Hello all, looking to see if anyone has put an edlebrock performer 2151 intake on a 455 with a OAI air cleaner/hood. Will it fit with no issues ? Looking to change . Is it much of a change from original intake besides looks and lighter. Thanks
Dave

 

Hi Dave
Out of the box it won't fit as its too tall. But I think there's an old thread discussing the possibility of milling it. If you can't find it with the search function I hope someone else can help. John

 

From what I've read the older edlebrock 04b manifold will fit w OAI.

 

That is correct.

 

Thanks for all the info , now have to look around and try to locate one . Thanks again

 

As you are looking for an O4B, be aware that there were two flavors. They were offered with either a square bore (Holley) bolt pattern or a spread bore (Qjet) bolt pattern. The casting carb flange is actually "unisex", but the bolt holes vary.

 

Thanks Joe , your always looking out

 

Actually maybe three versions, I sold one that was drilled for both

 

If you're willing to "alter" your aircleaner you can get lots of room for clearance. Here are some pics of the drop base going into the aircleaner. I run a Torker Intake with the stock breather.

20160507_120656_zpssn2jtspa.jpg
20160507_160915_zpsxc19drwh.jpg
IMG_1152_zpsuuwpevxn.jpg
IMG_1151_zpsyd1txyby.jpg

 

Did you ever find the article about milling down the Performer intake to work with OAI hood? Been searching for it. Stock intake height is 3.30" Performer is 4.95. Wondering how much would I need to cut off for my Ram air hood to fit.

 

There are some other ideas in this thread... https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...arance-144272/

 

You might want to ask yourself, "How much am I hurting the flow in that manifold by milling it?" People do heroic things to try to stuff incompatible manifolds under an O.A.I. hood. All that milling and drop base air cleaner effort isn't helping flow into the engine. Typically a smaller plenum isn't what you want for performance, and disrupting the flow from how the manifold was designed isn't going to improve it.

Of course, I'm sure the "butt dyno" says that there's an improvement...

 

Here's what WILL work with an Original OAI hood , air cleaner lid and metal base, using an Edelbrock performer intake. ( note : no mods to the special OAI parts! Looks pretty stock as the performer intake looks similar to the factory W30 intake but with better flow ! ) Now the bad news : Remove the intake and have the top milled down to roughly 1/4 "'above the rest of the intake including mount for dash pot. The limiting factor is having threads for mounting the Carb ( Quadrajet) and clearing the HEI if equipped ( mine is ). My car originally had a 350 so air cleaner metal base is for a 350 - I added fitting at rear of intake for pvc adjusted snorkle an drilled housing for tubes from both valve covers to air cleaner using the 455 longer tubes. Obviously the Carb spacer can't be used with this set up. Oh I also removed the rubber seal in the bottom if the OAI lid for added clearance ( the snorkle prevents it from going down to far.) and test fit closing hood slowly! I modifled my " 350 " foam seal but need a new 455 seal due to cutting too much off at rear. I also lightly clearanced wire screen at back of hood that was scraping OAI near firewall . Works like a charm - looks stock! Good Luck

Tom

 

i have always wondered the same thing. I worked with a guy who was building a 383 Chevy for his truck. He bought a brand new Performer RPM manifold for it, then had a machine shop cut a section from the center divider under the carb. He said he heard that helped airflow. My thinking is if not having the center divider helped performance, the company who cast and machined it (a company who’s very business IS performance!) would have designed without the center divider.

I’ll never understand the shade-tree gearheads who think they know more than people with flow benches, dynos, and other test equipment.

 

I'll ask the question again. How do you know it performs better than stock after the machining? Do you have dyno numbers, or better, back-to-back drag strip runs to back this up?

 

With all due respect , the OP just wanted to know if the Performer would work with the OAI parts - it will . I did a lot of reading to see what would work before a 442 showed up with this arrangement. ( looking stock under the hood was the look I wanted.) Not may choices now. Intake that would work are old , hard to find, heavy ( stock cast iron) , or expensive ! ( w-30 $$$$) Chinese knock off - no thanks ! I not an engineer, but I'm sure the milling involved ( threads for carb are the limiting factor .) Results in an intake that flows better than the stock (Olds) one. My car is only a weekend cruiser own by me since 1977. Engine swap done to replace the tired 350. The engine builder has built 15 + 455's and 1 403 ( for my 1979 T/A he says no more 403's, lol ) The builder has 2 1970 442's ( w-30 intakes - didn't have a 3rd one for his Bud. Lol) 1969 Corvette 427 390 horse. ( all engines built by him.) Not trying to brag about anything just trying to pass on useful information. Point being that this set up is no slouch for performance!

 

You were the one who made the claim that the milled Performer flowed better than the OEM intake. I asked for proof of that claim. You still haven't provided any.

 

And I'm not going to - guess you win this round , maybe it flows " just as good as the 1970 engineered stock piece" or maybe not . But you gotta work with whats available. If anybody wants to do the research though feel free, I'll stick with the " maybe not first - but looks good getting there. "philosophy . The research would cost a lot more than i paid for the car in 1977 ! Sorry for sidetracking the original post. (As you can see - it does work !)