Well I bored the Edelbrock Performer TBI intake to 2" without a hitch. I made about 6 passes per bore and took a few thousands off at a time. The EGR passages did not really change shape and more importanty did not crack. There is plenty of material left for structural purposes as well. This manifold should now work great when I unpgrade to a 2" TBI unit. So now we know it can be done.

 

Here is another pic just to show it a little better up close.

 

I also bored my Turbo City spacer to match the intake bore size. Underneith is the stock gasket and you can see the size difference.

 

awesome, you did this yourself? Also, why is the left bore so much thicker than the right? I'm just curious

 

Well I did it with the help of one of my dad's machinists. He owns a machine shop so this was a little holiday sharing of ones resources . The one bore is thicker than the other because of its design. The right side is higher up and does not go as deep into the intake. The other side goes in about 3.5" and was a little tricky to bore that deep. Any deeper and the cutter would not go down. We had to do that side in two steps. I was really impressed on how easy it was. The cutter didn't even dig into the inside walls of the intake.

 

Can this be done with a dremel? And if so, does someone have some advice about how and with what bit?

 

this is a pretty "boring" topic.. hehehehehe


just kiddin... good job...

Gunny Highway: no, you cant really get it nice and round like that with a dremel... you could hog it out enough to work(clear the larger throttle bodys), but it wont be as nice looking as when its machined like that...

 

I guess I need a machine shop's big freakin' drill bit then huh?

 

You cant get a nice finish with a drill bit nor hold any kind of tolerance. Ya gotta have a mill to do it correctly and have it turn out nice like shiftys, ya either need a boring bar, or a 2" endmill. drill press would do it but you wont have the fine adjustability as you would with a mill.

 

...but how does it handle heat transfer...

Looks good solid.

 

Chuck you know me and Heat transfer

You could only do one side of the intake with a dremel but it would be near impossible to to keep the sides round. The other side is very deep and you pretty much tunnel your way to the bottom. A tremendous amout of material is removed on the deep bore and filled up all of my intake passages with chips. This would be vary hard to do without a mill. Plus we added a water based coolant to keep it cool even though it cut so smoothly.

 

If you're creative you can rig something to use as a boring bar you can do a pretty good job with a drill press... just go slow. I've built a fixture for my drill press bore throttle bodies (have managed to open up Crossfire TB's to 54mm)

You could do it with a die grinder, assortment of cutters and sanding drums, but you need to be pretty good with them to do a good job. a dremel just doesn't have the power to do anything like this quickly.

If you're creative you could also pull it off with a router and a long, carbide straight cutting bit.

 

here is a closup of a crossfire TB that was cut like that on a drill press:

 

How much would doing this at a shop run roughly? I am buying the Edl Manifold and waiting until I buy my 454 or 670 TB to bore it out. Basically how much to bore that botch? Shouldnt be much right?

 

My local engine shop charged me $50 to bore mine. That was about four years ago though.

Wen I had my edelbrock intake bored to 2", I actually exposed a small portion of the egr passage (pin hole) that runs behind the bores.

I didn't get to run the motor after modifying the intake. Shortly after the mod I found out my block was no good and moved up to a 355 with vortec heads and could not use the intake.

 

A shop will likely charge you between $50 and $100 as Bones mentioned. Machine time is very minimal but set-up takes awhile. That is where the magority of your cast will come.

 

Thanks. I have never had to get anything done like that. Good thing its not that expensive.

Real quick question, anyone know who sells 5sp swaps. Complete kits? I know hawks has one but its used parts.

 

Anybody know of anyone that installed this intake on a TBI Caprice with Success? I know the Dist. hole needs to be bored out to utilize the larger shafted Dist. from the Caprice...but I am concerned about hood clearence issues. I think a low profile air cleaner will cut it. I am close to doing the the upgrade soon and could really use the advice. Thanks. JB

 

How did your manifold and spacer end up working?

 

Good thing I dont have to worry about hood clearance. I cant deal with the 50lb hood....Lol. So I am buying the Daytona Hood for $420. Anyone have a better price.

 

what is the link for the edelbrock performer tbi intake? and will it work with 1081 heads off an 87 iroc?

 

Unsure about the heads but here it is at Summit Racing

 

I don't think that plunge cutting a hole that is that tolerant tight with a 2" endmill is a good idea. You can drill it out to where you can ream it to size, use a boring bar to get it to size, or you can put it on a CNC and machine the hole as a pocket and get the hole mirror smooth that way.