Hey. I just recently picked up my 86 camaro and it has the tpi setup on it (i think its the stock intake on a new block). It also has a new throttle body on it, accel 2x58 1000 cfm. but what is the best way to get the air there. because everything before that is stock, even the air filters which are pretty dirty. So I was thinking about just maybe getting a couple k&n air filters? And also, if I wanted to get a cold air intake, where would I put it. Also, ram air, cowl induction, etc. How would the cowl induction be setup? I am just trying to think of some ideas, becuase I don't think the guy I bought the car from really finished up the project. I mean its got headers, exhaust, throttle body, a whole new zz4 block, and 373's, but stock air filters? I dont know. Anyways, I think this will be the first thing I am going to work on. Thanks a lot for your help guys.

 

Go get a 3x7" Kn cone filter

Go to Home Depot, buy a couple feet of 3" black ABS pipe, 1-45* angle elbow, and a 90* angle elbow. When you get to the section of the store you'll see what I'm referring to. All the peices are in the same aisle and all are black so your engine bay won't look to ghetto.

I did this in my car, sorry no pics, but when you get all the peices, it's pretty straightforward, trust me. I have also removed it, not because I didn't like it, but the coolant resevoir has a hose that goes to the radiator, well this intake rested on that flimsy rubber tube and it ripped so the overflow coolant would leak out. I didn't want to ruin anything so I put the stocker intake back in until I can figure a way to re-route the hose.

Good luck. Pm me if you want a pic and I'll try and get one.

-Kevin

 

So let me get this straight:

You have a full exhaust, 3.73's, a new zz4, but stock tuned port hardware and you are worried about a cold air kit?

With 3.73's, don't worry about the intake track so much (by some K&N's and call it a day) - get a superram is you have emissions testing, or best option if you don't have emissions testing - get a holley stealthram.

Between the 3.73's and the ZZ4 you have a good head start - you just REALLY need and intake to make everything work together well. 3.73's with a stock tuned port is like trying to make a sprinter run a 3 mile race - it just doesn't work.

 

Well, like I said, I am not sure if the tpi is stock or not, but I do know that the car was a tpi originally, and the guy included a whole load of reciepts, none of which involved the intake. anyhow, I mentioned the 373s to kinda show a list of all the stuff the guy put in the car to lead me to think it was a project he never finished. Also, I just got emissions done on thursday and I wont have to again for 2 years. Also, I don't have that kinda money to dump into it to get a whole new intake setup. THanks for your help, and any other ideas would be very helpful. THanks again.

 

There is some free horsepower to had. My suggestion is to order the TPIS book. This book will give you all kinds of things to do.

Some examples. Take the baffles out from underneath your air cleaners. If you pull the filters, you will see them. You want to open this area up as much a possible. Then do the trick mentioned earlier with the tubing. I have also see it done with sheet metal!!! Next, is the MAF sensor. You can take the screens out and cut the heat sinks off. BE CAREFULL!!! The sensor is delicate. The TPIS book will show you how to do this. One other thing is the plenum. If you have the larger Accel TB, then you need to do some grinding to match the larger bore size.

 

Sorry, but I can't understand all of what you are saying. I am not very big on mechanics. And also, I need to see this tubing idea you guys are talking about so I can try it myself. And also, pictures of anything you mentioned would be good. I think I do know what you are talking about under the filters though. Theres kinda like a big square of plastic with a little hole for air to come in? Also, who else makes good filters besides k&n, because they're like 30 bux a piece. thanks again.

 

Cold air for the intake is a good thing. You loose power as the temperature of the air increases.

Look at the difference in power between a "cold air" Grand National and the "hot air" version.

 

If you want more air from you intake, gutt the airboxes and get some k&n's, it flows alot better than stock. Those gears are kinda steep on a TPI, so I would suggest headers porting your plenum, runners, and base to let it flow to a higher rpm to take advantage of those gears.

 

True, but I really think you are going way off the deep end by comparing compressed air generated by a turbine spun by another turbine which is spun by hot exhaust gas that shares the same shaft; to the natural tempature air an engine would suck in.

Also - I'm against de-screening the MAF. I'd look into finding out exactly what your intake is made up of. Take some close up pictures of the base and runners and post them here... maybe someone can give you a better idea of where you stand.

 

the sad thing is, i don't really know what some of the things you are talking about are. I mean, I guess I can take some pics of everything tomorrow. And then let me know if you need a pic of nething else. Thanks again.

 

Don't sweat what you know or don't know...keep searching the board for your answers, after 142,456,978 hours, you should be well armed with enough info to get you going

Thing is with a TPI (stock) you have the biggest restriction in the runners, and there's not a lot you can do there, since they're thinwall tubing to begin with...

There several different intake setups, that allow more air in, but depends on whether you need to stay emissions legal, or not.

The suggestions of cold air intake/etc, is good in general for any engine, colder air is denser, packs more O2 when it hits the cylinders and allow you to burn more fuel...ala make more pwer.

That said, there's only so much bolting on an air track will get you...

So as mentioned before, search, read, learn, etc, then figure where you want to go.

 

I an a rookie.. but these guys are great.. start searching this site, and start searching the internet... there is more on free cold air intakes out there than anything else for our cars.. just start looking here os one syte i lookd at that will explain a lot of what there guys are talking about...

http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox/tips/tips.htm

also the book they are talking about is this: BUY IT!!! cheap research...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...lance&n=507846



and welcome to the club from one nube to another..

 

OK. So, if someone would be so kind...could someone just list a few of my options, a range of how much it might cost, and how much it would help me out. I am pretty sure the runners are stock, and i don't know about porting the plenum myslef, although the tools are available to me. And, I don't really know what the base is...do you mean the manifold? Thanks a lot for all your help.

 

you can spend form 50$ to 700$ depending on what you want... not much power maybe 3-5 for the 50$ home made job 7-10 for a 700$ ram air setup... Horsepower is not made with one or two mod’s it is a cumulative effect over many mod,s...

If you want cheap hp, just strap on nitrous like the import idiots… but don’t post any msgs when you blow up your rear-end/ tyranny.

and do research, all this info can be found with an hour or so of looking.. try Google...

 

Oh, I know. I was just curious about what my options are. I mean I know that my engine, linked to the tpi and the current flow I have right now, is just starving my motor for air. I was thinking maybe new air routing, maybe new runners or something, or a whole new intake setup? I just wanna know my options, how pricey they are, how hard they are to make work, and results. I don't really want the most hp i can get, or cheap horsepower. I just know my engine is starved for air and I want to get it to it. Thanks for your help.

 

ZZ4......Maybe this will be a step in the right direction. Alot of good tips w/ pics too. https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/tech/

 

wow thanks. I didnt even know this was here.

 

After some reading I think it is most sensible to go with the super ram setup from where I am now (especially considering I have emissions laws here). Which parts besides the plenum and runners would I need to replace? Would I need to replace the manifold? And after this is done, what are used tpi systems running at? Thanks a lot for all the help and all the helpful links. For right now though, I will just get the k&ns and remove all that plastic from under the air filters.

 

You can upgrade parts of it but to get max potential all the parts of the TPI setup need to be able to flow. If the throttlebody, plennum (box on top), and runners (tubes on the side) can all flow alot, but the base is stock (manifold attached to the head), you'll have a bottleneck. To get the max flow you gotta spend alot of $$ because you have to upgrade each part of the TPI setup. Here are some other questions to ask yourself: What kind of powerband do you want? Different style intakes have different characteristics. TPI is well known for making good torque, while the shorter runner style intakes are known for making more horsepower at higher RPM's. Will the cost of the upgrade versus actual gain considering the rest of the motor (heads/cam) really be worth it? In other words, would it be worth it to drop a $1000 intake on the stock heads and cam? Depends on your situation. Sometimes the $$ could be better spent elsewhere in the motor.

 

If you read elsewhere, you would notice the zz4 block, edelbrock headers, accel throttle body, flowmaster exhaust, 373 rears, etc that i already have in the car. And I know with all this and stock intake my car is dying for air. So yea, I think this should be my next project. If you think otherwise, let me know for sure, cause I don't wanna dump money into this if you think I can get power elsewhere. THanks for the advice though.