Aaron's 87

I'd like to upgrade the base and runners on the TPI. I do need the upgrade to feed my stage 3 heads. I'd rather stick with long, non-siamesed runners for the street though.
Is there any difference in the Edelbrock and Accel bases? The Accel is at least $100 more. I've heard of casting problems in the Edelbrock - runner bolts in the water jacket, fuel rail bolts down too low, etc...

Most say AS&M for runners. Are the Accels or Edelbrocks that much worse? The AS&Ms have 3mm more diameter than stock, but what else makes them worth it?

I'm running out of money, so I'm looking for used stuff. I've looked on corvetteforum and thirdgen classifieds. Has anyone seen these things for sale anywhere else?

Brian Shaughnessy

I haven't had the pleasure to see an accel up close and personal but I do own an Edelbrock and my last Saturday morning was spent changing back to old gaskets because I used accel/Mr. Gasket plenum/runner gaskets (74195G or something like that) to put it back together when I decided to port match my SLP runners to my plenum better. Anyway the gaskets are too thin or the runner and plenum are warped... whatever, I had a big vacuum leak.
So, if the gaskets are any measure, the accel tpi base openings are HUGE compared to stock and Edelbrock. If I'd have known that I might have spent the extra bucks and got the accel to start with.

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'89 Formula - Thunderchicken - 355 Vette L98/T-5/3.45 9-bolt/black/t-tops - the fun car!
'90 GTA - The GTA - 5.0 LB9/TH700/3.27 9-bolt/black/t-tops/tan leather - the cruiser.

Aaron's 87

ttt

Lounge Lizard 6

If you are looking for used I would peruse thru the ads and look for a TPIS "Big Mouth" base. The LTR's from AS&M and TPIS are superior to the cast pieces.

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Mike

'90 IROC-Z, 5-speed, ZZ4, Trick Flows
Moderator SEThirdgen

Tom Keliher

Go to the Tech Articles and in there somewhere is a flow comparison chart for all aftermarket TPI bases, runners.