Holley Strip Dominator vs. Edelbrock Victor 340

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rmchrgr

rmchrgr

Skate And Destroy
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At some point in the near future, I am going to go through my 416 that has been sitting for a few years and make sure everything inside looks OK. The heads are coming off to make sure whatever I can't see from the outside is still hunky-dory. Whatever the result of the inspection is I'm going to need new intake gaskets. And since I'm gonna have to install new gaskets when I put it back together... you know where this is going.

Currently, I have a "gasket matched" Holley Strip Dominator. I have no clue if the grinding I did helped anything. I went up into the runners a few inches on each port and did some light cleanup of the plenum but that was it. I know it's an older design though by all accounts it's still regarded as a decent intake. I've often thought it might be a choke point though because of the comparatively shorter runners.
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I also know the Victor 340 is a proven intake though not sure whether it's worth the expense over what I have. My motor makes peak power around 6,200 and peak torque is 4,900 rpm so at least right now it's not a high-revving affair. I'm not sure if the somewhat limited rpm of the combo is due to the Strip Dominator intake or some other factor like the 4" crank.

The cam is a solid flat tappet 251/259 @ .050". Heads flow 293 cfm at .550" with 1 7/8 headers so the capability to spin it higher should theoretically be there. Whether it's beneficial to rev it higher is sort of the question. And even then, would a "better" intake intake by itself allow the combo to spin faster and/or move the peak numbers higher up?

If it's reasonable to expect a perceived 10hp or more gain from switching, I'd probably be inclined to do it. Don't know if that's realistic expectation just from an intake swap especially between somewhat similar designs. The SD has the spread bore plenum opening and the Victor is a 4150. The Victor is taller overall but basically they're both single plane intakes for standard port heads and have a similar operating range, let's say 3,500 rpm-up. I don't get over 3,500 rpm on the street too often but sometimes.

I've always had a single plane on this car so I am used to it. When the car is together it does mostly get street driven but will be subject some amount of drag racing as time allows. Car is also Sniper EFI so hopefully that will help with low rpm tuning.

I'm sure there are plenty of opinions on this particular subject so let's hear 'em. Spend the money on the Victor? Maybe send the Strip Dom somewhere for real porting work? Forget about all of it and just put the thing back together?

Thanks,

- Greg
 
Considering the current price of a new Victor, i'd probably just stay with the SD.

By the way, nice cleanup on those ports. :thumbsup:
 
Greg, this is a good question. Your cam would want to spin more rpm in a shorter stroke engine I think for making power. The Victor, from what I have been reading and seeing for years, likes more rpm. If the intake allows more power, it has to be flowing better somewhere.

I’m Assuming your going to dyno the engine over track testing.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Greg, this is a good question. Your cam would want to spin more rpm in a shorter stroke engine I think for making power. The Victor, from what I have been reading and seeing for years, likes more rpm. If the intake allows more power, it has to be flowing better somewhere.

I’m Assuming your going to dyno the engine over track testing.
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I get what your saying Rob, 6200 peak would be about 64/6600 shift point when racing. I'm just not sure that a few hundred rpm with the 4" arm would make enough difference with a 251 deg. solid?
 
OldmanRick said:
Considering the current price of a new Victor, i'd probably just stay with the SD.

By the way, nice cleanup on those ports. :thumbsup:
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Ha, thanks! Honestly, I'm not sure if I did more harm than good. I'm probably just about at dangerous level with a grinder, and not even a bona fide hack yet. If I don't find get a Victor maybe I'll try my hand at some plenum stuff and profile the runner dividers.

Yeah, $457 for an intake manifold seems utterly ridiculous to me.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Greg, this is a good question. Your cam would want to spin more rpm in a shorter stroke engine I think for making power. The Victor, from what I have been reading and seeing for years, likes more rpm. If the intake allows more power, it has to be flowing better somewhere.

I’m Assuming your going to dyno the engine over track testing.
Click to expand...

That's sort of the basis of what I'm asking - whether the intake by itself would allow the engine to rev higher.

By their nature I do think stroker engines tend to peak at lower rpms. Of course some will rev higher but with an off the shelf type build like mine, 6,500 seems typical. And just because the motor peaks at 6,200 does not mean I would shift it there but I'd have to see what it likes when I get it down the track on a consistent basis.

I don't know if I'll take the motor back to the dyno before it goes back in the car.
 
rmchrgr said:
That's sort of the basis of what I'm asking - whether the intake by itself would allow the engine to rev higher.
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Great question that I have zero experience to answer on. I actually just got my first Victor a little way back from a member here. I was about to do some port and plenum work when a friend and I came to an agreement that he will get the intake and I’ll get his old Hooker headers that aren’t made anymore. It’s a trade between friends that has no dollar amount or care about it.

Perhaps @pittsburghracer ya know something of this?

I don't know if I'll take the motor back to the dyno before it goes back in the car.
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It is a pricey thing…. Everyone (live in person) always asks and get hissy when you tell them you didn’t dyno the engine. Like your back yard money tree got sick and you let it die.
 
I know someone that swears by the old Victor 340 with port matching. You can find them used for reasonable prices, but I’ve not seen any conclusive testing to see if it had an edge over the other intakes of that type. But I think it would work well for a 416 with your head flows. Speaking of that, what heads are you running and what is your cam lift .550 or beyond?
 
I could turn into the 7,000 with my 410 and an ld340 dual-plane I sure hope a strip Dominator will support that. Rhetorical.
Of course it will. As for flow....out of the box they flow close to each other iirr but the victor wins when modified.
The thing about porting these single plans is to get a line-of-sight opened up without necessarily making wider sections in the middle of the runner like a bulge so you work corners at Runner entrances with large radius and mid sections of inside walls
 
There may be a difference with the Victor, but IMO, it's not enough to justify the cost. Now, if one falls outta the sky and hits you in the head....you'll have to recover first, but then I'd use it.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
I know someone that swears by the old Victor 340 with port matching. You can find them used for reasonable prices, but I’ve not seen any conclusive testing to see if it had an edge over the other intakes of that type. But I think it would work well for a 416 with your head flows. Speaking of that, what heads are you running and what is your cam lift .550 or beyond?
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IMM CNC ported RHS/Indy heads. Cam is like .595" lift with a 1.6 rocker.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Look for one used but I wouldn't buy a new of anything anymore unless I had to
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...and not JUST the cost! The older castings are still more consistently better across the board. I don't care where Edelcrock says their stuff is cast, I think they're flim flammin us.
 
Anyone have any Strip Dominator porting tips?

The spread bore opening makes me think it should be epoxied to a 4150 though I don't really want to get involved with that.

Perhaps a fancy spacer would be a something to try instead.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
As for flow....out of the box they flow close to each other iirr but the victor wins when modified.
The thing about porting these single plans is to get a line-of-sight opened up without necessarily making wider sections in the middle of the runner like a bulge so you work corners at Runner entrances with large radius and mid sections of inside walls
Click to expand...

So why spend $400+ and have to modify it to make a few more HP up top?

If you have a target et that you "really" need to hit, that's one thing. But, if your gonna do some bracket racing, and it's mine, i'm cutting the tree down and shifting that baby a 6k and putting years worth of street and 1/4 mi. passes on it. jmo!
 
rmchrgr said:
Anyone have any Strip Dominator porting tips?

The spread bore opening makes me think it should be epoxied to a 4150 though I don't really want to get involved with that.

Perhaps a fancy spacer would be a something to try instead.
Click to expand...
A spacer always helps on the SD & M1 single since there nearly identical. Epoxy was done by someone here. Perhaps it was @12many , I’m not sure.

Skipping the epoxy use, I’d just proceed in a normal way. The spreadbore top, IMO, will require extra clearancing because of how it is in the plenum area. Not so much the top. MPoffical just said the key words, “Line of sight.”
 
I’ve got to ask because it’s the first thing that comes to mind with that much engine. Have you considered a tunnel ram?
 
OldmanRick said:
So why spend $400+ and have to modify it to make a few more HP up top?

If you have a target et that you "really" need to hit, that's one thing. But, if your gonna do some bracket racing, and it's mine, i'm cutting the tree down and shifting that baby a 6k and putting years worth of street and 1/4 mi. passes on it. jmo!
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Modify?Because that's hotrodding.
I did say look for used one... that's how I found mine. 200 or 250 I paid.
Best thing for most of you to do is swap intakes around and see what feels the best in range you drive.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
I’ve got to ask because it’s the first thing that comes to mind with that much engine. Have you considered a tunnel ram?
Click to expand...

If you're asking me, no on the tunnel ram. I can barely tune one carburetor but two? And at the same time? Forget it. Plus, the car is EFI now. I don't think I'm quite in tunnel ram territory. I only have about 10.3:1 compression, 4.10 gear, 28" drag radial, 9 1/2" 4,000 rpm converter...
 
I'll put it in layman's....if you have heads that flow 293cfm..
.... why in the fk do you want to bolt an intake that flows only 240cfm into them?

Whats the point? Why even bother with a single plane , just run an rpm or ld340
 
You're in TR territory and then some. The only thing that would out do it would be a power adder.
 
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