Hey guys, I am getting ready to replace my TPI manifold with another stock TPI manifold, which includes taking all of the stuff off of the intake on the car right now and installing the new manifold with all of the aforementioned equipment. I was just looking for any tips that any of you may have. Maybe there is a procedure to follow that makes things easier. Any info or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

I do not have any tips, but was curious as to why your replacing it.

 

that is confusing to me as well... if you are going through the trouble of replacing it.. why not snag an edelbrock or other better flowing manifold?

random tips: drain the coolant from the engine first! (unscrew the temp sender in the drivers side head).
mark the location of the distributer and rotor (or take a digital photo) so that you can line it up very close to its original position when reassembling.
buy some cheap tupperware or ziplock brand containers to keep bolts separate and organized for quick reassembly.
use a digital camera and take pictures as you disassemble it... will help you put everything back together if you forget where things were.
don't forget to transfer the oil splash guard on the bottom of the original intake to the new one.
this might be a good time to install an afpr or injectors if you are still running stock pieces.
mark vacuum lines, wires and connectors and note how they are routed (pictures handy here)... helps make sure you don't miss anything on reassembly
don't use the gasket that comes in the kit for the front and china walls... use a good bead of the black rtv there and you will have a better seal.
buy a haynes manual. not everything you need to know, but they got some handy stuff in there (bolt torque specs, etc).

 

Hey, thanks for the info Thunder85. The replacement is due to the fact that I had a bolt break off in the manifold for the thermostat housing, and upon trying to remove the broken bolt, the threads were messed up and the bolt is still in there. I would love to go with a more high performance intake, but I wasn't sure if I could shell out the $400+ for that, and I didn't know how long it would be until I can get a different motor. But now, high performance sounds a lot better.

 

So I got the swap finished up today, and so far everything seems to be ok. We will see after I put some miles on the car to make sure things are cool.

 

Too bad you already changed it. Drilling out the old bolt and putting in a heli-coil would have worked just fine.

I had the same thing happen on my car.

 

Yeah, that is true, but hey, at least I got the experience from doing the complete swap right? It was definitely a confidence booster for myself.

 

That's true, and now you have an extra manifold to play with.

Time to start porting!

 

Now I had the same thing happen. I researched the Helio-coil online but can't quite grasp the operation. How does it work?

 

first off, if it is just the bolt head, did you try drilling a tinny hole, and tapping a small torx socket in, and use a ratchet to get the bolt out?

If the threads are boogered up, you can use a drill bit that is just slightly bigger than the hole. Then in a heli-coil kit you get a tap, and threads that go in. Tap the new hole, then use the supplied tool to install teh coil threads. Bam! Fresh threads.

 

wow you too?? This just happened to me last week. my buddy and i were replacing his water pump and radiator... and since it was all apart why not throw a new thermostat in... well the bolt that sits a little under the plenum snapped off in the intake. needless to say i was not happy since i did it and tried everything to get it out without snapping it. I was really pissed cause it wasnt my car and that i knew the amount of work involved to get the intake off of a completely stock car.

But i would say its def easier to take a stripped bolt out when the intake is not on the motor and it gives you a good chance to clean everything and put fresh gaskets on the motor. Like i said we did this to my buddies 89 iroc with the original 100k 305 with all original gaskets. It def helped the cars performance and since we had it apart we cleaned it up and made it shinny

Def drain the coolant and note the dizzy/rotor location and mark cyl 1 on the dizzy cap so you have a reference. it helps a lot.

 

I guess this is a common thing. I mutilated the bolt trying to drill it out. Now I have to drill a bigger hole and tap it. If that fails, then off to get another intake.

 

Yeah, I tried to drill mine out at first and tried my luck with an easy out. It is so hard to drill right in the center of a broken bolt. My bit slipped ever so slightly into the threads, so it was a mess. That, and easy outs don't really ever work from my experience. There was just a ton of rust and corrosion between the threads.

 

When you tried to drill it out did you start with a tiny bit for a pilot hole, and then step up the size?

 

I tried a small bit, then a left-handed drill bit. That didn't catch. So I then tried a bolt extractor and that didn't work. That's when i turned to the drill bit the same size as the bolt, but I was offset center. Now I have drilled hole with the threads of the bolt still on one side.

 

Can't you go just a little bit bigger, and just use a larger tap, larger heli coil, and a larger bolt?

 

That is the plan right now. I'm just worried about the area of the hole. I will post pics later so everyone can see what I'm dealing with. Hopefully some suggestions will roll in.

UPDATE-
I didn't have a chance to take pics, but I did fix it. I ended drilling out the bolt with a 3/8" bit. Then, tapping it with a 7/16" tap that I picked up at Lowe's (came with both tap and drill bit). I also got the replacement bolt there. I had to grind down thereplacement bolt bc it was to long. It all worked out good. I will post pics of the tools I used.