I just wanted to give all you TPI 3rd gen owners and would-be owners, a bit of a heads up on this little piece of info I discovered first hand the other day.The news will definitely be of interest to anybody on this forum who's considering picking up an aftermarket TPI base, particularly the so called "Accel/Lingenfelter" SuperRam base.

I decided to go with the Accel/Lingenfelter base because Accel had their own casting, unlike TPIS who gets their intakes directly from Edelbrock. (TPIS also turned down the opportunity to do a G.P. with thirdgen.org so there was another reason to go with Accel) . Finally, the last reason for my wanting to go with Accel, is because everybody else goes with the Edelbrock, so I guess I just wanted to be different. Besides, the Accell piece was a good bit more expensive than the Edelbrock at most stores so I figured, "Hey, you get what you pay for"....

Surly, the "Acell" base must flow much better than the Edelbrock since it's more expensive. Heck, over on Lingenfelter's site, they're asking $540 for it so it must be better right?. For that kind of money, there'd damn well better be a difference I thought to myself

Anyways, I found out that Jeg's carried the "Accel/Lingenfelter" base for only $386. About $1 more than what Summit Racing sells the "Edelbrock" base for.
I figured since I already had the runners on order, I may aswell upgrade the base at the same time and hit two birds with one stone.
I placed my order a few days back during the evening and got a confirmation email the following day letting me know the order had already been shipped. (Damn Jegg's has fast service! ) I took a quick glance at their website that mrning before going to work and saw something I wasn't expecting to see. The Accel base I had ordered a few hours earlier for $386, had been raised to $417 over night. Hmmm...... I figured I was lucky I was able to order the part before the price hike and just left it at that.

Within 2 days, my package had arrived.

Sure enough, (on the out-side anyways) everything seemed normal. The 20lb box had the Accel label on it, complete with the correct "SuperRam" base part no. right on it in big bold numbers 74197

So far so good.

That's when I opened the box and was surprised to see that inside, was not the "Accel/Lingenfelter" base I had ordered, but an Edelbrock "high-flow" base instead.

Looking underneath the base, it even had the Edelbrock part no. on it. Nowhere inside the box, or on the base itself, were the names "Accel" or "Lingenfelter". Nowhere. This was simply an Edelbrock unit inside a cardboard box with an "Accel" sticker on the outside.

Obviously, I contacted Jeg's right away to find out what was going on.

The gentlemen I spoke to, told me he asked for a 2nd "Accel" SeperRam box to be pulled from stock just to see if maybe, somehow, this was a packaging error and I simply received the wrong intake. After opening the box, it too, had an Edelbrock base inside. Same for the 3rd box he had pulled down. All were Edelbrocks.

Turns out, Accel/Lingenfelter (for how long, I don't know) have had Edelbrock supply their intakes to them and just shipping them out with an "Accel" sticker on the ouside of the box. Apparently, not even the Supervisor's at Jegg's had been notified of this "change" and had no idea. I was asked if I wanted to return the base but I said no. After all, what other choice's did I have? Every other base on the market, whether it's TPIS or Accel or an Edelbrock, it's all the same. At the end of the day, they're ALL Edelbrocks.

The main reason for my posting this info, is to hopefully,keep some of you from spending more money then you should, if any of you ever decide to go with the "Accel" base. There's no such thing as an "Accel" base. I lucked out because as I said, the day I placed my order, the cost was $386. Pretty much the same as what Edelbrock charges for their base.

Right now though, the price on the so-called "Accel" base is $417 on Jeg's and other retailers and as much as $500+ on Lingenfelter's site. So anybody from here on out, that orders one at those price's, will esentially be ripped-off.

I mean, you can either buy an Edelbrock base from Edelbrock for $386. Or you can buy Edelbrock base which comes in an "Accel" cardboard box, for $30+ more. A lot of people who order the Accel unit and receive an Edelbrock base instead, will be really upset, since they basically just threw away $30+ just for the priviledge of having an "Accel" sticker on the shipping box...

And man, if you're one of those poor guy's that spent $500+ to get this base off Lingenfelter's site, and open up the box to see the word's "Edelbrock" and "high-flow" you're definetely going to be pissed :gocrazy:

So in other words, if you're thinking of upgrading your TPI base, go with Edelbrock. Forget Accel or TPIS because they're all Edelbrock's to. Save your money. Buy the Edelbrock and do some port work on it.

Speaking of which, with the Edelbrock base, you're definetely going to want to port it. As you can see from these pic's, the ports were only cleaned up for the first 1/4" at most. The rest is pretty darn rough and obviously, could use a good bit of work to smooth them out.

It's a pretty nice piece don't get me wrong, but I would have liked if they came ported straight from Acce..... I mean, Edelbrock

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Here's a few shot's of the ports. As you can see, there's still quite a bit of room for improvment. A LOT of room actually. I guess I'd better buy a dremel and get to work.....

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I wouldn't always say that the more expensive part is the better one. Lingenfelter also wants 1800 or so for their ported aluminum L98 heads, for that kind of money you can get something much better. The TPIS miniram comes to mind too, as cheaper intakes have produced better results.

 

That is really troubling. I remember the look of the old accel casting. It was noticeably different from say a GM piece. I just contacted Lingenfelter toda to see if they still offer porting like they used to. If it's reasonable, I don't see why anyone wouldn't just port their stocker and save about half. It makes no sense to pay for a name that isn't going to deliver out of the box. I've heard horror stories about edelbrock intakes in the past too, especially their TPI line. Port sizes being radically different and what not. This is really getting sad. I don't have faith in any aftermarket vendors hardly anymore

Will

 

Yes I agree that Edel is the best. But if you switch over to VORTEC heads you'll need to get this one like I did http://www.sdpc2000.com/catalog/1460...-Baseplate.htm

 

Edelbrock also makes a vortec base. It seems like they have the TPI market cornered almost.

Will

 

they charge what they charge for 2 reasons.

1. they want 99% of their customers to be in house so that they can get the full blown and insured treatment. they aren't this much when you walk in their door.

2. they don't want to work/supply/consult or even consider really dealing with tpi motors anymore. they haven't for a long time unfortunately.

with the ls1 being so affordable and easy to modify while getting the reliability/gas mileage and insurance out of them the tpi motor is falling way behind in the area for aftermarket support. it's an unfortunate and sad fact as the motor is a good motor... it just isn't that good.