Intake manifold - Edelbrock vs stock ?

[AJ Brooklyn]

Hello to all,
I have stock 1983 J10 with a 360 in it, has a stock intake manifold with 500 cfm Holley 2bbl, do you think it will run better with an Edelbrock 2131 ?
Also planning on ditching the Y pipe and doing duel exhaust but that would be the extent of my performance mods.
Thanks for your insight.
Regards, AJ

[rang-a-stang]

Here's a good thread someone else just asked on it:

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=185404

I bought a used Performer for mine. They are on Craigslist and Ebay all the time. If you don't have to smog, you can find the non-EGR Performers for about $150. Carbs are dirt cheap these days if you are willing to rebuild it yourself (like $50 for a Carter AFB).

I would do the duels first. You'll notice it a lot more.

[asphaltrockdweller]

Rang-a-stang has a really nice Offenhauser manifold for sale. In fact he has the valve covers that go with that.
If you do dual Exhaust you will want to have it exit out the sides, and not straight back.
When I did mine it exited in front of the rear wheels. I also did a crossover tube as well.

[FSJunkie]

The Edelbrock has more benefit from being lighter than from making more horsepower.

[rockosocko]

Not trying to be silly, but what do you mean by "RUN BETTER"?

Is the motor 'stock'?
What's your gear ratio?
Auto or manual trans?
Has it been sitting with 'ol gas' in it for a year or so?
When was the last time it had a tune up? (and what was changed out)
A bad advance in the distributor, or just a worn out one can kill performance just as a bad induction system would. Put a vacuum gauge on it and see what it reads..

On my 81 cherokee S (360/auto) I ran 2.5" pipes straight down from stock manifolds and curved out through the rear of the front leaf springs, then used 33" glass pack style mufflers next to the frame under the rockers, and turn downs.
Just a noticeable tone and not real loud, even at cruise (50-60mph, 3.31 gears)
Plus, keeps heat away from the trans

My intake is an Edelbrock SP2P that I got off a member NIB.
It's got the smaller ports for higher velocity, and just an ordinary Holly 600 vacuum secondary with a 7.5 power valve.
I was getting 17mpg if I kept it under 53-57ish MPH! But once I got to around 60+ it dropped to around 10-13.. (I don't need 4wd here, so I took the front drive shaft out)

There might be pics in one of my threads a few years back.

E

[DBX11]

Just swapped a performer and 1405 over from a stock 4bbl/4350 it made a noticeable change revs up faster and more seat of the pants hp. My 78 is fast for a full time 4wd. I like it !

[82camo401j10]

I like the performer on my 304, but the offey 360, equalflow ran better on my 360.

[joe]

Save your money on the manifold. Biggest gain will be the back saving weight loss of the alum. Dual exhausts are a pain to route on a Wag unless you run both main pipes down the same side. Much easier and cheaper and works well is just run a single 3" exhaust system in the orig location. If you do go with duals you'll want to install an "H"/balancer pipe.

[MysticRob]

Combining several posts' ideas into my own reply, going to a good 4bbl intake will get you better breathing, but likely not more than 15-20hp since you're still sucking air thru the stock heads. If you can stay off the gas you might notice a small increase in mpg since the primaries on 4bbl carbs are smaller than a 2bbl.

Same goes for exhaust, though usually less hp gained from that. Keeping the stock routing with a larger 3" pipe is easiest and cheapest if your shop has that available. Eyeballing mine it looks like 2.5" single pipe, so widening that still helps with the breathing.