Lots of upgrades, but still no power.

[Chuck Leeper]

Red 2, plenum to intake is the leak point.
TB to plenum is sealed.
Now that it has cooled down, I checked it over and found the front drivers side stud was ripped right out of the threads on the intake, and passenger side front was loose, so maybe that one is ready to go to.

Take it apart.
Remove the t/b & clean ALL the shit off the 2 mating surfaces, including the pulled threads at the bolt holes.
Set the plenum on the manifold and check for warpage with a very thin feeler gage.
Feeler on the intake, press the plenum with your hand. Feeler pull out? Mental note on pull req'd.
Try this at all around. If the intake is warped you'll feel it. That's what feeler gauges do....They feel shit!
Helicoil all the holes?
You said: "That's what I did. I put stainless steel inserts in, switched to studs.
Most likely the intake is garbage now, unless I want to try, most likely the intake is garbage now, unless I want to try drilling and tapping up another size and drilling out the plenum holes".
If you tried to put inserts into ruined threads, that's why they pulled out.
Drill it, tap it and Helicoil it. Done deal.

If that's done correctly, check your torque wrench.
An aside... This intake hasn't had the egr port filled has it?
Back under my rock.....

 

[TURBO2]

Take it apart.
Remove the t/b & clean ALL the shit off the 2 mating surfaces, including the pulled threads at the bolt holes.
Set the plenum on the manifold and check for warpage with a very thin feeler gage.
Feeler on the intake, press the plenum with your hand. Feeler pull out? Mental note on pull req'd.
Try this at all around. If the intake is warped you'll feel it. That's what feeler gauges do....They feel shit!
Helicoil all the holes?
You said: "That's what I did. I put stainless steel inserts in, switched to studs.
Most likely the intake is garbage now, unless I want to try, most likely the intake is garbage now, unless I want to try drilling and tapping up another size and drilling out the plenum holes".
If you tried to put inserts into ruined threads, that's why they pulled out.
Drill it, tap it and Helicoil it. Done deal.

If that's done correctly, check your torque wrench.
An aside... This intake hasn't had the egr port filled has it?
Back under my rock.....

Yes, I drilled and tapped all the holes before putting in M8 helicoils.
No, EGR port is still stock.

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Before you tear it all apart...I've never tried or heard of this but maybe there's a step left while it's on the car.

What if you put JB weld at the very bottom of the bolt hole...tighten studs back in and see if that'll hold it tight?

Maybe someone can chime in on how practical that is.

If the intake holes are trashed and you'd have to pull off, then have labor done etc maybe there's a couple desperate ideas to try left that might get you through the Summer etc.

 

[TURBO2]

Before you tear it all apart...I've never tried or heard of this but maybe there's a step left while it's on the car.

What if you put JB weld at the very bottom of the bolt hole...tighten studs back in and see if that'll hold it tight?

Maybe someone can chime in on how practical that is.

If the intake holes are trashed and you'd have to pull off, then have labor done etc maybe there's a couple desperate ideas to try left that might get you through the Summer etc.

I tried that on one bolt hole that was the first to let go last year. I put in JBWeld and screwed the stud into it. I even let it cure for about 1 week, but when I tightened the nut down it pulled it right out. I even tried the stick type epoxy which held up a little better, and might have even worked if it hadn't been for still having a vacuum leak and having to take it apart again. As soon as I tried removing the nut, the stud just turned with the nut.

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Damn that's one pesky bolt hole.

Is there really a need for the plenum and intake to be 2 separate pieces and you just weld the two together at the front area?

It's nice if you need to get in there for a dropped bolt, tap a hole for IAT sensor but really it could be 1 piece like other intakes.

Just thinking of ideas I'd do if I had the stock intake and had this issue vs buying new stuff.

 

[TURBO2]

Damn that's one pesky bolt hole.

Is there really a need for the plenum and intake to be 2 separate pieces and you just weld the two together at the front area?

It's nice if you need to get in there for a dropped bolt, tap a hole for IAT sensor but really it could be 1 piece like other intakes.

Just thinking of ideas I'd do if I had the stock intake and had this issue vs buying new stuff.

That was one of the things I was thinking of is just welding the plenum to the intake, and be done with it. I'm a little bit nervous about doing it just to find out that maybe the lower intake will never seal right again the way my luck is.

 

[GNVYUS 1]

A small weld in the front area might not be a huge thing to undo but that bolt hole is still something to tackle too.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Yes, I drilled and tapped all the holes before putting in M8 helicoils.
No, EGR port is still stock.

Check your torque wrench....

Need torque spec for bolts that fasten plenum to intake

I need to know what to torque the bolts to that fasten the stock plenum to the intake manifold. If you can help me out, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

turbobuick.com

 

[TURBO2]

Check your torque wrench....

Need torque spec for bolts that fasten plenum to intake

I need to know what to torque the bolts to that fasten the stock plenum to the intake manifold. If you can help me out, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

turbobuick.com

I double checked it against my other torque wrench and it's correct.

 

[x96283]

Well after tons of calls I found out they killed off Turbonetics. They also dumped all resources they had to even look up these turbos.
I did find that it is a Turbonetics Cheeta 11342-BB, but that's all I could find, as it seems they used the same part number but had Stage 1 - Stage 4.

Found this on the Cheetahs buried in this board-

STAGE 1 CHEETAH 60-1 3.0"/2.0" F1-57 GN 0.63 A/R 11342-BB
STAGE 2 CHEETAH H61 4.0"/2.5" F1-62 GN 0.63 A/R 11355-BB
STAGE 3 CHEETAH H70 4.0"/2.5" F1-68 GN 0.85 A/R 11360-BB

Looks like you have stage 1 based on model number?

 

[TURBO2]

Found this on the Cheetahs buried in this board-

STAGE 1 CHEETAH 60-1 3.0"/2.0" F1-57 GN 0.63 A/R 11342-BB
STAGE 2 CHEETAH H61 4.0"/2.5" F1-62 GN 0.63 A/R 11355-BB
STAGE 3 CHEETAH H70 4.0"/2.5" F1-68 GN 0.85 A/R 11360-BB

Looks like you have stage 1 based on model number?

Thank you.

 

[xlr8ngn]

Don't take this wrong, just asking since this is very strange. Are you evenly torqueing these 4 bolts down in a couple of steps? If you full torque each corner in one step, it could cause the issue. You seem quite capable, just checking.

 

[TURBO2]

Don't take this wrong, just asking since this is very strange. Are you evenly torqueing these 4 bolts down in a couple of steps? If you full torque each corner in one step, it could cause the issue. You seem quite capable, just checking.

Yes, I'm just getting them hand tight and then torquing in two steps.

 

[TURBO2]

Well, lets try again. I drilled out the affected bolt holes, put in new inserts, and epoxied the studs into them.
I made just a short run, not getting into it too much in case the tune is way out of wack.