M1 vs. Strip Dominator

[stroker mike]

I had my new M1 sitting on the bench last night, and looked closely at it, and sitting next to my old strip dominator I started to notice the differences in them, such as the depth of the plenum in the M1 is almost twice that of the SD, and the ports of the Sd are less than an inch wide, the dominators ports are slightly taller than the M1, but overall the M1 is huge inside compared to the SD.

My question is simply if anyone here has run both on the same combo and how did each one perform? From searching the forum I read that for some the SD had great torque and made power all the way acrossed the board, and with the smaller port size I imagine it has better port velocity than an M1.

I have read that the M1 improved power and torque all the way acrossed the board. I'd like to know if anyone here has run these both and has an opinion.

[JVMopar]

There is a M1 single plane on the '88 Dakota out in the garage. It's a buddies of mine. He's got it on a small valve 318 with a 340 cam in it and a 600 holley. With a manual transmission it's not too bad. But really tempermental when it's cold out. Once it's warmed up there is no problems. And the thing really screams. Runs up a little past 6000 rpm where the single points start to break up. The MSD box failed years ago and the points were a "temporary" cheap fix. Been about 5 years of temporary LOL.

[stroker mike]

here they are...

[djswwg]

my brother had a SD on a 340 years ago, and that thing rocked. never had any other intake on it to compare it to except the stock one, and of course the SD was way better. the 2 reasons he chose it were extra hood clearance and the SD on my 440 worked so well. the 340 was warmed over, went mid-12's@108 in a street Dart. that was 11-12 years ago. the SD on my 440 was there when i bought the car in 1988 and always worked great. i remember calling MP's tech line to ask if i'd go faster with the (then new) M1. the reply was that it might be slightly better than the SD but not worth the cost to swap. he said if i didn't have an intake already then the M1 would be a good investment. that car went 11.60's at about 117mph. both were heavy street cars. i'm currently building a stroked 440 for a 68 Super Bee that must fit under the stock power bulge hood, and use a stock air filter. i've gone with the SD over the M1 again to ensure hood clearance and i know the performance will be there. the SD also is equipped for egr, so i plug the exhaust port and use the intake port to tap vacuum to a vac. gauge. the SD is also about $50.00 cheaper than the M1. having said all that, i would have used the M1 if hood clearance hadn't been a factor. both are excellant designs which is why they are both still so popular. btw, i have a team G on a stroked 400 (451) with roller cam etc. etc. and it's VERY restrictive, the 440 team G isn't quite as bad because it's wider. i'll eventually put an M1 on it-lots of hood clearance with big scoop................djs

[crisser]

I`d go with the SD. This is for a 318 huh? Without a lot of cam on a teen, I would go with a dual plane. But, if you have to go out and buy one, and you have the others, run the SD as I think the M1 would be better for a built 340 or better yet, a 360.

[stroker mike]

Well, it aint got alot of cam, just a 221/221 @ .050, 498 lift on a 108 lsa. but in a teen that's a decent cam, and since they rev so well and this cam is rated from 2400-6400 I figured I'd give up a little torque for the extra 900 rpm compared to my performer. I'd really love to find a 318 specific small port single plane that will work good with this cam and with nitrous. Cause I'm running a Nitrous Express mainline kit set to a 125 shot with the big NOS brand solenoids... just for kicks... and mustangs...

[70AARCuda]

I also notice the difference between the two the other day also..

I like the M1 alot better just looking at it..

[stroker mike]

I am lucky to have both, I think I'll try them both! Trial and error, I LOVE how the M1 looks, but the SD looks cool, too. But for me the bottom line is how will it launch? I have my Nitrous kicking in at 3400 right now, my stall is at @2800, but I might set it at 3200 and see what happens... I want it to SLAM.

[aarracer]

The M1 works REALY good if you weld in "runner dividers"!

[Streetwize]

The word I got was the M1 is really a mildly worked Strip Dominator based off of lessons learned by Arrow when they were doing a lot of the MP development work in the 80's....the manifolds are similar in performance. The plenum is large but a spacer on the Sd makes up for a lot of that. If the M1 has a weakness it is it needs either More Stroke or more RPM to get to the sweet sopt compared to the SD. The tops of the runners can usually stand some radius work "as cast" but I've never found any power on the floor but results may vary.

for a 318 the RPM is a better choice; the M1 doesn't really begin to outpull the RPM or AGRPM until about 4800 and thats really only on a decently ported head that the RPM didn't have enough cross section to keep up with. So unless you've got the valvetrain and gearing to wring the extra RPM for the majority of your powerband you may be better off with the dual plane, likewise even strokers with automatics and mild gearing tend to ET better (though not always MPH) with the RPM or AG. The SD or M! really go great inthe 6500+ RPM motors with lots of stall and light weight, you've got to rev a smallblock pretty high (even with longer strokes) to get an automatic's shift recovery RPM (on the 1-2) to not fall out of the single plane's sweet spot....but in a combination that does, the M1 will (generally) go faster AND Quicker.

[stroker mike]

I do have the valve train, got some ported 302's with big valves and crane ductile rockers. The weak link for me here is the gears. I have been trying to nail down some 4.10's for a few months but a body rear ends are getting hard to come by out here, unless to got some real money. Right now real money to me is anything over 400! Ha! money is tight. Thank you very much for the information, it helps alot.

[madmax2]

Originally Posted by aarracer

The M1 works REALY good if you weld in "runner dividers"!

have you pics?

[bulldog426]

i'd go with the strip dominator for the 318 between the two... but would rather go with an eddy performer rpm or rpm airgap, on the nitrous is that a plate kit, or a fogger style?? i'd say a single plane would help distribute the nos better with a plate kit, while with a fogger style that the nitrous is injected directly through each port wouldn't matter as much as far as intake being a single or dual plane...

[stroker mike]

My plate kit is a NOS brand cheater system with 150hp jet setup, big solenoids and a Nitrous express bottle with high flow valve and a dedicated electric fuel pump, I am plumbling another line from the fuel cell just for the nitrous. Should be fun! I will buy a few more sets of jets, prob 100hp and 125hp sets, to be on the safe side, don't wanna pop a hole in my silvolites.

[pcrmike]

I agree on the bennies of the AG. I have used the M1 dual plane and it was real good on the 318 and a relatively wild 360. Most of it's power came from teh heads, as it was a fairly mild cam. Show was over by 6500 on it, and the M1 DP was perfect for that. The torque was un-be-lievable.

For your setup, I tend to agree with bulldog and others on the RPMAG though.

[stroker mike]

Almost done