Well guys I need some help here, so bear with me. I am planning on getting my TPI unit polished in the spring time when I bring it back out after winter. I am going to get the plenum, valve covers, alternator, TB, and all polished. I dont know a whole lot about taking those kinds of things on/off yet from the engine. I only do basics so far, but I am learning . Well should I pay to have these parts removed and put back on or does someone have the time and happy fingers to write to me on how to do it. I have a neighbor down the street with two show Cuda's and a 81 Z28 that could probably help me. (I dont know yet didnt ask him, but he would be able to all this and more for me). I have a Haynes manual, would this be sufficent for me to attempt myself with just that. Or should I just give in and pay for it? This is my summer car so I couldnt have it 'held up' for too long cuz I would need to drive it in like 2 weeks time.... Please help guys!!! THANKS!!!

P.S. I have bought the aluminum dist cover that came on the vettes and I was wondering if the 3 little screws that came on our cars will work, or do I need to buy the vette ones??

 

Oh yeah one more question, do they sell a gasket set for all the parts I wanna remove or should I buy them separate. What kind of gaskets, any?? Thanks again guys!!!:hail:

 

This is right up my alley, since I just finished polishing my stuff and reinstalled it last week.

I would remove everything myself, which I did, it is pretty easy. Some of the lower runner bolts are a pain, but it is doable. I wouldn't bring it to a mechanic, because they can be such butchers at times. My runners were removed before I owned the car, and the mechanic put dents all in the runners so I had to remove all the dents (well.. my buddy's dad did for me.. its nice to have your car stored at a bodymans home garage ). One thing to note though... keep your bolts organized in which hold you took them out of, there are 5 different lengths, I think... Also, there are a bolt in each runner that are installed from behind the runners.

After that... i would recommend you get the pieces done professionally, since it took a lot of time and patience to do them myself, and I also had access to a industrial 2 stage polishing wheel, that is used mainly for stainless polishing. You may also want to take off your thermostat housing and get that polished.

When you have everything off, a couple things you may want to do. Fist of all, check the operation of your EGR valve and clean it with throttle body cleaner. Secondly, I would replace the MAT with a new one from the dealer (not necessary, but impossible to get to with everything together).

As for gaskets, I went with gaskets straight from the dealer. I got the upper and lower runner gaskets, throttle body to plenum gasket, throttle body gasket kit, EGR gasket, thermostat gasket, and the MAT sensor, all for $93.00CDN.

Any other questions, or something I missed, let me know

Here's a picture of the engine now, minus the plenum extension (haven't had a chance to finish it up yet)

 

Man that looks great. How did you get it so shiny. I currently have my engine completly apart and would love to polish mine.

 

I'm thinking about doing mine too. I've read articles on it and the plennum doesn't sem too difficult. The hard part looks to be the runners. Am I right here?

Rob

 

Bingo... the plenum is easy, although it takes a few D/A sanding pads. there's also some areas that are difficult... just remember that you don't see everything when it is put together.

The runners are a pain.... I wish I would've gotten those done... but hery, i saved 200 bux.. and i get the pride of saying "I did it"

If you want the whole details of how i did it. let me know.. its quite a process

 

Maybe I will attempt this myself. Thanks ALOT nblanchard!!! I hope I'll be able to do it, if not I'll be back here asking away... Thanks guys!! Oh yeah my runners are already polished so they arent gonna be the problem.

P.S. How do you polish the 'throttle body plate' ?? With the raised letters and all??

 

You've got mail..................and you can get a set of Felpro gaskets for $30 or less............

 

Just realized they got my tech article posted on the tech board.............go there, its' got the pictures and the 'how to' of removing all that stuff. Remember you have TWO hidden plenum-to-manifold bolts to deal with.

Hope it helps.

 

Hey.... where did you get the polished runners from?

 

I got them done from a user on these boards named Michael Overstreet. He is VERY resonable and is even gonna do some porting for me on the plenum also when I do this project. His work is AWESOME! I honestly thought that they were chromed when I first saw them done! He is doing the actual polishing for me.

 

so, you know how to take everything apart then? ir did someone else do it before?

 

So this Michael guy does polishing/porting does he?

I really want to send my intake off to get ported by one of the reputable board members who does it (anyone know of ppl who do this on teh board? web sites?)... and while I was at it I was going to get them to do my runners (polishing) and I would polish the rest of the intake.

Anyone know of ppl on the board that do this sort of thing for a good price?

I really love the look of the TPI intake, and I'm looking for mid-high 13's as a performance goal, so no need to change intakes. the TPI looks bad-***.

Garett

 

No my mechanic did the work before. The only reason that the runners are polished is because my mechanic also DENTED mine majorly while changing my EGR valve (that didnt even need replacing, but it's a long story). So I made him pay for the whole thing since he didnt know what to do. So I made Michael O, include in the cost the polishing!!! I got back at my FORMER mechanic, (but now i'm gonna do it myself or find someone quick for my future probs)

 

aha... so i wasn't talking out of my a$$ when I said some mechanics are butchers.. LOL.. I did the job with out putting MORE dents in the runners.. lol

 

While all this stuff is off, and your car isn't going anywhere for a couple of days, get your injectors cleaned and flow-matched by Rich at cruzinperformance.

I'd do the removal yourself, just take time when re-installing the gaskets so you don't get any vacuum leaks.

Take a lot of pictures if you have a digital camera, so you know how it goes back together.

 

Yeah, got my injectors done at Richs... did a good job, and even painted them red for me.