Stock Pontiac VS Performer intake

[Bonnewagon]

I love the stock Pontiac cast iron intake manifold w/Q-jet and I have used it exclusively for decades. I am screwing together a '77 Pontiac 400 maybe to use in my Bonnewagon. I tow a small boat and haul heavy crap with the wagon and the 400 has a Crane towing/RV/off-road cam the HMV-260, which has loads of bottom end grunt. I have a '70 Pontiac non-EGR intake all ready to go. But I also have an Edelbrock Performer handy I can use. I read that most experts agree the Performer is identical to the stock Pontiac intake performance wise. But it is supposedly slightly better in the low and mid-range. That interests me. I need all the torque I can get. Other factors would be the weight savings as well as not having to deal with the exhaust crossover port mismatch. Can anyone comment on the Performer?

 

[565bbchevy]

Many years ago I ran a Performer on my stock 400 in my 73' Grand Am and it seemed like it had more torque but also felt stronger up to my redline of 5500 RPM but that would have probably been one of the original designs so it might have been revised since then, we also tried a cool looking single plane Torker on the same engine thinking like the SBC's we were playing with it at the time it would help top end but it killed power everywhere on my stock engine, I think we had it on a week before we switched back.
All things being equal I would swap for the weight savings and sealing the water pump to intake gasket seems a little easier without the added weight.

 

[MrSony]

Recently worked on a 455 that had a "dual pattern" performer on it and I bolted a qjet to it, and the intake would not allow the secondaries to open. The back wall of the intake would have to be hogged out like 1/4 of an inch to clear. I don't know if that was just that particular intake, because I also worked on a 400 that had a performer and the guy gave me the qjet off of it, and I can confirm the secondaries opened on that. Either way, check fitment before hand, as always. It seems that BOP factory intakes are very well optimized to their respective engines, as even the aftermarket intakes don't really improve all that much. With the 350 Buick, although TA says different, most that have swapped to their stage 1 low rise dual plane have had marginal gains, which were probably due to loosing 50lbs off the nose. Dyno testing has more or less proven that its no more efficient flow wise than a stocker. Ramble over, lol.

 

[Bonnewagon]

This particular intake had a Q-jet on it and it fit no problem. I had an old Torker that my buddy wanted so we traded and I got the Performer. He now hates the Torker and wants the Performer back but that's TFB. He never really knew what he was doing and just threw parts at his 400 motor without listening to my advise. Yeah, so even though it makes no sense performance wise but I was hoping someone would speak up about the off-idle characteristics. This cam is out of breath after 4500 rpm so all I care about is off-idle and mid-range power. By the way Mr. Sony- the thick carb base gasket you might want to try is made by Mahle Original/Victor Reinze and there are several styles to choose from. I just stocked up on the #G26717 '75 Buick 350 which has no gaps between the openings. Some are open between all the ports.

 

[Bonnewagon]

it seemed like it had more torque but also felt stronger

That's what I wanted to hear! People like Jim Hand mentioned that the Performer is actually just a better engineered copy of the stock intake. The runners are smoother and better balanced. I'm really leaning in that direction now.

 

[lilbowtie]

I have no experience with the Pontiacs but I did do something similar to what you want to do. I had an older 350 chevy in my van that I use to tow with ( my travel trailer) I switched to headers w/ dual exhaust which helped with power and towing. I then installed an edelbrock performer and could feel more power winding it up and I could now beat my brothers Camaro. When I went to tow with it I couldn't wait to hit a hill to fell the difference - what a difference, It fell on it's face, no bottom, had to downshift to get up a grade I could pull before. To add insult, it would start vapor locking the carb. Lost 2 mi per gal. Put the stock cast intake back on and had no problems.

 

[olds307 and 403]

The Olds SB performer is very close to stock where the BB version is taller. Some claim the SB Performer RPM is the best of both worlds, better power everywhere. Others have ran quicker at the track with the Performer on a motor very similar to mine. The Olds may be different than Pontiac but everyone seems to have different opinions. It will probably feel nearly indentical to the stock intake but will be lighter. There is also things like 4 hole and open spacers. I went with the Performer over the RPM on my 350, I had both. I used the 1" open spacer I had over the 1" 4 hole for more plenum volume as my shift points are just under 5000 rpm. Your car being an idle to 3500 rpm being the most important, run it as is.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Well I would not compare the Chevy with any of the BOP motors. The short stroke works against torque and Edelbrock may have targeted upper rpm performance with the Chevy version. BOP owners know that their long stroke torque monsters are perfect for motivating big heavy cars. I'm pretty sure Edelbrock's engineers knew to fit the punishment to the crime.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Here is another issue. Back in the '80's when leaded gas vanished we were stuck with high compression motors and no high octane gas. Thus, we swapped smogger low compression heads on our motors. But we wanted to keep using the better older non-EGR intake manifolds. There is an exhaust crossover port mismatch between the old and new parts which results in a significant exhaust leak on the passenger side of the Pontiac manifold. H-O Racing sold a stainless steel plate to slip in between the head and the intake gasket which solved this. I still have ONE left and I use it as a pattern to make copies. Getting .010" stainless steel sheet stock is not that easy but I've been pretty lucky. Monday I will see if Grainger still carries it. Making that part is key to using the '70 stock manifold. Otherwise it will have to be the Performer like it or not.

 

[MrSony]

This particular intake had a Q-jet on it and it fit no problem. I had an old Torker that my buddy wanted so we traded and I got the Performer. He now hates the Torker and wants the Performer back but that's TFB. He never really knew what he was doing and just threw parts at his 400 motor without listening to my advise. Yeah, so even though it makes no sense performance wise but I was hoping someone would speak up about the off-idle characteristics. This cam is out of breath after 4500 rpm so all I care about is off-idle and mid-range power. By the way Mr. Sony- the thick carb base gasket you might want to try is made by Mahle Original/Victor Reinze and there are several styles to choose from. I just stocked up on the #G26717 '75 Buick 350 which has no gaps between the openings. Some are open between all the ports.

I actually have a few of them lying around from various projects and carb rebuild kits. Thanks though.