Hi all
I dont know where my heads came from, so i guessed I would have a problem with this and sure enough i did, when I placed the tpi manifold on the heads, the four rear bolt and four front bolts lined up perfectly, but the four in the center on the manyfold I cant get in, it's angled all differently. Tell me people, being a backyard mech here, if I have the front and rear 8 bolts in, do I need the 4 center bolts? I used serious gasket sealer on both sides of the manifold gasket, Am I good to go without em??

 

I would correct the problem. Try it if you'd like.

Sounds like you have early heads.
You can oval out the 4 center holes in the manifold to make them line up with the heads.

 

Yeah, I figured I could drill the holes bigger in the manifold to solve it, I asked cause right now its sitting on all that gasket sealer and gasket silicone, it's gonna suk pulling it up. But I didnt want to continue building the whole thing up just to have to go back down.

 

I honestly don't know if it will be a problem but I know that it could be a problem. If you're most of the way there, i'd fix the problem now. You can't put a price on peace of mind.

 

I would suggest that you will have oil vapor sucked into the ports from under the intake (a nice supplement to the PCV system). but also will have external vacuum leaks and possibly coolant leaks.

The bolts need to be installed, but I'm not certain the later TPI intake bases have adedquate space to accept the 90º bolt angle of the early heads. The early intake bases can be modified to fit the 72º bolts of the later heads, but the reverse may not be possible, or may be possible only with smaller diameter bolt heads, such as Allen cap screws.

 

it wont last long

 

Where do the four longer bolts go on the stock intake manifold? I have 8 short and 4 longer. I put them on the corners but they fit in other holes too. And another funny thing, after I touque the bolts down to 30 ftpds, they don't feel like they grab very good because they come off pretty easily. Thoughts on that?