Seeking advice intake manifold

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younghoss

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I have stock engine and parts, 73 Duster w/ 340. Considering upgrade from the stock manifold, but which one?
I am street driver, with AC, p.s., p.b., auto tran. Do not want to cut up hood. Do not want to change air breather.
Am willing to buy new carb too, if that's a real help.
Suggestions? Or am I limiting myself so much that there's no use in seeking a change?

I'm going to Carlisle soon, will expect to find many used parts available...
 
The Edelbrock performer is a spread bore just like the cast iron manifold, difference is the weight as the cast iron one is heavy. Because you have a 340 you can port match the Edelbrock to the 340 heads.
BUT a daily driver it's not necessary.The Performer ports are smaller than the cast iron intake. Not a problem in my book.
Used you can find 'um cheap while you are at Carlisle.
 
The factory manifold is one of the better designs out there, and outside of the weight savings of an aluminum manifold over the cast iron factory unit, is pretty tough to substantially improve upon unless you start considering an AirGap type intake- and then you'd probably start running into clearance issues especially with the factory air cleaner setup. Then you'd really need to consider more cam to take advantage of the AG's capabilities.
The carb you have is a Carter Thermoquad, and there's people that will argue that it is one of the best street carburetor designs ever offered- and they're not really wrong.
My advice would be to keep what you have, and make sure it's all set up and functioning correctly so you're getting everything out of it that it's capable of.
 
having AC is going to limit your choices, a lot of aftermarket intakes don't have provisions for it. or at least for the stock pick ups on the brackets. so that means aftermarket brackets/systems. a lot of intakes don't have a provision for the coil mount, either.

the one that jumps to mind that meets all of your criteria: AC, fits under the hood, etx is the edelbrock performer. but you'll have a port mismatch, so you should at the very least gasket match it. oh, and if you have a TQ it will fit.

however, i don't think that there's a massive upgrade to going to the performer from the stock intake.
 
What's wrong with the old intake manifold? Other than saving weight and base on what you have, I see no reason to replace it.
 
I’m with the use what you have crowd.

Nothing wrong with what you have, and to find some improvement there will require more than just a manifold change.
 
Newbomb Turk said:
I’m with the use what you have crowd.

Nothing wrong with what you have, and to find some improvement there will require more than just a manifold change.
Click to expand...
...and then the snowball effect takes hold- I should get better heads to take advantage of the manifold's increased flow, a cam to compliment them, more compression and a TC to take advantage of the cam... then suddenly you're just ordering a 408 Blueprint motor... and diving into the rear end and suspension to get it to hook up...
 
Professor Fate said:
...and then the snowball effect takes hold- I should get better heads to take advantage of the manifold's increased flow, a cam to compliment them, more compression and a TC to take advantage of the cam... then suddenly you're just ordering a 408 Blueprint motor... and diving into the rear end and suspension to get it to hook up...
Click to expand...

That’s going down a deep rabbit hole when you start down that road.
 
If the engine is stock- there is no better intake then the one you have. Second better is LD 340 BUT you need to take out a small loan. I love them for street use. But I bought my two back when they were $100 each. Now they are like $400. But unlike the performer… not a lot of extra holes and bungs to fill. Looks period correct.
Syleng1
 
Professor Fate said:
:thumbsup:
Or PAW!
Click to expand...

IMG_0093.jpeg
 
When Richard Holdener did an air gap swap on a 340 hp 360 the bottom and peak hp were about the same as stock 360 4bbl intake but did gain a little mid range power.

Like every else is saying stock if fine. Cam gears stall are better bangs for dollar if looking for more power.

Swap at 7:55

 
Let's put it this way......Are you looking for bling?

I have a BNIB six pack set-up and a mint LD340, and I am using the OEM cast intake and TQ on my mild 340 Demon while the other 2 sit on the shelf.
 
if you really want to make some power get a 6 inch piece of pipe and connect your dual exhaust together.
Sorry, couldn't resist. As for your manifold upgrade as most are telling you, your existing intake will be fine.
 
I vote, keep what you have. Along with a functioning choke, hopefully correct throttle and kickdown linkage. Provisions for AC compressor brackets-the way Ma Mopar planned it. Who cares about weight on a street cruiser.
 
Professor Fate said:
...and then the snowball effect takes hold- I should get better heads to take advantage of the manifold's increased flow, a cam to compliment them, more compression and a TC to take advantage of the cam... then suddenly you're just ordering a 408 Blueprint motor... and diving into the rear end and suspension to get it to hook up...
Click to expand...

Wait, What??? I thought that was the way we were supposed to do it... :lol:
 
If you went with something like and Edelbrock performer I bet you would lose power, on my cousins stock car the stock 360 2bbl was better than the performer even with the weight difference.
 
273 said:
If you went with something like and Edelbrock performer I bet you would lose power, on my cousins stock car the stock 360 2bbl was better than the performer even with the weight difference.
Click to expand...
I agree.
 
younghoss said:
I have stock engine and parts, 73 Duster w/ 340. Considering upgrade from the stock manifold, but which one?
I am street driver, with AC, p.s., p.b., auto tran. Do not want to cut up hood. Do not want to change air breather.
Am willing to buy new carb too, if that's a real help.
Suggestions? Or am I limiting myself so much that there's no use in seeking a change?

I'm going to Carlisle soon, will expect to find many used parts available...
Click to expand...

The intake can be ported but it now becomes, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” It would be of a small benefit. Swapping out the cam would make it more effective as well as porting the heads. Overall, it’s a pricey expenditure for a mild return.

On a stock engine, besides headers, the cheapest gain in power is upgrading the camshaft. After that, a gear ratio change and higher stall converter will add in additional get up and go. Though the gear ratio change to a higher numerical number will raise the cruise speed rpm and limit the top end.

Other reasonably priced upgrades for power are ignition, filters & replacing worn out parts that do not operate as well as when new like a clutch fan. Recurving the distributor and adding in a multiple spark ignition & opening the spark plug gap will add power and mileage.

Happy HP hunting!
 
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