I am getting my 82 Z/28 back from my best friend after 12 years.......it has 47,000 miles on it (Pace Car).......the original 305 is in it and I converted it back in 08' because the original unit needed too much.....and I had the parts.....I would entertain the idea of going back to CFI just for the challenge of it, but all of the components were given away. The original computer and harness is in it though and I suppose it would be too bad.....but until it is in Texas (currently in PA), I am not sure.I put an 1850 Holley and 2101 Performer intake on it, curved a non computer HEI, Edelbrock headers, and 1.6 Edelbrock rockers on it.....it ran perfect, maybe I wont mess with it LOL. I am getting it back for the wife....she said she would like something to putt around in.....the silver part of the paint is faded but the rest is very nice. Getting it back for a smokin' deal too......

Jebby

 

AWESOME! Well, IMO if you did decide to go back to CFI I would definitely suggest that you go EBL Flash II ECM from Dynamic EFI and do laptop tuning to get the best performance you will get out of it and be much more reliable on the ECM end anyway. Would be a challenging and fun project, but not too bad unless the car has been neglected. Good luck with it no matter which way you go. If you do go CFI, call me first.

 

UPDATE...for the CFI crowd on the manifold.
I've been busy traveling around the country looking for a foundry and showing my tooling to foundry's trying to get it poured to include Edelbrock which I'm almost ready to throw in the towel with them as well, but we will see here soon. Right now, this has been a huge PITA for me, but the up side is the wife goes with me on trips so it's all good. I recently was given a list of a ton of foundry's to check with and waiting to hear back from a couple that I sent my info to them for review. One does sound hopeful when I talked with them on the phone yesterday, we shall see how that works out. Anyway, I just wanted to keep the CFI owners in the loop per-say on what's going on in case they are interested and maybe waiting to see if they can get one at some point. You can also go to my site and see if there is any new info on the company blog page.

 

UPDATE: It's been a while since my last update and sorry about that, but my site is up to date. I've actively been trying to find a foundry to do the pours on the Renegade manifold and so far, no real progress and plenty of let downs. However, yesterday a made a list of some promising foundries and today I talked with one that may be promising, BIG maybe there. It all comes down to their largest flask size they have and the size of my match plate which IS a huge stumbling block. Just to give you an idea of cost, a flask to work with my match plate if they don't have one is about $7,500-$8,000 to me added to the cost of the pours....You see where this is going and why the cost per unit goes up. I have to pass that cost on to the customer and I can't do that no matter what and the price keeps going up. Hence the problem with finding a foundry that already has the right size flasks.

The foundry I talked with today has a very large flask and right now it seems that is doable and I will be sending them a lot of documentation that they need right after I receive the NDA back from them and we can move forward. There's a lot of IFs here, but it does look somewhat good so far. The site is updated and anyone that is interested can go there and find information on things that I think people need to know. Thanks and that is all...

 

https://oldcarmemories.com/1982-1984...it-or-hate-it/

Hey, Buc -
I was reading through this article this evening with interest. It references the defunct "X-Ram" intake manifold's on the Crossfire, implying (below extract) that it added about 60HP simply by swapping out the restricted OE manifold with the "X-Ram". Can you share your insights or musings about this? https://oldcarmemories.com/1982-1984...it-or-hate-it/

..."This is an incredible infusion of power. With performance like this, the X-Ram equipped 1984 Corvette produced around 260 horsepower (the L98 never produced more than 245 horsepower). There’s no doubt the L83 would have performance-wise trounced the L98. It only proved that Chevrolet engineers had indeed done their homework and the L83 using the small-block 302’s Cross-Ram type of induction system was a sound decision. The problem was the massively restricted intake. Everything was setup correctly on the L83 except for the intake, had Chevrolet engineers had the stock intake flow as it should have, the 1982 and 1984 Corvettes would have been serious performance forces to be reckoned with."

 

The X-Ram was a short billet plenum bolted to a Weiand X-Cellerator low rise intake.....the air through both throttle bodies has to make a 90 degree turn after it hits the floor of the plenum and then go down a 4 bbl carb hole in the center.....no way it was worth 60hp.....
The Renegade intake works 10x better and was worth about 35 horsepower with no other changes......part of the increase is the carefully radiused inlets at the entrance of the runner.

Jebby

 

WOW! Now there's a subject to talk about...XRam and the false claims. Pat Onnie of Houston TX started the XRam and I have talked with him on numerous occasions while the manifold was being produced. Like Jebby said, it was a Weiand manifold with a billet machined small plenum chamber with lots of really bad turns before it got to the chambers in the heads. Those sharp turns killed that manifold for sure. But lets talk about one of its false claims for just a second. Pat said that his manifold had a gain of 100hp...WHAT?!! There is no way on this planet under the most idea conditions that that could even remotely happen, at the motor or the rear with just a manifold change. I think I still have his claim somewhere before he closed down his site. This was with a C4 84 and that they tested it on several cars.

I only deal in rwhp, since that is all I care about when it comes to gains and performance. So, anything that I say will always be a reference to rwhp gains. Our claim was 30 rwhp gain which is huge for only a single part replacement, but others have gotten more depending on the condition of the motor. 30rwhp is a REALISTIC gain, not some made up marketing BS. Here is my proof/evidence to what I say is realistic. Before the Renegade was made available to the public, Jim my partner and I did a lot of testing with our prototype manifold and the one that is on my current motor. Lots of dyno time and the track. However, there is a guy on this forum in the C4 section that we knew who had the fasted CFI 383 motor around back then a dozen years or so ago. We made an arrangement for him to get one of the pre-production manifolds, like the one on my motor to test on his C4. At the time, he was to only replace the manifold and not touch his tune at all and just blast the car down the track. As it ended up, not only did it perform very good and his first pass down the track was almost three tenths faster than his best time with the XRam on his and he repeated the time, so it wasn't just a fluke. With the XRam, he only ran a good time once and never repeated that time again. In the end, he ran his best time with the Renegade of 12.20 all NA motor. His best before Renegade was 12.52, which was only once and normally ran 12.55 - 12.57.

So my point would be, if the XRam was 100 hp, and he ran three tens consistently faster with the Renegade, so what does that mean for the Renegade...200hp gain? We only claimed 30. Things that make you go Mmmmm... So who was lying here? Do I think that the Renegade is a good manifold, yes. Does it do everything that I say it is and does, yes. Was it machined badly by a certain company, yes. Did I finally pull the tooling from them, yes. Is the manifold ready to be manufactured and refurbished like new again, yes. Can I find a foundry to pour it at a reasonable price per unit...NO! And that's the rest of the story. I hope this helps you understand what really went on about this subject. There is tons more to this story, but I'm tired of typing right now..

 

Thanks for the useful insight, Buc. Exactly what I figured...

Dave


Buc is the debunker on the left...

 

Dear Lakeside;

A number of years ago, before I met the 'inimitable Buccy'...I started to do research on the X-Ram. I'm an Aerothermodynamic Engineer and am an airflow specialist...I used to run the 4 windtunnels at an Aeropsace company.

So I looked carefully into the 'X-ram'.
1. It was a massive 'production compromise' in order to use an existing manifold and 'add some pieces to it so it would work with CFI'.
2. You manage, cajole,ease, guide airflow so that a linear non-turbulent, non-choked flow is achieved...X ram 'tortured air into submission'.
3. When you look carefully at it, it looks like some junior engineers IDEA of a manifold. (for a school project!)
4. The above claims of HP gain are beyond derision...

A short time later I met Buccy, and saw the Renegade. First impression. "WOW, someone ACTUALLY thought this through!"
Buccy's claims of 30 HP are totally believable and most likely conservative. THIS is an astounding 30+ HP gain (very well documented) FOR ONE PART!. For those of us in the hobby for many decades, this is VERY IMPRESSIVE, for there are no SINGLE PARTS that you can 'bolt-on' to a SBC and get 30+ hp...IN REALITY.

X marks the spot in the garbage can.

Unkahal