Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Yah now I do !!! I thought you just did some smoothing but it looks like you filled in the passenger head vent and also the filled in the mounting indentations. Looks real good :yeh:


I take it you are running breathers or seperators?

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

I will run breathers on both valve covers.

The flow pattern of the stains on my lid lead me to believe that the main indentation for the drivers side PCV system disrupted flow behind it. I could be wrong, but wtf.... I was bored. :3:

My intake is back!!
 

Well I got my intake back from my welder today. All I can say is he did an excellent job!! He took his time and did it over 3 days a few inches at a time so as to minimize the stresses. Overall he said it is a very good aluminum cast to work on. I will post his info later for everyone in the Chicago area. He does powder coating also (quoted me $65.00 total for both of my cam covers)

Here are some pics :yes:

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN01011.JPG

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN01021.JPG

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN01031.JPG

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN01041.JPG

I will tackle putting the plugs in tomorrow and getting it installed also. Of course more pics to follow. I can't wait to get this project done. I talked to Mach 1 Cal Man yesterday and have setup a tune session in the next few weeks so results to follow.

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

suuuuuuubscribing!

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

I wish I had the marbles to do that! The job looks excellent. I have followed this from the first thread and am interested in the results!

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

The welds look great! That is not the easiet weld to do. I am very interested to hear your results also.

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Me too!

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

OK here is Steve's info. He is the one that welded up my intake and also powder coated my friends BMW motorcycle frame. This is for all the people in the Chicago area. I am not advertising for him, just providing a reference if anyone needs this sort of work done.

His services include: Powder coating, welding (TIG/MIG, stainless, mild/cast steel and aluminum and titanium), Plastic media blasting/stripping. He does mail order and UPS work also.

He has excellent prices and a quality product. Contact Steve at Team Clean (630) 896-TEAM. He is located in Montgomery (Aurora area).

So back to tech, I am heading down to put my plugs in then reinstall my intake tonight. Hopefully I remember where everything goes.....

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

The cup plugs are in. Boy do they SUCK. I think they are the exact size of the hole. Be very carefull putting them in. I used a hammer to put them in, a lot of cuss words to vent my anger and high temp red loctite to seal them in. I would post a picture, but it looks like the one on page one with them in so out I go.....

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Lower intake is back in and fuel rails reattached. I will have the upper intake on later today and hopefully get my brakes bled from the line lock install. Maybe just maybe I can get her on the road today for a test drive.....

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

SHE LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well fired her up tonight.

I only forgot 2 vacuum lines (one under the throttle body and the one on top of the intake lid. Trust me the car will not stay running with either of these off.

I went and rechecked my pictures and was able to find the problem. So here are my lessons learned from this whole project.

1) Take lots of pictures for reference. I took over 100 pictures.

2) Listen to many people before making decisions. You guys helped me out in many ways.

3) Take your time. This is not a quick or easy project.

4) Cut the bottom off of the intake. You can do so much more with it off than with it on.

5) Before doing #4 make sure you have a way to get it back on. I cut mine before lining this up. Lukily I found someone and for a good price.

6) Don't expect to pick up 30 HP. I would like to get some but if I don't I will not be disappointed. I learned a lot about my car and how it comes apart and goes together. To me that makes this all worth it.

I appreciate all the replies and views this post has received. It lets me know that you were interested and that fueled me on. As I said before I am not a professional at this, I just decided to do it. The learning curve was steep.

I would like to thank Nazman, Orange Blast, Mach1 cal man, Rcodemach1 and Itlrun for their input and assistance. A lesser product surely would have turned out without them.

Well, I'll bleed my brakes tomorrow and get it out on the road for a small test. Then hopefully to the dyno in about 2 weeks. I will post an update when I get it.

Thanks all.

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Well it runs real well. I was able to get her out today for a spin today. Definately felt more responsive. I can't keep traction >1/2 throttle in 1st or second. I am sure most of that is due to the 14F temperatures out here and skaterbacks. But it is something it hasn't done before. Shoot even the line lock works :). Now to get it on the dyno and see what it does. Then comes 4.30 gears and 31 splines...... oh and lower control arms.

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Glad to hear everything went ok.

I told you it was easy!

Best of luck.

Naz

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Question for the experienced guys. I have made several observations. It would appear that the factory built in a bunch of clearence around the back of the injector (between the injector and the intake). This is the area that protrudes into the port. When you guys open up the port just behind the injectors, how agressive do you get?

Our cars use a much smaller (diam) injector and do not need as much clearance. Have you thought about adding more material to this area just behind the injector (on the outside of the intake) so that you could remove more of the bump inside the port?

I have and did. Unfortunately, I do not have any pics to share with you guys as my car is currently at MV Performance (100 miles from me) waiting to be tuned.

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Here is a pic of the area Joe is talking about. You can remove stock up to the red line. Any further and you might break through the wall. Which may disrupt the spray pattern of the injector and a trip to your welder. The black line shows the original cast bump and the blue area is where the casting is champhered for the injector to spray. As you can see, there is quite a bit of stock that can be removed.

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

I removed a bunch of material from this area. I did not remove the entire bump, but I did remove more than enough to expose the material I added. I really wish that I had taken pictures of this. After the manifold was cleaned, the acid I was using clearly showed the fresh alum as a different color. It would have made for interesting conversation.

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Normally, I feel like I know a good bit about my car, and 4.6's in general. After reading through this thread, I found out that I know very little................ :rolleyses

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

What kind of saw did you guys use to cut the lower off?
rjw

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

I took mine to a machine shop and they had a auto feed saw do it. It is very important to have a smooth, continous cut done. Also make sure they use a thin blade to minimize how much material is removed.

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

We have a large vertical auto feeder at work, I was thinking of using it to cut mine. How deep are you cutting from the bottom around 2"?

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Just waiting for the results :)

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Use the wire harness tab at the back of the manifold as a
start guide. I simply use a staight edge and a colored wax pencil to draw a line around the entire perimeter. Start the line 1/8" below the tab. It should time out at the front of the intake where there appears to be a seam.

I cut all mine by hand using a hack saw. It takes me 20 minutes and the cut looks bandsaw quality! The hack saw will get you about half way to the center from each end. With the center portions left, I use a straight handled blade holder hack saw to join the cuts. It does not require alot of muscle, just patience. Anyone can do it this way! Well the Pug has not caught on yet...

Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

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Re: Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Thanks for the tip Orange Blast, now ya got me thinking. A cut off wheel in the dremel might be the ticket here.
rjw