Again, check out
Maxbore.com.
Thanks for the lead, Centaurus5.0!
That looks interesting; if time permits and I can come up with the resources, this would definitely be an option; thanks so much for sharing the link and writeup, and for your generous offer earlier, Vroomzoomboom.
Here's the best pic of how wide the center is ported
That, boominXplorer....is a work of art that only the few that have struggled can appreciate; how did you know how much was not too much, and keep from breaking through? Your example is definitely an option - I'm still waiting for word from Bob at Extrude hone for pricing info; however, I have a feeling it is going to be through the roof...and, like many of you have said, and obviously so, the performance potential of fabricating a larger one would far exceed anything that the stock part could offer...if I can put together the labor resources (such as a good welder that would be willing and able to do it).
I had used a professional products typhoon intake with this elbow
Turdle, thanks for the option; I've also looked at some of those edelbrock ones, but, unlike the one you reference, I don't think they come with EGR.
I know i'm preaching to the choir here, but on a project like this with so many problems to solve, it becomes a question of what to give priority to, and the time available; the problem is especially compounded when the goal is increased performance, and so many potential bottlenecks arise. You are left wondering which should come first; for example, doing something with the stock airbox. The easy route is just shove a conical filter in there and plumb it in to the new, larger maf housing; however, now you've just done away with the cold air induction that the factory put in there...so, do you find a V10 airhorn to graft onto the stock airbox, along with opening up where the stock maf resided and running a hose, or spend a week fabricating something better? The throttle body issue comes to mind as well; I know there must be someone out there who has done at least several linkage conversions, and knows the streamlined way to do it; and if I could find them, they probably would have no problem with me sending them the new accufab unit and a 65 mm Explorer donor TB to perform the surgery for a small fee....ditto for the elbow issue...Of course, any of us that have been in the game long enough know two things for sure: 1) a good fabricator is never around when you need one (unless you look in the mirror and, in my case, are willing to take the word "good" out of the equation), and 2) time is the enemy of projects like these - the longer it drags out, the greater the odds are that it never gets done.
.....Ok, back on topic, excuse me for venting. I appreciate so much all of you guys that are contributing on the thread here; and, I'm thankful for all of your ideas - I hope to be able to utilize them. Right now, I've got pretty much everything standing by except for these few hurdles concerning the intake path; but, I knew going into it that challenges like these invariably arise. For the time being, I may be forced to get it up and running in a less-than-ideal configuration; for example, I think I'd be foolish to cut up my only 65mm throttle body when I know the combination worked before...as some of you guys may know, I built this thing back in 2009 for my daughter, and the divorce followed soon after (coincidence?), followed by seven years of estrangement. Even with 19 lb injectors, the stock NRT1 pcm, redneck ex-wife boyfriends, and a minimum of care, they still drove it for 20,000 miles (destroying a Luk heavy duty clutch in the first 10,000), before leaving it to rot in the woods when the tires got bald. With that said, I know the basic project was successful, it just needed to be idealized.
If you guys have other suggestions/ideas, I appreciate hearing them; and, I will keep you posted on the progress - I'm hoping by December to have it running, but you never know; a general rule of thumb for me has always been to figure my worst case scenarios of time and money on projects like these, and then triple them; if I can come to grips with the sacrifices and still want to take them on, I might have a chance at success, otherwise, I've learned to not even start!