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Air Optimizers/Turtles
Pontiac V8 Air Optimizers/Turtles
Fuel Distribution You Can Bolt In — Air Optimizers/Turtles for Pontiac V8s
An air optimizer — the shop name is a turtle — is a billet block that bolts into the floor of a single-plane intake plenum. Its job is fuel distribution: it breaks up and redirects the incoming charge so each runner gets a fairer share, which matters most at low rpm where a big single plane is weakest.
Butler machines two sizes in house, one sized for the Hurricane plenum and one for the Northwind, Edelbrock Torker II and Victor plenums. Both are drilled and tapped for the 5/16 mounting bolt, which is included.
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1. What It Does and When It Helps
A single-plane manifold with a large plenum makes great top-end power and gives some of it back at low rpm, because the charge does not distribute evenly to all eight runners down there. An optimizer sits in the plenum floor and aids atomization and distribution of fuel, especially at lower rpm.
| Hurricane size | 4 inches long by 2.4 inches wide by .775 inch tall, cut to suit the Hurricane plenum. |
| Northwind, Torker II and Victor size | 4.7 inches long by 3.3 inches wide by .775 inch tall for the larger plenums. |
2. How It Actually Installs
This is a drill-and-bolt job, not a bolt-on. Read it before you buy, because it means a hole in your manifold.
| Locate it | position the mixer in the plenum where you want it and mark the center. Both sizes come drilled and tapped for a 5/16 bolt, and the bolt is included. |
| Drill and mount | drill the hole to accommodate the 5/16 bolt, then install through the bottom of the intake plenum with a washer and lock washer, or use thread locker. |
| Manifolds with a bottom heat crossover tube | these work on those too, but there is an extra step. Drill a hole in the outer heat crossover tube for a 3/8 inch pipe plug. That hole gives you access to the inner side to install the optimizer bolt. Reinstall the 3/8 pipe plug afterward to seal the outer hole. |
Measure your plenum against the two sizes above before ordering, and do the drilling with the manifold off the engine so nothing ends up in a cylinder.
Not sure what your Pontiac needs?
Email our tech team at tech@butlerperformance.com. Tell us your engine, heads, car, and power goal, and we will put the parts together as one combination that works.