A little more oomph

jrc4y4 said
Thanks guys for the input.

I notice you race FAST. I am intrigued by the racing, and one of the big guys lives nearby I think here in Columbia, MO. Forgot his name but he was wearing the shirt and I talked to him at Menards lol. Anyway. With what these FAST guys are running, that's why I'm asking why couldn't I port the Performer Intake, the 302 heads, and get significant gains? That was really my original intention. I may have found some headers, which goes from the stockish look but still my engine wouldn't look over the top. It's obviously not all factory as evidenced by my pic, but I do like the low key look of what I have going on. Wouldn't mind doing the cold air like you guys are saying.

My guess on the 302 head would be it is closed chamber? Somewhat easier to get quench? I have no idea on the port flow in that head. Honestly there are much smarter people, getting a ton of power when it comes to 318’s. I have no real experience with them. The big pitfall in any motor is matching components. 318 will not be pulling a ton of air compared to say a 444 CI small block, unless you spin it to the moon and to do that with any motor is complicated. So you kinda work backward. How much depression/vacuum can 318 CI make? If the head efficiently transfers that depression to the intake you don’t need more head flow. If the intake can efficiently transfer the depression to the carb base, you don’t need more intake flow. You can make things too big with 318 CI’s, 444 CI small block? Not really, you need all the head flow you can get out of a stock casting. I believe people under rate stock intake castings. Not that the aftermarkets aren’t better, but more of what a stock casting will support. I think a stock 68-69 340 intake massaged a bit with some plenum work will support over 500 hp on a serious effort, not a street car, motor. For an example of bigger is not always better. I had too much time on my hands last winter and decided to go BIG on an intake and by big I really mean absurdly big, without changing the exterior of the stock 340 intake. Would my Frankenstein flow more air that any stock small block intake no matter what you did porting it? Yep. Can I create enough depression/vacuum with the max CI limits of an LA small block or possibly spin it fast enough to keep the velocity up? Probably not! I lost 2 tenth’s with it. I should of just drank beer and sat on the couch, but I have recently seen a very high dollar, manifold, modified by very well known brand name company, that shockingly, gives me reason for slight optimism!! So! No couch and not too much beer for me this winter!! Here’s my Frankenstein intake post.
Intake design for stock appearing class and needed a winter project