hi i was just wondering was the distrib. cover an option? because iv seen 87 iroc's with and without them mine doesnt so was it an option or what.

 

They came on all the TPI cars, but, tend to be the first part lost, or simply left off, when doing tune-ups, and such.

 

True.
The thirdgens came with plastic.
The vettes came with aluminum.

 

Its cosmetic. Not needed. TPI owners also leave them off when certain types of dizzy's are installed, for example, 86 IROC -Z's use the large cap dizzy and if the coil was to be replaced with a bigger coil, then the dizzy cover wouldnt fit. If you dont like the way the end of the plenum looks, you know that ugly space where the dizzy cover should be, then buy yourself this cover here at JEGS.com http://www.jegs.com/i/Accel/110/140006/10002/-1?CT=999

 

ok so all tpi vehicles have them? i actually think i like it without the cover just my opinion though thx for you help guys.

 

 

The bolts that hold these on break really easy too. Next time you see a tpi without the cover look to see how many bolts are broken off in the plenum.

 

They will break easily if you over tighten them and constantly wash your engine compartment (rust). I used Anti-sieze and a small split washer to prevent the bolt from unskrewing itself.

 

Good to know. Unfortunately mine were all broken off when I bought the car and most of the tpi's I come across at the junk yard have the same problem.

 

where could you get replacement bolts?

 

Eazy bro. All you have to do is take off one of the throttlebody covers bolts, take it to Lowes or Home Depot, hit the bolts section and insert the bolt into the bolt measurement plate to find the thread and measurement size. Then buy three of them at around half an inch long. If the head of the bolt is not wide enough, then buy some washers too. You see the bolts on the throttle plate (see picture) are the same except the length.

 

cool, thanks for the tip.

 

wait quick question what do you need to remover/install those screws it it a allen wrench you need or a small socket?

 

The choice is all yours. OEM TPI Dizzy cover bolts are allen wrench type heads. Also available are the socket type, philips type and flat head screwdriver type bolts. So it all depends on the Camaro owner. Since I ran very low on cash, I had a couple of socket wrench type bolts. So what I did is I got my Dremal and cut a slot right across the bolt head. So now I had socket/flat head tyoe bolts holding down my dizzy cover.

 

ok well actually what i ment is like the original bolts that hold the cove on. mostly what i ment was the bolts holding down the tpi plate. sorry i should of explained it more.

 

Ohhh Okay. Every bolt that is on the Throttlebody is a Allen type bolt. The only different bolt are the mounting bolt that mounts the TB to the plenum. The bolts on the TB are all the same size as in thread BUT the lengths are the same. Now keep in mind though. The dizzy cover plate bolt holes vary in sixe depending if you have a dizzy cover from a IROC or Corvette. The Corvette dizzy cover was made of aluminum while the IROC dizzy cover is made of hard plastic. The Hard plastic dizzy cover has larger hole in the plate so thats why I suggested you to buy washers so that when you bolt down the plate, the bolt wont just slide through. Other than that, all bolts on the TB are "allen." Hold on, Im not done. Now if there was a previous owner to the Camaro, then maby, just maby, he may of had put different bolts on the TB. Example, my TB is suppose to have "allen" bolts. Well I replaced them with tamper proof torq's because it looks much more cool.

 

ok thx i was kinda curious about that but once i think about it how would a socket work on that with no edges on the bolt? lol. i think the engine is basically stock the whole car is i think the previous owner only had about im guessing around 15k miles on it but i could be way off or not. it has 27k miles right now
what do the bolts you are talking about look like i cant picture them. thx for the help.

 

Ok. here are the different types of bolts. The one that I used for my dizzy cover is the one with the black line across the head.

 

thx for clearing that up. i wanna replace all the black bolts with highly polished bolts but im not exactly sure what lenghts and stuff i all need.

 

ok, here's what you do. stand on the driverside fender. Get a piece of cardboard. Draw a picture of where the bolt should be. In other words you want to remove a bolt and stab it into the template so that when it comes time to putting the plenum and runners back together, all you would have to do is grab the template and position it so that you can know what bolt goes to what. Makes sense? Let me know so that I can further assist you. Feel free to ask. OHH good example. Have you seen when someone takes out the pushrods and places them inside a wooden block that has a arrow (signifing the front of engine)? That block is used so that the pushrods dont get mixed up. Use that same concept. So when your done, then take the cardboard template that has all your bolts through it with you as you go and buy new bolts. Take out an old one and then size it with a new one. If your satisfied, pocket the old one and insert the new one into where the old one was (thus keeping the same size bolt were it should be on the template). Make sure there is an employee there with you because since you have about 16 bolts, you can easily be a suspected thief (I actually experienced it, I had the police review the tapes and I was given a $20 gift card along with an appology.