>Jack, could you please steer me in the right direction for intake manifolds for Aussie
>2-V heads- what I want is the best dual-plane intake capable of 6-6500 rpm that will
>fit under the engine screen.
The only dual plane intake available in the U.S. for the 2V heads is the Edelbrock
Performer (or F-351) 2V. It's a good truck manifold. You could also try to port
match an Edelbrock Performer 4V intake to the 2V heads since the the Performer 4V
has a port size smaller than a 4V but larger than a 2V. There was also a spread-bore
dual plane intake that Ford used in Australia. Personally, I'd go with a good single
plane. With 2V heads, the velocity is high enough that a well designed single plane
will work from idle on up.
>Second choice will be an open plenum intake that will fit under the engine screen with
>the same specs. Thanks in advance. Anyone else have some suggestions?
Lots of choices: Holley Street Dominator, Offenhauser Port-O-Sonic, Weiand Xcelerator,
and the Redline Street Torker come to mind. The Holley Street Dominator (p/n 300-12)
single plane is biased towards the lower end of the RPM scale and falls on it face at
higher RPM. It has a small plenum and the ports are smaller than those of the head.
One interesting thing about the Street Dominator is that it has a trapezoidal carb base
and will bolt up the stock Pantera spreadbore Motorcraft 4300D carb. It won't clear a
Thermoquad or Quadrajet however. The Offenhauser ports matched the size of the head
ports. The Weiand ports and plenum are the largest of the lot. Be aware they are
essentially pre-ported and require the heads be match ported to the intake. If your
engine is in the car, that wouldn't be easy. If the engine is out but the heads are
still on the block, you can port match them in place. Just fill the port (past where
you plan to port match) with modeler's clay and tape a piece of cardboard over the
lifter valley. I did this once and had a helper stand over me with a shop vacuum to
suck up the shavings. Be aware that when Holley acquired Weaind, they screwed around
with the names of the names of the various manifold lines. They were listing the
Xcelerator as a Weiand Stealth series manifold. They are still using the proper part
number, however. The 2V model is p/n 7516. The Street Torker (p/n 12-154) is an
Australian manufactured intake available from Redline (
http://www.redlineauto.com.au/).
It looks just like a Holley Strip Dominator but has 2V size ports. One interesting
feature is the Street Torker will directly mount a Carter Thermo Quad or Rochester
Quadrajet, in addition to the usual Holleys and AFB's. There are several other 2V
intakes available from Australia but they are all very tall race parts.
I know the Street Dominator and Xcelerator will fit under a stock Pantera engine
screen but I've not been able to verify the Port-O-Sonic or Street Torker. Here are
a few A/B measurements I made. The measurements represent the drop from a straight
edge laid across the carb pad to the closest point where the end rail bends inward
(each end). Measurements in inches:
A B
Edelbrock F-351 Performer 2V 3 1/2 4 3/8
Ford aluminum 4V 3 1/4 4 3/8
Weiand Xcelerator 2V 4 3/16 5 1/8
I went with the Weiand Xcelerator on my Aussie-headed engine. You can see it at:
http://www.panteraplace.com/images/Dans%20351.jpg As you can see, the Weiand will fit under a stock screen with a drop base filter
case and 14" x 2 1/2" K&N filter. I agree with wyldkty that the Weiand Xcelerator
has excellent low end for an open plane. My engine combo (Aussie 2V heads, Weiand
Xcelerator 2V, Holley 735 CFM carb, Hedman 2V headers, 0.530" lift cam, etc.) will
pull smoothly from 1000 rpm in fifth gear and pulls 20+ mpg on the highway, even
without vacuum advance.
Dan Jones