440 intake manifold decision

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mopower440

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Im ready to buy an aftermarket aluminum intake for my 440 dart! Its a street car that may see some track time but i DO want it to be as quick as possible on the street. It has stock 452 heads currently but will go aluminum soon hopefully. Ok, i REALLY want the performer RPM so bad i can taste the aluminum!!, BUT, i run a thermoquad, and by the time i take the height of the RPM intake, plus the carb adapter plate, im almost posotive it will not fit under my flat hood, and i dont want to cut my hood. I wish i knew someone close by that i could borrow the RPM intake and just mock it up on my car to be sure, but i cant see spending 300 bucks to buy the intake with the chances it will fit being so low. SO, i need to figure out which one to get that will clear the hood. Ive read that intake shoot out and still cant decide. Im guessing its between the Torker 2 and the holley street dominator,,? Any opinions are greatly appreciated. I need to decide soon as i have a lead on both the SD and torker 2 right now used.
Thanks!
 
What cam, gear and transmission combination are you running? I like the thermoquads okay, it may be that a MP single plane with the thermoquad flange or the Offy Port-O-Sonic with thermoquad flange may be the best bet. What hood does it have to fit under? I am sure Andy F. would be the go to on this one about what will work with what for the best power output and fitment.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
What cam, gear and transmission combination are you running? I like the thermoquads okay, it may be that a MP single plane with the thermoquad flange or the Offy Port-O-Sonic with thermoquad flange may be the best bet. What hood does it have to fit under? I am sure Andy F. would be the go to on this one about what will work with what for the best power output and fitment.
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Its the stock flat hood on my 1972 dart swinger. Trans is a 727 with a 3000 stall. gears right now are 3.23 but will be changing in the future to 3.55 or 3.91. I want this to be as quick as possible for a street car. I know the street dominator is rated good and will fit under the hood. Just really hate to NOT be able to use the RPM performer being its about the best, but as far as i know, it wont fit..
 
On a 440 with 3.91 gears and 3000 rpm converter, the street dominator will not give up enough bottom end torque to make a huge difference in comparison to the performer rpm. It’s going to be more than the rear tires can reasonably contend with either way, and the extra midrange to top end pull will work better with the deeper gears.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
On a 440 with 3.91 gears and 3000 rpm converter, the street dominator will not give up enough bottom end torque to make a huge difference in comparison to the performer rpm. It’s going to be more than the rear tires can reasonably contend with either way, and the extra midrange to top end pull will work better with the deeper gears.
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so are you saying both intakes are close to equall?
 
Maybe not in dyno testing, but in real world in the car performance with a hot cam, low gears, and very good purpose built custom converter a single plane will oftentimes e.t. better than a dual plane.
 
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And while they may be dated on potential and wear and tear, the 452s work pretty good with the old porting templates and bowl work. But with things being what they are now, the money better is probably better placed toward a set of good used aluminum heads.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
And while they may be dated on potential and wear and tear, the 452s work pretty good with the old porting templates and bowl work. But with things being what they are now, the money better is probably better placed toward a set of good used aluminum heads.
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so you would pick the holley SD over the torker2?
 
Based on experience of some I know who have run both on an open header 440 ‘71 Charger with 4.30 gears, yes. The SD was worth a few tenths over the Torker. But that’s a bit of an apples to oranges comparison.
 
Indeed. There’s a lot of negative talk about single planes on the street, but the street dominator has moderately sized ports and plenum, and torque really isn’t a whole lot of an issue with a 440 in an a body. With gears and a good converter, you will not be disappointed. If you can and don’t care to, share some video of the angry Thermoquad.
 
diymirage said:
if were cutting holes, i would get this one

New complete Blower kit show polished 440 dodge 6-71 street gas ready | eBay
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Amen Brother, you’re preaching to the choir now! There is nothing else like a roots blower when it comes to the sound and the fury of accelerating at the point that voluntary breathing becomes difficult... While it wasn’t a Mopar, it’s hard to believe what 8 pounds of boost with race gas on top of 9-1/2:1 compression and 4.56 gears is actually like on the street.
 
Leaning towards this street dominator but still a little unsure about how it will act when just cruising around being its a single plane..?
 
The long and gently sweeping runners that maintain the same cross section of the port window at the head make this manifold very docile at low rpm. For single plane intakes to work well at low rpm on the street, the most important and overlooked factor is to have a camshaft with no less than 110 degrees of lobe separation. The more area under the curve (duration) at .050, the better a wide LSA angle will be. This is because a narrow LSA will be more prone to reversion and charge contamination with the short runners and large plenum at low velocity due to the lack of ram tuning at low rpm. I know from experience that 106 degrees of LSA with a single plane and 3.08-3.21 gears is a low rpm slug, even with near 11.8:1 compression. Replacement of the cam with 110-112 degree LSA improves the low rpm torque response and general street ability nearly as much as adding a large volume dual plane intake. The mid range hit at moderate speed with a good single plane intake designed for street use (i.e. Street Dominator) on a properly set up combination is something else.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
The long and gently sweeping runners that maintain the same cross section of the port window at the head make this manifold very docile at low rpm. For single plane intakes to work well at low rpm on the street, the most important and overlooked factor is to have a camshaft with no less than 110 degrees of lobe separation. The more area under the curve (duration) at .050, the better a wide LSA angle will be. This is because a narrow LSA will be more prone to reversion and charge contamination with the short runners and large plenum at low velocity due to the lack of ram tuning at low rpm. I know from experience that 106 degrees of LSA with a single plane and 3.08-3.21 gears is a low rpm slug, even with near 11.8:1 compression. Replacement of the cam with 110-112 degree LSA improves the low rpm torque response and general street ability nearly as much as adding a large volume dual plane intake. The mid range hit at moderate speed with a good single plane intake designed for street use (i.e. Street Dominator) on a properly set up combination is something else.
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so are you saying no to the SD or yes? My cam is the MP 284/484 installed 4 degrees advanced.
 
The street dominator intakes were an inside secret for a long time. They give up nothing on the bottom end because of their design. Big plenum and long runners are the secret. They pull from the bottom all the way to 7K if you want to go that far. They are certainly on par with a lot of modern intakes.
 
RustyRatRod said:
The street dominator intakes were an inside secret for a long time. They give up nothing on the bottom end because of their design. Big plenum and long runners are the secret. They pull from the bottom all the way to 7K if you want to go that far. They are certainly on par with a lot of modern intakes.
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So even though its a single plane, it will still be smooth running at low RPM and all and no noticeable torque loss on the bottom when cruising around town?
 
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