intake help again

you guys ever have the plastic on thermo quads warp like i have? just want something reliable. only thing that makes me hesitant on edelbrock is my buddy had a performer carb, performer rpm intake, and the secondaries didnt even open more than 3/4 the way. but i suppose that is dependent on how much vacuum the engine loses, and may vary from engine to engine depending on how much fuel the engine calls for. his obiviously didnt need all the fuel that the secondaries provided. i just like the mechanical secondaries cuz i can control them on my own with the gas pedal, but maybe there is something better out there. i just dont have all the money in the world to try carb after carb and intake after intake on a trial and error basis.