I did a search on the forum but didn't really find one about plenums and the different kinds there are and the best value one there is. Who know which plenum offers the best performance gains and has the best value? APS? Crawford? Kenetix? ( i heard kenetix is a little smaller and does not require replacing the strut tower brace) the polished cast plenum looks pretty sweet

 

I think Kinetix is probably the cheapest both in cost and additional requirements if you intend to continue using a strut bar of any sort. If you have plans for F/I, I would wait awhile though. I think I heard somewhere that Kinetix is coming out with a more durable plenum for F/I cars. I have personally seen an ATI supercharged Z blow the top off of a regular Kinetix plenum (You can ask Sins4u33 for the gory details on that). My dislike of the crawford is a) it requires replacing the strut bar, and b) the nasty looking weld around the base is so "un-show-car-ish", if you know what I mean. And I believe without some cutting, you can't use your engine cover with the crawford either.

From a performance aspect, my understanding is that the crawford is the better performer, but I'm sure someone with more direct exposure can better speak to the performance aspects of these.

 

The NOVA peeps have all the answers...I've actually been researching this topic recently. I've spoken with Sins4u33 (Ben) and Altered Atmosphere with regards to crawford, kinetix or just going with the AAM plenum spacer. I'm going to go with the kinetix plenum even though I've also seen the end results of running boost under a plastic plenum.
This is my reasoning. First the crawford is better for cars with F/I obviously because of being cast, but as Kelly said it requires the replacement or discontinued use of the stock strut bar. The claimed results of the Kinetix plenum and Crawford are approximately the same 8-9 rwhp at peak rpms. The AAM plenum spacer seems to be a good idea for those who want to retain as much of the stock look as possible. I didn't find any specific results from the plenum spacer but Sins4u33 (Ben) said that he knows of a car with AAM plenum spacer, AAM test pipes and AAM ecu reflash getting approximately 260 rwhp (stock is about 240).
So the real question is what do you plan on doing in the future? F/I I would wait because crawford and kinetix are both coming out with a complete aftermarket manifold (upper and lower plenums). Do a search on Crawford because I believe that they are already about to make an initial release for about $800, but I have not found any final results from this. If you are going to remain NA go with the Kinetix. They have great customer service, and you don't have a core charge like with the polish crawford. Meaning if something did go wrong you still have your stock as a back up.
Just my 0.02

 

I've had the Kinetix V4 plenum & High Flows for 6000 miles. Was the best bang for buck on my mods. Was able to keep the stock plenum as reserve & existing stock strut.

 

If value is your main concern, get a plenum spacer. Same gains (or better) as either Crawford or Kinetix, for much less $$

 

^Is it proven the spacer gives the similar gains?

 

Moved. Please post in the appropriate forum.

armitage, yeah, a guy dyno'd and got ~15whp IIRC.

 

I would say going with anything available would be good. You should get at least 10rwhp with whatever you get, it's up to you as to what you want to pay and what you would like to keep.

 

I will have a V5 crawfrord [ black ] for sale real soon....cheap