Eric's85TA

iTrader: (4)

Can anybody say definitively (ie: You have one), that an old style Weiand Stealth intake, not the new action plus intakes that they call stealths, will fit under a stock trans am hood with a dual snorkel air cleaner? If not with a dual snorkel, will it fit with a 3" drop base? A search only gave me answers for a camaro, and I am suspicious that a T/A has slightly less room in the front. If it won't fit, please make a recommendation for me for the following:

I am going to be dropping in a 400, fully forged bottom end, 9:1 compression, fully ported dart II heads, and a really crazy lift and duration crane cam (idle doesn't smooth out until about 2000 rpm.) I don't know any better specs on the engine, because I bought it from a guy who had it built by a machine shop, and doesn't remember the particulars, except they told him it should push about 500 hp. It currently has a ported holley contender intake, which will nowhere come close to fitting under the hood. I also have three carburetors laying around, a Holley 650 vac sec spreadbore, a Holley 3310 750 vac sec dual feed squarebore, and a Holley 750 double pumper (that one needs rebuilt). I know the spreadbore carb won't fit on the stealth. I also know my dual snorkel air cleaner won't clear the 750 carbs with float adjusters on the rear float bowls.

Bottom line; can anybody recommend an intake that won't choke this engine too much that will fit under my hood, and then which carb should I go with? Aside from the stealth, I have also considered a ZZ4 takeoff intake.

Thanks,
Eric

gmgod

For a motor like that I would run a standard victor jr. Will that fit under a pontiac hood? I doubt it.

Eric's85TA

iTrader: (4)

I might cam it down a little if I need to.

Stekman

I would find the specs of the cam. Chances are a Vic. Jr, though - if the cam really is that big. I run a Super Vic on my 400 - but that's matched to my engines RPM range.

Sounds like the engine is a little mismatched. Most cams that require the idle speeds to be set a 1500+ have at LEAST 10.5:1 compression ratio (static)....Either that or it needs tuning.

Try to find the specs on the cam.

I would use the 750 DP.

Eric's85TA

iTrader: (4)

I'm going to put a compression gauge on it. The guy I bought it from claimed it is 9:1, but from what I've seen, he's kind of an idiot, so who knows what it is. I'm thinking about calling up comp cams and seeing what type of cam they would recommend to make the thing a little more streetable. If I pull off the front cover, will the cam have any kind of stamping on it, telling me what it is? All I know is it is a crane roller cam.

Stekman

Putting a compression gauge won't do a thing, other than tell you the PSI on each cylinder. That is how much pressure gets built up in each cylinder. Compression ratio is the ratio of compressed space to uncompressed space. You cannot derive one from the other.

Crane stamps the grind number on the rear of the camshaft if it's an off-the-shelf grind. That should be able to tell you what you have. If the engine is on a stand still, just pop off the intake and distributor, pop the lifters out and carefully slide the cam out. Since it's a roller, no need to worry about screwing up a cam break in or whatnot.

Eric's85TA

iTrader: (4)

Thanks Stekman. I haven't pulled the engine from the donor car yet, but when I do, I'll pull the cam out, now that I know it should be stamped. With my luck though, the guy probably did a custom grind.

ChevyGuy87

You won't have any issues with the Stealth if you decide to go that route. On my old 85 I had a Stealth with a 600 double pumper, then a 600 vac. secondaries, running a 3 inch drop base open element on both. It was a little tight but it fit. No room to run a carb spacer though.

Eric's85TA

iTrader: (4)

How did you use a 4" filter then? Also, where do you think I can find one of these 3" drop bases?

ChevyGuy87

I didn't have the room for a 4 inch filter. I used a 3 inch tall, 14 inch diameter. I can't remember which air cleaner I used (I want to say it was and Edelbrock I picked up at Autozone) but on my current project I'm going to go with one of these:

http://www.noahperformance.com/product421.html

Eric's85TA

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the info. Just to alleviate some of my confusion, if you ran a 3" drop base, how did you run a 3" filter? Wouldn't that make the top of the lid just touching the carb? That's a smokin price on that base. I'll might buy one, too. Is it a larger drop than the edelbrock? Are you interested in selling the edelbrock?
Eric

ChevyGuy87

It appears I may have been a little unclear before. I ran an Edelbrock drop base aircleaner with a 1 inch drop. Just your normal, run of the mill chrome 14x3 air cleaner. I just checked online for you, it's part number EDL-1207 at Summit. If I were you I'd get one just a little lower as it barely tapped the hood when it was shut. Didn't bother me too much but you may not like it.

If I still had the thing I'd give it to you for free. I swapped to Vortecs and a Performer RPM and threw it in the trash because it was too tall for the new stuff. Hope that cleared it up.

Eric's85TA

iTrader: (4)

Thanks, I just ordered an L88 drop base.

Eric