Intro

Wow!!! There is so much room for improvement, HP & torque in our intake manifolds...way, WAY more than I anticipated or even thought possible. But my GAWD is it going to come at a price in both honing tools and man hours.

I just flowed the thing in in both primary position, secondary position and with switchover removed and it is very restrictive. My Stage 3 stuff flows over 180% more than the manifold is capable of flowing in high RPM mode. At first-glance there appears to be more than enough "meat" for removal to Stage 3-match the intake but it's not going to come fast, cheap or easy. I can easily see this thing will be a 80-120 hour project to make it the best I can. Far too cost-prohibitive to offer as a service or part. The best I'll be able to do is catalog the process with pics and areas of particular need and gain as I go. Show you the tools you'll need and what I used. Budget over $100 just for consumable flex-hones for a DIY project. Match that amount in carbide burrs and grinders plus the cost of a good flex-shaft grinder as a hand-held Dremel will limit your depth of reach even with extended burrs.

First thing is get this thing acid washed and give up any plans of it looking good as-is on the outside once acid-cleaned. I'll either have mine anodized or painted black once done to help in dissapating heat and to mask the darker, mottled finish that the acid will leave. There is NO way this thing will clean up with anything less than acid. My ultrasonic cleaner won't touch the varnish inside this thing and it will take the black oxide or color anodizing off anything I put in it and turn to high setting.

I'm also planning to sleeve the EGR passage with Teflon tubing once done. That should pretty much preclude it EVER becoming clogged again.

And buy a spare manifold if you want to follow along with me on this as a "workshop project" as you won't wanna be without your car for the 3-4 months we'll likely take. I have 2 spares that I'm into for less than $90 combined so the deals are out there. Check www.car-parts.com for pricing/availability and don't be afraid to beat em up for a better price. Don't take the first price they offer. Tellem it's going on a coffee table as art. ;-)

Ostensibly I'm guessing I can coax another 25-30HP out of this with the other Stage 3 components, perhaps a little more, perhaps a little less. But I cannot be responsible for necessary upgrades that will likely follow, ie; especially if larger injectors are needed. It could very easily happen. In fact count on it if you also do the ram air conversion in which case another additional 10HP+ is likely.

If one or sevaral want or would like me to hold up on the project til they can get a spare manifold within the next 2-4 weeks it's no problem since I'm going to take gobs of time with this. Wouldn't bother me a bit if I don't get it on the car til spring. Besides, like I said, I have two spares so I could jump ahead on one and keep the "project unit" on pace with anyone else.

Basically I'll do a once-or-twice a week post covering the latest honing/grinding with pictures. Additionally I will buy a pint of Glyptal which is a GE product used for armature windings and we'll be smoothing out/filling in some large/flat areas that will be faster/easier than grinding. You're welcome to follow me in part or in whole, picking/choosing what's within your limits and your pocketbook.

There will also be times of lapses between my postings due to my workload. Bear this in mind and know I'll get to the intake manifold ASAP.

And if no one opts to follow along that's ok too. I'm just offering as no one can know how long before AW has a search feature for us or accidentally drops a post or my pic-poster fills up and deletions take over. In the meantime I'll post pics as they become available.

I'll also be finishing up with adding the adjustable manifold switchover switch at the end of this project but that could be added any time during or even after the workshop.

I'll get my two manifolds to the acid bath Monday or Tuesday. But I'll keep all pics limited to the workshop unit as one will be experimental and while I can heliarc or repair any mistakes I make in aluminum I know you guys can't and I want to keep this simple as possible without re-do's.

Anyone game?