Performer Air gap VS. Weiand Stealth intake

Anybody have any opinions?

I am planning on starting with a stock (or maybe "E" ) cammed 90 mustang engine with comp package AFR 165 heads. The cam will definate get bigger in the future, so I need some room to grow with the intake, but the maximum RPM with the engine will never be much over 6200-6400 . Would I be giving up very much by running the Stealth?

Does the stealth give pleanty of room under the hood? Is the Air Gap tall enough to cause aircleaner problems in a Maverick? I am going for the sleeper look under the hood and I want to paint the intake blue and run some sort of stock appearing aircleaner (yeah I know the Air Gap is a little obvious visually!).

THANKS!!!

 

I have the Performer Air Gap on mine. You will have less than 3 inches of hood clearance with a small diameter air cleaner.
I run a oval air cleaner with a tall filter, it goes into the hole where the tunnel ram use to reside. The hole is covered with a Comet GT scoop.

 

With my Stealth, Edelbrock 4bbl, no spacer, and a 14" x 3" air cleaner with flat base, the underhood bracing hit the edge of the air cleaner when I closed the hood. I found a slightly shorter (approx 2 3/4") air cleaner the right diameter at the parts store and now i don't have any issues. I wouldn't mind getting a drop-base, but I tried a friend's drop-base Edelbrock air cleaner and it hits my choke housing, and it won't work without a 90* or banjo fuel fitting. As far as the Stealth itself, I like it, but I have nothing else to compare it to. It is suppposd to have a great torque curve and flows good from off-idle to 6800 (according to the catalogs). That sold me on it anyway. I think it is probably similar in height to the RPM and a bit shorter than the RPM air-gap.

 

Maverick-Matt

What kind of times does your 77 run with that Combo?

 

I have not run anywhere close to the potential of this setup. My best time so far is in the timeslip database, i think it was a 15.6 something. My tranny doesn't shift into 3rd right, so I lose time letting off the gas so it don't flare past the redline, and my launch is being killed by the 3.0 peg leg rear-end that's in it. I try to keep in mind i didn't build the car for the strip so I don't feel as bad. :16suspect

 

I ran a stealth on my 4dr.pulls strong up to 6200(maybe better on a real motor)it fits under the hood w/a nitrous plate or a 1" spacer and a stock air cleaner from an '80's fox v8 t-bird.Looks good with the letters ground off & painted blue.Plus it's cheaper than the air gap.

 

Id go with the RPM over the Stealth. The RPM intake just has alot more potential out of the box.

AC

 

I am thinking of running a air gap on my yellow car.
been researching and it seems to be what I want.

 

A drop base will fit if you don't use a large diameter dist. cap or Edelbrock carb. They flow better than a flat bottom air cleaner anyway. If you are going for a sleeper look, get one without a logo and it will cover your Holley real nice and keep folks guessing.

The Wieand is my pick for the intake for several reasons. Mainly price, availability, and reasonably stock appearance. I know it is also slightly shorter than the AG on the 351w, for hood clearance... I don't know for sure on the SBF.

One thing I do know, if you were not shooting for a sleeper I would recommend a mild single plane intake. I can tell you from experience that the higher rpm dual plane intakes are overrated. They might spin to 6k, but they get there slower and make far less power when they get there. A mild single plane will still burn the tires off at low rpm, then spin up faster and make more power after 3500 rpm.

Idea for a stock looking air cleaner...
Take a 14" drop base, steel, and weld it into the bottom of a stock air cleaner housing... after you cut a 14" hole in it.
Then top it with a stock aluminum top, painted to look steel, yet still lighter.
If you feel the snorkel will not flow well enough, cut a window out of the back of the housing, big enough to matter, but small enough that it is not noticable.

Good luck
Dave

Btw: A dual plane intake tames a large carb, overcarbing is hard with a DP. SPs are far more carb picky. A 3310 would be good with this application.

 

by mild single plane do you mean maybe an original type torker manifold with the angled carb? they used to be a very strong manifold. do they still compare favorably with the newer stuff?

 

Thanks

Ratio411 (and everybody else),
Thanks for the help. I was planning on windowing the rear of a stock aircleaner housing for flow, and now you have me thinking of welding in a drop base bottom! Anybody know which aftrtermarket aircleaner bases flow best? Do "stub stacks" really work, especiall with a drop base? I am planning on running a choke.

 

I've heard several opinions that the Air Gap is overrated, the gain, if any, doesn't justify the additional cost. 'Course I paid $125 to have my Edelbrock intake Jet-Hot coated, so what do I know?

(Actually it was for cosmetic reasons, I just wanted the intake and headers to match.)

 

Car Craft did a tech article on air cleaners
http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/116_0409_kn/

I got a deal on my Air-Gap that I just could not pass up.
Has anyone used any of the manifolds from Professional Products I have heard they are foreign made copies.
http://www.professional-products.com

 

Professional Products was formed by a group of well known American performance parts guys. Supposedly they design the stuff in the U.S., use their Taiwan and Chinese factories to build the products, but they control the quality and marketing. I recently bought one of their dampers, very nice looking piece. One of those you can change from 28 oz. imbalance to 50 oz. imbalance by changing a bolt-in weight. Just hope it doesn't fly apart. I haven't heard anything bad about their intakes and a lot of people are using them. Saw Ford Muscle did an article on their EFI manifold which was obviously a knockoff of the Edelbrock part. They seemed to like it and, if I remember right, it cost a couple hundred dollars less than the Edelbrock.

 

I believe the dampers are also setup for both 3 bolt and 4 bolt patterns