Ecotec Twin throttle Body manifold

[Pub24/7]

Yes i know another thread about TTB manifolds,
But this one has a bit of a difference i will be making one or two myself. Had a few spare plenums that were going in the bin at work from some vx's so i thought i might have a crack at it.
About 3 months ago a guy i know wanted to make 1 so helped him and sourced the manifold (free from the bin at work) and he knocked one up for his VT, did a bloody good job looks good and is almost a carbon copy of the mace engineering ones.
Anyways i started on it today was going to take a few pic but ran into some drama's i realised that both TB's should be alinged as perfect as possible . I actually was halfway through it. So i decided to go back to square one and make a jig up that will allow me to have everything perfectly alinged and will require as little machining and welding as possible. Hopefully tommorrow i will make some good porgress and will post some pics up.

Anyways 1 thing was wondering about is the gasket that seals the lid. Aaron (my mate) and i both think the best and easiest solution is silicone (o2 safe of coarse) he has been running his for a while ano problems so i can't it being a big issue.
Also does anyone have ideas on what to do with all the outlets/inlets on the second TB? I was thinking i could just cut them off and weld them up and run a Master/slave sort of setup. Can't remember how Aaron's is but wiull check it out on thursday

Would anyone be interested in one of these if they turn out ok? I think i could do them for less than half what mace charge. I'm not sure if they cast their own or are welded like mine but i can't see there being much difference either way. I would also do TB knife edged screws ground back and smoothed before and after. I could also knock up the piping to to airbox (VT-onwards should be easy as i could copy mates) VS should be ok will need to take some measurementsbut i dont see it being to difficult.

My mate runs his on standard tune with exhaust system, rockers, kitted auto and cream tops (dont ask me why he wont listen) says there's a huge difference since TTB upgrade. I've been in it and it goes well for a vt.

Anyway interested in constructive critiscism and other feedback/ helpful tips

[sircruisealotVS]

to seal the plenum lid you could just use a silicone gasket as you said, pain to get it off again, but its the best thing to use.
the best thing to do with the iac valve port on the second throttle body is to seal it up, same with the vac hose ports, any air getting in here will cause a high idle - so you want it perfectly sealed with only the main t/b controlling the idle with the iac.

to be honest i think your mate is probably just feeling a placebo effect from the ttb because it feels snappy with the throttle response. but thats just my opinion and i dont have much good to say about ttb's on a n/a ecotec.
goodluck with the ttb contruction mate.

[Pub24/7]

Yeah no worries cruisealot i know your opinion and what you went through regarding this topic. It is good of you to keep it friendly.
My mate might not no everything when it comes to cars but he is a top class frabricator. ATM he is making custom turbo manifolds for it and his designs and skillare top notch (alll for 300 worth of metal). Yet he thinks he'll make a 300kw @wheels on a stanard bottom end....

[Pub24/7]

heres a couple of pic of my progress so far. Its quite rough atm due to a lot of contamination the plenum. Just boils out as you try to weld it. But so far so good looks like a bit more machining than i anticipated will be needed. For some reason the the surface where the throttle body bolts onto are different thickness' so some machining will be needed there. Might be due to one being an early vs and the other is a vx. Still got the lid to do then some smoothing and machining. Not sure about the finish yet i bead blasted it remove dirt and the like. I dont really want to spend time polishing it the next one i do might just go in the acid tanks overnight.

[ephect]

mate, tell me what you used to weld it? i've been asking a few joints and no body wants to touch welding the standard cast manifolds, they say that i just eats away as you weld it.

its coming up a treat, once you get sanding and smoothing it out, its goin to look awesome. and u've dont it all urself? mate thats a ****ing good job!

[Pub24/7]

Yeah mate all my own work. I've using an industrial 3 phase water cooled tig welder. I dont know what bull**** people have been spinning you but i weld cast alloy heads all day with no problems. It is hard, it melts fairly quick but u get used to it. i think foot pedal is the key to maintianing a stable weld pool when doing this sort of thing allows you to have better control. The key is in good preperation too, i didnt prep the manifold too well as i dont get much time to work on it. But if i make more i will put more effort in

[Wagon_Wheel]

Top job mate, looks like an awesome job!!!

[ephect]

yea most of them just go, mate its too hard to weld that stuff, it'll just spatter everywhere, n melt.

how long did it take you to cut n move the openings?

[Pub24/7]

Well probably put about 3 hours max into it but i spent some time screwing around then prolly 40 mins making jigs to make things easier. Once i get things sorted i think i could make a 2nd one in about 1 quarter of the time this one will take.

Thanks for the comment guys

[Pub24/7]

Little progress today starting cutting up peices for tje lid which is now ready for welding. Re-welded the inside again after digging out ****, which resulted in a bow in plenum so it spent a few hours in the press. Got most of it out probably about 10thou left which isnt a big issue as i'm going to machine it anyway. Welded the top lid surface where there was a few low spots and now its ready for machining. Going to do that first then bolt lid onto it and tack & weld most of it. I also realised the lid isnt the same height all the way round so there's a bit more work involved in the lid than i thought.
Anyways all good so far going in early tomorrow to spend some more time on it

[Classifi3d Calais]

you wouldnt be interested in making another one of these? ill supply parts and pay you for it.

[Fr3ak+--]

depending on how they come out man i would be interested in getting one