a 57hp gain from headers alone. Half that gain and you'd still *feel* it. (10hp is the oft quoted point where you start to actually feel quicker acceleration)

 

[Sandman]

Yep, headers are the biggest bang for the buck. Make much more difference than just an intake swap.

 

[spoolnaround]

I recommend a performer cam to go with the intake. You could go witht the RPM series but it depends on what you are going to do and the smog requirements of where you live. I know in Ca where I am the RPM series is not smog legal where the original Performer stuff is. I have a Performer RPM I took off my 383 and put the smog legal Performer and cam in and was suprised how well it ran (Doesnt run near as strong, cam was 488 lift and 280 duration on a 110 centerlobe, but still good in the torque dept). I think your 3" exhaust is way over kill...... I personally think anything over 2 1/4 will be taking away your torque and hurt your performance (unless you are running in the 6K RPM range). Just my .02

 

[bajaviking]

I forgot to mention that it is a single 3" exhaust so I guess it should be OK. I don't need to be smog legal that's why I don't run any cat. After receiving your answers I have decided to get some headers in a couple of weeks when I have a little more cash. I don't need smog and down here in Baja we don't have many problems with stuff getting rusty so I will probably get some cheap ones, any good suggestions on what to get and how to keep them from leaking, I was not planning on spending more than $160 /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif