Edelbrock Victor vs. Shelby (Performer RPM) Exhaust Gas Temperature Comparison on Supercharged FE
Whenthe supercharged engine was first assembled there was some question about what was the best intake manifold would work the best. On hand was a Shelby intake, which is essentially the same as the Edelbrock Performer RPM with different lettering, and an Edelbrock Victor intake. A back to back test on the dyno was run to determine which would work best.
Since the supercharged engine used a blow-through carburetor setup, mixture distribution in the intake was thought to be a critical parameter for best engine performance. This seemed like it would favor the open plenum of the Victor intake, but surprisingly the Shelby intake made more power. The two graphs at right, showing the exhaust temperatures data from the dyno pulls of each intake, clearly show the temperatures converging with the Shelby intake, and diverging with the Victor.
With a direct port EFI system it is likely that the Victor would have come out on top due to superior airflow capability, but with the carb the Shelby intake prevailed. This intake was used on all iterations of this engine, and ended up making 1200 HP when the engine was upgraded with CNC ported Blue Thunder heads.
