smallblock intake shootout

I have all the respect in the world for Steve Dulcich, Mopar Muscle is the only mag. I'm subscribed to and the article is very informative. But one thing bothers me about dyno tests like this and it's emphasized by this quote from the article: "went through all of the manifold testing without having to touch the carb except to swap it from each manifold."

The carb used was shown to be jetted correctly, but it was so on the manifold it was originally tested on. There is no way jetting will be "optimum" for each of the variety of intakes tested (...not counting the 6 Pack.) I ran a Weiand Stealth (dual plane) for a while and there was an obvious imbalance in jetting based on plug color of a square-jetted carb. I forget at the moment which was which, but the lower plenum plugs were obviously colored differently than the plugs in the cylinders fed by the upper plenum. I jetted 2-3 #'s different on one side to even things out and the car picked up about .05! (Same day, track and conditions.) I did end up going back to a Strip Dominator (single plane) with a square-jetted carb because it seemed to be a bit faster for my particular combo. ("Your results may vary") :p

I still think the article is very helpful and gives a pretty good comparison between intakes, especially the "curves" and "peaks". Optimizing jetting for each probably wouldn't make a "big" difference. But as close as some of them were, it could have shuffled the numbers differently. This is especially true when you figure in milder and wilder combinations than the engine tested. I'm just saying that one should learn from comparisons like this but factor in their own, personal combo variables. "Think outside the box." But I always look forward to such articles because it's something I don't have the ability to do either.

I also would have liked to have seen intakes like the Edelbrock LD340, Weiand Stealth and Offenhauser Port-O-Sonic tested.


lol Spent so much time composing my reply that I didn't see the post by 1wild&crazyguy. But those are some of the questions to ask. In some cases one can figure out which direction to go anyway - then try to jet/test as best as you can..