F.I. 57 Belair

Just wondering if any one has successfully removed minor dents from their TPI runners. I found a kit on the bay that consists of one steel ball and some wooden ones that you force through the runners but it also expands it to 1.511 id so it looks like you would have to do some grinding at the entrance of the runner to start the *****. Has any one used this kit? I can order 1-7/16 and 1-1/2 inch steel ***** from McMaster-Carr for less than 1/2 the price of the kit. I really do not want to take a chance on expanding my runners oversized I just want to remove a couple of dents.
Thanks

Peter Bowen

Search for dent removal ***** for musical instrument repair. A strong rare earth magnet, a sheet of teflon and a chrome ball about 75% the size of the runner would probably do it. Let me know how it goes, as I'm planning to go this route once I get the engine running right.

NCC-2569

iTrader: (1)

Someone once said to fill the runners with water and place them in the freezer over night, so the expanding water would push the dents out.
Never tried that, though.

F.I. 57 Belair

Well after some more research yesterday I ordered some steel ***** from McMaster-Carr. I should have them today as I am one day shipping from them. I will let you all know how they work out. I was able to remove about 75 % of both two yesterday using a piece of I-1/4 inch steel round stock that I slightly rounder over for a dolly and a small body hammer. The steel ***** should finish them up.

F.I. 57 Belair

Well I was successful in removing the dents in my TPI runners. The 1-7/16 ***** along with a body hammer worked great for stretching the dents out. I slowly pushed the ***** through and worked the highs with the hammer. When I finished I lightly sanded the area with 180g sand paper then glass beaded the runners. After paint they look great. since I had the runners and plenum off I decided to replace the injectors since the engine has not been run since 2002. It was a 40,000 engine from a 1991 Z28 that was never driven in bad weather. The PO gave it to his son on his 16 th birthday and the kid promptly lost control showing off and put it into a ditch. I was able to buy the engine and 700R4 along with all wiring ecm etc for a very good price. I turned it over a couple times a year along with running the oil pump with a priming tool to keep it lubed up.

Pro

The freezing trick may work but you have to cover both ends up. Otherwise the water just expands out of those ends lol. I tried it several times and gave up. No amount of tape will work. You need something stronger than aluminum to hold those tube ends closed. I ended up using those ***** as well. I didnt use the larger *****, just the smaller ones because I didnt want to port the tubes as much that was required to get them in. The size of the smaller ***** was just enough to slide thru the opening. But since they were slightly smaller than the actual size of the tube it didnt get the entire dent out, maybe 95% of it. But that 5% i couldnt tell.

Peter Bowen

Reading this post when not logged in, we should use the word sphere instead... LOL! If you search YouTube? There are some pretty cool sax and tuba repair videos.

F.I. 57 Belair

I tried a you tube search on dent removal with no luck when I was trying to figure out how to remove them. As I said earlier I looked at a kit on ebay that came with ***** and a dvd but it stated that it stretched the tubes to port them and it looked like some grinding was required to accomplish this.

I ordered both 1-7/16 and 1-1/2 inch steel ***** from McMaster-Carr and the 1-7/16 worked great. I would have had to open the entrance to the runners about .040-.050 to start the larger ***** and since the tubes are so thin I did not want to take a chance. When I get my new injectors and AFPR and have it back together I will post a couple of pictures of how they came out.