hey guys, just thought i would share my exprience so you guys can benefit. i have not seen any tpi car that did not have oil laying up in the intake base. and most of us know that the oil gets there by traveling up the intake manifold bolt threads. well i have an 86 LB9. i am currently rebuilding it. this summer when i drove the car it would smoke when i revved it, but no other time. well come to find out, my intake manifold bolts came loose, oil traveled up the loose threads and collected on the intake base. well since the bolts came loose, the intake wasnt sealing anymore and the intake manifold gaskets became oil soaked and began to deteriorate. when i initially revved the engine (such as leaving a stop light) it creates a higher vaccum in the intake ports and was sucking oil that got past the bad intake manifold gaskets, hence the oily plugs and blue smoke. when i got the motor apart i found that as a result of the intake manifold gaskets being bad, that coolant had leaked into the bottom end and somewhat severely conaminated the rod and main bearings. if caught early, i could have just removed the intake and resealed it and solved my problem. but this had been goin on for long enough that coolant had ruined my bearings. so i am rebuildin my LB9 anyway. i also talked to the guys at my machine shop and they said this is a common problem and it has happened before. just thought i would try to let you guys know, hope this info helps!

 

I use ARP thread sealant on the four bolts along with a valve stem seal(or any o-ring that fits snug)and never had a problem with these bolts leaking.Just a suggestion for those of you with this problem.I hate oil leaks,It is a PITA!

 

thanks for sharing the knowledge. good luck with your re-build.

 

my baby's(87 IROC-Z 305TPI) been sitting outside under a cover for 4 months because of winter and the lack of time to work on it. Guess what, it's got oil on the intake manifold! thanks for the info, i appreciate it greatly. Good luck with the rebuild!

 

I was taught very early on by a mechanic that has what seems like an endless amount of Small Block Chevrolet knowledge, that liquid teflon pipe sealant should be used on every intake manifold bolt on SBCs (as well as a host of other locations like water pump bolts). I know that the middle four are the ones that get the oil seapage, but it really doesn't hurt to put it on all of the bolts and sleep soundly at night. I always use liquid teflon on any bolt that is threaded into a coolant passage or crankcase area. All of the intake manifolds on the SBCs (and 4.3L V6s) that I own/work on are dry! I haven't heard of using O-rings on those middle four bolts, but It makes sense and would provide another layer of protection against leaks.

 

never seen this problem

 

well KDogg if you knew anything about TPI you would know this is a common problem. there isn't hardly any stock TPI cars that dont do it. the oil problem is not uncommon at all. i am quite sure i have worked on more small block chevys than you have and i am only 20. besides that, the guys i talked to at the machine shop have done more motors than i will ever see, i think they know what they aer talkin about. this post was for guys with TPI cars, not dudes with imports.

 

Thanks for that good piece of info.............unfortunately you were a day late in my case. I just did an injector swap (put in new Accel 24 lbers) on Saturday, retorqued the intake bolts (they were down to about 20 lb/ft) and put it all back together...........yes I did wonder about all that oil, but thought it was *only* related to the loosened bolts. Man, this place is great for learning. Guess next time I have it apart I'll put sealant on the threads.

Thanks again.

 

1POSZ

I think its pretty bad someone has to explain themself to you... I have two TPI cars and an LT1 car... I think your 20 years had been a waste so far. Just to fill you in I must be lucky becasue on both my TPI's there is no oil sitting around. Im sorry but I dont hang out at the local machine shop to be "cool". But my moms employee's husband owns one. If you ever need some real work done to your ****ty 305 come to Columbus and see the real cars...I'm sorry if I keep all my furom names the same for each webpage...Its pretty bad someone has to explain themself to another person on this board... I also see the major mod list you have...man did your mommy help you pay for those piddly toys

i edited so you can read my sig and see a real motor

 

well pimpwannabe, with a screen name with jetta in it how the heck would i know you had any real cars. and let me say that your cars are the vast minority when it comes to oil on the intake. and fyi, i dont hang at the machine shop to be cool. the guy asked me what happened to the motor to get an idea of what it would need and i told him how it smoked and told me right away what was wrong, and sure enough he was right. i dont care if you own 2 tpi cars or not, you must not see very many because most of them have this problem. every one i have seen around here does it. and where do you come off thinkin my car is a pos? have you seen it? have you heard it run yet? i dont think so. i am positive it is in better condition than yours. i bought the car wrecked and fixed the damage and my dad painted it. he is a professional body man, the car is as close to perfect as it gets. and if you wanna compare motors, compare apples to apples. bring any 305 up here to bryan OH, and i will give it a good run. i havent lost yet.

 

I have not seen one yet! I could see how it happens but, I don't think it is just a tpi problem. it probebly happens to fewer cars than you think. but, still happens and If you see 500 tpi cars in a year than I bet you see it on more than a few.

 

Well KDOGG why do you have to flame someone about there ride because they don't have as much as you do into there car???? You know some people might not be as lucky or has the resources that you have to have all the stuff done to your ride. I have a 305 TPI that will give you a run for your money in the 1320 and I dont have all that much money into mine. I still like the thought of being able to race every weekend and still have great fuel mileage. The slow little 305 got me 3rd in the Sportsman class at our track with no slicks or nothing fancy here they run trans brakes and electronics. And if you would happen to beat me, I do have the money to do what it takes to beat you so don't get sassy with everyone here because it sounds like you still live with your Mommy.

 

There is something up with this site! I have been looking at corral.net a lot lately because the components I'll use on my dual exhaust--mufflers, H or X, dumps or tailpipes--are the same exhaust things they are buying (in premade H/X and catback form ).

This sort of post-turning-into-a-flamewar thing is not nearly as prevalent over there. (Nic and others, would you agree?) Here, there are more people (or the same people pop up often; I haven't kept track) that are quick to get completely off topic and turn a post into absolute nonsense. Please grow up. This really is the best thirdgen site there is; don't bring it down to the lowest, most retarded, common denominator. I'm not even talking to the vast majority of people here, just the few who like to mindlessly toss insults back and fourth.

The other thing is that we need more members. Questions are answered faster/in greater volume at corral.net. Maybe we can get a hundred or so more Eds, Glens, Edes, Vaders, MadMaxes, Tazs, Zephers, Leos, Five7Kids, Jzas, etc. There are so many other great people on this site; these people just came to mind right now.

 

thanks for spreading the word about the damamge that can happen from loose manifold bolts. and no, this is not a TPI manifold problem. I have seen this on many SBC 305's and 350's. This is not a constant that happens on every SBC but it happens to alot of them especially an older motor just like valve seals that go bad with age and just like the stupid header bolts that back off. These situations are not 100% but there are plenty of people with this problem.

 

Can't we all just get along!!!!

 

yeah.. i think every registered user of this site should just shut up about differences... there are seldom guys that come here to start fights. And people with imports...for example "pimpjetta" in there name are prone to abuse. Oil on the intake is one of the most popular problems TPI has.. and if you didn't know you know now.

 

once again you guys must have fail to read my post i have never seen any oils probs on all the tpi cars ive seen...i dont live with mommy sorry, i do though live in a house...im dont flame anyone until they say im stupid because his daddy works in a bodyshop and painted his car, and everyone else im sorry once again becasue i use the same name for all the furoms im involved with you guys talk about flaming i think this is a poor site if everone tag teams someone for an opinion....one thing ive noticed in all the site i am involved with is everyone is beginning to be *******s'

 

aren't we here to help each other out and not put somelse down?

 

I think I have this problem also. My motor is oily where the intake meets the heads on both sides, kind of figured this was normal. But I also have a puddle of engine coolant that likes to settle in the manifold valley near the thermo housing. No it is not coming from the housing either. When I am driving the car regular, the coolant seems to disappear. But after it sits for a while it builds up. Car has only 60k on it, you wouldn't think I should have these problems. But it seems like every winter when the car is stored, the puddle is always there. Time to fix it.

This winter it is all coming apart for new gaskets and a host of other things. I was glad to read about the sealant on the intake bolts. Just what is "liquid teflon" sealant anyways?

These tech boards are just great, don't you think?

 

i had a 91 z28 with a 350tpi that had this problem. i now have a 86 iroc-z with a 305tpi....i did the rebuild with liquid teflon......no probems yet:rockon: best of luck........by the way, i doesn't matter if you live with your mother or not.....heck, i wish i had a rich momma that would buy all my mods all that matters is you love the f-body!

 

I just did a rebuild on my 87 305 tpi, and also did a cam change on my buddys 86 305 tpi, both motors had this problem, and my other buddy`s 89 iroc is going to be getting new intake gaskets for the same reason.

 

Man, people love to jump all over each other all the freekin time... cant we all just get along?

 

When I built my motor and put it together, I cleaned the stock bolts and put them back. Somehow it managed not to leak in the 10k miles it was there. Because a couple of the torx bits were all boogered up, I bought all new intake bolts when I put my Accel base in. The intake bolts, when new, come with some thick goop on them in order to seal the threads. I liked this stuff. It's VERY thick (it felt hard when I touched it), instead of being thin like teflon paste. I don't like the teflon tape because if some of it breaks off, it may plug an oil return line.

In any case, if I had any point to this ramble, it's that if you buy new bolts (a good idea anyway), they'll come with crap on them to seal.

 

I have 2 86 IROCs. The 305 TPI has 130,000 miles on it with no leaks at the intake manifold. However, the other 86 IROC has a rebuilt later model 350 in it and I've noticed it usually does have a small puddle of oil near the left front passenger side of the intake. Now that I know it could be worse than a small oil leak I'll have to check it out. Good catch!

 

Thanks for the info on the oil leaks.I got one right in thr front on the driver's side.Next week I'm pulling the intake cause I'm using alot of oil & it's getting terrible gas milage.Also fouling out plugs in a short time period.Read somewhere that oil maybe leaking into the intake ports when you have these conditions.So figured I'd do the intake gaskets.BTW the heads were rebuilt last spring so it's prolly not valve seals.Figured I didn't install intake right.
BD3

 

stevver84Z consider yourself warned. WTF did you ressurect a post that was over a year old just to point out some bickering? It was a long tiome ago in a land far far away and bringing it back can only lead to more of the same BS.