View Poll Results: Aluminum or Plastic
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Aluminum vs plastic intake
Teching In
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 38
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From: pekin, il
gonna have to agree with my fellow oklahoman here..ive searched and searched this site over aluminum vs plastic and all i find is the same crap abaout aluminum heat soaks and kills power..BUT there has yet to be any one to prove this yet..in my opinion air is going through so fast at wot it doesnt have any time to heat up..just got my professional products intake this week and plan on having it on this weekend and do some dyno tuning on it in a few weeks..im going to do some runs hot and cold and see what it does
-nate
i'm going with a fast on my build and i plan on both boost AND nitrous. i've seen fast intakes after a nitrous backfire, the burst disk was blown to hell and the rest of it was fine. that "extra 5hp" on a stock motor translates into much bigger gains when boosted, going bigger cubes/cam, and running higher rpms (all of which i plan on). it depends on your setup.
don't let people fool you into thinking that it's all about personal preference - there really is a best choice. now whether that choice and your budget line up is the question.
don't let people fool you into thinking that it's all about personal preference - there really is a best choice. now whether that choice and your budget line up is the question.
thought for comparison we have astablished that metal transfers heat more than plastic.
now for wear the heat could affect performance yes the air moves fast but where does that air come from for most its not outside the car its under the hood therefore hot metal would raise the ambient temperature in the engine compartment (in theory) therfore the air coming into the intake would be warmer if the engine bay air temp is high, when the car is setting in a staging lane that heat has no where to go until it is sucked through the engine and eventually i am sure that the air under the hood would cycle through and come very close to outside car temps but how close would be the question.
so i would think if you have a possibility of reducing overall engine bay temps i would think that would have more of a sway on hp as aposed to being concerned with the part itself becoming hot, as someone stated inside the manifold it probably has a very slim chance of affecting air temp due to the speed of the air traveling, but could possibly affect the overall temp of all of the air the engine gets by warming the area surrounding it
now for wear the heat could affect performance yes the air moves fast but where does that air come from for most its not outside the car its under the hood therefore hot metal would raise the ambient temperature in the engine compartment (in theory) therfore the air coming into the intake would be warmer if the engine bay air temp is high, when the car is setting in a staging lane that heat has no where to go until it is sucked through the engine and eventually i am sure that the air under the hood would cycle through and come very close to outside car temps but how close would be the question.
so i would think if you have a possibility of reducing overall engine bay temps i would think that would have more of a sway on hp as aposed to being concerned with the part itself becoming hot, as someone stated inside the manifold it probably has a very slim chance of affecting air temp due to the speed of the air traveling, but could possibly affect the overall temp of all of the air the engine gets by warming the area surrounding it
How 'bout this plastic POS? It's an LS2, ported, polished & filled for smoothness, then painted red. I had done everything I could think of to keep the Weiand cool, including adding ducts to blow air around it. The hand touch test done after 20 min of driving resulted in "too hot to touch" on the Weiand & "OK to keep your hand on" w/ the LS2 nylon intake.
This is totally false.
It's personal preference. Yea, the intake might hold some more heat, but it's not gonna effect HP at WOT. It'll only heat the air minimally if your in stop & go traffic. At WOT there is too much air flowing thru the intake for it to heat the air temps.
If you think the air will be heated enough to hurt performance when it matters, which is at WOT, then you should also complain about Aluminum heads cause the air is in there just as long as it is the intake.
Of coarse there will be people on both sides of the fence on this issue but in the end the result of these threads always come back to user preference. Composite intakes are great for N/A applications, but if your gonna run boost or nitrous I'd suggest a Aluminum for their added strength & modification ability.
It's personal preference. Yea, the intake might hold some more heat, but it's not gonna effect HP at WOT. It'll only heat the air minimally if your in stop & go traffic. At WOT there is too much air flowing thru the intake for it to heat the air temps.
If you think the air will be heated enough to hurt performance when it matters, which is at WOT, then you should also complain about Aluminum heads cause the air is in there just as long as it is the intake.
Of coarse there will be people on both sides of the fence on this issue but in the end the result of these threads always come back to user preference. Composite intakes are great for N/A applications, but if your gonna run boost or nitrous I'd suggest a Aluminum for their added strength & modification ability.
Robert
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I get what your sayin man. But I don't believe the extra couple pounds is really gonna matter unless your tryin to get every extra tenth outta the car every weekend at the track.
There has to be just as many advantages & disadvantages to each seeing as how most guys running in the sub 10 second catagory run sheet metal intakes. Not composite.
But I still stand by my first post.
Composite for a N/A application
Aluminum for boosted or nitrous
Thats why I went Aluminum. I had it all port/polished out & matched to my port/polished heads. Needless to say a decent amount of material has been removed from my Aluminum intake so it should out flow the LS6 at this point. My TB was also ported out to the max & the intake done to match. I also plan on running a 100-150 dry later. Thats the extra versitility advantage of the Aluminum. You can do alot more with them in the end, but again it all falls on personal choice when its all said & done.
There has to be just as many advantages & disadvantages to each seeing as how most guys running in the sub 10 second catagory run sheet metal intakes. Not composite.
But I still stand by my first post.
Composite for a N/A application
Aluminum for boosted or nitrous
Thats why I went Aluminum. I had it all port/polished out & matched to my port/polished heads. Needless to say a decent amount of material has been removed from my Aluminum intake so it should out flow the LS6 at this point. My TB was also ported out to the max & the intake done to match. I also plan on running a 100-150 dry later. Thats the extra versitility advantage of the Aluminum. You can do alot more with them in the end, but again it all falls on personal choice when its all said & done.
you didnt happen to do the oldest mod in the book the old TB bypass mod did you...... if so doesnt that toally go agains all your arguments. i mean keeping that little ol TB from getting hot so that the air doesnt get hot and drop power thats just redickulus right. i mean hell that big ol massive chunk of alum, that wont heat air hell no. just like at work those big oil burning heaters that have metal coils that get hot and then a huge fan blows air past them and wooh weird the air gets warm.....hummmmm or like the radiator on your car when the fans turn out all this is radiant heat think about it the air no matter how fast it moves through a heated metal intake will absorb some amount of heat.
plus you cannot compare a sheetmetal intake to a CAST HEAT SINK of an intake the alum ones are. a sheetmetal intake is super thin in comparo and acts like the old "air gap intakes" that most of us know about and those are proven to make more power that a stock none air gap one.
so i guees you just get whatever its not like use f-body guys wanna go fast right
I think most of the LS1 ''boost application'' is done on the LS6 intake. I'm going for a FAST 90 ported(yes it can be ported and its a dyno proven way to get 25rwhp+ hp on a H/C/I car,so it has great potential too). plus, I'm going to add a 125pill to that!
I think that the weight thing will not change anything in the way your car performs. Its more that no aluminiun intake has done better than the FAST.You get what you pay for. They look better but the FAST looks cool too IMO. Its all about if you wanna pay for the FAST 90 setup or not....
Why everyone's is putting a FAST on top of their stroker?...because its the best IMO. Its all about the $$$$
I think that the weight thing will not change anything in the way your car performs. Its more that no aluminiun intake has done better than the FAST.You get what you pay for. They look better but the FAST looks cool too IMO. Its all about if you wanna pay for the FAST 90 setup or not....
Why everyone's is putting a FAST on top of their stroker?...because its the best IMO. Its all about the $$$$
This is totally false.
It's personal preference. Yea, the intake might hold some more heat, but it's not gonna effect HP at WOT. It'll only heat the air minimally if your in stop & go traffic. At WOT there is too much air flowing thru the intake for it to heat the air temps.
If you think the air will be heated enough to hurt performance when it matters, which is at WOT, then you should also complain about Aluminum heads cause the air is in there just as long as it is the intake.
Of coarse there will be people on both sides of the fence on this issue but in the end the result of these threads always come back to user preference. Composite intakes are great for N/A applications, but if your gonna run boost or nitrous I'd suggest a Aluminum for their added strength & modification ability.
It's personal preference. Yea, the intake might hold some more heat, but it's not gonna effect HP at WOT. It'll only heat the air minimally if your in stop & go traffic. At WOT there is too much air flowing thru the intake for it to heat the air temps.
If you think the air will be heated enough to hurt performance when it matters, which is at WOT, then you should also complain about Aluminum heads cause the air is in there just as long as it is the intake.
Of coarse there will be people on both sides of the fence on this issue but in the end the result of these threads always come back to user preference. Composite intakes are great for N/A applications, but if your gonna run boost or nitrous I'd suggest a Aluminum for their added strength & modification ability.
Have to respectfully disagree....we have done far to much controlled testing to even consider an AL intake. They look pretty, but thats it. Only on our Alky 1,000 HP big cubes do we use AL (the Alky cools it enough that the block can be filled for strentgh & still not over heat).
I think most of the LS1 ''boost application'' is done on the LS6 intake. I'm going for a FAST 90 ported(yes it can be ported and its a dyno proven way to get 25rwhp+ hp on a H/C/I car,so it has great potential too). plus, I'm going to add a 125pill to that!
I think that the weight thing will not change anything in the way your car performs. Its more that no aluminiun intake has done better than the FAST.You get what you pay for. They look better but the FAST looks cool too IMO. Its all about if you wanna pay for the FAST 90 setup or not....
Why everyone's is putting a FAST on top of their stroker?...because its the best IMO. Its all about the $$$$
I think that the weight thing will not change anything in the way your car performs. Its more that no aluminiun intake has done better than the FAST.You get what you pay for. They look better but the FAST looks cool too IMO. Its all about if you wanna pay for the FAST 90 setup or not....
Why everyone's is putting a FAST on top of their stroker?...because its the best IMO. Its all about the $$$$
Absolutely! We see the same gains & more w/the FAST. But on a FI build, we use a ported LS2 & our billet TB.
I think most of the LS1 ''boost application'' is done on the LS6 intake. I'm going for a FAST 90 ported(yes it can be ported and its a dyno proven way to get 25rwhp+ hp on a H/C/I car,so it has great potential too). plus, I'm going to add a 125pill to that!
I think that the weight thing will not change anything in the way your car performs. Its more that no aluminiun intake has done better than the FAST.You get what you pay for. They look better but the FAST looks cool too IMO. Its all about if you wanna pay for the FAST 90 setup or not....
Why everyone's is putting a FAST on top of their stroker?...because its the best IMO. Its all about the $$$$
I think that the weight thing will not change anything in the way your car performs. Its more that no aluminiun intake has done better than the FAST.You get what you pay for. They look better but the FAST looks cool too IMO. Its all about if you wanna pay for the FAST 90 setup or not....
Why everyone's is putting a FAST on top of their stroker?...because its the best IMO. Its all about the $$$$
thats a no sh%% i know my fast looks lile a plain ol jane fast but i know its a 1600$ ported BAD mother
plus you cannot compare a sheetmetal intake to a CAST HEAT SINK of an intake the alum ones are. a sheetmetal intake is super thin in comparo and acts like the old "air gap intakes" that most of us know about and those are proven to make more power that a stock none air gap one.
I surprised no one has mentioned this yet, Even if heat soak did have an effect on performance, I think the sheet metal intake would cool down almost instantly compared to a heavy cast aluminum intake that would definitely store a lot more energy in heat. I do believe heat soak has a small effect though. just my $.02
I've been reading so many threads about heat soak so I wanted to see how much heat we were talking here. I made a 60mile road trip today. Once I got home I popped the hood to see how hot my aluminum typhoon intake was, it wasnt burning hot at all. It was only warm to the touch. just my 2 cents.
I don't think aluminum manifolds like the Vic Jr with air gap tech really have any sort of heat soak issues. Not only air gap tech, but also every runner is separated from the other, very conducive to air flow. Speculation at best at this point in time, based on old school closed aluminum manifolds, that may have been worse than a plastic intake. Anyway, at wot the heat soak issue is null in IMO, and with a little spray...
Robert
Robert
My only beef with the holley manifold is that it doesnt cater to what im trying to do with my car... the only manifolds that will cure what i need are the Ported FAST90/90 or a GMPP or Vic Jr. manifold that has been ported. I just dont think that the holley will do what a 90/90 will above 6k. hell ill be running mine to 7k and im not trusting the holley manifold to do the job.
My only beef with the holley manifold is that it doesnt cater to what im trying to do with my car... the only manifolds that will cure what i need are the Ported FAST90/90 or a GMPP or Vic Jr. manifold that has been ported. I just dont think that the holley will do what a 90/90 will above 6k. hell ill be running mine to 7k and im not trusting the holley manifold to do the job.
New tech for an old motor, a 511ci Olds, and all runs are/were n/a. Shoot out between High-Tech EFI and Classic Carb setups. The combatants, Torker and the Victor.
Torker and carb: 697tq and 727hp
Torker and EFI: 700tq and 738hp
Victor and Carb: 703tq and 745hp
Victor and EFI: 713tq and 757hp
The Victor had it's hp peak at 6500rpm, which was a higher rpm than the other combos. Remember this is a big block and a higher winding small block would take these numbers to a higher range for peak numbers. The Vic Jr is good to 8000rpm in stock form. What will we see from some ported and matched heads/cam combos from someone who is building with a single plane in mind such as the Vic, and drag racing as the goal? I think we have not yet seen the whole story here. Time will tell, and the Vic will easily support 600hp n/a.
Anyway, I just thought I would throw this out there for further comments.
Robert
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Joined: Jan 2017
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Exactly....its a trade off but being a retired engineer for Ford Motor Co.....I can tell you that plastic composite intakes are strictly used for weight & cost reduction & not in the consumers best interest....plastics have there place but this is not one of them....I will gladly keep my aluminum engine.....my 1990 GMC 350 has 215,000 original miles on it