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Another polished intake manifold (with more rice)

K

KingpinSVT

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
May 21, 2003
Messages
2,634
Location
Ocala, FL
Well this took forever. I stopped counting and just decided to go with “a really long time” if someone asks. The second one would go a lot faster though (I plan on doing a few of these for $$$). I spent a while fiddling with different die grinder bits before I found the real deal at Grainger. A high speed carbide bit made the cutting parts go a LOT faster. Still a lot of work and the sweatshirt I was wearing is still full of aluminum.

Anyway, I’ll post a few in progress pics and then the finished pics with the manifold CollinsPC did for me. They will look great together! I’m not going to post every stage of sanding/polishing but you should get the idea. Worth noting I did the polish in this order (this was after the cutting/filing):

80 grit sandpaper
80 grit polish
120 grit polish
180 grit polish
240 grit polish
400 grit polish
800 grit sandpaper
800 grit wet sand
1000 grit wet sand
2000 grit wet sand


Just for those that aren’t sure what’s involved. It’s a lot of steps. It also helps to have the right tools.
Start
1Start.jpg


Cutting stud mounts off that will not be used in the future:
10cutting.jpg

15cutting.jpg

17cutting.jpg


Starting to sand/polish:
19sanding.jpg

22polish.jpg


Finished (Probably some 20+ hours later. It adds up quickly)!. I still need to do one final final polish but I’m not going to do it until after this gets installed (assuming it goes on my car anyway):
26Finished.jpg

27Finished.jpg

25Finished.jpg


Better shot of the valve cover (thanks again Randy!):
002.jpg
 
Did my thread light a fire under someone? :laugh:

Looks amazing. I started wetsanding at 400 and after that is pretty quick for me. Surface prep is where your time is mostly lost. At 800 grit I started getting a nice shine. Did I mention I've worked on mine intermittently for a year? lol. My sister has a Civic Si, maybe I can get her to put down her curling iron for a dremel and make her do her manifold. lol

Great job.
 
99cougTRX said:
Did my thread light a fire under someone? :laugh:
Click to expand...

Yeah you helped. I also had someone from the Civic boards stop by on Sunday so that I could cut out the area between the runners for him. The rest of his manifold was already done so between the two of you I was ready to get it done.
 
So finally getting close to finishing this project. A few other things got in the way (like coilovers :drool: ) but I'm finally getting this done. I have a nice black anodized aluminum fuel rail to go with it but the fittings they gave me were wrong so the stock one stays for now. That will be the finishing touch though IMO. It's only for looks, but what about this engine isn't at this point lol. I also need to paint my dipstick black but I may get that done today.

Manifold is still a bit dirty from the install, I need to hit it again with polish and clean the rest of the bay too. The camera just cannot capture the sparkle from this valve cover.
002-2.jpg

003-1.jpg
 
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