Going to start my port and polish of my intake tonight
 

Hopefully my PHP spacer will be on the way in the next two weeks so I decided to start the polish job today. I will post some pictures (hopefully as good as Rcodegirl's) and we will see how it comes out. Then after the spacer install, need to head over to Mach 1 Cal Man for a tune.

Here is a good link I found on how to dissassemble the upper and lower intake. It's for a 01 Cobra but it should be pretty darn close.

Pics to come....

http://members.cox.net/tazcobra/int_inst.pdf

The disassembly
 

Well here goes:

Before I started:

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00171.JPG

Shaker off. Don't forget the 2 bolts on the side :rolleyes:

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00191.JPG

Shaker frame off:

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00201.JPG

Upper intake off. I left the EGR on the tube.

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00211.JPG

This is what I did with the fuel rails, I didn't like leaving them unprotected.

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00231.JPG

Another shot with fuel rails off:

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00241.JPG

Side view. You can never have too many pictures of how stuff looks :)

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00251.JPG

All off. The lower intake cleared the EGR !! I will still probably wind up taking it off with the PHP spacer :blah:

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00261.JPG

And there they are !! I will start later tonight or tomorrow.

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00271.JPG

On a side note, is it ok to leave the hood up on the prop rod for a week or so?

I will add some more pics as I attempt the polish job.

you sir are a wizard:p its looking so clean:)

A couple of Q's:

Are you planning to cut the intake open to reach the entire runner, or just grind on what you can reach from the top?

Do all of the various gaskets look like they can be reused when you bolt everything back up?

Isn't it amazing how oily and dirty the inside of something is that is only supposed to flow filtered air!

Take some before and after pics of the internal surfaces.

What kind of gains to you expect to see by "porting" or polishing the intake?

I not 100% convienced that it will help. I have heard that it will and I have also heard that it wont. I'm not trying to start a flame war at all. Im interested in proof positive. I have thought about working mine, but not sure its worth any gians at all.

There are plugs (like a freeze plug) in the bottom of the manifold that can be removed to access the bottom of the runners.

They intake gaskets are reuseable if you are careful with them. I am a bit hesitant to reuse them. After all they are fairly inexpensive.

Not only filtered air, but the intake is also injesting the "dirty / oily" air from the PCV Valve on the LH head and the vent on the RH head. I have vented mine to the atmoshpere with small filters to try to keep this contamination to a minimium.

I am going to pull the freeze plugs/casting access ports out and do some work inside also.

All the gaskets look mint, but I am going to get new ones. No reason not to while it is all apart.

the biggest culprit is the PCV valve pulling oil in. I am also seeing some marks from my EGR line.

Plenty of pictures to come!!

I agree with you. I may not see any gains from this folly, but heck why not? The car is basically in storage and I already had to do 1/2 the work getting the upper intake off. Plus you never know. :CHEERS: Stranger things have happened.

What really baffles me is the 6 holes to 8 setup they have in this intake? Why the heck is it like that? Was there that much difference in 6 holes vice 8?

BTW, nice pics... now go get busy!!! lol :p

How many miles do you have on that intake?

9500 miles

Erik,

This brings back memories!

I noticed you intake showed signs of oil pullover through the PCV system . My intake was pretty clean with only 2300 miles on the ODO when I did mine although there was some oil in the lower which is normal.

I think I have some spare gaskets if you need them too.

Good luck with this!

http://west.bradley.edu/probe/images...142004_640.jpg

Thanks Brian, I think this will be my most challenging thing to date. Hopefully I will have it done by new years, then we can look into getting a tune done. With the intake filter mods I did and this I definately want to get my A/F checked as a minimum to make sure I didn't lean her out too much.

awesome pics - looks like there is a lot of restriction in that lower intake - would a Cobra R intake fit? I think I remember seing a pic where all 8 inlets are trumpets inside a big casing. BMW do something like that on the M5 I believe (and that company seems to know a thing or two about tuning stock engines) - If I could I'd throw the stock intake out and try to fab something a bit freer flowing (though if you lose that longer intake I guess you'll potentially lose that nice bottom end torque we get). I don't think the polishing makes much difference - the air-flow turbulence could even benefit a little with combustion from unpolished intakes, but the porting has gotta help. I'm curious about the potential power gains however as they are essentially free - dyno results please!!!!!

Well the process has started. Let me tell you getting those dang port plugs out was a pain in the ***! Tried many a technique and when all the smoke cleared I wound up drilling a pilot hole, making it bigger with screwdrivers prying up at the same time, then forcing it out with vise grips. Here is a picture (I believe) of the part number for the freeze plugs:

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00291.JPG

Here is what a plug looks like after it is forcefully removed:

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00311.JPG

All the plugs out:

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00331.JPG

And started the process. I need to go out and get a little rougher grit set of stones for my dremel so I will post more later. This is going to take a while....

http://home.insightbb.com/~erikf2/EPSN00411.JPG

Well, grinding continues. I have a couple in process pics I'll post up later. Most of the flashing to be removed so far is in the first bends heading down to the bottom. Looks like they stick something square down 4 of the six openings to remove the intake from the mold. Lots of stuff to remove there. Also I removed a lot of metal on the sides leading into the holes. I did some work on the flutes on the bottom, but mine were actually in good shape. I don't know if I want to thin out that area too much due to the fact I am having a hard time getting into the center of the intake passage.

I removed all the rough stuff from the top of the runners and I will set to smoothing later tonight.

You need those tapered emery cones to get into the corners, that's what I used and they worked pretty well.
rjw

Yup picked up a set earlier. Thanks for the tip. More pics to come later.......

What did you end up doing with the top cover? I deburred, blended the corners then polished it, if I can find a pic i'll post it.
rjw

That is what I am thinking also, I am not going to polish the outside, just clean up the inside, around the throttlebody and call it good.

Exactly, just blend around the divider after the TB and polish the rest, my top cover ended up looking like a mirror. On the bottom mostly deburring and blending. It looks like they just ran an end mill down into the runners on the lowerto clean up the seam on the casting.
rjw

ALDI RULES! :MADNOEL: Keep the pics coming, very nice writeup so far

Those of you that have completed this mod.... what differences did you notice?

It looks like a lot of work.... and I'm lazy lol

Thats what helps pay for the mods on this car :)

Well I am done for the night. Kids went to bed so I can't make anymore noise. I am at the 'rough' stage right now. I have passed the metal grinding bits down each runner and have removed all the flashing from the top and bottom. Tomorrow I will wash it off and 'feel' for any high spots or roughness. After taking care of that then I will start with the grinding wheels and start shaping and smoothing. Hopefully by tomorrow night I will have a fairly polished lower intake. Then I will work on the lid.

Here is how it sits in rough form:

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN00421.JPG

Picture of one of the runners. Notice I still need to find a way to get a little lower in the runner? I have the Dremmel Flex Shaft, but it is still a little short. I may try and hand smooth out that area. I don't think I will we doing any enlarging of that area.



http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN00431.JPG

Here is that dang mystery oval port. I cleaned up some flashing, but kind of at a loss for any further enlarging of the opening. All the round horns actually look really good so I just cleaned them up a bit.

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN00441.JPG

I think I am going to get a new PCV valve to. My intake looks a lot oilier then all the other ones I have seen :blah: Maybe because it isn't a daily driver :??:

Good luck with the project! Keep us updated. :THUMBSUP:

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Thanks NAZ !!!!:D :HOPPY: :CHEERS: :THUMBSUP: Those help a lot.

I was able to get all the flaring into the 6 down runners done. I am a little worried about totally removing the fuel rail bosses inside. I dont want to reveal a bolt hole all of a sudden. I will work more on the flutes in the bottom, but I don't think I can get it as flared as yours strictly thru the casting ports.

Round 2 '*ding*'

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Comp Orange 04
[B]Thanks NAZ !!!!:D :HOPPY: :CHEERS: :THUMBSUP: Those help a lot.

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I don't wish to hi-jack this thread either, you're doing a great job, but it just seems a lot of work, together with the fact that not all the inside surfaces get polished.

I just wanted to say that I just got off the phone with a Rick Miller of Extrude Hone down in Irwin PA and I was thinking about volunteering my upper intake manifold to him for tooling (I would get a substantial discount of course). All told, it would take about 3 weeks (from Jan 3, 2005), and once done, Rick would report the flow percentage increase. Once the tooling is complete, the process would only take days for the other intakes sent in to him. I'm very interested in doing this, but I don't have a garage, and I would have to pull the intake out in the cold, plus figure a way to cover the exposed engine ports (I only have a car cover right now). Time to crap or get off the pot I guess, **** I hate winter! I'll let everyone know very soon what I intend to do.

The good news is that I told him how I was a member of this site and if he'd be interested in giving us a group purchase price, and he said YES! Final group price will be determined after tooling and the first intake is completed, but he feels it should be around $450.

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Well here are some port shots. I am pretty much at my limit on the flaring side due to the access port size. I have started smoothing back on some. Here is one with just the flare done.

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN00461.JPG

Here is the 'D' port, still need to get rid of the ridge on the left side.

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN00471.JPG

Here is one that is almost complete except for smoothing

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN00481.JPG

And this one is done except for smoothing.

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.feightner/EPSN00491.JPG

Not too much time has been spent so far. Always remember your safety glasses and gloves. I cannot believe how many metal fragments are lying on my table. And that is probably only half since the rest are in the intake still!

...

I am having some problems finding a 1" flap wheel.... Any suggestions? I went to Wal Mart, Lowes and Menards.

Ok, found a 1" flap wheel at NAPA, back to work.......... :santa:

Cutting open the bottom
 

To add a bit more to the porting information sharing. Here are
some pictures of those velocity stacks after the bottom is removed. This is where most of the casting flash is left behind on the sand casted intake.

These intakes are made from several Half's you might call them. The seams all come together at the bottom, on the inside of the intake. This leaves much to be desired in the flow of air to those runners.

The surface finish is the shape or roughness of the sand used to make the casting with.

An injection molded plastic intake would have been the best way to go. But its to costly for Ford to produce for such low manufacturing volume.

They have finally made that leap with the 05 GT.

I work on "Camry" intake molds every night at work and study the flow mechanics of it. While its not a hod rod car part, its quite a nice piece of work. All the runners are like an Extrude hone finish. And there are absolutely no obstructions in the air flow path like our Mach-1's.

As Nazman said, its not the velocity of the incoming air charge. Its the volume of air the intake is being choked out of.

By the way, Pauls high performance does both. Cuts open the intake, Extrude hones and then ports the rest by hand. $1,250 plus your core. Good luck with the grinding. And where your safety glasses at all times.

So how do you put the intake back together after you cut the bottom off? Seems like a fairly hard aluminium weld job.

Extrude Hone should already have the tooling for this intake. I wouldnt let them charge you for the tooling. Our intake is the same as the 01 Cobra.

NAZ, have you dyno'd after the camshaft install?

I use an epoxy for that joint.(Its rated for temps above 300 degree's.) A 1" inch band is applied around the entire perimeter of the intake for added insurance / strength. Tig welding is an option but adds tremendously to the over all cost. I'm experimenting with a special aluminum rod that uses a soldering process to adhere the base part metal together. Many are concerned about an epoxy joint, so maybe this will be an alternative which will still keep cost down.

Looks good. I did mine a few weeks ago.
 

http://www.mach1registry.org/forums/...ad.php?t=27086

Here's the link. The pics show what I did to the lid as well.

Also, Naz's comments are good. But I didn't have the nads yet to cut the bottom off. Maybe next time.

As for power increase, I couldn't really tell, but I don't drive the car everyday. It always feels fast to me. I hope to dyno or get to the track soon.

Nick

:devil: Yo Dude, the Oak Ridge Boys called, they want to put the band back together! :MADNOEL:

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Mach-1 Review
 

"TACH9" over at the Mach-1.org is gearing up for a port and polish intake comparson test soon after the new year. I believe he is looking to get a hold of a "PHP" , "SHM" , an Extrude hone version, mine and maybe Naz man if he can work it out? This should be a real good evaluation as they have done many good quality write ups in the past with popular bolt on's. Stay tuned!!!

Sound like a very good deal. This have been long over due!

Naz

Now that would disspell any rumors of performance. That is what I like - FACTS and comparisons.