[BILL BOWMAN1]

Any first hand experience with these intakes... ,good, bad, POS?

[Skip Fix]

Depends on the individual intake. First one I got was terrible-sent it back. Next one a little better still some core shift. Had to do some welding on the top of the ports on one side too.

[BILL BOWMAN1]

Wow! Glad I asked! A little gasket matching is always expected, but not welding. I’ll keep looking for a stock cast iron.
Thanks!

[25stevem]

The Franks Pontiac parts site is showing 4 cast iron intakes in stock and for sale as I post this.

[Verdoro 68]

I've been messing with one for my RAII build. My experience is not nearly as bad as everyone led me to believe it was going to be so maybe they revised the casting or got better at it. I bought this one about a year ago from The Parts Place. It was listed for a '69.

Out of the box port/gasket match: https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...take&page=2#24

Porting: https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...42&page=10#199

[lust4speed]

I've had two reproductions come through a couple years apart. Massive shift to the point that I could see a slit of open head port when the manifold was positioned. So I wouldn't call it core shift when the actual casting is off that far. Owner said fix it so he could run it and after welding and doing what I could it was still only about 85% aligned. Even on the photos on the first link listed above the port would be through to the outside so porting will have to be brought back from the edge. The two I had were worse.

[Charlie Brengun]

So they are basically a lottery? Either you get an OK one or a pile of crap one? That's too bad, could have been a nice option over a stock intake.

[BILL BOWMAN1]

All that effort to produce something, at least do it right!!

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by lust4speed

Even on the photos on the first link listed above the port would be through to the outside so porting will have to be brought back from the edge. The two I had were worse.

Assuming you're talking about the pics in my post, I'm not sure I'm following. I test fit the intake and didn't see any red flags against the heads or the gasket, but maybe I'm overlooking something. Honestly, I expected this intake to give me more trouble, but maybe I'm not looking in the right spots.

At any rate, seems like what I have is better than what you worked with. Curious if it's a crap shoot or they made some improvements.

[Ram Air IV Jack]

Originally Posted by Charlie Brengun

So they are basically a lottery? Either you get an OK one or a pile of crap one? That's too bad, could have been a nice option over a stock intake.

Very few repops are as good as the original factory part. Problem is original RAIV intakes are selling for a lot now. You see them on eBay but like everything, they are expensive!!!

[25stevem]

If f your budget is under the gun and your not looking to make over 415 hp then for now pick up a used Performer.

[Formulajones]

I bought mine about 5-6 years ago and like mentioned it wasn't near as bad as some post.
In fact I never touched the ports, bolted it on and ran it.
Found on my combination the car has run identical times at the track compared to the stock iron piece I had been racing for 25 years.
I daily drive the car and like how it acts over the iron intake in the az heat. It's been a good piece for me.

If you do a search you'll find this is an old subject. In fact there are many examples where the iron intakes even have poor port alignment. Steve has posted his factory 70 iron raIII intake a few times over the years. Mine honestly didn't look much better than his.
There is always going to be core shift with anything like this. That's just the nature of it.
For what it's worth the mold to repop these intakes was made from an original piece if that tells you anything.

[chrisp]

Core shift is terrible , port divider into other port , not a worthy intake @ all .

[Formulajones]

Pics??

[BILL BOWMAN1]

Thanks for all the info. I might have found a cast iron one locally which is what I really want .

[Skip Fix]

Down side on a cast iron one 40lbs vs 22lbs!

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

Down side on a cast iron one 40lbs vs 22lbs!

I also really prefer the separate heat cross over deal.

[68 Firebird]

I bought a beautiful factory iron intake from Franks some years ago.
it's a 9794234 and came with waterneck and factory choke stove for carb still attached.
Did minor gasket cleanup and can say its far better then the SP2P it replaced.
Now that I am running the factory SR carb that choke stove came in very handy!!!
you can't beat factory parts

I now see factory choke stoves selling for more then i paid for whole setup.


Gerry

[intense]

I was trying to run one of these manifolds that is not a reproduction on ported aluminum heads after finding out the my factory intake won’t work on the the ported heads. Hopefully it fits I have taken the car apart yet !

[Formulajones]

Typically it's when the head intake ports are raised to a point the intake won't fit well. Welding the intake in that situation is the solution. Not uncommon to see that with some OEM intakes.