iam looking at some aftermarket intakes and i seen the edelbrock performer intake and the airgap. what would be the hp # difference

 

on edelbrock you have: airgap>performer rpm>performer
for weiand the 8124 is between the airgap and rpm.

Hp doesn't really matter here, needs to match rest of your engine. do you want throttle response and street driving or do you spend between 5000-7000 at all times on track? if the latter is the case they're all not right for you

what engine, what redline, what cam, what heads. if all stock with maybe a set of headers i'd suggest the weiand 8124 if more mods like heads/cam you want to think about the rpm (or more expensive airgap).
I find the performer itself to not be worth it's money, rather go for the 8124 instead of that one.
That's my own opinion though

 

Given the following,

just what size/family engine and year car is this about? It makes little sense to suggest small Windsor intakes if what you have is a 351W or a modular motor.

The airgap is a fairly hardcore performance manifold, and can be expected to not run as well in cold weather due to the lack of manifold heating. The Performer is a decent if perhaps not exceptional manifold that's fine for mild to maybe moderate performance builds. The RPM is in between, probably about where as I recall the Holley 300-36 was for the SBC and intended for moderate builds. I don't have any direct experience with the Weiands (though I think they are guilty of slightly overstating the rev ranges for some of their products without knowing whether it's the high or the low number that's more suspect).

Best to pick all of your components to favor the same basic rev range. For a street driver, be a little conservative in choosing this rev range - put the high rpm emotion and visions of hp away and build for the somewhat lower rpms that you will actually use.


Norm

 

i have a 302 block .30 over 289 heads ported and polished with RR and oversize valves,Flattop pistons with 4v releaf and i have not put a cam in not sure which way i want to go...i want a good loopie sound. might put a gear drive in too

 

The Air Gap will flow almost as good as a single plan intake. I recently read an article about porting and machining the Air Gap, Victor Jr. and Super Victor intakes. The Air Gap, stock, will out flow most mild performance heads. In other words, you heads are the bottleneck, not your intake. Once you move up to nice heads, the dual plane intake can cause some flow restriction. With a little work, they will match the flow of really good heads like the AFR 205s or Brodix T1s. They are tall, so they do not fit in every situation, but they are about the best dual plane intake out there. If you are not really serious about making power, they are probably overkill. For what it is worth, I have been very happy with mine and plan to have it ported for better flow this next year by Dr. J's Performance Shop (article was based on their work).

Here are some numbers on intakes and flow.
http://www.j-performance.com/index.p...ask=view&id=18

 

so the air gap would only be worth it if i had aftermarket heads? My 289 heads are ported pretty good thou

 

Still a case where I think an RPM-level manifold would be a better choice.


Norm

 

so i need to look at the performer rpm

 

i'm running the rpm with the rpm heads and cam. quite happy with it.
From what I hear(not neccessarily true) is that the rpm and airgap are basically the same manifolds with the difference that you have the extra cooling. bad for cold starts as mentioned above but good for cooler/denser charge. that incorrect? is it really a different design in the internal?

 

One of the features that distinguishes the air-gap from the "regular" RPM is that the manifold divider is cut down a bit in order to permit a little flow sharing, kind of a baby step toward the single plane design. I can't tell from online pictures whether there's any difference in manifold height or runner size/entry/exit angles at the head faces.


Norm