I'm not sure what a LS1 intake is made of but it is similar to the lower intake on a mod motor. The polymer does have an advantage of less heat absorbtion but has a great disadvantage in strength. You also do not have room for improvement in a polymer intake. I've seen a few Camaro and Mustang intakes come apart under pressure, ie. backfire from nitrous or under heavy boost. As for the advantges of heat absorbtion or lack there of there is a solution for LT1 intakes. Coating. Coating the top and bottom of the intake can help dramatically with heat transfer. The bottom is coated with a thermal barrier w/ oil shedding properties. The top is coated with a thermal dispersant. The thermal barrier works by blocking the heat from getting into the intake. Plus the oil shedding properties keep hot oil from sticking to the bottom of the intake. It also prevents "sludge" from accumulating on the bottom thus absorbing more heat. The top is coated with a thermal dispersant which works by "pulling" the heat out of the intake. I don't have any hard numbers for intakes but TechLine coatings has done testing on brake calipers and showed about a 200 degree drop in temps. If anyone has any more questions or would like pricing info e-mail me at creasyz28@hotmail.com

 

I second the coating idea. I'll probably send my intake out to Swain Tech this winter...unless someone comes out with a thermoplastic model first!

Reading that article about the new composite LSx manifold proved what we knew all along; that the aftermarket was capable of doing it, but didn't.

 

Dont forget the Ford Thunderbird either. Their intake manifold were bursting and leaking all kinds of Coolant. My ex g/f brothers t-bird manifold bursted open too. The guy only drove that thing like 1k miles per year. I mean the car did not have any miles on it at all when the thing broke. The replacement was way thicker. And it was replaced by Ford.


Marvin

 

I have done these same coatings on Viper intakes with huge gains in performance while racing. I just had the entire inside area of my Cobra supercharger coated. I am sure it will make a big difference in lowering my boosted air temps.

 

The link I added earlier for the LSX intake for the LS1 is still in the process of being made by FAST. I emailed them and they are still working on different runner lengths. So, evidently redesigning it hasn't been as easy as expected.

 

my buddies mom owns baycity blueprint, and they do all the hard copy blue prints for GM powertrain, so i might have to give her a call and see if she could get her paws on a copy of the blue print, heck its a start to writing the CAD for it!!