intake selection sucks.
 

Ive decided to forged the ls6 and top it off with afrs or trickflows. Id like to replace the ls6 intake. I want to get the most out of my TI with a 347. All the sheet metal style intakes get their ass kicked by the ls6 until 6k but then its only 30 horse or so. Im looking at intakes where I dont have to cut the hood. Im fine with loosing a little low end, but most of these intakes are terrible under 5 and 6k that fit under our hoods. The BTR intake looks promising, but its delayed. Im pushing 13 psi now, Im going to pulley down to a 3.4 which will gain me 2 psi or but then some good heads will drop the boost too. Ill be max psi 16 so Im actually thinking I might go with the MSD intake and just shave it and fix its quirks.

Any other ideas? Seems the stock style intakes are the best unless you need the strength of metal with high boost or running 7.5k.

Maybe I should just do a solid roller and spin it to 8k lol

I'd like to see more testing with boosted engine. while the ls6 and stock intakes are really well engineered, around 6k they taper off fast

you are right that the "area under the torq curve" is more important than peak power but on the street giving up some low end torq is sometimes a good thing to hook better

I'm going to try a sniper style and see how it works out on a tt car. car will make plenty of power, and I'm going short stroke to rev it higher and keep it in the sweet spot of the turbo map longer

I would not go solid roller as even the nasty hydraulic cams can rev to the moon now and 8k is not unheard of

the new high tech lifters are quite a bit better and if you run ti valves out of a zo6, they can do pretty well.

I was looking into this as well. From what I hear it depends on how much boost you're going to run. I've heard of the sniper intakes flexing. Not sure if that was due to the first runs or not. I'm not interested in finding out...

No way I would run the sniper. Gives up to much and is crap.

Yeah, I've heard mixed reviews on it. That's a shame though, it would be a great solution if it actually worked. I guess I'll keep using my LS3 intake until something better comes along that doesnt cost as much as the heads!

I left my Mamo ported Fast 102 on my car and am happy with the results. Dont have a comparison to the stock ls6 with the blower but can only imagine it picked up power throughout.

I had a FAST 102 but I sold it because it didnt fit my car, which was stupid because I modded the firewall anyway. The MSD beats the FAST and I wont be running more than 20 lbs of boost so Ill go that route I think if the BTR intake acts like the sniper in terms of powerband.

If you're currently running an LS6 intake (cathedral port), the only upgrade I would consider for a street car would be the LS2 which has a little more plenum volume and TB bore size. It's factory engineered, flows well, has proven durability even with boost, and the plastic will not heat soak like sheet metal intakes. It's simply not worth giving up 30+ ft-lb through the entire midrange for 10-20 more peak HP, especially if the new intake will get hot and hurt performance anyway.

the MSD od definetly better in the upper rpm.range over the fast but dow. Low and mid range the fast sees better gains. All in what you want out of it.

Surely if the stock LS6 fits...the FAST is an obvious choice, and does show gains pretty much everywhere ? Likewise MSD if it fits

Does it not fit in the same place ? LS2 intake would seem silly as it is considered one of the worst factory intakes.

Interesting that you mention the LS2 as a possible upgrade from the LS6. I was actually considering "upgrading" from my LS2 to an LS6 over the winter.

Do you have or know of any good dyno results for the LS2 vs. LS6 intake on turbo/supercharged cars? Anecdotal internet wisdom seems split between "the LS2 intake is a turd, it's the worst" and "a ported LS2 is better than an LS6" (some of the people saying that are selling ported LS2s). I've even read that boost "seals up internal leaks" in the friction-welded LS2 intake and magically fixes its performance problems, but this seems like pure conjecture.

I picked up an LS2 because I was able to get the intake and throttle body for the same price that bare LS6s are going for nowadays. It's been very lightly ported; just had the seams in the runners smoothed out. I like the 90mm throttle body and front-mounted MAP sensor on the LS2 intake, but I have seen plenty of guys make more power than me with the LS6 and a 78mm throttle body, so I'm wondering whether this was a dumb choice or if there's actually anything to this whole LS2 intake and boost thing.

Every test I have seen the MSD is better everywhere or they tie. MSD always pulls above 5k from what I have seen.

I didnt mod the car to fit the FAST, but now its modded so I wished I kept it lol. I wasnt going for a max build, I was going to be satisifed with just 700 but now that I made 800 ( and feels slow) I want more.

Mamo still suggests his ported fast 102 over the ported msd for those wanting low end and mid range power on the ls6 stuff. Said his MSD is a top end type of intake. Porting them makes a big difference.

Thats not an upgrade.

Your whole post is silly.

I give up (some) low end for more top end.


Hes the only one I would trust with porting.

I'll admit I had kinda the same thought, but considering who's posting, I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and ask for some data...

unfortunately unless you want to twist the motor up to 7 and beyond the factory ls6 is quite good and the average torq compares pretty well. I saw the testing on the ls2 intakes and they weren't exactly horrible, and again the bigger TB isn't really needed even though it seems like a restriction. Dyno testing shows minor gains and not worth the hassle. In fact the big 102 TB need a stronger stepper motor or going cable.
All the fancy new like bigger TB and sexy intakes seem to provide more eyecandy than performance. Again juice not worth the squeeze.

With boost I'm curious to see fuel distribution issues as perhaps the aftermaket sniper style stuff would fare better. Some of the newer "low tunnel ram" style intakes have generous plenum, but very short runners which doesn't do much for torq. I think alot of us like to upgrade to something that doesn't fall off at 6500 but with the turbos you aren't revving to the moon to make power so the broad torq of the ls6 again makes sense.

I too would like to see more data on them.

Admittedly, my data is old, but we went from an LS6 to an LS2 intake back when we ran the original TTiX C5 kits back in the day. We did pick up power with the change. I have also tuned lots of boosted LS2 cars that ran the stock intake where the intake manifold was far from the limiting factor on power.

YMMV, but I don't think I'm being silly here for recommending an affordable, OEM proven option. Anyone is free to spend way more money to make minimal extra top end power (while losing midrange torque) if it makes you guys feel better.

The LS6 is the OEM proven affordable option. Perhaps more so than any other.