[Picture Journal] Polishing the Intake Manifold

[SuperK]

I've always wanted one... I've decided I needed to "Man up" and do it myself! I'll be posting pictures after every day I work on it with a brief description of what I've done, starting yesterday! I only get a hour or two to play, so it'll be very slowly. But I thought you guys may enjoy watching it, and see if I pull it off or bung it up!



02/01/12 - Day 1:

Disassembly
Pulled the Intake off the ZE:



Cleaning
Cleaned with a wirebrush attachment on a drill
Began filing down seams




02/02/12 - Day 2:

Smoothing
Cast aluminum has many ridges, often uneven. began smoothing with a combination of sandpaper, drill and dremel work.




02/03/12 - Day 3:

Seams
Before tackling the seams:



Ran out of time to finish it up:


End of day 3:




02/05/12 - Day 4:

Between The Runners
Working on the seams between the runners. Here's one already done, and about to work on the second runner:



After smoothing out the runner:



Working on the pipe by the VRIS as well:



End of Day 4:




02/06/12 - Day 5:

Rear Runner Seams
Working on the seams on the rear runners now. Here's where I started:



What I accomplished on this side:


Also tried smoothing some areas that I could reach with my wheel:


The other side is very complex so I will have to revert to my dremel before hand sanding:


Alternate side of the rear runners:


02/07/12 - Day 6:

Unproductive
I am running out of areas I can reach with my dremel and drill, which is making it harder to get anything productive done.I tried smoothing out the waves that were caused by the drill and dremel, there is a lot of material I need to get rid of in order to get some of these dimples out, I found out. Sad...




End of Day 6. It is getting shinier. A lot of areas are now smoothed out too.


02/07/12 - Day 7:

Dimples!
Did a little hand sanding with some sandpaper I found in the garage.

[Evo_Spec]

lookin good man!
for some reason it's super cool to watch the steps as it gets shinier XD

[mikeinaus]

looking good. keep up the hard work. ive been thinking of doing the same thing but i hate sanding by hand. my plan was to build a 8 or 10" polishing wheel out of an old AC motor. polishing wheel kits can be had for about $100 with all the wheels and types of polish youd ever need.

[Ryan]

Lesson from my intake: don't screw around, go buy a $30 carbide. Flame shape is best.

[mitmaks]

It's a start, post pics as you progress along.

[SuperK]

curious ryan, how long did you spend polishing your intake?

[Ryan]

So long I've repressed it.

Spent most of the time dicking around with dremel sanding drums.

Angle grinder and carbide is where its at.

[SuperK]

LOL stupid dremel sanding drums, they look so tempting to use and draw you in... then you realize, that's the wrong thing to do! I already used up all the ones that came with my dremel kit. *break* next! *wear out* next! SANDING DRUMS, Y U NO LAST MORE THAN 5 MINUTES??!?!

[Ryan]

That was my kit.

It is now gone.

[SuperK]

stone wheels = useless

[WhiteFinish]

stone wheels = useless

Agree !!


It's a lot of work to polish the manifold ! Just take your time and don't rush.

[MrMazda92]

Belt... Sander... Epic.

I took all the casting flash from the front 3 runners in about 5 minutes with my 1/2" belt sander, and another 10 minutes completed my rough sand. I still haven't ordered finer paper, but I imagine 3 hours would be the max I could spend on this before having a mirror in front of me...

Granted, the straightneck isn't exactly curvy.(hence the name ), so I didn't have as many tough spots to hit.

[mikeinaus]

what grit paper were you using on the belt sander? you didnt put any massive scratches in the manifold when removing the casting lines?

[MrMazda92]

I just attempted to check, and honestly it's not labeled. I bought the little sander at a Big lots for a pittance and figured I'd give it a go. The back of the belt is blank, it's just what it came packaged with.

It's pretty rough though, if the sander wasn't variable speed it could have been ugly. I verified that it is a 7 speed, not 12 as I had previously stated.

No massive scratches, I had a LOT of material to remove on the sides of the runners, the casting flash was pretty thick on it. I didn't tackle the flat surfaces, since the 1/2" belt wouldn't allow a smooth finish. I've got another belt sander I'll be trying for that later on.

My advice is to just take it slow, and use a variable speed sander. Hobby sanders like the one I picked up are great for tight spaces.

I'll be hand sanding the final touches, most likely.

[mikeinaus]

i was planning on rough sanding with a palm sander on the flat surfaces atleast. there awesome cuz you can put whatever grit paper you want but as you probably know theyd be useless for removing casting marks or irregularities. as far as i know belt sanders dont have a very high grit paper available, but with common sense and some care they can be great tools.