NEPTUNEBILL

I was talking to one of the more noted tuners the other day about the intake manifold situation and was told that Patrick (Vararam) had decided not to push forward with the production of the intake maniold he had developed. This manifold was last reported to show good increases like 25rwhp and the last time I spoke with Patrick he was trying to set up production--I wonder if anyone knows what happened, were the numbers not there, were they only usefull on a stroker and thus eliminating a large portion of the ls1 market, were the production numbers to high the make the manifold reasonably affordable--thought I'd ask before bothering Patrick but I want one of the manifolds for my stroker---Last I heard and posted Wilson will have one this fall that puts 12 to 15 rwhp across the board and the same tuner is getting about 8rwhp out of tpis new oval billet TB at this point though they are not through experimenting and are about to try it on a stroker, could be the hot ticket will be the TPIS TB on a wilson manifold for 20+rwhp----Bill

hubes

Oh no, everyone wa all excited about that manifold, I haveny heard of the wilson, do you have a link?

NEPTUNEBILL

I got their number from my tuner and have not tried for a link, and the new manifold would not be there yet anyway as it is still in production--they are in Ft. Launderdale.

marco383

Crappy news! I guess the Hogan ($$$) is back under consideration.

rfgoss1

Wilson has two; a plastic one that has been sectioned and an aluminum bottom installed, and a Holley that has been sectioned and they have both been flowed. They claim 15-30 HP for about 2000. I am going to have Hogan build one for me if I can get 30+ hp.

Patrick was still going forward two weeks ago when I talked to him.
Cheers
Randy

NEPTUNEBILL

Randy--I talked to Patrick about a month ago and he was very excited about the manifold I was surprised to here this, hope its just a rumor-I have the Hogan catelog and order sheet on my desk i guess I should fill it out and get an estimated rwhp quote from them, Like you for that kind of money I would expect 30+ and I don't want to loose 30+ up to 6000 just to have 30+ from 6000 to 6800---have they given you any potential increases or quoted what they have accomplished on other ls1 engines?

NEPTUNEBILL

BTW the guys at wilson don't expect to have theirs ready until October, they told me they were getting 12 to 15 throughout the range over the ls6 manifold and that this was stock tb and no porting of the manifold. I would think ported and on a stroker with a larger TB we would see 30+ from this setup.

intel55

I have had a sheetmetal intake built by RGR for over a year. Hogan's are wwwwaaaaaaayyyy overpriced. :cheers:

marco383

Who is RGR? Got a website/phone number etc? How about dyno results?

NEPTUNEBILL

:iagree: Hogans are way expensive I would like to know about an RGR and know about the power throughout the power band. What gains did you get on your RGR---

intel55

Contact Tom Izzo at Speedinc. I think their site is http://www.speedinc.com. They are a Chicago area shop. :cheers:

vette.se

I asked Patrick at VaraRam about their manifold and the answer I got today were very short,

"Not yet we are making some modifications to it now."

I assume they are not happy with the results yet. So we will have to wait :sad:

extremecorvette

I talked with Patrick about two weeks ago. He said they have been getting 32 RWHP on the intake and 28 RWHP on the new TB. The intake was going to cost around 1k and the TB was 200-300. They also made two paces that go in front of the TB and behind. He said they picked up an extra 15 RWHP with them. He said with the new TB and parts there wouldn't be that big of a market for the intake. And with both the intake and TB they got around 50 RWHP.

Barely Legal

You're joking right? :lurk:

NEPTUNEBILL

Patrick really knows airflow talk to him and you will know, if all else is in place on your motor (cam, headers etc) a good intake setup, TB-manifold should be able to add 50rwhp, in the old muscle car days adding a highrise intake and a big dual pumper holley was always good for 50rw on a small block, whether this is possible on an ls1 engine I don't know as they are so finely tuned with the computer--we can hope though.

Tom Steele

Don't forget to add the 30+ hp you can get from the vararam intake and you are at 80+ RWHP for under $2,000! All those folks that get cam/heads must be fools! :rolleyes:

Either Patrick is an undiscovered Einstein, who SHOULD be working for the auto manufacturers squeezing more hp out of age-old aftermarket mods than anyone else in the history of automobiles, or... well you can figure out the alternative.

Barely Legal, you have seen the ads for the vararam, why would the company be any more "conservative" in their hp gain estimates on any other part they sell?

C'mon folks, the emperor is wearing no clothes!!!

Tom Steele

No way, not without a cam. There might have been a few select SB Chevy's that were being restricted at the intake manifold and carb and gained 50 (RW?) hp by those kinds of mods, but 99% of them would not see 25 hp without changing the cam.

You can put as big a carb and intake as you want on an engine with a mild cam and it won't do anything but hurt mileage and low end torque.

Due to the ridiculous claims that "some" manufacturers make about their aftermarket products, there seems to be an insane number of people who think that adding 50 (or even 20-30) rwhp is no big deal. Ask some of the folks who have done cam/head swaps what the going $ rate for one RWHP is these days, and you will find that adding an aftermarket air filter, intake manifold or TB isn't going to net you that kind of hp.

GM redesigned the intake manifold in 2001 and only got 5 rwhp!

rfgoss1

Bill
I haven't gotten anything from them yet. They want my head profile along with the specs on my motor first. if I can get 30+ or minus across the range, I will go for it. I am not interested in a top end only intake. I will let you know if I find anything out.
Cheers
Randy

NEPTUNEBILL

:iagree: It took me a lot longer to come up with mod money in those days and since I did my own work it was cheaper to put in the cam and work on other things while I saved for the intake. On several 327ci I built the intake was the last thing to go on as it did no good without the rest and it generally brought out the other 50 horses as you said it was restricted, and as i said I don't know that another intake would generate that kind of power increase on a motor that is already well tuned. If TPIS new TB will get 8rwhp all else being equal at 650 this is still a bargain as we generally spend about 100 per hp, and if the wilson manifold will put out another 10 to 15 across the board it would seem we could get apprx 20rwhp out of the setup but then thats another 2k for the intake, we have a rather expensive hobby here boys--if I were still married my wife would kill me in my sleep-- :lol:

Tom Steele

Gosh, I remember those days. I had a Holley 600 Vac Sec with a performer intake on my 67 Cougar with a 302 cid engine and a friend of mine was building up a MILD 65 Mustang. He asked me to do the engine rebuild for him, so we struck a deal and he bought a new torker intake and 650 double pumper and I put my milder stuff on his car and kept the new stuff for my car as payment for the work. Talk about wheeling and dealing!

I agree that on a car that is being restricted by the intake system, improving it can make for easy and inexpensive hp. But for a stock LS1/6 I think GM has probably squeezed MOST (not all, but most) of the hp out of the system that is there until you start modding elsewhere.