I recently purchased a stroked 400 that has untouched 6X heads and a camshaft that has 220-232 duration at .50. When I got the motor it came with a Hurricane intake. I have an Edelbrock RPM intake that I am thinking of swapping out, but curious on anyones thoughts before I do so. I'm hoping to better match the camshafts RPM band because I think the Hurricane is too high RPM intake for this engine.

Thanks

If it were me I'd swap for the RPM, the hurricane is a high rpm manifold. If you are using your car on the street go for a manifold that makes power at a lower rpm.
I'm not an expert, just my opinion.

I am no expert either, but I would agree with Bluebird!

The Hurricane is a Chinese knockoff of the Tomahawk, which was a Chinese knockoff of the old Holley Street Dominator intake from the 1970's/1980's. The Hurricane is widely regarded as a poor quality unit, and has to be reworked substantially to be effective. The reason they (the reproduction companies that farm out stuff to Taiwan/China) made these knock-off intakes is because there was a demand for the old Holley Street Dominator. The Holley Street Dominator is a single plane intake that was close to stock height, and allowed owners of 2nd Gen Birds to have an intake that works with their stock shaker scoop assembly.

I'm not sure what your RPM range is, but you mentioned you have a stroker 400 and 220/232 cam with untouched 6X heads. Without knowing what's in the bottom end as far as rods/pistons, I would assume you're looking at a 99% street car, with maybe a trip to the track a couple times. I think you would be much better off with a dual-plane intake. The RPM is a good all around intake right out of the box, and can be reworked for high perf applications. An issue you may have will be hood clearance. The RPM is very tall, I believe around 1.5" taller than stock. I've used one on my 69 Bird many times, but you need a drop base air cleaner.

A stock Pontiac intake will work well too, and will be the least troublesome as far as clearance, brackets, etc.

Might want to provide some more info, such as the car you intend to install this engine in, the trans, rear end ratio, exhaust system, and type of carb you intend to use.

Mike

The RPM has RAIV port sized ports.
I would try a stock iron intake with port casting cleaned up.

Thanks for all the replies, and info on the hurricane intake. I'm not looking at any other intake other than the Hurricane or the RPM because I have both. Sounds like the RPM will be the better choice and I already have a drop base air cleaner ready to go. Here are the specifics on the car:

1968 Firebird
400 block with forged stroker crank, bored .030 over
Cam specs are: 220/232 duration at .050, 485/510 lift and 110 lobe separation
Stock rods with ARP hardware
Forged pistons
Stock 6X heads
Quadrajet Carb
Dougs Long tube headers, X-pipe with Flowmasters
Tremec 5 speed
3.42 rear gears
Weekend cruiser mostly on the street

You should get low rpm highway driving with the Tremec. Did you get the 0.64OD or 0.82OD?

It has the .64 5th gear and is perfect. I heard a lot of people say that it would be too high of a gear with my 3.42 rear gear but it is perfect.

Good one! Not very often we read perfect, more often a compromise.
I have the 0.64 as well. My 3.73 rear gear made for torturous highway driving, especially when I had the 40 series flowmasters and dumps, the 0.64 gear made highway driving a pleasure.
I'd like to swap out the 373 for 355, with the Tremec's high ratio first gear I don't even use it, I start out in second except uphill.
Your engine combo should have plenty of torque for the gear.

FYI - I have a 3.55 rear with my original (rebuilt) TH 400 and I long for an overdrive of some kind. I'm thinking Gear Vendors down the road.

Update…well I pulled the Hurricane and attempted to install the Performer RPM, but it wouldn't fit. The heads must have been milled so much that the intake bolt holes would not line up, not even close. I have heard of some guys having to bore out the holes to get them to work, but it would have taken too much in my opinion. This Hurricane intake looks like it was milled to match the heads. Oh well, I tried. The cars runs great, I was just trying to get every bit of power out of it and I had the Performer RPM lying in the garage. I'll keep it for if/when I eventually step up to aluminum heads.

As far as the Tremec and 3.42 gears. I really couldn't be happier with the gear ratios. I always use first gear and do not feel that it's too low, and the overdrive on the highway is truly perfect. Now if I were road racing and needed the 5th gear for speed the it would be too high. But for how I use the car it's just right.

Paul, don't give up so quickly. Have the intake machined to fit. This is not at all uncommon.

I have called all over asking if someone can do this, and I get the impression that it's not that easy. How much do I have them take off? The holes don't even line up without the gaskets installed. I'm thinking it would require 65-70 thousands, but that's a guess based off the FelPro gasket thickness. It could get pretty expensive doing it a couple time till I get it right.

Don't forget the intake gasket thickness is around. 065"-.070"
If you lay the intake on without any gasket how much is it off ?

Even with the the gaskets off it still doesn't line up. I think these gaskets are .050" thick. That's why I was thinking I'd have to go .065-.070 off to make it work.

If you lay the intake gasket on the intake manifold using the bolt holes to line up the gasket do the intake ports line up on the gasket and intake?

I'm no expert either but I have rebuilt some engines before and with the experience I have and the feedback I've read over the years ... after market intakes generally are no better than stock iron manifolds. This appears to be isolated to Pontiac engines. So if your brand aftermarket manifold is "awesome" for a Chevy, it's not necessary "awesome" for a Pontiac.

IMO - go stock with the intake, lot's of other things you can do to get more performance and I lot less work.

X2

Yes the intake gaskets and the intake line up perfectly, neither however work on my engine/heads. I don't necessarily think it's an intake problem, as much as I believe it's the fact that the heads or the block have been machined so much that the intake also requires milling. So wether I switched to a stock intake or an aftermarket, at this point neither would fit.