are the heads all the same, or are they different for tpi motors, i heard that they are different castings for the fuel injectors to work. is this true or not?
im getting a tpi and my heads are from a TB car, and i dont want to make this a big deal
plus will it help to expand the openings in the base to match the gaskets, will that benifit me on tpi, or is it no use!
thanks,
keith

 

TPI and TBI engines use different heads, yes. I dont think there is enough difference for you to spend the money on getting a stock set of TPI heads though. Keep what you have, or get a set of aftermarket performance heads.

 

but i will be able to use the heads i have with no mods or problems, guessing the surface for the intake matches the surface for the base, other wise saying the intake gaskets are the same.?.?.?.

 

They will bolt up fine

 

alright, but will they screw with any performance, my dad says that the injector goes directly to the heads, not even in the base prettymuch, is that true

 

Injectors go into the base, not the heads. TBI heads actually work VERY well with stock TPI components and mild cams.

 

NICE SET UP, how did u get your base that nice, and has anyone tried this trick....
put water in the tpi runners and set them in your freezer where the water sits on the dent, and then after awhile, it will pop out the dent.
ive heard it working, just asking has anyone tried that personally, and how long does it take, and will it be worth asking my pearents to lend me half the freezer for my intake, lol

 

There must be enough water above the bump inside the runner for the expansion force to pop the dent. And no I haven't tried but, I do have dents.

 

I actually am glad someone else asked this question. I am building a 305 using a 91 tbi longblock, 88 tpi, and an LT1 cam (plus headers and the usual easy stuff). I just want a fun street car, hence the 305-5speed combo. I was wondering about the head issue too, cuz i didn't want to go thru the trouble of finding tpi heads to rebuild. I guess I'll be ok using the tbi heads...

 

it depends on the tpi. my tpi has 12 bolt manifold with the center 4 bolts at 72 degrees and the other 8 at 90.
so you have to make sure you use heads that will bold up with that combo.
some modern vortec and post 92 heads are only 8 bolt, so you cant use them on pre 93 tpi.
some heads are 90 degrees for all 12 bolts.
so pay attention to what tpi you use and what heads you get to match up.
your 91 305 with stock heads may not work well just because 305 stock heads cant breathe well. and your 88 tpi is maf and not map so you might look into the bolt pattern for the maf, because i dont know if the bolts are all 90 degrees there or the center ones are 72 degrees.

 

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but i had a similar question.Already checked the bolt pattern, not an issue. I only want to do this the easiest way, and not spend too much money (just like everyone else). I am only looking for 240-250 horsepower, just enough to have fun with but not get me in trouble (and hopefully not tax the t5 too much). I figured on doing a little pocket port, clean up the combustion chambers, and shaving a couple thousandths off of the tbi heads (plus springs and seals) and dropping them on a rerung/rebearing stock short block.That, plus the LT1 cam, headers and exhaust, pulleys, injectors and regulator, and ignition should get me near that number (I hope). It doesn't matter to me if the motor runs out of breath at 4500-5000 because as a street motor it won't see anymore than that anyway... oh, and reprogrammed chip. My only question is will these heads do that for me? I haven't pulled the tbi heads yet and don't want to waste time on them if it won't... (all of the head work -except the shaving- will be performed by me so there is no question of cash cuz it won't cost any- and please don't say "get a 350" because i pulled one out of the car (factory replacement engine) and it has a cracked deck and i got this 305 for dirt cheap (go figure), plus i just like the idea of having a 305.)I know this is long winded, sorry, and once again didn't want to hijack this thread...any info or comments appreciated...

 

ok, lookin at the above pix, i might as well send the tpi back when i get it, it looks that the bolts are WAY wrong, but if im wrong let me know, i see some bolts goin straight into the heads, my heads are the old intake manifold style, the engine is an 87 that was on a monte carlo, and not offered tpi, and its a h.o. motor as well, but mine has the 16 bolts or how ever many there are, am i just over reacting too seeing a problem that dosent exist or whats goin on with that????

 

Fast355's pics are of Vortec heads and a Vortec TPI intake. He posted that only to show the location of the injectors.

Regular SBC intakes and heads have 12 intake bolts. You're fine.

 

yeap, found out that our heads are the same after all, and yea, that pic scared me looking at it, lol, thanks all for your help, and ill probably repost on this thread about any installation problems

 

I tried this a couple of weeks ago- first with Lite beer as suggested by Jon at FIC, and then with water. The beer didn't seem to do much, so I tried the water. It did help a little, especially if you have big dents, but don't expect perfect runners. Tape off the bottom with Duct tape, making sure you have a good seal. Then fill with water. Be sure there is no trapped air. I think this was my problem with the beer. Let them sit for 4-5 hours, and you will have a pretty solid chunk of ice. I ran warm water over the runners to speed getting the ice out, or you could just let them warm up to room temp.

Let us know how you do. Jon at FIC swears by this method, so maybe I just did not do it properly.

 

I put an 88 Iroc TPI setup on my factory L69 in my 87 MCSS. I simply just unbolted my stock intake/carb setup and installed the TPI intake setup(of course there was more to it as far as fuel delivery and wiring). As long as the intake setup you have is from an 87 and up f body, then you will be all set with using everything on that motor(the correct intake with the canted four center mounting bolts). HTH

 

I'vebeen told by a couple of people that 305 head ported fallowing the guide here in the tpi tech section should be good for close to 400 shaft HP. I could be wrong.

 

like the airbox setup, but looked at the base where it meets the heads, and goin back to the origional quesion, there is a notch where the injectors spary in the heads, through the base, i do have to trim into the heads so the injectors flow, but im not pulling my heads off, any suggestions

 

You don't have to trim anything. There isn't anything special about stock TPI heads as far as being notched or anything. The intake ports are EXACTLY the same as any other Gen 1 SBC head.

 

but looking at that surface, the heads will block the flow of the fuel, making it just not blocked but restricted, or as far as i c, i havent looked at the gaskets yet, plus is there any tips to cleaning up the tpi, far as runners, and the plenum, mine is red, so idk, i want to get the runners polished, any ways to do that at home, plus polished plenum would be nice, but prolly will never happen

 

The head will not interupt injector flow whatsoever. The injector sprays into the lower manifold runner, becomes mixed with air and flows through the intake runner in the head and to the intake valve. Clean everything up and bolt it all together, as for the dents in your runners I have no experience getting them out but the dent removal kits from ebay seem like the best bet.

 

alright, i finally got it all apart, and im trying to clean the plenum, the damn thing is painted RED, and the runners are sprayed silver, and the base red, im painting the base black, and might end up repainting the runners, but what do i do with the plenum? i dont want to paint it, i got most the red off, but i see little dots of red in small crevises, and cant get them out, is there a way to get this polished or something, i would love to get it that way, and maybe in the bottom of the fins black???? or does somone have a pic of silver runners on a solid black plenum? just to get an idea

 

Sandblast it. Of course you want to protect everything that you don't want to look like a brand new plenum (and everything you want to keep smooth) like the gasket surfaces, the front face behind the throttlebody (which obviously wouldn't be attached to the plenum still ) and all the nipples/sensors (if not removed), etc. I just used plain old duct tape and I used two layers and trimmed it with a razor blade. That plenum will look brand new when you are done, and the sandblasting will have no problem getting the paint out of those little dimples from the original casting marks.
That is how I did my setup(intake base/plenum) in the pic above.

 

do u have a close up pic with no glare, just for a closer look to see the finish

 

Basically, it will look like a brand new, RAW finished piece of aluminum right after it was made from the casting.

 

then what is the next step, i dont like how that looks, lol, sorry

 

The next step is to ask someone else.
Obviously I have no clue as to what you are wanting. You asked how to get the paint off the plenum, well that is one way. If you think you are going to get a mirror finish on your setup by someone explaining some magical 5 minute process, well I hate to be the one that has to tell you that it isn't going to happen.
Good luck on your TPI project.

 

has anyone ever taken that step to make their plenum polished, i have an idea if all else fails.

 

I grinded down all the mold lines and EGR barriers behind the TB ports which i bored out to 52mm.
I bought an aluminum Corvette Dizzy Cover.
I blasted the plenum and runners with walnut shells interior to remove carbon then exterior sand (don't remember what grit) including the cover and then water sanded to 400 grit and applied metal polish by hand. I didn't attempt to fix the dents in the runners.
My engine is green so I painted the plenum/cover grooves and the runner flanges to match. I also polished the fuel rails - that picture is already posted here's the link.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...fuelrails3.jpg

 

Get it BEAD blasted, not sandblasted... that method uses glass beads, and gives aluminum a really nice 'semi polished' look.... not polished looking, but not as dull as sandblasting. It looks fantastic. Thats the way I'd go... Ive done it on lots of aluminum parts and it looks awesome.

 

To each their own. It is all in what you want as a finished look. I got the exact look that "I" wanted by sandblasting it. The only reason I mentioned it, was that the OP mentioned how he wanted a way to remove the paint from his plenum, and I guess i just got the impression that he was working on a low budget platform (like myself I will say ) But maybe I was under the wrong impression(???)
Anyways, when you scroll up to the pic I posted above of the complete TPI installed on the motor, although some or many may not like it, it is exactly what "I" wanted and it cost me exactly NOTHING to do it. I did the runners myself with stuff I had laying around the house. I took all the molding seems off and ported some areas/etc. I took the parts to work and sandblasted them since it was free for me . Not sure what it costs to have things beadblasted, maybe the OP knows someone who can do it for him.

 

sorry, forgot to check ur name, but the one that has the polished runners and plenum, can i get an up close high quality pic of your plenum, runners im painting like they already have been, but can i please?? lol im thinking black in the grooves anyways.