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Holley Strip Dominator VS Performer RPM

10K views 34 replies 13 participants last post by  Geo71 
#1 ·
1967 Nova, 385, 700R4, 2800 Converter, 3.55 Posi
385 - 9.8:1 compression, 8.33 DCR, AFR 195 Eliminator heads
1 3/4" fenderwell headers, 3.00" Dual Exhaust. No crossover
HR Cam .521/.530 230/238 @ .050" 109 LSA, 106 IC

The Strip Dominator had runner extensions welded in and a gasket match done by Mike Stark at CFM in Indy
The RPM is the older style, non-air gap, with the plenum divider milled similar to the air gap intakes

Car will primarily be street driven, with a few quarter mile passes a year. Contemplating installing a Holley Sniper I already have and a possible swap to a TKO with a 2.87 1st and a .64 OD. The engine is a fresh build, and hasn't been in the car yet. I'd like to keep the oil fill tube in the front of the intake.





Thanks in advance.

Wes
 
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#4 ·
I can tell you the 330-25 is weak down low and on a street car that may be a factor. I would either use the Street Dominator 300-36 (same as the Z/28 intake) or the Air Gap. The Super Victor is good if you rework the plenum area.
 
#5 ·
Strip Dominator would be my vote. I like single planes though....
 
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#6 ·
The dual plane will be much better with that short duration cam. Now if you get into the 240 to 250 range I can see the 300-25 working pretty good. My cam was at 254 and 264° on a 106 LCA and it screamed to 7200.
 
#8 ·
Looks like the dual plane is the way to go. I’m also not sure that the strip dominator would fit under the stock hood.

I’ll probably end up trying the Strip dominator, too, once I get the car sorted.

Thanks for the recommendations.
 
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#10 ·
Hey Ron,

I have an old style RPM and a 67-68 Z/28 intake. The RPM’s plenum is notched like an air gap, tempted to notch the Z/28 intake and run it. BTW, I’m back in TX now. After a year, I can start playing with my cars again.
 
#11 ·
Fitting a SBC in the Nova is tight EVERY WHERE. The Victor Jr looks good to fit the flat hood, but you seem to be in a lower RPM range.
 
#16 ·
I did a back to back on a 6900 rpm 350 that had ported 186 heads milled to 54cc and .028 piston to head clearance.
Yes that included the gasket and the flat tops were 5.5cc reliefs.

Lots of compression in that 350" I ran the 270H comp magnum cam and had 245 psi cranking pressure.
I ran all kinds of gears and I even had 2.29's I ran a th350 with a tight 3000 stall converter and sometimes a 2200 stall TCI.

When I ran the RPM intake it ran very well and I thought I will try the old 300-25 strip dominator a buddy had on the shelf.

I could not tell I changed intakes.
Low end and top end and throttle response was unchanged.
I gained nothing and lost nothing.

I drove the car everyday and many times it had something in tow behind it.

A couple years later i got a TR1YX tunnel-ram that was 12" tall and tried it.
I gained power everywhere!!

Much more throttle response and more top end.
I liked that so much I stuck a 235-245@ .050 solid flat tappet into it.

I would think your bigger cube more airflow heads would not care if the RPM or strip dominator was on it.

Keep us informed if you do a back to back.

Could be my 158cc runners and nearly 12.0 compression had something to do with it not being finicky.
You will not feel loss of low end
 
#19 ·
The compression may have helped, I would think it would definitely boost your torque. I will post back once I get some seat time. My car is still a little ways from being back on the street.

Back in 2009 I did some dyno tests with Car Craft magazine on a low compression, stroked 327. The car ran a baseline 12.8X @ 108-109 in the quarter with 1962 461X heads ported by Mike Stark, a 236@ .050" re-ground Camonics SFT cam, low rise 8120 dual plane Wieand intake, 3.36 gear and 1800-2200 stall converter in a 700R4. Switching to a ported Team G the car went a tenth quicker and picked-up 1 mph. I honestly expected the car to have slowed down. It didn't drive bad, but it was no where near as snappy as it was with the dual plane. On the dyno a 282 Comp HR cam on a 112 LS with 1.6 rockers was worth 32 HP. Then, we tried 200 CC Pro 1 platinum heads, which were worth 11 horsepower over the camel humps and AFR heads that were worth 40 HP peak to peak over the Dart heads. The car eventually ran 12.14@115 with the same gear and converter. It drove fine with the AFR heads, but not as crisp as it was with the dual plane and camel humps. I regret not trying the dual plane with the AFR heads. A Performer RPM wouldn't fit under the 62's hood. My engine was around 9.5:1 with the AFR heads. I wonder how some more compression would have helped the drivability.
 
#20 ·
I have never been happy with low compression.
I recently built a 336" sbc (327 base) for myself and ran ported 601 heads with 63 cc chambers and flat tops.
It was 9.4 compression and I used to build these things for buddies back in the 90's but they had 4 speeds.

I stuck a 280H magnum cam in it and stuck it into my 3176 lb truck with 3.25 gears and 1800 stall converter.
It was a putz!
I had just pulled a 385" stroker from it with the same intake and cam.
That 385" had 11.85 compression.
I could not get traction with it and the 336 would not spin a tire.

I pulled the 336 after 2 days. At 4500 rpm it came on strong but still did not have the pull of the 385" not even close.

I really like compression and it does make one much more snappy and come out of the hole well.
Helps pull better on the top end also in my opinion.

Fine balancing act running high compression. I like small chamber heads and rough intake runners and no sharp edges in combustion space.
Coolant temps under 190 if you plan on flogging it..I actually like 160 temps for running a killer tune.
My piston to wall clearances are a bit loose and the finish is 620 or finer and this I feel removes some heat.

I do use my vehicles for dual duty.. pulling loads and racing.

I will be waiting for your results.
 
#21 ·
Wes I say sell them an get either an RPM air gap or Vic Jr.

My dad's motor in his 72 Vega is pretty similar to your combo. He runs the Vic jr and loves it. Excellent mellow street manners but still runs hard at the track.

406
11 to 1
226/234 HR
Dart 215's
TH700R4....3200 stall...3.42's...26" tire

Only made 1 pass In the car as he wanted to see how it would run. I took it easy on the hit as didnt want to break "his" car lol. Ran 11.54 at 118.9(soft 1.80 60 foot). This was with 1.5" shorty Vega conversion headers.
 
#22 ·
If you're going EFI, I'd stick with the single plane. I've read that people have had issues trying to get the tune right with a dual plane and EFI. No personal experience here, just what I've found doing research on EFI. I personally prefer a good single plane and haven't touched a dual plane on my car in 19 years. Current intake is a Super Victor. No lack of low end power with my combo. Interested to see your results.
 
#24 ·
jeff swisher, I never ran high compression because of the price of CA pump gas, and I'm sure I left some power on the table. I'm tempted to have my heads shaved before I assemble the engine. I have a .005" deck clearance and will be running a .028" GM head gasket. At 75 CC chamber, I will have a 9.8:1 compression. Not sure if reducing the chamber to 70-72 CC will make much difference.

dirt, your dad's Vega sounds like a runner. I think the short runner and 1 1/2" pipes make for a good runner, especially given the cam size.

Chris27, I originally picked up the Strip Dominator to work with the throttle body Sniper EFI. I plan to compare it to the dual plane. However, the more I read about the proflo4, it's got me thinking about selling the Sniper.

Ron, the stroked 327 ran a 282 HR ground on a 112* LS with 1.6 rockers. It was good for 115 mph at Fontana, and I never did get the 700R4 to shift above 5200. BTW, those Vortec heads you ported went 13.91@102 in Reb's Camaro with a worn-out short block we pulled from a C10 and a 268 High Energy cam.
 
#25 ·
I'm going to toss this one out there because I did get a good intake on the cheap and it makes a ton of power from what I have read on it. I bought a cool looking single plane Dominator intake for a project but the guy said he had a dual plane for a SBC he would toss in for $50. I though sure why not. When I got the pair I noticed the dual plane was a Brodix HVH model. The cool thing about this intake was the divider is already cut down like an L88 intake. The runners are a pretty good size and you can open the ports as large as you want, even bigger than a 1206 gasket if need be as there is a ton of meat to work with. I will try it at some point but to me it looks like it will make some good power on a good SBC.
 
#26 ·
102 mph? Woulda hoped for more.
I bet with a carb regardless of what a dyno mag etc says the DP feels better in most driving those things cant mimic PT feel.
A team G with a super sucker imo would be a good compromise. You can buy a plastic 4 hole and make one yourslef for cheap, gonna try it myself rather than use the SD. Scored a deal on that and a scratch and dent Dornton piece from Holley Performance on ebay not sure if it would be worth it.
 
#27 ·
102 MPH from a high mile, stock short block, your heads, RPM intake, headers, and a .454" lift, 218* @.050", 268 ADV, with a 3.42 posi and a TH350 with a stock converter wasn't too bad. That was also his second pass ever down the 1/4. He spun a bearing on his 4th pass...
 
#30 ·
About 10 years ago I had a bones stock 350 Vortec engine out of a 98 Pickup that I got from where i worked for $50. Tossed it in my race car, only had a 600 Holley Performer RPM and some cheapo headers on it. Even only shifting it at 4500 rpm with the stock truck cam it went 13.03@101 so 102 is not bad IMO.
 
#32 ·

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#34 ·
I don't care for the idle. I don't have a lot faith it will idle in gear if I run an auto. Also not sure how well a rough idle cam like that will work if I try to run the Sniper throttle body on it. I ave a Howards HR with .525/.525", 219/225* @ .050" on a 112* LS I may throw in it before I install it.

Regarding the garage, I keep telling you TX is a lot cheaper than So Cal...
 
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