another intake manifold question

[sonic reducer]

I will be having a local engine shop rebuild my 360 into 390 with a mild cam. Going with a Holley 600 cfm carb and Sanderson headers, which were easy choices for me. However, I'm unsure of the intake manifold. I've searched locally for a Ford cast iron 4V intake, but no luck. I've read Edelbrocks Performer manifold flows no better than a stock cast iron 4V. A mechanic friend of mine suggested going to the Performer RPM intake instead. He says with these FEs, I won't notice any less low end torque and much greater gains mid and upper RPM range. What do you all think? Is there another manifold I should be looking at as well?

Lower end torque/hp is more the goal. The truck is a weekend cruiser with the normal Lowes/Home Depot and dump runs.

The engine will be built with stock lower end and heads, the cam will be Elgin E-966P, valve lift .486/.512, duration 282/292, @ .050 204/214.

The truck has stock C6 transmission, 3.73 gears, new 2 1/4" dual exhaust with flowmaster 40's and Pertronix ignitor II ignition.

1972 F250

Thanks!!

[HDxLoki]

The Edelbrock 7105 Performer RPM will be your best bet. From everywhere I've read its the best dual plane for our modified FEs with a cam, heads, and headers. Plus it gets rid of that exhaust pass though that runs under the carb. I used to have an Edelbrock 2105 Performer on my 390 and my carb suffered from really bad heat soak and would struggle on hot starts. Plus the 2105 intake runners aren't much bigger than the stock ones.

I'm in the middle of my 390 rebuild and I just sold my Performer (2105) intake and bought a (7105) a few weeks ago.

[sparky72]

Agreed, go for the 7105. Be sure to have the machinist check the fit of the intake on the engine. It may need to be machined to fit. Mine did, both because of the heads and block being machined and some out-of-square on the manifold itself. Taking care of that now may save you from the headache of leaking intake gaskets down the road.

[My427stang]

Good advice here, truth be told, there is a little less torque on the absolute bottom, but you lose any gains so quickly, it's not worth it.

The right cam choice will pull hard on the intake, you will like it. Highly recommend Speedpro forged pistons though, not only for durability vs cost, but also they are the only non-custom pistons that get quench right with a light deck cut

Also, keep a distributor recurve in the budget, the 390, headers, and a curve will make you feel like you gained 200 ft lbs in daily driving.

[sonic reducer]

Good advice here, truth be told, there is a little less torque on the absolute bottom, but you lose any gains so quickly, it's not worth it.

The right cam choice will pull hard on the intake, you will like it. Highly recommend Speedpro forged pistons though, not only for durability vs cost, but also they are the only non-custom pistons that get quench right with a light deck cut

Also, keep a distributor recurve in the budget, the 390, headers, and a curve will make you feel like you gained 200 ft lbs in daily driving.

My427stang

Which manifold do you suggest with my set up? Is the Elgin E-966P cam a decent choice? That's what the builder recommended.

Thanks everyone for the responses.

[My427stang]

Sorry, I thought I was clear. I recommend the Edelbrock RPM.

The Performer 390 may provide a smidge more torque down low, but only a little and with your cam you will be making enough vacuum to not have any issues and the power later will be so much better, the RPM will make you happy.

The Elgin cam is a nice choice, it's basically the same as the Edelbrock Performer cam. Not rowdy, but one of those nice driving sweetheart type of cams that people enjoy. I tend to advise my customers to a custom cam, but given the goals you described, that's a decent one (as is the Edelbrock)

I do recommend you push him for a set of Crower Camsaver lifters. They are one of the few companies with a true FE lifter, and the lifter is high quality, with a slight machined groove to allow more oil to the lobe. They are nice

If you go with your Elgin cam, a set of headers, a crossover or x-pipe, a distributor recurve and the RPM intake with a 600 vac sec carb, the engine will be a very nice driver. Keep in mind, the biggest improvements over your 360, in this order, are 1) headers, 2) 30 cubes 3) RPM intake 4) distributor recurve, and 5) the cam...I would call 3 and 4 a tie, so I would not blow them off.

[sonic reducer]

Thank you for your response, I really appreciate the info!

[DuckRyder]

If you’ve read my post in the past, you know this, but unless you have a useable 390 rotating assembly you’ll have nearly as much in reconditioning one as in a cast stroker kit.

I probably would not bother converting another 360>390 when 410-445 is so easy...

Otherwise Agree with Ross of course...

[My427stang]

If you’ve read my post in the past, you know this, but unless you have a useable 390 rotating assembly you’ll have nearly as much in reconditioning one as in a cast stroker kit.

I probably would not bother converting another 360>390 when 410-445 is so easy...

Otherwise Agree with Ross of course...

As the guy with six 4.25s and one 4.375 stroke crank on the shelf, I like the stroker bang for the buck, but it is a few more bucks. Really depends how much the truck is worth, or going to be worth