LS3 Intakes - Stock Best?

[wesinls]

I ordered a new LS376 / 525 crate motor - that won't be shipping until March 3rd...This has given me a ton of time to read about what off the shelf upgrades can be done (if any).

The only intake that appears to provide additional horsepower AND torque are the dual plenum types...Both Holley and Edelbrock make them...all others you sacrifice torque for a smallish horsepower gain.  These also require two throttle bodies, 2 to 1 throttle cable, etc...more things to go wrong is how i see that potentially....not as reliable?

The main reasons I am looking at different intakes is 1 - the stock is ugly, and 2, because I plan to turn the intake around (mid-engine car) there are some parts I'll need to purchase to allow that to work given the oil pressure sender...whereas an aftermarket intake looks to have the clearance for the sender.  In other words, I need to spend a few hundred bucks to flip the stock intake and If I buy an aftermarket intake it looks better and at the same time it will clear the sender...money better spent on aftermarket intake potentially. 

Anyone running one of the below?  Or post pics of your engine with the stock intake with whatever you did to improve the looks. 

 

[Pennywise]

There is a great youtube video on this where they took a bunch of intakes and tested them. The stock manifold was better than a lot of the aftermarket and the few that were better it wasn't worth the $/HP gain. 

 

[Guest]

There is a great youtube video on this where they took a bunch of intakes and tested them. The stock manifold was better than a lot of the aftermarket and the few that were better it wasn't worth the $/HP gain. 

 

[Guest]

@J Alper Should have plenty of good info for you on this as well

 

[Jtmoney714]

I think the Holley high ram is a good option. But for the money I chose to keep the stock ls3 one on my new 427 build. 

 

[Kraut_n_Rice]

Don't the crate engines come with a cover that kinda looks like the LS6 intake?  The one my brother put in his C-10 does.  It was a GMPP crate.

 

[wesinls]

This is what I've put together from reading various articles over the last few weeks...Can't find stock LS3 before and after numbers yet for the Holley...but Edlebrock cross ram you can see it improves both HP and Torque.

 

[Kevin]

watch richard holdeners videos. theres more to it than the peak numbers. the power curves are what matters. hard to beat the stock ls3 intake in areas where you use it the most.

 

[J Alper]

Lets Start With Reality,   

What are you doing with this, will it only be parked on a dyno,  if so then the data on the web is perfect go with the youtube kings, 

If you it is going on a Sand Car, then do you want looks or performance, Cant have both so pick ONE, 

Do you car about your pistons breaking? 

I have pretty much ran every type of LS3 intake in the dune and have monitored off the race pack real world, 

ANY aluminum intake will heat soak, with a MEFI this is going to do bad things,  with a Holley you will have a chance but will remove all power depending on air temp, 

The sand will is like dragging a trailer around on the street, so air temp can cause detonation, that means a broken ring gland and broken piston,  I did the new Fast Hi Ram and last week the Air Temp was 55 degrees in the intake,  We also had a close to same motor i built (my old one) with a Holley Hi Ram, and J's intake temp was 120 degrees, this was during ambient temps of 58 Degrees,   during Halloween i was seeing with my palmar intake 96 degrees and the Holley Aluminum was around 160, 

When we stop you can not rest your hand on the Aluminum intake, 

I use to sell Aluminum intake due to them being marked up 100% but we now just do not use them, to many issues, we only use the Factory LS3 this is one of the best intakes on the market, or the Fast Intakes they are great but spendy  they work good, and I think with mods the MSD Air Force is one of the best but is a lot of work to setup, layers of parts,  

Need any advise PM us, we have done a lot of natural aspirated combos,  

Thanks

Jason 

 

[J Alper]

This is what I've put together from reading various articles over the last few weeks...Can't find stock LS3 before and after numbers yet for the Holley...but Edlebrock cross ram you can see it improves both HP and Torque.

View attachment 21209

THESE NUMBERS ONLY EXIST ON A ENGINE DYNO IN A CONTROLED TESTING AREA  WITH A RADIATOR TOWER 

 

[Fullthrottleguy]

Just my Opinion from experience ...out of the dozens of sand cars I built and / or tuned  - unless you are going with above 11.5:1 compression and a crazy big cam  - which is stupid IMO if you want to enjoy duning or you have a Really Big cube engine  - its really hard to beat the Stock manifold.  The limiting factor on the stock manifold is the throttle body size which means nothing unless you have a really Big stroker.  You can gain some power under the usable power curve with the FAST manifold (or the MSD if you have LS7 heads) and thats "maybe" 20-30HP  if your cam and heads are really free flowing and you are only gonna see that right up near the top of the usable curve over 5000 RPM, but every other manifold will usually lose power where you want it most. 

NA engines are air pumps that almost 100% of the time will make more power at 98% throttle than they will at 100% throttle - that should tell you something  - you can go Too big on Heads cam and manifold - and it will make way less power where you want the power.

Turbo and especially SC engines are Way different.  SC example I have lots of experience with is at 10Lbs of boost the goal is to effectively double the cubic inch of the engine (packing more air and fuel in the same displacement) using pressure.  In that case you need to get 2x the air in so the bigger the better  everywhere from Air Cleaner to cylinder (and slightly bigger exhaust too)...  But NA works on vacuum and the Venturi effect and in that case velocity is more important that cross sectional size -  that science sh&t again getting in the way of bench racing BS ...

NEARLY every aftermarket manifold exists to add power at the high end - the extended RPM range .... If you have a fully forged engine and the right gearing to allow you spin the engine up and additional 1000-2000 RPM then you will see benefit ..

What is not opinion is that the Physics of airflow design are hard to argue with .. the basics are simple:

Longer runners give you better low and mid range (which is what you want in the dunes)

Shorter runners  give you more power in the high end (usually over 5500 RPM on an LS) and let you extend the redline up higher but seriously hurt the low end

While its hard to believe a stock manifold has seriously longer runners than any aftermarket manifold other than the FAST and the MSD is pretty close -  its true

Those cool looking fabricated manifolds should be reserved for those super high revving  - bad IMO  to dune most of the time cars - or really big cube engines (over 454)  or cars that are turbocharged  and have over 20lbs boost, and even then only because heat soak on cast manifolds can be a problem as @JALPER said.  On a big inch Turbo car its hard to beat the Holley low ram with a water to air intercooler such as the TICK or 417 since it fixes the heat soak issue almost entirely

FWIW

 

[Guest]

Lets Start With Reality,   

What are you doing with this, will it only be parked on a dyno,  if so then the data on the web is perfect go with the youtube kings, 

If you it is going on a Sand Car, then do you want looks or performance, Cant have both so pick ONE, 

Do you car about your pistons breaking? 

I have pretty much ran every type of LS3 intake in the dune and have monitored off the race pack real world, 

ANY aluminum intake will heat soak, with a MEFI this is going to do bad things,  with a Holley you will have a chance but will remove all power depending on air temp, 

The sand will is like dragging a trailer around on the street, so air temp can cause detonation, that means a broken ring gland and broken piston,  I did the new Fast Hi Ram and last week the Air Temp was 55 degrees in the intake,  We also had a close to same motor i built (my old one) with a Holley Hi Ram, and J's intake temp was 120 degrees, this was during ambient temps of 58 Degrees,   during Halloween i was seeing with my palmar intake 96 degrees and the Holley Aluminum was around 160, 

When we stop you can not rest your hand on the Aluminum intake, 

I use to sell Aluminum intake due to them being marked up 100% but we now just do not use them, to many issues, we only use the Factory LS3 this is one of the best intakes on the market, or the Fast Intakes they are great but spendy  they work good, and I think with mods the MSD Air Force is one of the best but is a lot of work to setup, layers of parts,  

Need any advise PM us, we have done a lot of natural aspirated combos,  

Thanks

Jason 

Didn't even think about the heat soak factor running aluminum stuff!

 

[J Alper]

Didn't even think about the heat soak factor running aluminum stuff!

The LS3 works very well, the Fast LSXR is a great intake, but will have to clearacne the water pump or run spacers,  sacrafice some torque for looks, then the Fast Hi ram or PTR intake is the way to go,  the PTR, is the FAST bottom with Carbon Fiber top, 

 

[Kevin]

The LS3 works very well, the Fast LSXR is a great intake, but will have to clearacne the water pump or run spacers,  sacrafice some torque for looks, then the Fast Hi ram or PTR intake is the way to go,  the PTR, is the FAST bottom with Carbon Fiber top, 

before decided to go twin turbo on my new build i was going to go with the ptr intake, but i since decided to go turbo i went with holley high ram and a shearer fab air to water intercooler top.

 

[lincster]

Think about how much money GM invests in design/test etc. 

Don’t you think stock is best for a stock/mild modded motor?  I would vote yes. 

 

[J Alper]

Think about how much money GM invests in design/test etc. 

Don’t you think stock is best for a stock/mild modded motor?  I would vote yes. 

it is and it is not, They should fire everyone at GM for the LS2 Intake and LS7 total flop,  You will Always get a good gain from the Fast, Just got to ask is it worth the Money, for some the extra $700 is worth it, and for others that is just to much,  

If it will be a stroker at some time in its life then yes, go with the fast, but if it will never be stroked then GM got this one right when it comes to the LS3 intake,  if you go after pure looks then hard to beat the Fast Hi Ram, 

LIke Kevin said, on boosted i like a aluminum intake 

 

[Fullthrottleguy]

it is and it is not, They should fire everyone at GM for the LS2 Intake and LS7 total flop,  You will Always get a good gain from the Fast, Just got to ask is it worth the Money, for some the extra $700 is worth it, and for others that is just to much,  

If it will be a stroker at some time in its life then yes, go with the fast, but if it will never be stroked then GM got this one right when it comes to the LS3 intake,  if you go after pure looks then hard to beat the Fast Hi Ram, 

LIke Kevin said, on boosted i like a aluminum intake 

You have to keep in mind that GM had certain goals for the LS7  - Like lower hood clearance  .....