I appreciate what you are doing. There is a stigma attached to the TTA which sucks. At the time it was higher HP than most of what was out there and so cool to see the tail with TURBO TRANS AM on it. To add any more HP without opening up the bottom end I think would be great.
Whack a turbo on a 455 and dump it in there... 90% of people won't know the difference between the 301 and the 455. There would definitely be NO stigma at all after a fella rode in that Turbo T/A
The 3 smaller ports are size that way because they're only feeding one valve at a time so they're sized accordingly 5 and 7 feeds 2 valves back-to-back requiring more area
Interesting stuff Joe. I'm sure you've mentioned the reason for the bigger 5-7 port is the timing. Because the modification doesn't take this into consideration, do you think there will be an "out of balance" situation, (?), comparing the other cylinders being the same size. Out of balance, air flow wise, not vibration wise. Also, is the port size the "bottleneck" on this engine, and because the bottom end can only handle so little RPMs, will the mod require all forgings there? If this experimental manifold proves beneficial, then I guess it'll give the 301 a shot in the arm, giving a built eng. an advantage. Bigger valves, ported heads, bigger turbo, forged pistons and rods, (at least), along with a good cam, and your hedders should make the traditional boys take notice. Can't wait for some dyno/track runs. Good luck.
Thanks so much for all the great content on this very cool platform. I have taken a real interest to them in the past couple weeks. Saw Smokey and the Bandit 2 on tv a week or so ago and for the longest time did not know it was a Turbo TA they used in the film. What you are doing is awesome and was blown away that you put one on E85 with supporting mods and got it into the high 12s. I would love to see the what a higher compression 4.9 would do if that's maybe doable one day. (maybe between 10:1 or 11:1). That with the better flowing top end, cam, exhaust and efi....im sure it would be a little monster. I personally just don't know what the breaking point of those blocks would be when it comes to a HP & TQ numbers. Keep up the great work!
As an old-time Pontiac guy, I can really appreciate the work you're doing. With great appreciation for the work you put in, might I ask, have you considered going to a blow through setup You are leaving a ton of horsepower on the table by keeping the draw through system, which is terrible in so many ways and a great limitation on potential power, efficiency and most importantly reliability.
Great effort, and thanks for that. To bad it doesn’t have a 4 barrel flange so that you can test it NA. It would be nice to see how much of a gain without the turbo. Next step would be to add injector bungs like the 84 & 85 Buicks.
Joe, god stuff and worth the effort to improve. You're on a great path. Engines are air pumps. Least restriction in and out is just more efficient. Turbo's have been on Diesels for so long and rule is more dense air the better compression explosion and more power. Gas engines need a little more care because of preignition and heat ect. The fine line of after coolers ect. But the idea to open the ports is just old school and will work with obvious fuel and timing adjustments. I think you are doing it right by making a more balanced engine and matching stock components to make it all work. Would love to see results.
Hey Joe, we are lucky to have someone like yourself to spearhead this process, and hope the flow numbers prove worthwhile. So for the guys who run the N/A engines, what’s our time frame look like?
I’ve always wondered why the intake ports were different with such puny runners except 5/7. I look forward to seeing the results. My thoughts are that it will work well with a little more boost so there isn’t air starvation due to the Siamese’s runners.
Great video Joe. Can’t wait for testing. Early prediction is low 12s high 11s. Might be wishful but I you are using 3” down pipe is why I am thinking it. Thank you for making the intake. Appreciate you.
It amazes me in the fact you were able to port out the 3 other "non" 5-7 ports, to match the large one. If only the traditional heads had that much meat to hog out, they would flow much more air. (If you had a manifold to match.) Hope you have enuf time in your life to continue your quest with this experiment.
Nice project. I worked for Corky Bell's Cartech back in 1989-90 and a customer came in with a TTA and as I inspected the turbo found the compressor and turbine to housing clearances where WAY OFF. Like an 1/8th inch gap. I simply assumed a bad rebuild. Later, reading I THINK Turbochargers by Hugh Macinnes seeing a TTA turbo with the exact same problem. I haven't seen another so assuming this was in fact the way the factory delivered them my conclusion was/is that the original proper clearances would have made much cooler and efficient boost making too much power/torque for the plan and maybe the transmission. So, TTA, have you seen what I am reporting?
So how is the balance of flow between the ports....would it be important? Does this design increase plenum volume ? Would increase plenum volume be beneficial? Also have you considered a redesign of the 4 barrel pad and also increasing the size of the center inlet on the turbo ...pad...side ? Air flow is everything 😊
This may be too late as you have already fabricated the hi-perf intake. But i think clyinders 5&7 are fireing in sequence and that's why the runner is bigger at just those two cylinders and not the others because only enough fuel and air is coming to feed one cylinder at a time and not sequentially. You may actually hurt performance by opening up the other runners.
Any idea on what the size of a stock 301 non Turbo exhaust manifold outlet is ? Wandering if my existing exhaust systems down pipes will fit onto 400 2&1/4 inch manifolds.
You’re a mad man, Joe! This was my dream car when I was 14. I could only imagine how much tire shredding horsepower a turbo V8 would make. I had no idea that the engine was from the island of misfit toys. The fact that you’ve invested so much time and money trying to get them to run the way they should have is very commendable. 🫡
Imo enlarging all of them to the same size of the large one is not ideal. You have 6 holes taking turns using the runner and 2 sharing a runner at the same time....reason for the 2 sizes so you basically doubled the runner volume of 6 cylinders but left 2 cylinders with factory size? Just adding like say 30% runner volume across the board to each one (same on the head port) would be the best way but hey I'm not an air flow expert I could be all wrong you probably already know this and are just doin a whatever why not just try it. Increasing vertical plenum height may likely help with the transition of inlet to runners but looks like room is an issue not much if any down and going up would throw everythings locations off. But hey keep on it there's got to be room improving the OEM set up you start swapping out major parts like heads and turbos ECT at some point you really don't have a 301 turbo you just have a turbo charged poncho... anyone can do that it's not new I mean its cool n all but nothing ground breaking or remotely oem, but anything is cooler than tossin a LS in 🙄 which I'm soooo sick of, I'm not competing drag racing so I'll just keep jerkin with my SBC it was the hot ticket for decades and now all the sudden its an obsolete piece of dinosaur shit waste of money?? No it's fine and still viable. I love watching Billy the kid woop LS cars bad with his 400 SBC S10 🤙
Omg i am having flashbacks from 30 plus years ago when i had my 80 transam with one of these motors .... my god there is no hope for the cylinder head ... yes even with the different deck height ... from a regular Pontiac these heads will never flow for any power
The firing order is the same as all traditional GM V8s. Boosted Air does not see a sesame port. The air is already going in that direction just diverted to the next valve. 20 lb of boost would make up for any difference. 7.1 compression is a bigger fall back.
It had to do with the firing order. Cylinders 5 and 7 fire one after the other but share the same intake port. There was concern that cylinder 5 would take most of the air and fuel and starve number 7 so they made the intake runner bigger.
@ttaperformance1046 Ah, I get it. So, a 4/7 swap cam would screw that whole deal up... I would guess if they made all 4 ports that big (which they could have) it would have made for some low velocity and stalling ports on the other 3, for a stock engine anyway. I've always been a 400, and 455 guy. I've never messed around much with the 301. I tore them all out and replaced them with the bigger engines. I do, however, understand the need/want to keep the 301 turbo to keep the car original though..
@@davelowets I guess I should’ve ,said heat dispersement. The heat will collect in the solid steel intake opposed to a cast-iron or cast aluminum . That’s why you make intakes out of cast iron or cast aluminum because the heat moves and disperses a lot quicker.
