Just bought a 58mm edelbrock throttle body and want to mark the manifold with the gasket as a template and open the holes with a dremel or something. Anyone do this how did it work and how did you keep the shavings out of the motor. Or is this just a bad idea?
thanks

 

bad idea man, just take the intake off, it takes like 20 min

 

Ive done it to my 96 Trans Am with no troubles, I followed brent frankers web instructions to the "T" I had no metal shavings at all after I was done in the intake. It was easy but took some time to be careful and do it right.

 

Terrible idea.. just take the intake off. Like saint69x said, takes about 20 minutes to take it off and about 40 minutes to get it back on.

 

I agree, saving a little work now is not worth the risk.

 

yeah it really isn't that hard to pop off the intake manifold...get a little fuel line disconnect tool and it will make it easier...at least it did for me.

 

THe first time I did it with the intake on, and had to be extremely careful, the second tiem I did it with thte intake off. What I can tell you is that I was able to do a better job with the intake off, plus you;d p surprised how the metal shaving make thier way into everything still, even with a rag jamming things up.

 

Me too - done it both ways. For a guy that hasn't R&Red the manifold a few times, it might seem tempting and less work, but it isn't really saving you much and there is a risk of ingesting aluminum chips. I recommend against it for obvious reasons, but if you are determined to do it that way, take extra precautions. You CAN successfully do it with the intake on, but those shavings go EVERYWHERE. I actually took a plastic drop cloth and cut a hole in it and taped it around the front of the manifold where the openings are. That covered the engine bay. Then I stuffed rags inside all the way up to the front and greased those ones up to catch the chips. Then I had a vacuum hose right there while I was grinding the holes larger with the dremel. When I was through, I vacuumed up as good as possible and pulled the rags out a little at a time and vacuumed the chips out as i went and finally got it all cleaned out. Trouble is, you could lose some in there and not even know it. And you might have a leaky manifold anyway, if it's never been off, so now is a good chance to reseal it up. So, think about taking it off to do it or else be real careful if you do it with it on the engine.

 

I did it with the intake on following instruction I found online. It's true shavings get everywhere and you have to be extremely careful....It can be done. I've had no problems since doing it a couple of years ago.....dunno If I would do it that way again but at the time it seemed like the easier way to go...