My 440 Build. Which intake and WHY ?

Dubob said
I’m going to assume your car has the factory hood. How are you installing the engine? Conversion mounts? I ask because different adapter mounts may position the engine slightly higher or lower in the bay. I installed a 440 in my Demon. Factory flat hood. The Performer RPM is a very snug fit due to additional height at the carburetor mount flange, think hood clearance. I ended up using a 1.75” (iirc) drop base air cleaner. Along with that drop base comes other issues, the way the fuel line routes, linkage issues going to carburetor etc, due to clearances. I used a Direct Connection K-frame, which is a spool engine mount. This gave me some lee way on the positioning of the engine. I have never run the Performer intake so I can not help you out there. The advantage of the Performer is I believe it’s modeled off the factory intake but saves you weight, it’s about stock height. I personally feel the Performer RPM is a good all around intake, but there are other issues that come with the height that have to be worked out. For your usage I do believe most people will recommend the dual plane manifolds. Someone with more experience will roll along and add more info for you. My engine set up is 10:1, edelbrock rpm heads, lunati 237 int, 243 exh @.050 .566 int .577 exh solid roller running a 3:54 rear with 28” tire. I have run two passes at the track best time 12:78 (car has more but I need to work with it more) but the thing is I can cruise the interstate and flow with traffic with no issues (70-80mph). I know it’s not a direct answer for you but just giving you my experiences.

Thanks for that info. My motor is already in place. The previous owner changed the K frame and used Hamburger motor mounts. I recently pulled the motor to install the E-Street heads and reinstalled it. No way to install them in place with the TTI headers on and no way to remove the headers with the motor in place. At least not in my car. There won't be a next time. This was a fun but challenging project. I am not concerned with the intake height for closing the hood but but if I'm going to get an RPM just to pick up about 10 or 12 HP in an RPM range I rarely visit what's the point? I'm sure high compression and big cam motors will see a bigger difference between the two but in my case the gains on the RPM are small plus there is a small loss on the low end. Another issue is that depending on which tests you believe, using a dropped base air cleaner costs HP. But yet, most people recommend an RPM for a mild build... but don't say why. Edelbrock says to use the Performer (no RPM). They say I'll get much better throttle response. Summit and JEGS say RPM... but don't say why.