Port and Polish Intake: Magnus

[Wicked 3800 V6]

Magnus,
What can you tell us about porting and polishing the intake (upper and lower) on your own? I'd love to pull mine out and do it one day. I'd probably polish the outside, then go at it porting and polishing the inside. Did you notice any gains (not too much expected). Was the process easy (was it you first time pnp'ing) ... How difficult is it to remove the intake? (I've read the Haynes / Chilton's manuals on this ...). What grinder / stone kit did you use?
Comments from everyone please ...
Thanks!
[edit: BTW, great inspiration comes from your pictures of the final product.]
-Rob

[ December 18, 2001: Message edited by: Wicked 3800 V6 ]</p>

[DEE97GTP]

It is aluminum, so even a dremel would work. Stones tend to take material off too quickly and "cake" up. I used a high speed metal bit from dremel that works great. It would be a good idea to get some catridge rolls, 40grit or so. Don't polish the ports, they should be rough to the touch. Not as rough as they are currently with the casting, but not polished either. You need that roughness to swirl the air an help mix the fuel/air.

BTW, porting the intake was alot easier than porting the heads. :D

[Magnus]

It was my first time P&P'ing.

Removing the intakes is not fun. Wear gloves to protect your nuckles from the cowl.

Before you do it unplug the fuel tank, open the gas cap and start the car up. When it dies, crank it again to get the excess fuel out of the lines.

Here is a list of things to remove:
Throttle Body
Alternator
Coolant Transfer Bracket
ICM (The thing coil packs sit on)
Thermostat Housing and EGR tube
Disconnect fuel lines (Fuel line disconnect tool)
Fuel Rail (4 10mm bolts)
Upper Intake (10 8mm bolts 2 10mm bolts)
Disconnect vacume hose in rear of upper intake.
Remove lower intake (2 bolts are hidden inside lower intake).

Thats off the top of my heads.

I noticed absolutely NO gains.. I was just bored so I did it.

I used a dremel to do the work with LOTS of sanding drums. Then I used a polishing stone and then polishing cloths with compound.

I tried using a high speed cutter but the aluminum of the intake quickly filled the grooves of the cutter.. Plus it removed material to quickly.

As for the ports needing to be rough to swirl the air, well I don't believe that much. By the way our intake is designed the air will already be turbulant. Plus, if you look at where the injector is located and how close it is to the intake port, there isn't much time for the air to really MIX with the fuel due to turbulance.

[Ironman24]

Hey Rob,

Check out pics on my webpage of the porting. I did the intake(s) while they were off during the cam install. I used a die grinder and a carbide aluminum cutting bit, egg shaped. With a little cutting oil it worked perfectly. To polish it out I used a sanding drum kit for a dremel but I have a dremel type air tool instead. You will need a gasket kit from GM to put the intakes back on, the part # is: 12537616

I agree with Keith, it's a worthless mod unless you are bored, or already have the intake off. I think it will show gains with ported heads so the intake ports on the heads match up nicely. But with stock heads I would leave the intake(s) alone.

IMHO I thought intakes needed a little roughness on carbed cars to help swirl the air and burn the mixture of air/fuel. Our intakes are dry (no fuel) so I think a smooth polished surface is fine.

http://www.carolinafbodyclub.com/iro...tall/index.htm

[DominusEtDeusNatus]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Magnus:
It was my first time P&P'ing.

Removing the intakes is not fun. Wear gloves to protect your nuckles from the cowl.

Before you do it unplug the fuel tank, open the gas cap and start the car up. When it dies, crank it again to get the excess fuel out of the lines.

Here is a list of things to remove:
Throttle Body
Alternator
Coolant Transfer Bracket
ICM (The thing coil packs sit on)
Thermostat Housing and EGR tube
Disconnect fuel lines (Fuel line disconnect tool)
Fuel Rail (4 10mm bolts)
Upper Intake (10 8mm bolts 2 10mm bolts)
Disconnect vacume hose in rear of upper intake.
Remove lower intake (2 bolts are hidden inside lower intake).

Thats off the top of my heads.

I noticed absolutely NO gains.. I was just bored so I did it.

I used a dremel to do the work with LOTS of sanding drums. Then I used a polishing stone and then polishing cloths with compound.

I tried using a high speed cutter but the aluminum of the intake quickly filled the grooves of the cutter.. Plus it removed material to quickly.

As for the ports needing to be rough to swirl the air, well I don't believe that much. By the way our intake is designed the air will already be turbulant. Plus, if you look at where the injector is located and how close it is to the intake port, there isn't much time for the air to really MIX with the fuel due to turbulance.<hr></blockquote>

Your intake looks pretty unpolished to me.

[Bene]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Dom:


Your intake looks pretty unpolished to me. <hr></blockquote>

Its polished inside not out.

[Magnus]

bene, what he means is... my actual intake is on dom's car and dom's intake is on mine.

[Patrick Javert]

Unless you dont want to spend a lot of money, have your anifold port and poliched by ExtrudeHone. I hear they are pretty good at porting everything in the manifold. Their # is (562)-531-2976 or their website is ExtrudeHone.com.