84vetting

Have a 84 Vette with the crossfire intake, if I switch the intake to the Renegrade intake manifold, is that performance or hp I will feel, or is it not worth the money to do, the intake is around $500 at Summit

zachaeous

A few years back there was a lot of buzz about the Renegade Manifold.

I do believe that there is some horsepower to gain installing one. $500.00 is a lot of money.

I got some advise here on the forum about porting the stock manifold. I invested in a metal removing bit and a sander. I ported the stock manifold and then ported it some more.

I remove a lot of material and I think the results were well worth the time and expenditure I made.

Would I buy one for my 1984. I would not. I would try and port the stock manifold as the investment was minimal and the results spoke for themselves.

here are a couple of links to look at:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-critique.html

http://www.technovelocity.com/chevyh...rt_polish.html

I picked up a used manifold for $60.00 and used it and no downtime till my manifold was ready to install.

Good luck with your decision.

James84vette

I'm going to have my stock manifold ported this winter. I'm going to pay for a machine shop to do it. Roughly $125-$200.


I've read you can gain up to 30 hp by putting in the renegade or getting a good port done to a stock manifold.

Buccaneer

The more cubic inches you have the better, but it still runs well on a stock motor. The average HP gain to the rear wheels is 30HP, which is a large gain. Those gains on average were also stock motors.

I can remember and have his claim somewhere that when the XRam came out, they were claiming 100HP with their manifold which I think is a false statement, but I saw a 22HP gain over the XRam with our manifold to the rear wheels. So what does the say about the Renegade...122HP? LOL, I don't think so.

cv67

30 to the ground for $500 is cheap!!

Buccaneer

It is actually considering on how much we spent to develop the manifold. I know many other car/racing guys that spend much more for much less. Jus sayin'. It is a very good addition when you have a bigger cube motor for sure.

ex-x-fire

Here's a picture of what they'll be tackling.

Hot Rod Roy

It's a complex angle. Be careful!

ex-x-fire

I'd have a heavy bead welded on the inside so you could improve that angle.

James84vette

Doesnt look easy.

Hot Rod Roy

Ex-x, I've never heard that suggestion. Where would you apply the weld? I try to open up the port areas, not close them down, and try for a smooth contoured airflow path!

In my photo, I was trying to show there is both an X-plane angle as well as a Y-plane angle when you're porting with an end mill. (More hand contouring is needed after the preliminary mill work is done.)

That sawn section of manifold is interesting! Those casting walls are pretty thin!

ex-x-fire

Here's where I'd lay some beads. You could make the ramp more gradual. It might be beneficial to get rid of that coolant passage & thicken that area too. Then you could really open up that port.

Tom400CFI

Improving the "angle" would be better addressed by raising the roof, rather than lowering the floor.

First, it's a straighter shot if you raise the roof.

Second, I tried chopping the coolant passage and sealing it off (strictly in an effort to lower the runners' temps) and it was a **** show. Thing leaked like crazy and it took me a while to get it decently sealed up. Trying to weld the runner bottoms and that passage and have no leaks would really test ones patience. The runners would he leaking to oil/atmosphere. A leak in a runner roof is leaking to plenum which is about the same pressure as in the runner...not a meaningful leak.

Tom400CFI

Another weird thing about this picture;



What's with the 90* illustration? The manifold flange on a SBC is not perpendicular to the port. The port floor and ceiling should have an angle to the flange of something like 105* and 75*, respectively.

Buccaneer

Hey Tom, I bet that process was a PITA kind of thing, but a worthy one non the less to make improvements. We knew going into the project that heat was an issue and that the water jacket is fairly close and if someone gets too aggressive with a die grinder they will go through or on top. When we developed the manifold knowing this, we eliminated the lower jacket and now has a standard water flow crossover on the end and to reduce the manifold heat issue on the bottom as much as possible. We also knew that people would more than likely at some point with the larger cube motors want to port the manifold so we left plenty of runner material there just for that purpose if they felt so inclined.

Hot Rod Roy

Ex-x, I think we hijacked this thread. The OP's question was about the Renegade.

But I can't help thinking there's something wrong with your section photo showing the 80* and 90* lines. My photo shows a MUCH deeper cut from my end mill, and I didn't break thru. I think my cut was more like 100*, but I didn't measure it. The limit of my cut was matched to the head port. Is it possible your sketch is from the gasket, rather than a match to the head port? That would be wrong.

Tom400CFI

That was definitely thinking ahead.

ex-x-fire

Yeah, I don't know much about that cut away. I found that picture somewhere about 4-5 yrs ago. I think the op said he was going port his stock intake, so why not talk about that.

Gibbles

Boy looking at the images i'm glad i just forked out the money for the intake.

That said my renegade intake needed a bit of love over the egr crossover.
I had a little wall at the bottom of the intake runner on egr side.
And on that side the intake runner was a little smaller in that area as well.
I also did a little port matching to the edlebrock heads i used, in the end it turned out great with a little extra work involved.

For my setup it was one part of an entire package, i now have power all the way past 5500rpm where before it would fall flat on it's face well before.

Intake alone i imagine will help out with the power in the upper rpm range, those runners in the stock manifold are tiny!

cv67

the fact it could be further ported makes it a no brainer imo
that intake was the rage back then, lots of mag articles on the "crossram" coming back. Beats a stripe pkg which was about it back then. Those were some dismal days of performance or lack of