Earlier I explored the possibility to make a nice street performer from the ported TPI setup, but after reading lots of good things about superram I have desided to design my engine around Superram intake. My goal is to make reliable street performer around 400hp. I have a 2 year plan so I am not in hurry.

My vette is 1988 automatic with 3.07 rear, all freebie/cheap mods, SLP cold air intake with bigmouth, heddman headers, no cats and Magnaflow cat-back. It runs fairly quick now but I need a little bit more power
Am I way off with THIS plan?:
-engine 355 or 383 depends the overall cost of the project.
-Superram (plenum, runners, intake manifold)
-AFR 180cc with 68cc chambers
-LPE 74219 cam?

I have thought to upgrade the rear to 3.54 next summer and install a shift kit.
Rear and transmission are going to be hardened (of course) to withstand the power of the new engine.
Luckily the cash will flow back when I sell those stock heads and intake

 

Your choice for the manifold is a good one. I have seen many L98 C4s going deep into the 12s with the combination that you have mentioned. Corvette0096 was running very low 12s before he built his 383 with a set of AFR 195s, now I suspect he is running into the 11.70s if he would ever have the beans to do a flat out run on the track He has held back for fear of being booted off the track for not having the appropriate safety systems for an 11 sec car. Presently he is still running the LPE 219 cam and is running well.

Also you have to keep in mind whether or not you have to pass emissions with your combination. Rich says his car easily passes with the 219 cam without cats. So if thats true either a 355 or a 383 that you will build will also pass if you use the 219 cam. If you are going to go with AFR heads you may as well step up to the 195 CNC package and have your new SR manifold ported for an additional $400 from TEA. I have seen pictures of Rich's manifold after he had it ported and TEA did a nice job on it. There are additional gains to be had by porting the intake. I would estimate that even with a 355 and the SR 219 cam combo you would be running deep into the 12s with it. And with that it would be estimated that your FWHP would be around 425hp. When you are ready to purchase a SR be sure to give me a shout as I can give you a great deal on the SR and help you with a chip, and if you were close to me here in the Portland Oregon area you could give my dyno a workout

 

I would get AFR 195 heads and fluff them up a little. Also, I would get the heads bare so I could put whatever I want on it. The AFR 190 heads I got years ago had a max lift of 0.550 and with 1.6 RR on the 219 you have 0.560 lift.

 

Considering I am running stock cam and Dart Iron eagle heads (ported to hell) with the superram, the car is sure running good with it. I love the superram setup.

 

Thanks Tjwong for offer but unfortunately I live all the way in Finland Otherwise I would be visiting you in a second

I want to make realible and working setup so that's why I am considering all the options. We can do extensive porting here so that is not going to be problem. I would like to make the engine 383 but unfortunately that'll cost me around 1400$ more. I would like to make it happen with 355 engine.

But you guys recommended bigger heads like AFR 195cc. My initial plan was to purchase full package 180cc heads but looking into their catalogue I see that 195cc heads are the same cost
So the plan in morphing into something like this:
-355 engine, LPE 74219 cam, AFR 195cc, ported superram intake manifold, ported superram plenum, 1.6rr and 52mm tb.

And yes i have to pass emission tests. Are we talking over 400hp from engine with this setup? I also want lumby idle and looking into LPE 74219 specs I see that it has quite a lot of lift so idle should be lumby enough.

 

With those specs and a healthy tune, you should surpass 400CHP.

I'd also recommend going with the larger runner AFR's (190 or 195), as they will let you flow a bit better, without much decrease in low-end I think. My runners are 200cc just FYI and even though I did lose a bit of low-end torque from it (although the 1.61 60foot doesn't seem like it), the superram brings it right back as it is a torque monster intake.

 

Seems like a popular setup - I'm bolting on almost the same thing this winter. : )

-Joe

 

Nuke

could you take off the SR blindfolded? hehe

It is a very good intake for smooth torque and good overall power.

 

heh, pretty much. I will be taking it off in a few weeks again.. The recent 1st snow made me realize, it is time to start modding.. (grin)

 

Was wondering if you could send me any pointers on where to get a cheap SuperRam setup and if you know anybody who might be able to assist me in stalling it possibly next spring....Iam still in limbo on whether or not to put this on my mostly stock L-98 with 131,000....


Jeff....from Granby MA.....about an hour from you....in the vette....hmmmm 30 mins....lol

 

Hey there,

Just to let you know, when I put the superram on the car, it made a HUGE difference in mid to upper rpm power. I went from a set of ported SLP runners/plenum running high 13's to 13.3-13.4 just by putting the superram on. Also made the car pull a lto better at high rpms on teh highway (80+).

One pointer though. First time I had my intake installed, the guy helping me put it on slightly misaligned (lower intake) and I started leaking some coolant into the lifter valley (HUGE NO NO). I noticed spoweing some oil out the exhaust at WOT and starting to get a milky oil. I changed it right away, and pulled the intake, and had another GM mechanic friend of mine do it right the second time.

Just have to do it right when you pit it back, and use plenty of sealant, and make sure the intake gasket doesn't move during installation.

 

What about rear end? I currently have 3.07 but I have been thinking of putting 3.54 gears along with this engine project. My point is that do I really need a new gears with this 400+hp superram setup? If it's going to gain a lots of torque, then 3.07 should be just fine? And one question about torque converter. I believe I have read it somewhere that LPE 74219 cam is going to produce power around 2000rpm. THen I would like to have my torque converter a bit above that rpm range, like 2300-2500 right?`
Would my money be well spent on new gears or just a new torque converter?

 

On my firebird, I ran 3.73 gears and a 500 above stock stall torque converter.

 

Rich says his car easily passes with the 219 cam without cats. [/QUOTE]

That was with a cat..

 

On a 355 TPI, the 180 heads are a killer setup with no need for a gear change. I also believe they are a "smog legal" head, whereas the 195's aren't. I'll find out for sure. Will be meeting with Tony today anyways!
I'll let you know what he says