After nearly 3 month's of waiting, I finally received the AS&M "big tube" runners I ordered in an "AS&M Group Purchase"a bunch of us did on another Fbody forum.

I got home late from work today and there was a big cardboard box waiting for me on the staircase as soon as I walked in the doors. I didn't know what it was at first until I saw the the name printed on the tape used to seal the box.

I snapped off a few pictures for the TPI fans on here (if there still are any )

They are simply amazing. EVERYTHING, about these runners is impressive. The first thing I noticed was the their color. It's a very bright silver and looks as if it has "metal flake" in the finish. They actually "sparkle" when you move them from side to side. I don't know if they've been painted or not, but whatever the reason for their awesome appearance, they're just that....awesome looking...

The next thing I noticed was how light they were when I picked them up. They have almost no mass at all. I don't know what the stock piece's weigh, but these things weigh much less than what they look like they should weigh.

Just staring at these thing sitting on the floor, I couldn't help but think they looked like some kind of wreckage from an alien spacecraft that just crashed in Roswell New Mexico.
They look like something that was smuggled out of area 51

These things just look bad-@ss. Plain and simple.

To the untrained eye, they could easily be mistaken for a stock set of runners with a custom paint job. But those who know TPI's well enough, will right away realize these runners are quite a bit bigger than the stock ones....

The insides of the runners are smooth as silk. All the welds are virtually PERFECT. The flanges are completely flat and straight, no warpedge of any king. In a nut-shell, the AS&M's just scream "quality & craftsmanship"....

They came complete with instructions, all necessary gaskets and 4 stainless steel flange bolts. After lining up these gaskets with a spare plenum I just bought yesterday, the runner ports on these AS&M's are noticeably bigger then the ports on the stock intake, so it'll definitely have to be ported to match the runners in order to get the best results.

If anybody wants to see any other pic's, or has any questions, let me know.

..
..
..
..

 

Here are a couple more. Enjoy!

..
..
..

 

The quality of those is amazing, but I wouldn't expect anything less from AS&M. It sucks about the 3 month wait, but apparently it was worth it.

 

I have seen them before and they are a quality piece. The first thing I noticed as you did was how light they were. For the price you bought them at the wait was well worth it.

 

What kind of power gains are saif to be gained with their runners? Are they longer than stock?

 

AS&M claims that independent tests show an increase of aprox. 25hp on a stock L98 ( 5.7L 350). They don't make any mention of what they'd be worth on a 305 though. As to whether or not they're really worth 25hp by themselves with no other mod's, I have my doubts, but there's no question that they provide 10x the breathing potential of the stock runners. These things are enormous in comparison to the factory set-up. They flow 260cfm per runner making them by far the best flowing TPI runners ever produced. If I had to bet what they'd really be worth on a 100% bone stock L98, I'd say 10-15hp.

On the other hand, if you already have the usual bolt-ons (exhaust, headers etc.) I believe they'd be worth 25.

I'm currently porting a plenum from an '85 Iroc-Z I picked up the other day and I'm doing the same with an Edelbrock base I bought a few weeks back.

My only mods thus far are 1/34 headers, cat-back, and 1.6 roller rockers + all the "free mods". I've already got a bet going with a couple guy's that these runners, with a ported stock plenum and my Edelbrock base, will be worth at least 35-40hp.

That's my conservative guess. I'm pretty sure it will end up being even more than that but just to be safe, I'll say 35-40 .....

I'll post some results after I've finished the installation and thrown the car back on the dyno....

 

Sweet lookin parts ya got there.

I remember my old TPI days,haha.

Def. let us know what kinda dyno power yuo get from these things,I thought about getting those a few years ago when I had my not stock L98 but went heads/cam/carb'ed instead lol.