I realize your not asking about intake manifolds but I saw Richard Holdener dynoing intake manifolds on a smogger 460 Ford truck engine. The OEM iron intake that has zero height to it made the best power way down low- what one would want in a tow vehicle. It made better low end power than the Edelbrock Performer. Was out of steam by like 4200RPM if I recall correctly. Sometimes its nice to be able to run what ya got and not spend any additional $$.

I do have a stock '70 intake I could put on I suppose; just figured aluminum would dissipate the heat better, maybe make for less vapor-lock issues?

As Ol' Yeller used to say...

"Ruff"

Patina !

too bad its so rusty, was nice in its day

When I used to tow with this truck it had a 440/TF with an "Edelbrock Performer Package" that consisted of an intake, carb and cam (and related parts), along with a set of headers. The truck would effortlessly pull a 36' enclosed Gooseneck and pass anything but a gas station (4mpg avg). To solve that issue I Pulled it and slipped in a Cummins!
The TF was nothing special other than as mentioned a Shift kit and good converter. TF are a very robust transmission. Treat them well and you will get great service life from them.

I was assuming you didn't have an alternative aluminum dual plane. By all means- run the Performer. Idle to 5500 is perfect for a truck.

From my reading, it would appear as the original "440 Performer" was just an aluminum version of an iron intake and might be a better choice for maximum torque as well as lighter weight/cooler under the carb, though I've never had one.

What are everybody's thoughts on that? What should a guy pay for one if one pops up for sale? Is there another like it?

"From my reading, it would appear as the original "440 Performer" was just an aluminum version of an iron intake and might be a better choice for maximum torque as well as lighter weight/cooler under the carb, though I've never had one.

What are everybody's thoughts on that? What should a guy pay for one if one pops up for sale? Is there another like it?"

My opinion is to run a factory iron intake for towing. The lighter weight of the aluminum unit is null and void on a big truck. Heat dissipation improvement will be unnoticeable. But if one likes to tinker then by all means install one. Not everyone is on a shoe string budget and it is a hobby of tinkering. But I would focus my effort on a nice quiet true dual exhaust system. Not necessarily headers- but quality dual pipes of proper diameter and pleasant sounding mufflers.

On mine I got tired of Header leaks and fixing them so I switched to manifolds...Killed the performance...help seal the deal for the Cummins swap

OK fellas - my transmission guy has the 727 opened up and it was starting the slow burn it would appear. His concern (very valid, and I'm in agreement) is if I reuse the existing TC it's probably got quite bit of trash/clutch material in it. Existing TC does NOT have a drain plug like I've seen on others.

SO, is there a way to "clean" (flush?) the existing torque converter OR do I just look for a reman'd unit to stab in? I'm trying to pinch some pennies on this deal (as I've got like 17 other irons in the fire). I did have another member here offer me a new towing TC but it's just a little more $$$ than I have to spend right now...

Ideas?

any torque converters i have seen flushed had a drain plug in them.
now with that said, i don't have a clue about the converter flush machines of today that are out there in transmission repair shops.
as for drain plugs, in the past, i have added a 1/8"npt plug just by drilling and tapping the converter.
used heavy grease on the drill and tap, then stuck the shop vac hose over the hole and turned it on for a while.
i followed this up by standing the converter up so the drain was on the bottom, then filling an empty squeeze bottle with kerosene, and squeezing it into the converter snout, repeating until the kerosene ran clear.
followed this by filling converter with atf, "swishing" converter around and then draining atf, doing this a couple of times until the atf was the original consistency drained as it was when poured into the snout.
this method worked good, and i had no converter failures doing so.
however, this was way back in the mid 70's to mid 80's that i did this, so with re-man converters being [relatively] cheap these days, i would pop for a re-man.
just my personal life experience.
your mileage will vary.

The reman converters are cheap enough (at least they were a couple years ago) I wouldn't take the chance. At the cost of ATF +4,(and the old stuff isn't much better priced these days) a reman converter may be cheaper then a flush.

Mopar used to include drain plugs on most converters until the lockup version came out.
My 78 fury has its original converter, never been out since factory installed and it has one.
I remember reading in a FSM or maybe a service bulletin about it when they deleted drain plugs from converters

I would think to take it to anyone that does converters , ask for a freshen up . It would be cheaper than buying another converter . You already know how it works with your combo , if you want it adjusted more or less rpm you could have that done as well . Just thinking out loud here . Gary

Around here it's about 275.00 if not a bunch is wrong other that trash from trans issues.

I used a couple of converters from transtar
One behind a 440 and one behind a v10 no problems 10 plus years

Any data collected on a 460 is relevant, to a 460. It is not relevant to a 440, unless you can somehow make a 460 intake work on a 440.

I disagree. My point is that often an OEM iron intake is regarded as low perf and useless. A factory intake manifold does work well in CERTAIN applications. In the application of low RPM grunt towing - a factory 4BBL intake is actually very very good. I was pointing out to the original poster that if he only had the factory intake- then he's good to go. But he has a Performer which is idle to 5500 RPM and that's a great intake as well even the regular Performer offers no improvement in power of a factory mopar iron intake. The weight savings may be important to the owner or it may not.

Good news - found a reman locally for $250.

pictures to follow of the swap as I plan on starting that as soon as the trans is finished.

Thanks guys!