I've made a custom intake manifold for the lowly 2.2/2.5 chrysler from the 80's and early 90's, it has more than a dozen machined components and they all get welded together. Yes, I know my welds aren't pretty.

I have an 09 LS3 vette and I've done absolutely nothing to it. I think its time I started making stuff for it. I'd like to actually build it to make some power too.

But I dont know anything about NA engines or the LS engine. My 90 Dodge Daytona gets all my attention and the vette just sits there being pretty.

I'm thinking I could make an intake manifold for the LS3, and that would help me learn all about whats going on as far as fitment and get everything modeled up correctly in SW. Plus I betcha I can make an intake thats very cheap but very high performance. And yes, better looking than the one I've done.

So can someone help me out? What should an NA LS3 intake look like? Plenum volume? Desired runner shape?

For the turbo dodge I lofted the circular runner into the head port shape using a 3 axis surface that only gets smaller like a funnel.

This is all for fun! I'll be sure to post up all the pics of the designs and testing!!

 

I think I put this in the wrong sub forum sorry

 

just to prove I actually have an LS3 and am not posting totally unrelated stuff

 

i think a cross rm setup would be really cool, there is one thats made but it costs thousands. do a search on here as currently theres someone doin one on an ls2

 

What software are you using? Nice job.

 

I dont even know what cross RM is. Theres not alot of "cross" going on on the 4 cylinders Im used to lol

The intake in the picture I was selling to the TD crowd (NOT THE LS CROWD..just to be clear..I'm not spamming unless you think it would fit an LS lol) for $370 shipped. The only reasons I can possibly imagine why an intake manifold would cost thousands of dollars are:

1) made out of very expensive materials (carbon fiber, beryllium) certainly not aluminum or plastic

2) the people making it are extremely inefficient with how they manufacture it

3) it can command a high price either by the credentials of the people selling it or some other perceived value, both of which are not necessarily connected to actual performance as with any endorsement or brand name.

4) nobody would buy it if its too cheap because they think it must therefore have a problem

An LS intake would be maybe $250 in raw materials for a welded design with minimal machining, which is the style of the one I did in the pic.

The one in the pic takes 5 hours to weld and obviously, I'm an amateur. An experienced pro could bang it out in 2 hours or maybe less I bet. It takes about 8 hours of machining time on a small mill. Roughly double all that for an V8 I would think.

If you are going to machine the whole thing out of a solid block, then you get into hundreds of pounds of material and its more like $1000 of aluminum, and alot more machining time and/or alot bigger and possibly more expensive mills to hog out material much faster. Thats a huge waste IMO and verges on silly. You can get whatever geometry you want by taking advantage of the power of Solidworks and your CAM package to create low cost designs with no compromise that use off the shelf stock with minimal machining required.

Now the special catch here is that I have my vette sitting in the garage and I'm DYING to finally take it apart and make stuff for it. So I will be the first guinea pig lol.

And just to be clear, yes I can make something that looks bad *** and not like something in the clearance bin at your plumbing store like the intake in the pic.

 

Thanks!! I use Solidworks and Camworks.

 

Same here! I've been thinking of designing a CAI for my 00 camaro. I have the k&n one on there now and all it does is suck hot air from the engine bay. Makes no sense. It cam on the car when I bought it.

 

Make a weld fixture and robot weld that bitch!!! Haha

 

You should TOTALLY do that!! I've had so much fun making the intake completely in CAD. You have to discipline yourself and never guess, always measure and model and do things 100% parametric, but its worth it. You end up with very accurate fitment models for your car that let you make other stuff alot easier. And there are so many cheap ways to manufacture top notch stuff these days. Cheap welders, cheap mills, cheap material..the sky is the limit!!!! How do you like Camworks??

 

I WISH!!! HAHA!! but I'm going to up the price and start charging for the welding so at least I'm getting paid..you have to give the first people who buy your new stuff a deal to say thanks..but after that all the latecomers get to pay full price lol

 

nice view from the plenum!!!

 

Oh ****, I forgot to mention. I use solid works for modeling. I'm a 2D guy for now. But I can tear **** up on the laser and press break. The cnc department at the shop I work at uses uni graphics and mazatrol I belive.

Sounds like a have a winter project ahead of me lol

 

ahh okay I see..this is a cross ram intake right?

That looks like basically two of my 4 cyl intakes lol...I could definitely do something along those lines and I'm sure WAY cheaper than anything out there.

In fact I think thats the direction I'm going to go. Whats the latest as far as desired runner length, volume, and plenum length? And what does what cost out there for cross rams?

Now I just have to figure out how to get the plastic engine covers off without scratching the heck out of that little slot the fuel line passes through. Baby steps.

 

I think if you could make a setup that woudl fit under the stock hood on the F-Bodies that wa safordable, then it would sell like hotcakes...... I would prefer a non-crossram setup, as the extra rigging to synchronize the dual TB's would be counter cost-efficient. I would prefer a standard longrunner single plenum manifold that would take factory TB's and allow easy swapping form LS1/6 intake to this one with minimal new parts to be bought.

 

I like the sound of that, thanks for the info!!

I currently have a 09 vette I can do fitment test in. Is it safe to say that if it fits the vette it would be at least close to fitting the F body?

Whats currently out there as far as fitting under the F body hood?

 

It really don't have a good answer to the clearance issues, but the main issue with Camaro's is the cowl, not the hood. The Vette crowd has no cowl to deal with. I can do some research, but i remember reading something with dimensions when i researching the holley low rise intake setup...

Actually, if you could do a similar design to the Edelbrock pro-flo manifold but shorten the overall height, you would be onto something.

Or make a cleaner, cheaper version of this, and based upon your pics of your previous version, it shouldn't be a problem for you.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Custom-CNC-Machined-Aluminum-V8-ls1-Intake-Manifold-Chevrolet-Corvette-LS6-/141405084629?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20ec665bd5&vxp=mtr
This winter while my car is in storage, i planned on swapping out my LS1 intake on my 99 Camaro SS for either an LS6 intake or a BBK SSi intake, so if your in need of a fitment guineapig, throw me a PM, and i can arrange to leave the intake off my car for a while to allow easy install and measuring of fitment for a F-body prototype if your interested in making the intake fit those as well as Vette's.

 

wow $699..that seems like a pretty good price for that one. Although it does look a bit rough..not sure why they would let it have that finish. Are those cast flanges I cant tell?

I'm actually shocked..if that exists then it would seem to be quite a bargain. Does it perform well?

I dont think I'd attempt it just to make it look nicer unless that was really a huge deal for people..looks like you could do some standard easy aluminum finish work to it and make it really pop if you wanted.

I'll def keep you in mind about test fitment...its still really early though so time will tell what I end up doing

 

I think the problem is that for the price they are asking for the Ebay intake, they have priced it too close to the FAST intakes, and there is tons of data to prove the performance gains on the FAST intake, whereas these unknown aluminum intakes are a risk most aren't willing to take not knowing the overall quality and performance when the FAST is so close in price, and the LS6 intake is half the price of the aluminum.

I think the welding leaves a bit to be desired, not aesthetically pleasing. The flanges do look nice, but i cannot tell about cast or not. Without data to back up there price, i would go cheap and buy a LS^, or if i was feeling froggy, i would jump on a SSi intake.

I wish you luck, or look forward to seeing pics of your project progressing.....I'll be following this thread.

 

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