Have a shop that says he can do it in a couple hours around 150.00 . I have never changed one . Is it worth doing it myself or could I get into some trouble ? Also my carb seems to be running real good at this time on a Torker 2 . When I go to the Rpm Air Gap will it have to be readjusted or be pretty close .

 

The only tricky part of the job for a novice is indexing the dist and setting timing. The jetting will be close , you will have to drive it to dial it in.

 

If the carburetor was jetted for the open plenum Torker, it will be a little rich for the dual plenum Air Gap. Of course, it's possible it was never tuned for the open plenum intake and will be fine for the Air Gap. As far as carburetion differences between open and dual plenums; Open plenums can run with a smaller carburetor (a cylinder sees all four venturi, rather than just two on the dual plane) and generally likes a bit more jet. It's not something I would concern myself over unless it shows as a driveability or performance issue.

Pop covered the only real complexity in removing an intake. There are a few pointers that can help with the process, like after you drain the coolant, remove the thermostat housing and use a small tube to suck out the coolant out of the heads. This keeps coolant from draining into the lifter valley, which saves a bit on the clean up and, if you're careful and clean, means you don't have to change the oil once you are finished with the installation.

If you already have the Air Gap, then disregard this; You're not likely to see a performance benefit in this intake swap.

 

A couple of years ago I swapped from a Torker II to and Air Gap. I did not really see much, if any, difference for street driving. I had a friend come over and help me do the swap as it was the first time I had removed an intake. I also needed him to help me set the valve lash. As I recalled I gave him $50 for his time. I've now done this job 4 times since then and it's not that hard of a job to do. Resetting the distributor requires an understanding of what your doing and there are plenty of good posts here to give guidance. Do you have a timing light and know how to set the timing? If not, consider paying the shop. It will be cheaper unless you just like buying tools and learning to use them like I do.

I don't think $150 labor is unreasonable to do the job. It will be well worth it if the shop will let you observe from a short distance.

 

To make it easy for clocking the distributor, set the engine at top dead center on the of the compression stroke number 1 cylinder [ timing marks should line up ]. Then mark the location of the rotor, I use a bolt hole # 5 on passenger side for me for reference. When reinstalling the dist locate to same location. Timing will be close enough for start up, but timing light will be required for final setting. T

 

Having it done in a couple weeks . Figure while I have it apart I will put in a new thermostat Should I go 190 or 195 .

 

I went with a 185 thermostat. Its stays alot cooler while its running.

You will see some better drivability with the dual plane and better performance in the lower RPM range. You will have to readjust the carb and your timing.

heres the dyno results that support your idea to change intakes. If youre in the upper RPM range alot you may not have noticed it. Depending on your mechanical abilities you may want to do it your self and you will learn more about your motor and how everything affects each other