View Poll Results: Aluminum or Plastic
Voters: 67. You may not vote on this poll
Aluminum vs plastic intake
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 4,909
Likes: 3
From: Cleveland, OH
Aluminum vs plastic intake If you could buy an aluminum intake with a 90 MM throttle body opening
for $500-600, which made within 5 HP of the FAST, would you buy it? If
not, why not? I know heat soak has been brought up as an issue in the past but never really proven.
for $500-600, which made within 5 HP of the FAST, would you buy it? If
not, why not? I know heat soak has been brought up as an issue in the past but never really proven.
Plastic...I watched a guy's track times on a nice summer day REALLY fall off when he started hot lapping the car. After his runs, I went over, and touched the top of it, and it was scalding hot. He lost about 5-6 MPH hot lapping his ride with the Weiand intake.
That, and I've never seen an aluminum intake that ever lived up to the hype it generated. I know that isn't a part of your polling question, but it still has an impact on my thought patterns...
That, and I've never seen an aluminum intake that ever lived up to the hype it generated. I know that isn't a part of your polling question, but it still has an impact on my thought patterns...
The aluminum intake will soak up the heat more then the (plastic) plus the aluminum is heavier so what you gain in power won't be noticed. Overall the plastic is just not plastic its a combination of matters to be a better performing intake. 
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.
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 39
Likes: 0
From: ST.LOUIS MISSOURI
The FAST has the burst panel for safety when using nitrous if you have a back fire. And it accommodets nitrous nozzles. But if the burst panel is activated is the FAST destroyed ? or is that part replaceable ?
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 4,909
Likes: 3
From: Cleveland, OH
I would think with the aluminum the manufacturers also have more leeway with design vs. plastic. It's also probably cheaper to manufacturer an aluminum one and come to market with it. And for us end users, it's easier to port aluminum and fix it if you make a mistake.
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The question at hand is way too vauge. What is the specific application? I agree that a composite (FAST) intake is great for N/A cars. Yes the FAST manifolds come with burst panels but I am pretty sure that is not going to be cheap to fix if a backfire does happen. I also agree that a aluminum intake is the best for nitrous and boost. When hitting the nitrous all the motor will see is a great drop in tempatures anyway so the material of the manifold shouldn't matter as to if it holds heat or not, just if it will hold up for a backfire. The aluminum will soak heat but he is also right that is won't matter too much under WOT. In my opinion I would do a composite manifold for N/A and aluminum for a nitrous or boost car.
i dont think the material of the manifold matters as much as most on this site seem to think. its an intake manifold...cooler air is constantly flowing through it, dont think heat soak will affect it that much.
If there was an aluminum intake out there that could perform on par with a FAST intake (independent tests, not marketing bullshit), it would be the same issue. Pay more for the FAST, get good performance, and lighter weight, or pay for this mythical aluminum intake, run the risk of heat soak (which you can't prove or disprove at this point), and add weight to your car's schnoz.
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.
Last edited by BIG_MIKE2005; Nov 28, 2007 at 04:37 PM.
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 4,909
Likes: 3
From: Cleveland, OH
"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"
This is why if someone made an aluminum one AT that price point, I think it would be a winner. Provided it truly performed as advertised.
This is why if someone made an aluminum one AT that price point, I think it would be a winner. Provided it truly performed as advertised.
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.
Ummm another point for plastic ... when you have to do a quick repair, like reaching around the back of the manifold to fool around with some stupid *** vacuum tube that popped loose on the last run ... the aluminum intake with BURN THE SHYT OUT OF YOU !!! lol, happened to me on a friend's car ... although, I don't have a preference right now, Aluminum spider intakes look SEXY!!!