Which Plenum to Buy? will they work with Stock sway bars? if not, which brand to go with?

Thanks to all in advance.
PS- Trying to stay away from the plastic one.

 

I'm guessing you mean strut tower bar, not the sway bar. I believe the Crawford and APS will not work with the OEM strut bar but will work with their own custom bars. The various Motordyne plenum spacers will work I beleive with the OEM strut bar with the use of strut bar spacers. There are other plenums out there that others can comment on.

 

no plastic...check.

that leaves you with.....APS Tall Boy, Crawford, Kinetix SSV, and the AAM and Motordyne spacers (chime in if i missed some....hehe).

i think ppl will agree...the Crawford Plenum will make the most power. however the price is rather high...check around...also needs a custom strut bar IIRC

The SSV manifold is the most expensive and i have no idea about it. i hear all sorts of stuff...but the general consensus is "it makes power". not sure how much...uses stock bar IIRC

APS Tall Boy....i think that is rather new....or hard to get a hold of. not sure about it...might be best for FI....needs custom bar IIRC

Plenum spacers....i am partial to these cuz i wanted a stock look. i feel these are the best to get if your budget doesnt allow for $700 manifolds. usually around $200 and offer decent gains across the board. some can use OEM bar...some need custom depends on size

its up to you!

 

The search button will answer all of your questions, but....

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the "PLASTIC ONE" as you call it. The Kinetix V4 plenum will allow you to keep your OEM strut bar. It will not break or whatever you are afraid of. Older versions will but to my knowledge there have been ZERO reports of the V4 cracking or breaking. I had it my car for about 10k miles with numerous AutoXs, drag runs and high speeds runs and it never failed.

You can get the Crawford or the APS plenum, but they both require that you replace your strut bar. Plus, they dont look as good as the Kinetix one.

Or... you could get the new Kinetix intake manifold, which I am currently running. It replaces the OEM upper and lower portions of the upper half(yes, its 3 pieces) of the stock intake manifold system. This one will allow retention of the OEM strut bar and it looks bada$$.

The pix below are both from my car at different points in its life!

 

go with the motordyne 5/16 ISO THERMAL spacer kit. you won't be disappointed. keeps stock sb and makes good power at half the price. no brainer.

 

Yeah, I forgot about the spacers.

 

+1

 

Anyone has pictures of the spacer? where can I find it?

 

Thanks for the info. In regards to the "PLASTIC ONE", i too, don't know much about it. Please don't take any offense when I say i don't want it, reason being, is that I read on another post, that this guy's plenum, melted. Of course, he did leave his endine idling for 2 hours , beats me why.
But then again better safe then sorry i guess.

 

ya, the kinetix v4 is a good one, too.
spacer: www.motordyneengineering.com

 

The spacer is OK, but doesn't solve the problem of equalizing the mixture between the front and rear cylinders. It does help the lean condition problem that exists in the front cylinders. IMO, the Crawford and APS are better choices.

Lou

 

I was going to comment on the same about equal thickness spacers just making more volume in the IM but not correcting the angle problem. The AAM Angled Spacer though is a good option to go with, costs about $250.

Also check the for sale section of the forum. I believe their is a crawford v4 for sale for something like $235.

 

is the ssv really worth the money in hp gains?
how's the finish on the greddy strut bar, i'm considering one, but i heard it was kinda dull

 

The Kinetix V4 can melt/warp as seen on this website.

The Crawford plenum is casted so it will never see this problem.

Do a search on Crawford plenum and you will find that it is usually the plenum of choice due to it never having problems.

 

That was an older revision of the product though. And remember that the melting was a defect in workmanship/mfg process and not a defect(repeated) in the product itself.

 

I like the SSV solely based on the "bling" factor that it adds to the engine
bay. I cant say about gains because I had my SC and SSV installed at the same time so I cant say anything about the gains of solely the SSV. There are threads urking around here though.

For the price, I like the GReddy STB. I have heard that it is weaker than stock, but I just bought it because it was cheaper than the Cusco one and it matched my theme I was going with. The finish is a "flat" or dull color.

 

Actually if you read the very thorough explanation of how the MD spacer works and why you will see that the issue is not the angle but volume which an even-type spacer resolves. Retaining the angle may be necesary to retain proper velocity since the front runners are further from the TB. Maybe?

 

Kinetix for the win! Keep the factory strut and the engine cover. Plastic is light weight. Keeps temps lower. Suppose to sound really mean. I have yet to read anything bad about the current V4 model in production when it comes to the melting, cracking or any other kind of defects. I've heard Kinetix customer service is excellent.

 

u should get a 05 track lower plenum. it fits the factory strut bar and it adds about 8hp and up to 15 if u do a ECU reflash ( 287hp motors only). it really kicks with a pop charger. plus its 50 state legal since its an OEM part.

 

Nope - Everything I've read and heard says NOT to use the lower plenum on the Non-Rev-Up Motor. The runners are wider and shorter, and will cause a mid range loss.

Lou