First off a little introduction and history on my truck, I have a 2wd 1978 F-100 Shortbed Stepside truck with a C-4, and motor described below, that i am doing a restoration on. This truck when (mostly) completed will become my daily driver.

Sadly the previous owner removed the original engine and scraped it ...
He did make a nice choice in the origional motor's replacement though, by choosing a 1990 351-Windsor. The Motor is a low mileage motor, which runs real good. that I have pulled, due to the restoration. While it's been out, I replaced all the Main, and rod bearings. As well as replacing the oil pan with a brand new one (Me and my Dad, accidently put a hole in the origional while pulling it... )
The windsor will have either a 550, or a 650 carburator (Probably Holley, but i also have Edelbrocks), With A set of Hooker Competition headers (don't remeber the tube size off the top of my head), but the Collector is 3" diameter, flowing on back into a set of true dual 3" exhaust pipes with Flowmaster Delta Flow 40 series 3" inlet, and outlet. The motor also has a mild loping idle cam installed by the previous owner. Bore and pistions is unkown, but belived to be factory origional.


Now, I've collected two intakes, and two different carb spacers while I've been working on other things.
One of the cab spacers i've collected is a roughly 4-5" tall monstrasity, and the other is roughly 1-2" tall.
One of the intake's is a Single plane Holley street dominator, while the other is a Dual Plane Weiand Stealth.

Based on your history with the 2 intakes (and possibly carb spacers), and the information i've posted above, which combination would be better for all around performance, fuel mileage, and street driveability; or which combination would you use if you had the above setup....

(I'm not looking for suggestions for a "better" choice, I've already got these, and i'm not willing to put any more money into another intake at the moment... unless it's reeeeeaaallly cheap .)

I'm sure i forgot something, but i just got off work, and i'm wore out .
If you need anymore info just ask.

 

Intended use of the truck? - Any towing/hauling? Street duties?

For street use, go with the dual plane and a 650 cfm carb - typically better torque at lower rpms where it counts. Carb spacer? No more than one-inch.

IMO, the 3-inch exhaust is overkill unless ya plan on spinning it over 5000 rpm on a regular basis. A dual 2.25 or 2.5-inch system is more than enough for a street engine.

 

Intended use is as a Daily Driver/Show/Cruise in truck with the occasional drag strip pass.

Some occasional towing/hauling, probably nothing more than our bass boat, a load of scrap, or mabye the occasional whatever on our 18 foot tandem axle trailer.

Street duty as a daily driver for 60 or so miles, 2x a day trip to and from work (and school this fall). occasional trip to the mountains, everyday errands, cruise ins, and etc. Maybe once every blue moon, a trip down the local drag strip. Most of my commute is 55-70 mph, highway and interstate, with a small amount of city driving...

I forgot to mention, that I also plan on doing an MSD Ignition/distributor/coil/etc. setup with 9mm ford racing plug wires, plugs are undecided as of now, and most of this is a ways off yet...(too expensive, and too many other more important things to buy right now)

Honestly I agree that the 3" exhaust is a bit overkill, but i got a good buy on it, and it'll let it breathe plenty easy lol.

 

anyone else?

 

Same as what HIO said. Go with the weiand intake and 650 carb. I use a 1" 4-hole spacer, make sure you use either wood or phenolic.

 

For the carb spacer? I have a factory built aluminum lookin one... well 2 of them, a tall one, and the short one... Wood is porus (spelling?) so is that really a good choice?

 

I agree with the others choose a wood or phenolic spacer keeps heat transfer down from getting to the carb

 

Single plane manifolds are basically for high rpm racing only. They are bad sources of vacuum at low speeds and will typically have a rougher idle and really pooor vacuum signal, ie you will have very poor power brakes.

The dual plane is a great match for the street. The stealth has straighter then average ports for a dual plane and therefore can act like a race manifoild better than most dual planes.

I would prefer the 600cfm Edelbrock with a 1" spacer. The Edelbrock is more of an everyday carb. The Holley is a infinitely tuneable carb that likes to be worked on. If you use the Edelbrock, get a fuel pressure regulator.

As for size, assume 80% average volumetric efficiency in a street engine.
.80*(3000RPM x 351cid)/1728cubic inches per cubic ft.= 487cfm
.80*(5000RPM x 351cid)/1728cubic inches per cubic ft.= 813cfm

Split the difference and call it a 600-650CFM.

 

Yeah, that's why i was asking opinions, i've done some drag racin, and plan to do some more, but i've not messed with dual plane at all, then i picked up said stealth for a good buy...

Edelbrock/Holley, honestly i'll prolly try one of each... and see which i perfer... I've always ran Holley on my motors so far...