Edelbrock Streetmaster intake?
 

Hey everyone, another newbie here. I was wondering if it would be worth it to replace my single plane Edelbrock Streetmaster intake manifold with a newer dual plane manifold like the Edelbrock Performer 2101. It's a 1971 Corvette with a 350 that was rebuilt about 12 years ago. I have only had the car for a few months and the previous owner only knew a little about what was done when it was rebuilt, which it that it has: Dart 2 aluminum heads, RV cam, flat top pistons, Edelbrock carb #1406, Headers, and Edelbrock Streetmaster intake. I have read that the Streetmaster is way old and the newer manifolds are much better. Just curious if the performance gain would be worth the time and money to replace it.

The Streetmaster may be old but that doesn't mean it's not a good intake. Basically it comes down to what you want out of it. Everything else being equal (which it rarely is), a dual-plane gives better idle and lower end performance where a single-plane intake gives better high end but less low end torque and a poor idle by comparison.

If you do decide to change intakes, I would suggest a Performer EPS rather than the Performer 2101...it's optimized specifically for the square-bore carburetor like your 1406. The 2101 is made to use either a square-bore or a spread-bore like a Q-jet. The EPS gives somewhat better horsepower and torque numbers than the 2101 since it's less of a compromise.

You can always contact Edelbrock's techs...give them what you have now and see what recommendations they come up with.

I have had a streetmaster as well as several other manifolds over the years. The Streetmaster is a very old design, and there are several better designs out there. IMO the Edelbrock Performer Air Gap is the best all around manifold on the market. You will notice an improvement in performance. How much depends on what you have for a cam. RV doesn't tell you much other than its a relatively short duration cam. Whether or not its worth changing is up to you. That depends on whether you think an intake swap is a big deal.

Hey thanks for your replies and advice. It doesn't look too difficult to change out since I enjoy working on the car anyway. Do either of you know if the Performer EPS or Air Gap will have a problem fitting with the stock hood and the Edelbrock 1406 carb?

That's difficult to say...it's somewhat taller than the Performer 2101 but not by very much. The 2101 fits under a stock hood but I don't know if the 1406 sits taller than an original Q-jet. The air cleaner can make a difference as well. There are drop base air cleaners available if necessary.

Many have used taller intakes like the Air-Gap and made them work with a different air cleaner.

When I put the Performer RPM Air Gap on my car I had it figured out how I could get it to fit with minimum gaskets and a drop air cleaner. It was so tight I had to remove the insulation from the underside of the hood, but it would go. The problem was I was having heat soak problems because it is so tight under the hood, and the Air Gap did nothing to solve them without the height to install it properly. In the end I didn't like the whole setup, so I bought an L88 hood. The extra 2 inches solved all my clearance problems and allowed me to use a regular 3" air cleaner and put a proper insulating gasket and heat deflector plate under the carb. The improvement in performance with the proper intake setup was very noticeable! That hood was probably one of the best performance modifications I have made to the car, and it looks great.