Just installed the RX Ported Intake manifold and Mace Insulator - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

Jmiller · 02-11-2012, 02:40 AM

Okay guys, just installed Tracy's ported intake manifold and Mace's insulator. Took 3 hours total time and ran in to a few problems. I was orginally going to use Mace's 25 MM insulator but it would not clear my hotchikis strut tower brace. So i decided to go with the 12mm insulator instead. Being nice people mace supplied me with a 6mm and a 12 mm just like i ordered. Okay disassembling the intake manifold was simple, i just had to take my Hotchikis brace off to clear a couple of bolts. Once i got everything off i now had to switch my fuel pipe sheild over to my new intake manifold. This is where i noticed that my Orginal intake manifold's pipe sheild (Picture 2) had a groove where a gasket is located. In picture one which is Tracy's ported intake manifold there is not a groove for a gasket, it was just flat surface. I found that to be a little strange. So as you can see from picture 1 i used some gasket maker provided to me by mace just to be sure i did not get any leaks. Next i opened my OEM intake manifold gaskets and cut the nubs off the ends and those plastic cone shaped mounds off the middle of the gaskets. I then lined everthing up as you can see in picture 3. I Now put the new ported intake manifold on and lined up all the bolts with the insulator and gaskets. At this point i could tell right away that the 12 mm insulator would not work with my hotchkis strut tower brace. The brace and the intake manifold were hitting each other, and the engine would not have enough room to move under hard accleration. I also for some reason could not get the screws mace provided to screw in properly with the 12mm insulator. I personally think the holes were cut inproperly with the 12 mm insulator. So after about an hour of trying to make the 12 mm insulator work with the bolts mace provided i gave up, and then tried the 6mm insulator. One the First try the bolts lined up perfectly. But another problem arose, the bolts mace provided did not work with the 6mm insulator, they were too long, so i had to reuse my stock intake manifold bolts, which was no biggie. Just trial and error. I now start to put everything back together and then i notice that in piture 4 which is my stock manifold their is a srew port which i had to unscrew a bolt from to get my intake manifold off in the first place. I notice that in Tracy Ported intake manifold there is no screw port in this location. Sorry for no picture. This screw is just a mounting point and does not do much, but i am a little confused to why their are differences in the two intake manifolds.I am wodering if these are from two different model years. Okay now i put the strut tower brace back on to see if it will clear the 6mm insulator. I am happy to say it bearly fits. I am able to reuse that black heat insulator also. I am also happy to report that the Engine cover also works with mace's 6mm insulator, but i doubt if it would work with the 12mm insulator with out some fabrication. I went for a test drive just for about 5 min. and did not really feel any difference as of yet. But i will defenitly drive it some more. I am also going to get my car dynoed for the first time tomorrow. So we will see where i am with all of these mods. Tracy told my to port match the cyclinder head runners, to get the most out of my intake manifold, but i am not going to take the risk of something getting in their and ruining my engine. Thanks, Sorry for such a long post. Will post dyno number tomorrow as soon as i get them.

Sterling · 02-11-2012, 03:16 AM

That's weird how there were slight differences... I guess we will learn more about them as more people do this mod.

rtcat600man · 02-11-2012, 05:12 AM

Thanks for the write-up. Can't wait to hear more about your dyno nymbers too.

Ice Demon · 02-11-2012, 01:10 PM

Nice this is something that I'm saving up for. Can't wait to see the dyno # s.

CamaroDreams07 · 02-11-2012, 02:03 PM

Sounds like this is a ways away from being a true bolt-on mod.

SC2150 · 02-11-2012, 02:19 PM

The groove we havent seen on any to date so it may just be a early version. We just got in more brand new ones and they are smooth there as well.

With the Mace you should not have to port match to realize gains from the heat reduction so that should be a simple bolt on mod. With the IM you will have to port match the heads. We charge $100 to do it if the car is here in the shop and it takes app 1 hr more added to the install.

The insolator should also show higher gains if port matched.

Stock bolts work to 9.75 mm max.

So all know, the IM absolutely requires the port matching to the OEM gasket to realize the full gains. W/out your only looking at avg of 4 rwhp or so and that does not justify the $$ cost IMHO. Now port match and it allows the modifications to work as design.

Good job on the swap!! If there is anyone near him that is experianced and willing to help him port-match the head ports plese get with him after his dyno to measure how much it helps.

KMPrenger · 02-11-2012, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams07

Sounds like this is a ways away from being a true bolt-on mod.

So there was some trial and error...thats the way it goes. TankMorph who tested these products says he can do the swap in a matter of minutes. I'm betting Jmiller could also do it much faster now that he knows what is going on.

As far as the port matching...well in that case yes it goes a bit past just bolting something on, but Tracy made us well aware of that requirement long ago.

rtcat600man · 02-11-2012, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams07

Sounds like this is a ways away from being a true bolt-on mod.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

Not sure how you can say that....take off, bolt back on. Thats how it works. So there was some trial and error...thats the way it goes. TankMorph who tested these products says he can do the swap in a matter of minutes. I'm betting Jmiller could also do it much faster now that he knows what is going on.

My take on what he meant by this comment is that in order to gain the full benefit of the ported intake manifold, one needs to do some porting of the heads. This then is not a true swap out gain of HP in the simple terms.

This is just my opinion of his message and how I took it.

KMPrenger · 02-11-2012, 06:16 PM

Yep...I edited my original response just before you replied Mike

rtcat600man · 02-11-2012, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

Yep...I edited my original response just before you replied Mike

sorry...........LOL.

mhog · 02-11-2012, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rtcat600man

My take on what he meant by this comment is that in order to gain the full benefit of the ported intake manifold, one needs to do some porting of the heads. This then is not a true swap out gain of HP in the simple terms.

This is just my opinion of his message and how I took it.

If you have to port the heads why not port the intake yourself also? What is the advantage of paying someone else to do that part? They say it only takes one hour to do your own heads, so the IM can't be more difficult.

rtcat600man · 02-11-2012, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhog

If you have to port the heads why not port the intake yourself also? What is the advantage of paying someone else to do that part? They say it only takes one hour to do your own heads, so the IM can't be more difficult.

I thought the same thing. But my guess is that the heads are ported to just match the gaskets and insulator. Strictly removing a small amount with a tapper amount.

The intake manifold is probably a whole lot more. Including the filling in of the depression just inside the throat where the throttle body bolts up.

OOLIE · 02-11-2012, 08:09 PM

fingers crossed hoping to do this towards the end of the week

Ventmaster · 02-11-2012, 09:18 PM

Remember- if you don't feel comfortable porting, the Mace comes in 3 sizes and they all are sized to fit the orig IM, and head openings.

Check the pics on Hapisok's "Mace 25mm insulaor" thread, page 1.

If you leave out the oversized orig equipment gasket, and just use gasket maker top and bottom, you'll have a smooth shot all the in.

02-11-2012, 02:40 AM	#1
Jmiller Drives: 2013 Camaro 2SS 1LE Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Moreno Valley, CA Posts: 260	Just installed the RX Ported Intake manifold and Mace Insulator Okay guys, just installed Tracy's ported intake manifold and Mace's insulator. Took 3 hours total time and ran in to a few problems. I was orginally going to use Mace's 25 MM insulator but it would not clear my hotchikis strut tower brace. So i decided to go with the 12mm insulator instead. Being nice people mace supplied me with a 6mm and a 12 mm just like i ordered. Okay disassembling the intake manifold was simple, i just had to take my Hotchikis brace off to clear a couple of bolts. Once i got everything off i now had to switch my fuel pipe sheild over to my new intake manifold. This is where i noticed that my Orginal intake manifold's pipe sheild (Picture 2) had a groove where a gasket is located. In picture one which is Tracy's ported intake manifold there is not a groove for a gasket, it was just flat surface. I found that to be a little strange. So as you can see from picture 1 i used some gasket maker provided to me by mace just to be sure i did not get any leaks. Next i opened my OEM intake manifold gaskets and cut the nubs off the ends and those plastic cone shaped mounds off the middle of the gaskets. I then lined everthing up as you can see in picture 3. I Now put the new ported intake manifold on and lined up all the bolts with the insulator and gaskets. At this point i could tell right away that the 12 mm insulator would not work with my hotchkis strut tower brace. The brace and the intake manifold were hitting each other, and the engine would not have enough room to move under hard accleration. I also for some reason could not get the screws mace provided to screw in properly with the 12mm insulator. I personally think the holes were cut inproperly with the 12 mm insulator. So after about an hour of trying to make the 12 mm insulator work with the bolts mace provided i gave up, and then tried the 6mm insulator. One the First try the bolts lined up perfectly. But another problem arose, the bolts mace provided did not work with the 6mm insulator, they were too long, so i had to reuse my stock intake manifold bolts, which was no biggie. Just trial and error. I now start to put everything back together and then i notice that in piture 4 which is my stock manifold their is a srew port which i had to unscrew a bolt from to get my intake manifold off in the first place. I notice that in Tracy Ported intake manifold there is no screw port in this location. Sorry for no picture. This screw is just a mounting point and does not do much, but i am a little confused to why their are differences in the two intake manifolds.I am wodering if these are from two different model years. Okay now i put the strut tower brace back on to see if it will clear the 6mm insulator. I am happy to say it bearly fits. I am able to reuse that black heat insulator also. I am also happy to report that the Engine cover also works with mace's 6mm insulator, but i doubt if it would work with the 12mm insulator with out some fabrication. I went for a test drive just for about 5 min. and did not really feel any difference as of yet. But i will defenitly drive it some more. I am also going to get my car dynoed for the first time tomorrow. So we will see where i am with all of these mods. Tracy told my to port match the cyclinder head runners, to get the most out of my intake manifold, but i am not going to take the risk of something getting in their and ruining my engine. Thanks, Sorry for such a long post. Will post dyno number tomorrow as soon as i get them. Attached Images __________________ ADM LSA Supercharger Conversion, ADM air intake ,Stainless power 1 7/8 long tubes w/hi-flow cats, Chunnningham Motorsports stage 2 cam and custom Dyno tune from Starkweather Performance. 624 RWHP, 524 RWTQ Last edited by Jmiller; 02-11-2012 at 09:03 AM.

02-11-2012, 03:16 AM	#2
Sterling Drives: 2010 Camaro 1LT/RS M6 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Fairhaven, MA Posts: 5,885 View My Garage	That's weird how there were slight differences... I guess we will learn more about them as more people do this mod. __________________ Trifecta tune, Vararam Intake, VMAX throttle body and manifold insulator, RxPerformance Catch Can, , MRT v1.0 and Louvers, Barton shifter, BMR strut tower brace, RED dome light and Plasma LED DRL's, fieldgoal00's Halo 1 harness, hood spears/side stripes, rain guards, custom bowtie, Team LLT badges, headlight and foglight covers, taillight and side marker covers, backup light covers, WeatherTech floormats

02-11-2012, 05:12 AM	#3
rtcat600man having FUN now 13.66@101 Drives: 2010 2LT IOM Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Clarkston, Michigan Posts: 9,230 View My Garage	Thanks for the write-up. Can't wait to hear more about your dyno nymbers too. __________________ MY BUILD

02-11-2012, 01:10 PM	#4
Ice Demon Drives: 2010 Camaro SS Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 1,098 View My Garage	Nice this is something that I'm saving up for. Can't wait to see the dyno # s. __________________ Mods: "Cam Only"

02-11-2012, 02:03 PM	#5
CamaroDreams07 Drives: Slow V6 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: East Lansing, MI Posts: 9,361 View My Garage	Sounds like this is a ways away from being a true bolt-on mod. __________________ [B]

02-11-2012, 02:19 PM	#6
SC2150 Account Suspended Drives: 2012 Camaro RS, RX supercharged Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Bradenton, FL Posts: 6,063	The groove we havent seen on any to date so it may just be a early version. We just got in more brand new ones and they are smooth there as well. With the Mace you should not have to port match to realize gains from the heat reduction so that should be a simple bolt on mod. With the IM you will have to port match the heads. We charge $100 to do it if the car is here in the shop and it takes app 1 hr more added to the install. The insolator should also show higher gains if port matched. Stock bolts work to 9.75 mm max. So all know, the IM absolutely requires the port matching to the OEM gasket to realize the full gains. W/out your only looking at avg of 4 rwhp or so and that does not justify the $$ cost IMHO. Now port match and it allows the modifications to work as design. Good job on the swap!! If there is anyone near him that is experianced and willing to help him port-match the head ports plese get with him after his dyno to measure how much it helps.

02-11-2012, 06:16 PM	#9
KMPrenger Drives: 16 Camaro SS, 15 Colorado Join Date: May 2009 Location: Jefferson City, Missouri Posts: 13,943	Yep...I edited my original response just before you replied Mike __________________ 2016 Camaro 1SS - 8-speed - NPP - Black bowties 2010 Camaro 1LT V6 (Sold. I will miss her!)

02-11-2012, 08:09 PM	#13
OOLIE Drives: 2011 LS Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: FL Posts: 1,643	fingers crossed hoping to do this towards the end of the week __________________

02-11-2012, 09:18 PM	#14
Ventmaster Drives: 2017 1SS 6spd Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Utah Posts: 2,869	Remember- if you don't feel comfortable porting, the Mace comes in 3 sizes and they all are sized to fit the orig IM, and head openings. Check the pics on Hapisok's "Mace 25mm insulaor" thread, page 1. If you leave out the oversized orig equipment gasket, and just use gasket maker top and bottom, you'll have a smooth shot all the in.