Color me very puzzled.
In the Cleveland world, the Funnel Web and the Strip Dominator are *it* when it comes to hipo single plane intakes. The Torker is always found to be lacking.
I was surprised by this too, but I'm sure it has to do with the entire induction tract, rather than just the intake. The FE heads plus the intake adapter plus the Torker are what this engine wanted. I have no doubt that on a normal 351C build, the Funnel Web and the Strip Dominator would be better, just based on other's experience. But I'm running these tests to try to determine the best combination for an FE with my intake adapter, and the Torker appears to be it for a single plane intake.
FYI, I had my friend Kevin bring the Funnel Web back over last night so we could look at how the ports line up to the adapter. They are nearly a perfect match on the roof and on the sides, but the floor of the Funnel Web is quite a bit higher than the floor of the intake adapter port. Just doing some quick airflow math, the 504" engine at 6500 RPM would be equivalent to a 351" Cleveland at 9300 RPM; maybe there's just not enough cross sectional area in the Funnel Web ports to support the airflow this engine wants, given the intake tract constraints. Of course, that doesn't explain the performance of the Strip Dominator, which does have the larger ports. Again I'm just speculating, but maybe those two intakes deliver the air in a way that the Cleveland head ports can use to their advantage, while on the FE + intake adapter this approach is not right.
I was so surprised by these results that I plan on re-running the tests using the Dominator carb and the adapter you are sending me. I won't re-run the Strip Dominator, since I want to conserve oil
But I think I will run the Torker without the vacuum pump, then with the Dominator, and also the Funnel Web with the Dominator, to try to flesh out these differences a little more.
This whole series of tests reminds me a lot of the initial testing I did on FE intakes back in 2006. Back then I tested a Performer RPM, a Blue Thunder intake, an Edelbrock F427, a Ford PI intake, a Ford 428CJ intake, and the Edelbrock Streetmaster. When the Streetmaster came out on top, no one could believe it (me included). But, the data doesn't lie. Sure is an interesting result...