F8L Z71

I realize this isnt a clean or blingy as what some others have done but for cheap bastards like me this worked pretty well. I just wish the TB was as cheap as the UMI unit

I got lucky and have a 2001 5.3L so I still have the cable driven TB like that on the T/A and Camaro. That made life easier because I didnt have to remove my J-Tube and have it sent off to have an adapter flange welded on or any of the wiring adapters and such installed.

#1 I removed my old TB and matched the holes on it to the lower holes on the Nick Williams unit and marked where I would need to drill to elongate the holes. The Nick Williams unit is not a direct bolt-on for the Gen III manifolds as the 2 bottom holes are a bit wider than the stock TB. I went ghetto and use a Dremel to elongate the holes to make it fit.

#2 I bolted on the NWs TB and opened the blade and marked the J-Tube with a big sharpie so I knew how much I needed to cut out.


#3 I used a metal grinding bit on my air rotary tool and went to town on the J-Tube. Times like this I wish I had a 100ga compressor lol


The J-Tube all ground out


#4 I then switched to a 60grit sandpaper flap wheel on my cordless drill and smoothed the rough edges and to get a more uniform hole. I continued to mount the TB and open the blade and mark areas that needed to be port matched better and use the sanding wheel to take off more material.


Hard to see in this pic but you can run your finger back and forth in the TB to J-Tube and its a pretty damn good match.


Here is the TB mounted to show how it sits. The really cool part is my AEM intake fits right over the 90mm TB no problem I dont have it fully mounted up yet as I am dealing with some funk JB Weld that doesnt seem to want to set so I may have to wait till tomorrow and try some QuickSteel to seal up the Idle Air Bypass hole and get a new gasket.



Now I just have to have Rick tune it

v8

iTrader: (10)

Looks good.

moregrip

iTrader: (8)

looking good bro, now get out that shopvac and clean up those metal bits!

F8L Z71

Hehehe yeah, I am going to use an oil funnel against the J-Tube and stick the small end inside the vacume just to ensure I get any loose shavings that may have made their way deep into the tube lol.

Overall it was pretty easy. I cant wait to get the new converter in and have Rick finish tuning so I can get some real #s.

BlownChevy

iTrader: (20)

Looks really good.....you need to make DAMN sure you get all that debris cleaned up!

F8L Z71

yeeees dad.....

I gotta thank BlownChevy, Blown364 and Grippy for the help with this though. You guys rule!

I'd also like to thank Richard at WCCH for offering advice and spending time on the phone with me even when it was clear I couldnt buy anything form him. Great customer service

BlownChevy

iTrader: (20)

LMAO, no prob bro.

TurboBerserker

iTrader: (1)

Looks good, Bro -- although like all these other guys those metal shavings are making me wince

And what you said about Richard is about 900% true!

TURBO8

iTrader: (9)

Nice work, looks good. I'd say good luck getting a tune with rick being so booked with tunes and that corvette he is working on. But, I know you guys are buddy buddy and you can pull some strings and get in. I cant even get a date. Hook it up!

Richard@WCCH

iTrader: (3)

Nice grinding work! It's always a bit frightening to carve on an assembled part, but it appears you did a careful and meticulous job. Thanks for posting the pics. Can't wait to see how it runs now.



Richard