Superram: Tell me how it is as a daily driver

[bradvette]

Those with Superrams & cams, heads, exhaust............Would love to hear your description of spirited daily driving --- both straight line (highway driving, etc), around town and especially out in the country (all the curves)........How does it feel, how does it compare to when you had the factory TPI setup? Torque/power when coming out of the curves --- you know, where the real fun is when it comes to driving.

It will be especially helpful in hearing from those who have a manual tranny – in particular a ZF-6 – with this setup. I would assume 4+3’s aren’t too much different. 350cid. Autos, however, I’m sure are.

Having large tube runners & ported stock plenum on top of the SR manifold, I'd like to have a good idea what to expect when going to the SR runners & plenum kit.

After having the SR "upper" kit installed, I'm planning on keeping and driving the vette for a long time. Do I have any particular engine problems to be concerned with?

Also…….are there any complaints out there for daily driving purposes? Is this thing slower early on in the RPM band? I like off-idle head-smash as max as possible, and best power in the low-upper/mid RPMs --- where real driving occurs for us. So I’m interested in what the “full” SR does in daily driving applications.

Here’s the thing……..I’m not planning on spending all my days driving 4000-5500 RPMs all day…..this is obviously where the drag racers are more interested with. BUT I’ll want the power and torque there when I want it…….Just don’t want to “lose” anything on the low end vs. my current intake setup.


My current setup: LPE 219 cam, SR base manifold/ported stock plenum/52mm TB, AFR 187cc 100% CNC'd comp ported heads, headers & catback.

Thanks for any & all input........................Brad

 

[Ken]

Oh boy, you should get an earful here.

Good luck!

 

[*89x2*]

I had heads that flowed a bit more than those AFR's I believe - With a stock cam and the slightly larger heads and superram w/ LPE's headers, I ran 13.0 @ 109 ALL DAY LONG - It was in my F-Body though and a Vette *should* be a bit quicker 3-4 tenths quicker :eek

I then ordered a 383 from LPE stuffed w/ the cam I think you are describing (I do not have the catalog in front of me - I do recall the lift being .525 on both sides though)

With that, I suffered a bit of the smoothness of the 350 - but that was mostly to do w/ the big cam, not the 383 :eek

Nothing in either case to say the car wasn't smooth - I recall taking my 2 week old daughter to her first pediatricians visit in the car - it put her right to sleep

 

[WhalePirot]

No driveability issues. This 406 delivers more torque which would cover up any loss of low end torque. My moving from a TBI, any further comments might cause elation, as long as I don't have to dis/reassemble the P.O.S. (now that I have it sealed).

 

[Ken]

You guys with a SuperRam base can do this:

How about this for an idea? Use the base and runners from an ACCEL SuperRam intake and adapt four TWM throttle bodies for a different look. Your creativity is your only limitation.

I won't be satisfied until I get this: :dance

I don't care about whether or not it's a legitimate thing to do, I just think that looks so cool. :cool

I'd rather have that than to be blown or turbo'ed.

 

[rrubel]

Actually, you should be able to use a stock base... just buy the SR runners. But what would you plug the injector ports with? That beast looks like it's got the injectors right below the TBs.
[RICHR]

 

[Ken]

The Hilborn setup is not really designed for street use Rich; I just love the look. :cool

 

[rrubel]

I agree, it's a wicked setup... Occasionally I've seen cars with velocity stacks running around our local streets. I guess if they're old enough (or street rods) you can get away with anything - at least in MD. Yet another reason I'm glad I don't live in CA .
[RICHR]

 

[Ken]

Oh, we got 'em on the street here Rich... :cool

​

That one however, is a BDS setup. Click it to blow it up to full-size.

 

[WhalePirot]

The Hilborn setup is not really designed for street use .

A while back, I drove over to talk to the Hilborn folks, nearby. They made no bones about the reliability problems with mechanical FI, as opposed to our TPIs. Romance rarely mates with function, does it?