Is there tall deck intakes and short deck intakes, or are they the same. If they are different can a tall deck fit on a short deck?
Thanks

They are not the same. It may be possible to have a machine shop cut the tall deck manifold to fit the standard block. It depends on the manifold.

as the deck on the block gets taller the heads mover farther apart. so a standard intake will no longer fit.

i am dealing with the same problom rite now. i got a set of merlin heads with a dart intake and now i put the heads on this weekend and now the intake wont clear the heads. my machineist said it would be cheaper and fastes to just buy a new intake. whats the deck height on a stock 454 big block. also what do you guys rec. for a intake. i am spinning no more than 5000rpms. thanks

Tall deck manifolds will not fit on a short deck. Check around and I think you can find spacers to fit a short deck manifold on a tall deck block.
Gary

yes, you can but only for the rect. port heads

9.8 standard, 10.2 tall.

great, thanks

98itrwhite, I spoke with you when you were considering building a 496 stroker. What did you end up building? In response to you question about an intake I was told by more than one person that the Edelbrock Victor Jr 454 is hard to beat on a 500ci or less engine. I used this manifold on my 496. The intake needed a bit of "cleaning up" in the ports but overall I feel it was a good choice for my setup. Just my 2 cents...

i decided to just keep it simple and put my heads on the bottom end pretty much like ''330hp on roids'' thing. i have terrible luck and the more stuff i do to an engine the slower it goes for me its just my luck.