> We have two 351C 4V engines. Both engines are balanced with flat top forged
> pistons and feed into full tube headers. One engine has stock open chamber
> heads and a fairly strong street cam with pump up lifters. We may put a 100
> shot on this engine in the future. I'd lean towards a Blue Thunder high rise dual plane.
> The other engine has a strip cam and ported closed chamber heads (special
> valves, springs, studs and roller rockers). Both engines will be driven on
> the street. The question is: what do you think about an Edelbrock torker
> intake for either or both of these engines?
I'd go with a Holley Strip Dominator on this one.
> We already have one intake and can get another used one at a discount.
> This is a single plane intake that is suppose to allow some torque.
Despite the name, the Torker is a big port single plane, as are the
Weiand Xcelerator 4V and Holley Strip Dominator. My experience is the
Torker is weak down low and the Weiand 4V is worse (the 2V version of
the Weiand Xcelerator is often a better intake on 4V heads). The
Torker pulled well at high RPM but the Holley Street Dominator was
better across the board. Around town, the Torker would stumble and
just wasn't as smooth. One of the guys in the Pantera club got pretty
serious about testing intakes and documented similar results. He did a
bunch of road and drag strip intake testing with his Pantera. The engine
consisted of an Erson hydraulic flat tappet cam (232 deg duration @
0.050", 108 LSA, 0.545" lift), Rhoads lifters, 4V quench heads, flat top
pistons, 735 Holley, coatings, C&A rings, MSD ignition, wrapped headers,
and MPG Stinger exaust port stuffers. Intakes tested included an Edelbrock
Torker, Weiand Xcelerator 4V, Offy Port-o-Sonic 4V, Holley Strip Dominator,
along with a couple dual planes. Tim spent a lot of time optimizing the
carb for each intake. The Holley Strip Dominator was 4 tenths quicker in
the 1/4 mile than the Torker and had, by far, the best driveability (smooth
with no flat spots) of the single planes. It rivaled the dual planes down
low, as far as driveability was concerned, and by 3000 RPM was pulling away.
He could never get the Torker to smooth out at lower RPM, despite a lot of
tuning time. Unfortunately, he didn't have access to a Blue Thunder high
rise dual plane for those tests. Note that the single planes tend to be
more sensitive to carb tuning due to the weaker metering signal.
A word about the exhaust stuffers that Tim ran. He tried several
different ones and the only ones that he found of benefit were the
Stingers but be aware that Pantera headers come straight out of the
exhuast port and do not curve downward like the typical Mustang headers.
With a header that curves down, the port stuffers would be a constriction
that keeps the flow from turning.
Several other Pantera club members have tested 4V intakes, as well.
One test was a road course test between a Torker, a Weiand Xcelerator 4V,
and an Edelbrock Performer 4V. In a Pantera (3100 lbs, 4.22:1 final drive,
5 speed) with open chamber 4V heads, domed TRW pistons, 230-something cam,
the Performer was faster around the course because the Torker was so dead
below 4000 RPM. The Weiand 4V was worse dead. I offered up my spare
Strip Dominator but it didn't make it in time to be included in the test.
Mike Cook tested the Holley Strip Dominator, Blue Thunder, and Torker
on a friend's 377 cube Cleveland stroker (quench heads, Pantera GTS
headers, Isky hydraulic flat tappet cam, etc.) and the Holley Strip
Dominator made the best HP, followed by the Blue Thunder, and then the
Torker.
Dan Jones
Mustangsandmore Forums
posted 05-12-2003 12:31 PM
