A few years back a friend gave me a Edelbrock 1406 carb and a S.P.2-P Intake manifold that they pulled off their hotrod. First I swapped in the carb, it smoothed out the idle a lot, ran real nice, and pulled well under load from idle. It worked almost perfectly on my SBC after adjusting the idle speed and mixture.
Fast forward a long time... And I finally threw on the Edelbrock manifold. It has very mixed reviews on the web... Many would even say a friend would give you one. I decided it would be worth the effort to install it.
Results:
1) it looks way better than the cruddy blue manifold which was a mix of blue, black, and rust. And looks are the most important thing on a truck like this.... NOT.
2) At first it idled high... Then I found the idle could be adjusted down to 400 RPM, and it would idle there happily. After playing a bit I set it at about 650 rpm. It idles very smooth, and chugs along at idle even in fourth gear.
3) performance: throttle response is smooth and quick, torque is improved, RPMs increase faster, and it otherwise makes the truck feel lighter. Pulling away from a stop, the tires will chirp, not by dropping the clutch, by getting on it after the truck is moving. Something it wasn't prone to doing after combining 3.70s and 33x10.50 tires.
4) exhaust: I don't have much of an exhaust system on the truck... In 96 when I did the swap I had the muffler shop throw together a quick and dirty exhaust... Figuring it would rust out before so long, and I'd build something better when I wasn't already broke... Well 20 years later, I've replaced the mufflers a few times, but the pipe is still good. Anyways, it irritated me at intersections because of how loud it's been getting. However, now it's almost silent... HUH. Who'd have thought an intake manifold could make an engine quieter... Not me. Any theories? Only other difference was I left the exhaust crossover under the carb blocked off by the gaskets... The old manifold had a ton of crud baked to the bottom, and I didn't feel that could be good for engine health.
4) reputation is that these intakes choke the motor over 4k RPM... Since mine is rev limited to 4k, I figure that problem will never surface... Although I do find it hits 4k much quicker (and quieter) than before.
Moral: don't believe everything you read on the web... For my 350 with an RV cam and higher compression, it performs way better than the stock iron manifold.
I'll report more after I get a chance to wheel with it... Pics to be added also.
