Edelbrock vs Stock 455 Intake Manifold

Discussion in 'Street/strip 400/430/455' started by cruizin70, Jun 3, 2006.

  1. cruizin70

    cruizin70 cruizin70

    I am debating on putting an Edelbrock Performer dual-plane aluminum intake on my 455 Buick engine of my 70 Skylark. (I also have a mild Lunati cam in my 455). I want to know if I can still use the original 4 barrell Quadrajet carb with it and still have a reliable and trouble free motor. I have heard that I should get an edelbrock carb to go along with the edelbrock intake as well for optimum performance and reliablity. I also want to know if I will have any hood clearance problems if I put my ram air cleaner on as well. Does anyone have any experience with an Edelbrock Aluminum intake for their Buick 455? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
     
  2. flynbuick

    flynbuick Guest

    The performer model is the only one that will allow the stock cleaner and hood to continue to line up. Yes the Q jet will work but you have to change the choke set up. Do not count on this doing much other than saving some weight. So if the purpose is to gain perfromance just say recurving the distributor might be a better option.
     
  3. copperheadgs1

    copperheadgs1 copperheadgs1

    Don't bother. I have gone back and forth so many times it should have wing nuts. Not worth the headaches. Jim is right not much performance if any. Your air cleaner foams will squash and it wont fit front support without rubber bushing on top of it. Also if you have AC all fittings will be in different places and the auto trans port in back is a different thread size. Learn from me and save your money. By a nice cam instead.
     
  4. bostongsx

    bostongsx Platinum Level Contributor

    The only performance you will see out of the performer is a weight savings. If you want to step up your perofrmance go to a b4b.
     
  5. GS Kubisch

    GS Kubisch THE "CUT-UP" BUICK

    B4B was worth nothing in ET at the Track over my stock 70 iron Manifold.
    This was on a 12.20 combo,I don't think you need an aluminum intake until being well into the 11's
     
  6. cruizin70

    cruizin70 cruizin70

    What is a b4b?
     
  7. 462CID

    462CID Buick newbie since '89

    My back says that the 20 pounds or so of the Edelbrock performer kicks the iron manifold's 60+ pound ass any day of the week :)
     
  8. pyro225

    pyro225 Heres to fireworks safety

    Along these lines, anything you can do to a stock intake to squeeze more torque out of a BBB?
     
  9. jlnel

    jlnel 85 regal 455/400

    how bout an spx over the b4, i have one but not used it yet, ??
     
  10. DaWildcat

    DaWildcat Platinum Level Contributor

    I would imagine some amount of work can be done to improve the stock intake, I suggest speaking with Greg Gessler regarding this: http://www.gesslerheadporting.com/ .

    Comparing the SPX to the B4B is pretty much apples & oranges. The B4B is a great all-around runner, but probably starts to lie down above 5000 rpm without lots of work. The SPX however is definitely going to be a top range manifold, I dare say you'd be losing a lot of low rpm torque with this intake. It would probably be most at home with lots of compression, lots of cam, lots of cyl head work...on an engine that needs to perform best above 4500 rpm or so. I'd never think of dropping one on a stock 455!

    My $0.02...

    Devon
     
  11. paul c

    paul c Well-Known Member

    don't forget that less weight = faster. this alone may not be too much of a measurable difference but ounces = pounds. the more you can shave off in different places the better. also the less effort to put on and remove may be worth it.
     
    300sbb_overkill likes this.
  12. xxlv8

    xxlv8 Well-Known Member

    I put on a Performer because it is pretty... :)
     
  13. copperheadgs1

    copperheadgs1 copperheadgs1

    Mine is pretty in the box!
     
  14. D BERRY

    D BERRY 72 Skylark 2 DR POST


    Has anyone done a comparision of a Performer and a stock intake on an engine dyno? If they did produce the same numbers on the dyno then the Performer would be faster in a car because of the weight factor. I do rember a Hot Rod article a few years back by David Vizard where he tested 15 different intakes on a sbc on a dyno. Five made a little more HP than stock, five made about the same HP as stock, and the other five made less HP than stock. Just because a manifold is made from aluminum doesn't mean it's better for your application.

    Dave
     
  15. BQUICK

    BQUICK Gold Level Contributor

    I did some testing at the track years ago. Swapped intakes at the track.
    In these days you could get 5-6 time runs and if you ran trophy it was like shooting ducks and make 10 passes before the night was over.....

    Put a Performer on and slowed up .05. Then jetted up .004 on the primaries (Q-jet) and picked up .15 for a gain of a tenth. Then sprayed the intake with water and ice and picked up another .10. This was with blocked heat riser while the stock was stock, not blocked. Sure the stock intake could have been cooled but it holds alot more heat.
    So, the benefits of the alum intake are of course the weight saving, a bit better flow and better heat dissipation.
    Just remember to jet up or there will be no gain due to flow.

    The B4B flows a little better than the Performer and can be ported for quite good flow for a motor not seeing above 6000 rpm.
    Tomlinson ported mine (B4B/TQ) a long time ago and it pulled like a bear to 6200. 10.60s in a 3800 lb GS. Wildcat and Dominator only ran .15 quicker.

    Bruce
     
    TimR and matt68gs400 like this.
  16. 462CID

    462CID Buick newbie since '89


    :beer I'm not talking power:weight. I'm talking pains:back
     
  17. Yardley

    Yardley Club Jackass

    Nice job, Bruce. This is the kind of reply that makes this board so dang beautiful! Great info here!

    Will you be at Salem this year? Will you bring the dingo? What a great dog.
     
  18. BQUICK

    BQUICK Gold Level Contributor

    The dingo was at Norwalk looking for ya but where where you? :Do No:

    I don't know.....I can't afford Indy and Salem.....can't decide.....maybe the weather will decide for me.
    Couldn't hook the Jag at Salem so might bring something else......plus there was something else.....something about kaboom/smoke/oil/slide. :Dou:
     
  19. Eric

    Eric Founders Club Member

    What I did was...

    I bought a Performer two years ago and installed it on my 70 GSX and
    hated it!
    No performance gain and more important the choke set up is different
    and a pain.
    And as far as the hood clearance ... the Performer sits about 1/2" to
    1" higher and when you shut the hood it chows the crap out of the
    bakalite plastic just behind the foam seals on the air cleaner. Some
    dealers will say that it is the same height as the stock intake but
    it isn't! I couldn't get that performer off of my car fast enough.
    I went back to the stock intake and am very happy again. Everything
    hooks up the way it should again. Gee...now I get why the factory
    spent all that time and research making everything work together
    so well. The weight savings is a farce unless you are running a Drag
    car and want every hundreth you can get to win the NHRA title
    at the Summer Nationals. Save your money or just flush the money
    down the toilet it will be alot easier and save you all the headaches!
    Can you tell ...I don't like the Performer?

    GSX Eric : :eek2: 3gears:
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2018
  20. BadBrad

    BadBrad Got 4-speed?

    Same here - last time I did this comparo I observed 500 more rpm on top - immediately destroyed a water pump.

    And - you can run the B4B with factory air cleaner. Just don't expect a perfect alignment of seals with hood plates - but pretty darn close.
     

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