which intake to use on stock 318?

have any of you ever tried a holley street dom on a stock 318 or are you just going off what the magazines said?


Yes, we bought an old 76 dodge van with a Holley Street Dominator. It sucked. We changed it to a dual plane and it ran much better. Stock 318 cam, with the 4 bbl intake, exhaust manifolds and side pipes for exhaust.


I've had 318's with stock single plane 2 bbls and put stock dual plane 2 bbl intakes on them and been much happier with the performance. Same carb - just change the intake. Apples to apples comparison.

It's a known fact that dual plane intakes have better low end and mid range torque and horsepower. Better for street driven vehicles.


It was also known back in those days that the Holley Strip Dominator was a better intake than the Street Dominator. Street Dominators weren't that great of intakes to tell the truth. (not to knock the original poster).


Not to mention, have you ever looked at the quality of the intakes? Holley has the worst core shift that I've seen in intake castings (crooked ports etc). Edelbrock is next worse. Offenhauser and Wiand are much better. I've never seen as much core shift in the Offenhauser and Wiand intakes, that I've seen in the Edelbrock, and especially Holley castings.

I'm not saying that every one of their intakes have bad of core shift, but I've noticed crooked ports on Holley intakes and a few Edelbrock intakes. I've seen much less core shift in Edelbrock than Holley, but Offy and Wiand have been the straightest from the intakes that I've seen.


The original poster states that he's putting it on a "stock" 318. He doesn't give us much more information than that. It would be helpful to know if he has dual exhaust and an aftermarket cam. So I'm going with the "assumption" that he has a stock 318 and has a Carter 4 bbl square bore carb to use with it.

If I felt that one of the intakes that he proposes would run well on his engine, I would pick the better one (or lesser of two evils in this case). But I don't see any gain in him buying an intake for his engine just because it's a bargain. His money would be better spent on a dual plane intake that would run much better on his set up. If he wants to throw money away, I can PM him my address....

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If he wants a recommendation of the best intakes to use on a STOCK 74 318, here's what I would recommend:


#1. The now obsolete Edelbrock LD4B. this intake is made for the stock small port 273/318 heads from 66 and newer AND will take a square bore carburetor directly without any adapters. (I like to stay away from the adapters whenever possible). His Carter carb will bolt right on and go. This intake can handle cams up to 280° duration if he wants to upgrade in the future or already has one.

My son and I bolted one of these to his stock 71 318 with dual exhaust and it ran MUCH better than the Edelbrock Performer intake that the previous owner had put on. It had no bog or hesitation off of the line with an Edelbrock 625 electric choke carb. Great street intakes, they just don't have the bosses to mount the coil back in the stock position, you will have to find another place to mount your coil and possibly get a longer coil wire.

View attachment Edel LD4B A01 B4.jpg

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#2. The old obsolete Edelbrock Dual Port / Dual Plane intake. This one had the split ports from top to bottom. It is a great street intake for low and mid range performance, but gets restrictive over 5000 RPM. Great fuel economy and will work great with a stock 318 cam.

View attachment Edel DP-DP A01 B.jpg

View attachment Eddy DPDP A04 B.jpg

View attachment Eddy DPDP A02 b.jpg

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#3. The old obsolete Edelbrock SP2P intake. This one is similar to the dual port-dual plane intake above, but doesn't have the divided/split ports. It is good to about 5200 - 5500 RPM max. It will run good with a stock 318 cam and also get good fuel economy.

View attachment Edalbrock SP2P intake.jpg

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#4. The Wiand Stealth part # 8022 intake. this is a good intake brand new with a power band from idle - 6800 RPM with a square bore carb flange. It will run good with a stock cam or can handle an aftermarket cam with under 280° duration. This one will bolt directly to his Carter carb that he already has and he won't have to buy another carb.


View attachment Wiand 8022 Stealth lg.jpg

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#5. The Wiand Action Plus part # 8007. This is a good brand new intake with a power band from idle - 6000 RPM with a spread bore intake flange. It will run good with a stock cam or can handle an aftermarket cam with under 280° duration. He will have to run an adapter for his carb or buy a spreadbore.


View attachment Wiand 8007 Action plus lg.jpg

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We rebuilt the 360 in our old 79 Warlock II 4x4 and installed the Wiand Stealth with a carter 625 carb, 9.5 compression, double roller timing chain, headers, sonic turbo mufflers that exited just under the steps. It got 2 1/2 MPG better than the stock engine pulling a car on a trailer with much more power.

I used to race the local early 80's Mustang GT's with it in low and would be on the back of their front fender at 45 MPH. They were pissed that a 4x4 gave them that close of a run off a stop light.

The guy who bought from us used to get teased by his Chevy 4x4 buddies until one day they all went off roading and one of the Chevy's got stuck. Our old Warlock pulled him out effortlessly, and they never knocked "that old Dodge" again...

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But what would I know? It's not like I have a bunch of intakes sitting around....

View attachment My Intakes A01 B.jpg