Quote: Just a word of thanks guys... This type of constructive posting has faded from this forum, at the publics' loss.
I do have aquestion tho, the intake plate, or intake manifold as opposed to a clay radius... I have not played with the clay because I no longer have access to a good bench, or a ton of interest in spending hours of time I no longer have. But, it's my feeling that resulting numbers can be skewed by playing with the shape and amount of clay. What kind of loss typically do you guys find in going from a hand done clay radius to a plate, and from a plate to a complete manifold? Brian, do you also use a carburetor too, or just the manifold? To what degree are you guys pushing to?
I have done some testing with the intake and carb bolted on... It's VERY time consuming. I have tried a couple of plates on sb chevy's and then used clay and there is almost no difference. If anything, the plate will be a tad better. But I get stuff that has already been ported, and the plate does not fit the opening correctly, so clay is just faster. On a high flowing head, with fast air speed I spend some time on the clay....but if you don't it can lead you astray. Just for fun, I tried messing the clay up on a B1 original head a while back just to see where it starts to affect the flow...I had to almost square it off before it showed any negatives! But it was still 1/2 thick at that point. I spend alot more time getting intake length's where they need to be for a particular combo than every last cfm. I have seen some pretty sizeable gains from under powered engines (compared to what they should make)by getting the intake length's right, and plenum correct. And changing my seat cuts has brought around power in my stuff too. Like I said, I never seem to stop learning stuff....that's why I love this business. Except when I'm beating my head on the flow bench like Dwayne's doing...those times are frustrating
It's VERY time consuming. 
