The X-Ram is total performance/racing style, intake manifold.
It's design was based on the configuration of the crossfire, while
keeping in mind that street performance 350's can, and do
exceed 380 Hp. Could a Crossfire application be made that
would produce horse power to meet or beat these goals? That
was the real question!
The objective was simple; build a high flow plenum in a
crossfire configuration, and then mate it to a performance
base manifold and make it all fit under the hoods of 82 -84
Corvette's, Camaro's and Firebird's. The idea was simple,
the design was a little more difficult. 1 year, 1 design and 7
redesigns later, the top plenum was completed.
The
next step was to locate a base manifold that could be
modified to except the top plates. The search was not an
easy one. There are a minimum of 163 dual and single plane
4 barrel manifolds on the market today (and that is just what
we found), and only one of them fit the height requirement,
and it had to be extensively modified for height and air flow.
The manifold that was select, was the Weiand X-Celerator
because of it low profile full size runners and 360 degree single
plane design, the manifold could be machined to open the main
inlet and mount the X-Ram top plate. All this and still stay within
the maximum height limits
After 2 ½ additional month of testing
and configuring, the first X-Ram was ready to install. Every
objective was met, including insuring that the installation would
be as straightforward as possible. This meaning that, all
connection could be made with very little or no modification to
any existing equipment. Keeping the engine and engine
compartment as original as the factory left it. The end results
was very close, only a couple of small holes required drilling,
one 3/8" bolt needed to be shortened and couple of vacuums
lines and water hoses required rerouting.
The X-Ram Performance Margin
Until the X-Ram, there was no single part replacement
that could produce a real noticeable increase in performance.
The addition of the X-Ram alone will produce a hard
acceleration that has never before been felt from a stock
crossfire, right up to the red line. But if total performance is
your quest, the X-Ram is just the starting point.
The X-Ram will flow in excess of 250 CFM per runner
without any runner port polishing. This makes possible to
deliver over 1000 CFM per revolution. This means there
are now a wide range of modification that can be done to
increase performance. The X-Ram is also capable of
flowing over 1440 CFM to the base manifold for a wider
margin of even more extreme performance modifications.
There are only 2 slight modifications that need to be made.
A small hole will be required to be drilled in the throttle linkage
and the kick down linkage (for automatics) brackets, to connect
the bracket plates to the top of the manifold. And the rerouting
of the heater and vacuum hoses.