If you’re not connected to the “tuner” scene, you may have never heard of Vibrant Performance, which is something we aim to correct right now. They’re a major supplier to import fabricators, with a catalog chock full of the sorts of things guys building a custom turbo setup or intake manifold need. Velocity stacks, turbo flanges, and mandrel-bent tubing don’t know the difference between 4 and 8 cylinders, so there’s a lot in the Vibrant catalog for anyone who loves all the bits and pieces it takes to build a race car.
That doesn’t mean that Vibrant isn’t courting the domestic market, though – their new Modular Intake Suite is a combination of intake flanges, runners, velocity stacks, and plenums that make it easier to build a custom intake at the fraction of the price of a fabricated sheetmetal or billet piece. We’re told that billet machined flanges for popular V8 intake bolt patterns are in development, and we’re looking forward to seeing what a skilled fabricator can do with these parts on an LS7 or 4-valve Modular. The idea is to free yourself from the time-consuming steps involved in building a custom intake, so you can concentrate on the “big picture” design.
You might be wondering what the young lady in the lead photo is doing - she's using FUSE, Vibrant's aluminum 'weld without a weld.' It's a low-temperature way to join or repair aluminum using just a propane torch. As you can see, it has the ability to fill gaps like the holes drilled in that oil pan, and to serve as a substitute in some cases for TIG welding. Those aluminum squares were flat to begin with - the FUSE fillet is so strong you can stand on the assembled piece and the aluminum will bend before the joint fails.