Someone give me please an Idea of what Intake Manifold would work best with the stock Q-jet Carb, Im looking for horsepower without really going into the engine at this time, I drive the car on weekends etc, Its an 81 that has had a GM 350 Crate motor installed thats somewhere in the 250 hp range. it has the stock headers with stock exhaust minus the cat. It has just enough ponies to be fun but would love to pump it up to around 300 hp. without spending a fortune and keep it drivable in traffic situations etc. can I do any thing to the exhaust that would net me a few H.P. also thought about taking off the clutch fan and replace it with electric units.... any input on low budget H.P. will be welcomed.

Vettehead1963

If you're looking for ideas on trying to get some budget HP try "How to build a small block Chevy for the street" by Jim Richardson.It covers a whole range of different engine parts,a rough cost,what skill level you would need to do it,and how long.I haven't actually done any of the procedures yet,but there is a lot I can do,and still leave my "numbers matching" engine looking standard.

You may find it difficult to get the power increase you want simply from an intake swap. To get a 50 hp increase will likely need a cam change, reworking of the cylinder heads, etc. If your car has the stock hood it will restrict the number of intakes available without interference.

You also need to determine at what rpm you want your maximum performance. If you want street performance without giving up driveability, you really want to increase torque at low to mid-range rpms, which may actually result in less peak horsepower at the upper end. Doing this is definitely possible without spending too much money. You already have headers and a less restrictive exhaust without the cat...the proper intake and maybe reworking your Q-Jet will give you increased throttle response and low end without sacrificing idle and driveability.

On my '78 L82, I installed a true dual exhaust, eliminating the cat, kept the cast iron exhaust manifolds, installed an Edelbrock Performer intake and had my Q-Jet properly rebuilt and re-jetted, and the car runs far better than stock, with good idle and low end. The reason I picked Edelbrock, besides availablility and low cost, was when I contacted Edelbrock and Holley each for advice, Edelbrock gave me a prompt reply...I never heard from Holley. I'm sure I would have been equally satisfied with a Holley intake if I would have gone that route. It just ticked me off to never hear from them so I eliminated buying the Holley intake. Customer service means a lot to me and Edelbrock gave me that.

It's great to have high horsepower numbers, but you drive torque.

For good performance it is hard to beat the Edelbrock Performer intake. As stated before, a cam change would get you better results for the money. I would start with the intake and save some money up for cam and heads, then finish it up with exhaust (duals and headers).

Thanks for the advice guys I think changing the intake will be where I start first maybe even doe a little exhaust work as well, 15 to 20 hp would a nice bump Im sure, I just replaced all the plugs wires dist cap rotor button as well as the vaccum advance weights springs etc and got a little better throttle respone that way, Thanks again


Vettehead1963

a crossover pipe between the exhaust pipes is a cheap way to get some low end power.

Edelbrock Performer and Weiand both make great aluminum intake manifolds for the application you are looking for. They flow better and weigh less than the stock intake manifold. You will need to eventually install better flowing heads to realize the potential of the intake.

I agree with Redwingvette. you won't get much improvement by just changing the intake to a better flowing one unless you match its flow improvements in the head and exhaust. Edelbrock made a intake made for stock engines called SP2P, don't know if they still make it . it had slightly larger ports as to keep vacuum up and improve torque. ports too large on a stock engine will slow down air flow and decrease vacum and loss of low end power

Another option not mentioned:

Cheap horsepower = NOS, Nitros,the "blue bottle". 150+ HP increase at the push of a button.

Link:
http://www.holley.com/nosnitrous/index.html

Aloha,

Bret