Anybody thinking of buying an Accel base... save your money!! (56k warning) - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

LT1FUN · 10-11-2006, 03:34 PM

I just wanted to give all you TPI 3rd gen owners and would-be owners, a bit of a heads up on this little piece of info I discovered first hand the other day.The news will definetely be of interest to anybody on this forum who's considering picking up an aftermarket TPI base, particularly the so called "Accel/Lingenfelter" SuperRam base.

I decided to go with the Accel/Lingenfelter base because Accel had their own casting, unlike TPIS who gets their intakes directly from Edelbrock. (TPIS also turned down the oppertunity to do a G.P. with thirdgen.org so there was another reason to go with Accel) . Finally, the last reason for my wanting to go with Accel, is because everbody else goes with the Edelbrock, so I guess I just wanted to be different. Beside's, the Accel piece was a good bit more expensive than the Edelbrock at most stores so I figured, "Hey, you get what you pay for"....

Surly, the "Accel" base must flow much better than the Edelbrock since it's more expensive. Heck, over on Lingenfelter's site, they're asking $540 for it so it must be better right?. For that kind of money, there'd damn well better be a difference I thought to myself

Anyways, I found out that Jeg's carried the "Accel/Lingenfelter" base for only $386. About $1 more than what Summit Racing sells the "Edelbrock" base for.
I figured since I already had the runners on order, I may aswell upgrade the base at the same time and hit two birds with one stone.
I placed my order a few days back during the evening and got a confirmation email the following day letting me know the order had already been shipped. (Damn Jegg's has fast service!

) I took a quick glance at their website that mrning before going to work and saw somthing I wasn't expecting to see. The Accel base I had ordered a few hours earlier for $386, had been raised to $417 over night. Hmmm...... I figured I was lucky I was able to order the part before the price hike and just left it at that.

Within 2 days, my package had arrived.

Sure enough, (on the out-side anyways) everything seemed normal. The 20lb box had the Accel label on it, complete with the correct "SuperRam" base part no. right on it in big bold numbers 74197

So far so good.

That's when I opened the box and was surprised to see that inside, was not the "Accel/Lingenfelter" base I had ordered, but an Edelbrock "high-flow" base instead.

Looking underneith the base, it even had the Edelbrock part no. on it. Nowhere inside the box, or on the base itself, were the names "Accel" or "Lingenfelter". Nowhere. This was simply an Edelbrock unit inside a cardboard box with an "Accel" sticker on the outside.

Obviously, I contacted Jeg's right away to find out what was going on.

The gentlemen I spoke to, told me he asked for a 2nd "Accel" SeperRam box to be pulled from stock just to see if maybe, somehow, this was a packaging error and I simply received the wrong intake. After opening the box, it too, had an Edelbrock base inside. Same for the 3rd box he had pulled down. All were Edelbrocks.

Turns out, Accel/Lingenfelter (for how long, I don't know) have had Edelbrock supply their intakes to them and just shipping them out with an "Accel" sticker on the ouside of the box. Apparently, not even the Supervisor's at Jegg's had been notified of this "change" and had no idea. I was asked if I wanted to return the base but I said no. After all, what other choice's did I have? Every other base on the market, whether it's TPIS or Accel or an Edelbrock, it's all the same. At the end of the day, they're ALL Edelbrocks.

The main reason for my posting this info, is to hopefully,keep some of you from spending more money then you should, if any of you ever decide to go with the "Accel" base. There's no such thing as an "Accel" base. I lucked out because as I said, the day I placed my order, the cost was $386. Pretty much the same as what Edelbrock charges for their base.

Right now though, the price on the so-called "Accel" base is $417 on Jeg's and other retailers and as much as $500+ on Lingenfelter's site. So anybody from here on out, that orders one at those price's, will esentially be ripped-off.

I mean, you can either buy an Edelbrock base from Edelbrock for $386. Or you can buy Edelbrock base which comes in an "Accel" carboard box, for $30+ more. A lot of people who order the Accel unit and receive an Edelbrock base instead, will be really upset, since they basically just threw away $30+ just for the privaledge of having an "Accel" sticker on the shipping box...

And man, if you're one of those poor guy's that spent $500+ to get this base off Lingenfelter's site, and open up the box to see the word's "Edelbrock" and "high-flow" you're definetelygoing to be pissed

So in other words, if you're thinking of upgrading your TPI base, go with Edelbrock. Forget Accel or TPIS because they're all Edelbrock's to. Save your money. Buy the Edelbrock and do some port work on it.

Speaking of which, with the Edelbrock base, you're definetely going to want to port it. As you can see from these pic's, the ports were only cleaned up for the first 1/4" at most. The rest is pretty darn rough and obviously, could use a good bit of work to smooth them out.

It's a pretty nice piece don't get me wrong, but I would have liked if they came ported straight from Acce..... I mean, Edelbrock

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LT1FUN · 10-11-2006, 03:37 PM

Here's a few shot's of the ports. As you can see, there's still quite a bit of room for improvment. A LOT of room actually. I guess I'd better buy a dremel and get to work.....

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Zyth01 · 10-11-2006, 05:51 PM

Wow... that's really funny.

Thanks for the heads up!

LT1FUN · 10-11-2006, 06:08 PM

Well, I can kind of laugh at it now, because I came out even (financially speaking)The price I payed was the same as what Summit sells the Edelbrock base for.

But with the new price increase from Accel, anybody from here on out that orders this so-called "Accel/Lingenfelter" intake will be ripped off because they're spending more money on a product then they have to, all because of a "little yellow sticker" on the ouside of the shipping box

What get's to me most, is that neither Accel or Lingenfelter bothered to add anthing related to them, on this intake. For example, I would have thought at the very least, they'd request Edelbrock to not put their name on the casting's so that they could put their own instead. Sure, it would still be made by Edelbrock, but it would have the "Accel/Lingenfelter" logo in the casting 'ya know?

Nothing. They made no effort to differentiate this intake from Edelbrock's. They just throw it into a box and ship it out as is.

The fact that these guy's have the audacity to increase the price of these intakes knowing full well what they really are and how much they're really worth, really annoy's me. It's mis-leading. It's down-right false advertising is what it is.

Oh well. It's over and done with. I didn't pay the new Accel price so I'm lucky. Hopefully, anybody thinking of spending the money on a new Accel base thinking it's some how superior to Edelbrocks

will see this post and learn the truth.

madmax · 10-11-2006, 06:43 PM

Thanks for the concrete post on that. If you had searched, you would have found posts about this already, seems Accel lost their deal or whatever with the previous production so they just ran to Edelbrock.
Most recently, I posted this here:
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/tp...-advice-2.html (aftermarket runner advice)

Obviously you've totally eliminated any questions about it. Accel=Edelbrock.

Wonder if the Superram and runners are next?

Demon355 · 10-12-2006, 06:24 AM

Well at least you came out on top. Still a nice part, can't wait to get me one of those, lol! How much was it shipped/taxes/brokerage etc...

I don't know if I'll have mine for the rest of this year but for now or until I order a new base, I'll port my stock one to match the AS&M runners...

Orr89RocZ · 10-12-2006, 09:03 AM

wow, thats crazy.... didnt know accel now uses edelbrock?

cuz i had an original accel base with ACCEL written on it, and the ports on that were bigger than edelbrock base from what i seen in other posts/comparisons

shaggy56 · 10-12-2006, 09:37 AM

I measured my Edelbrock base which had a lot# from last year and when I measured the ports they were larger than what previous buyers that bought the Edelbrock base reported. Im wondering if Edelbrock is making the base closer to spec to the accel base now and that may allow them to get away with this Accel/Edelbrock sneaky switch. I used this page as a comparison. Still plenty of meat for porting!!!

Edelbrock High-Flo TPI intake

Abubaca · 10-12-2006, 01:16 PM

Good catch. I hadn't heard about that until now.

LT1FUN · 10-12-2006, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demon355

Well at least you came out on top. Still a nice part, can't wait to get me one of those, lol! How much was it shipped/taxes/brokerage etc...

I don't know if I'll have mine for the rest of this year but for now or until I order a new base, I'll port my stock one to match the AS&M runners...

I'll let you know how much I paid when I get my credit-card bill at the end of the month, until then, I honestly don't really know what the total was

I was actually thinking about just installing the intake "as is" . I don't have a dremel and I really don't want to shell out even more money to have it professionally done. I know that NOW would be the best time to do some porting since the intake is off the car and easily accessable, but without the proper tools, or the neccessary funding to have it done for me professionally, I don't have much choice.

Besides, with stock heads and cam, how much HP increase could I get from the additional port-work? Probably not a whole lot....

maroon88iroc · 10-12-2006, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LT1FUN

I'll let you know how much I paid when I get my credit-card bill at the end of the month, until then, I honestly don't really know what the total was

I was actually thinking about just installing the intake "as is" . I don't have a dremel and I really don't want to shell out even more money to have it professionally done. I know that NOW would be the best time to do some porting since the intake is off the car and easily accessable, but without the proper tools, or the neccessary funding to have it done for me professionally, I don't have much choice.

Besides, with stock heads and cam, how much HP increase could I get from the additional port-work? Probably not a whole lot....

you can pick up a dremel for about 20 bucks and then a porting kit for like another 15. i would go ahead and do it while the intake is off. you'll end up paying that in intake gaskets and sealent if you have to take it back off later on and do it. thats just my opinion though.

Demon355 · 10-13-2006, 05:47 AM

I have a dremel just need new bits.

I'm going to ask Andy today when I go pick up my car about porting my base to match the new runners. See what he thinks...

Fast92RS · 10-13-2006, 08:50 AM

Accels whole supperam line is not being made by them. As you can see there still trying to sell the superram base buts is not made by them. There superram plenum and runners are on back order and I cant get a answer from lingenfelter or accel when they will be produced again.

Pat Hall · 10-16-2006, 03:21 AM

I guess I got lucky when I bought a complete, used SuperRam setup not long ago. It actually has the intake with "Accel" cast in it. I can't tell if the ports on mine are smaller or larger than the Edelbrock since I don't have theirs to compare it to, but by looking at the pics posted, the inside of my ports are definitely cleaner than the Edelbrock intake. Of course the first owner massaged them a little bit anyways, so they could've been just as rough originally for all I know.

I guess the first owner must've purchased it before the switch to Edelbrock. As far as Accel doing something like this, it doesn't surprise me in the least. If you search the threads here, they also shipped out the wrong size lower runner gaskets for who knows how long without warning anyone. I wouldn't ever buy anything from them that involves electronics or actual moving parts. I think their ignition products are a joke, and there's also many threads about how crummy their injectors are. It's too bad Lingenfelter couldn't find a better company at the time that would've been willing to help him develop the SuperRam.

87350IROC · 10-16-2006, 08:37 PM

I ran into this same problem two months ago. Like you i called everyone and their mom trying to figure what the deal was. I came to the same conclusion as you. No mistake, edelbrock is making them now. Bummer. I posted here but everyone here just thought they put the wrong part in the box, despite what accel said. Oh well.

navyCM · 10-28-2006, 12:54 AM

Its F'in BS is what it is. At least let us know this is going on. Pure false advertisement. If I wasnt in Iraq I would have been on he phone long ago giving someone a piece of my mind when this came up in our GP board about the price increase. Good thing I didnt order it then when you mentioned it Phil. I would have bee real pissed when I got home to see an Edel in an Accel box.

Tobias05 · 10-28-2006, 01:47 AM

yeah this is pretty stupid, but i can't talk. I'll brb after i run to McDonalds and order a Whopper

Demon355 · 10-28-2006, 01:54 PM

I'm hungry now...

weberflorida · 10-30-2006, 09:11 AM

At least the intake looks good I guess!! Just joking.

1987CamaroZ28 · 10-13-2008, 11:02 PM

This is a way old post. But isn't this false advertisement?!