This is a shade long, but I gotta vent someplace.

Old hot rodder, new to tpi. Have spent the last year slowly learning and upgrading my late '86. It finally ran like a charm, so of course it's time to do something else. This time it was more intake flow. My baseplate options were few, so I picked an Edelbrock base/runner combo.

20 years ago I bought an Edelbrock intake manifold (carb). It was so poorly cast that part of the carb flange was missing. I returned it. When I got a carb a few years later I opted for a Carter instead of the Edelbrock knockoff. I was smart. What age does to you.

The tpi mocked up decently, so I took the die grinder to it and siamesed the upper flange to compensate for the smaller ports on my plenum. All ok so far. After a bear of a time getting injectors to seat (using stock rail), deleting my EGR because it wouldn't fit under the plenum (planned doing that anyway but not for that reason) and jumping through hoops to get the right assembly sequence (the runners interfere with almost everything, but hey, I wanted beefy runners for future reference) the thing wouldn't stay running long enough to reset the static timing. My friend the mechanic gave me his smoke tester, and the passenger side was leaking top and bottom. Great fit.

So, apart it came again and I mocked it up on the car without upper gaskets to see if the lower runner ports would seal. Torqued to 22 lb-ft, and on an Edelbrock manifold using Edelbrock gaskets and Edelbrock bolts. Still a smokefest. When I pulled the fuel rail (to get the monster off), I saw my reason sitting on the baseplate. The rear passenger-side runner bolt flange had sheared off beautifully, along with part of the runner.

Great stuff, Edelbrock. Thanks again. Maybe I'll add a photo, or by then maybe my SLPs that I'm about to order will have fit and I won't be (as) mad anymore. Or maybe the baseplate will prove to be milled at the wrong angle and I'll end up pulling that too.

 

Geez what a pos and am i glad you posted this as i was looking at the same set up for my 88. Gonna have to rethink this now. I was going to use AS&M runners and that Edelbrock base. I wonder if the stock base can be ported to use these AS&M runners?

 

I feel yer pain...

I' do some outside porting and polishing for some of the area car builders. When someone brings me an Edelbrock intake or other part....I add $50-$100 to the cost just because thier $hit is so rough and the castings look as if they had not even been by the QC table or a grinder to knock off the edges...horrible. The metal surface is the texture of a pizza, with pores in the metal that requires several mm (not thousanths!) of grinding to level the surface for polishing.
casting seams everywhere, ridges inside and misaligned ports.

I've done a handful of other brand intakes, and NONE were anywhere as bad as the Edelbrocks...
One customer I have keeps bring the things in. I always catalog the porting so there is a record of how much went where...its not unusual for an Edelbrock intake to loose as much as 6mm on the sides of one port while nothing gets removed from the other edge. So poorly aligned that you;d loose 1/4 of the port if it were installed without the ports being "fixed" by someone like me that somewhat enjoys seeing aluminum shavings pile up around the work table.

I have no idea whats wrong at Edlebrock, but I strongly suspect that its the 'suit" mentality taken over...selling the name and no longer selling the product. Quality certainly is NOT a priority there anymore. Thats why we used to buy Edelbrock products...the quality AND the performance. Now,. you get neither. Just the name and thats loosing its value pretty damn fast with these crap pieces they are sending out. THATS what happens when you let bean counters run your business. The Suit mentality.

 

Yes.

its not as thick as the aftermarket baseplates so be careful...but even IF you go thru its an easy thing to weld some fresh material in and keep grinding. The port match CAN be done to other heads or runners with the stock base. When you;re done the stock base will be thin but open just as much as others. Safe to use.

 

where the heads milled down or block decked?

 

Thanks Lee. Never done any porting before. There's a bunch of youtube videos on doing it. I'll start watching some and get some ideas.

 

Nope. Dead stock. When I first pulled the plenum, all I did was remove the bolts and it pulled out with a little effort. With the Edelbrock runners (or baseplate... please, no...) I had to loosen the passenger side runner at the baseplate to fit it back in.

 

Doing another stock base right now takes a lot to get to 1.7 on the stockers. Think they are like 1.4

Spending more time on this than the others going to have it flowed next week before/after should be interesting. See how far off it is from the ported Accel.

Wondering if Eddy needs to update their mold maybe its old and getting worn out over time.

 

Get a couple cutting bits for the dremmel and find a piece of somethin to practice on a little... these hard steel bits eat aluminum pretty quick..so its just a matter of slicing off little bits and moving around so you don;t dig a hole. Once you get most of the metal out, then you go back with whatever flap wheel or drum or whatever you have to smooth out your port walls. Smooth the dibets out but not too smooth...you want some degree of rough surface. Boundry layer science...
Actually..the dibets are helpful if you leave a consistant pattern...ever look at a golf ball? it would not fly 1/2 as far if it were not for those small dibets on the surface...makes the air slip by faster.

match the ports to the GASKET ! Not the other parts...thats the most common mistake.
Cut the metal to make the ports match each other but thru the opening of the gasket as it is. If there is room to open more, go for it. The port match is just as important as the port size.
Piece a cake !

I think those dremmel bits are $5 ea and they have about 6-7 different sizes, shapes. Sharp as a razor too...Use goggles. Aluminum shavings DO fly everywhere.