I'm having some issues getting my Edelbrock TPI stuff together. I start the bolts at the bottom of the runners (to the base) and then start the bolts at the top of the runners (to the plenum). I slowly go around and tighten them all a little at a time till everything is tight. But it turns out the runners won't seal to the base.

Anybody have a better way to do it?

 

****ty build quality? I don't know. Isn't that setup like 1000.00! It better fit!

 

I agree. Edelcrock doesnt have a QC department. My first guess is that the manifold or runners are improperly machined.

 

Is it possible that one or more of the bolts is a tad too long and is bottoming out before sealing the runners?

Or did you happen to inadverently swap bolts to the wrong location?

Measure the depth of the holes the bolts go into and compare that with the amount of thread that extends past the runner.

The threads should extend about 1/4" less than the hole depth.

Jake

 

You might look into trying to tap the holes. I had to do it for a few of my holes just when taking the plenum off to put on a fpr.

 

I ran into the same problem when installing my SLP runners on my accel base. Granted I wouldn't expect these problems when you get everything from the same manufacturer, but who knows.

In my case, the flange around the bottom of the runners was a bit too big to fit within the machined area on the base. 5 minutes with a dremmel took care of it. This is why it's important to pre-fit everything before installing it.

 

I don't think it's a quality issue, cause the surfaces seems to be machined just fine and it appears to be a quality piece. I also don't think it's a threaded hole issue since I helicoiled all the questionable threads.

But you know...I think you might be on to something with the bolt length. I'll have to check on that. I bought it used off of e-bay (so I woulnd't pay all them bones) but it didn't come with any hardware so I used the stock stuff. I'll measure when I take it apart.

Nobody would happen to have the numbers for the bolt lengths on the Edelbrock runners laying around would they?

 

The surface might look fine, but is it at the right angle?

 

Madmax,

Are those surfaces supposed to be at an angle or completely flat? My stock runners SEEM completely flat, but I have never actually checked. The reason I ask is because it would seem easy enough to lay them against a flat surface if the latter were supposedly true. If not, is there an easy way the "average joe" can check this out before discovering a vacuum leak? If the surfaces were supposed to be at a slightly different angle, I am not sure mocking it up first would work, as the difference may be too slight to tell?

 

Test fit your stock runners to the base, and the aftermarket runners to your stock base and plenum.

 

I guess that would imply they are supposed have a flat surface? I guess I just overanalyzed the above statement.

 

From one set of runners to the other (the pairs of two on each side) they should be the same surface. The real question is, the angle relative to horizontal or vertical, depending on how you want to look at it. From vertical, I think the faces the runners bolt up to are tilted inward around 5-10 degrees or something like that. I'm sure both sides are the same as well. Who knows if Edelcrock made the manifold right, I know for a fact they can screw that up.

 

Do the gaskets have the little plastic holding tabs on them? I found that when I was rebuilding my TPI the tabs were too long for the holes they went into and had to be sanded down a little so that the gasket would seal properly.