Air conditioning/4 bbl. intake manifold.

[lowbudget]

Is anybody running air conditioning and an after market 4 bbl. manifold? If so which model? From my research the Eddie Performer as it is offset where the water neck bolts on. This was A body info though. I found an old 318 Streetmaster intake that will be port matching to this 318 I picked up and was wondering if it would fit w/ac. I guess it would't really matter if the port and intake matched up as the cam I'm going to run is mild....That is if it doesn't already have a radical cam in it as I haven't opened it up yet. The story I got from the guy I bought it from is it is a new rebuild. The guy that he bought it from said his girlfriend dumped dirt down the lifter valley. You have to love women! For $200.00 I couldn't pass it up.
Thanks Mike

 

[Erics5th]

I think the Performer is the only manifold that can be used with the sanden style compressor. Thats what I have on my 5th. My friend I bought my car from had an Edelbrock SP2P manifold on it and was still able to use the AC. Those manifolds are no longer made though and where more for low torque/milage use then performance. Very small runners.

 

[tim berry]

i tried my luck putting on a m1dual plane on mine and messed with the brackets a little no go but i figure that if you got access to a welder you can make it work buy rasing the compressor 3/8- 1/2" but dont know about hood clearance . this is my next job to put the therory in motion i need a new set of brackets for the finished product . jasperjacko is running a performer on his car with air drop him a line see what he says great guy to talk too good luck .

 

[jasperjacko]

Thanks Tim. Yes I'm running the performer on mine. It used all the factory a/c brackets but i did have to do a little grinding on the plug bosses under the compressor. The front pass. side boss was to thick and wouldn't let the compressor sit right. I think this manifold is good for torque , but limits me on top end due to small port size. I also did not port match to the 360 head. It's probably better for the 318.

 

[lowbudget]

Thanks for the info. The guy hasn't got back with me yet on the Streetmaster yet. I could just use the stock 318 4 bbl. manifold that is on it but I would run into port mismatch again. It is good to hear that the Performer has smaller ports on it though. I'm at work here in the desert trying to get all my ducks in a row for days off next month. Worse case scenario I could port match the heads to whatever manifold I find that will work with AC as the heads will be off when I go to cleaning dirt out of it anyway.
Thanks Mike

 

[jasperjacko]

The reason I went with the performer was for the stock a/c, thermoquad, and to save some lbs. I have a factory iron intake which may be better on the top end. I have so much torque on the bottom end, lighting up the tires is way to easy. Maybe the factory intake would lower bottom end torque and make it easier to launch?

 

[tim berry]

jasper i modifyed my stock manafold to run the 650avs ,the tq will still work .as far as tourque i dont think it matters i have the same problem with tire smoke with vertually a stock motor

 

[lowbudget]

I decided to go with the Performer. I found one on "our" sister site for $100.00. I also picked up a TQ off the bay that the numbers say came off of a 78 318 motorhome for $29.00. It looks pretty clean. I am hoping the ac will work but with the offset I think it is my best bet. Now to get home and pull my $200.00 motor apart and see what I gots to work with.
Thanks Mike

 

[tim berry]

good luck post some photos on how you work things out

 

[lowbudget]

It would be nice to pull the heads and find a cam and high comp. pistons. I couldn't see building a motor without them but then some people are just into stock. I still have 2 weeks in the desert but will have all the parts waiting when I get stateside.