Intake Manifold Cleaning

Hey everyone,

I'm taking off the intake manifold (Edel. Performer) to change out the gasket. The manifold is really grungy and totally kills the look of the engine compartment. What are my options as far as making it look nicer? I just want it to look clean and shiny. Can they polish it? Chrome it? Powdercoat it? Which one would look nicest and is most commonly done on cars?

Thanks again for your help

Imran - 74 Convt

Having it polished will give a chrome look, and is common, they sell new intakes polished or satin finish. I prefer the satin look. I have read that it is a good idea to clear coat your aluminum intake, as the aluminum surface will actually absorb enough oil to stain the intake.

I'm been helping a fiend with his "Rustang" (or good car as he calls it ). When we first assembled the engine, the aluminum intake was installed right out of the box. Everytime you touched it with a bit of oil on your fingers, it would leave a mark. A few weeks ago we pulled the engine and changed to aluminum heads. At that time he cleaned the intake and sprayed it with Dupont ClearCoat and hardner. Turned it a gray color, but it's easy to clean now. I can take a couple of pictures and post them later if you want.

Here's what I did.

1) Removed Old Intake.
Here's a picture showing the horrible shape it was in at the time:



2) Degreased with a spray degreaser.

3) Scrubbed with a combination of a wire brush on a drill, and a manual wire brush.
Here's what it looked like after that:



4) Finally, I sprayed it with Silver High Temp Engine paint. 2 or 3 coats, I think.

Here's what that looks like:
(Notice that now you can see all the numbers and writing on the iron)



5) Installed back on new block (looks like it is brand new, if you ask me!)

Adam:
Sounds (and looks) like you got your first quarterly article right there, posted on the forum!

Think you could go back through the process on paper? Any reason you didn't get the "seats" reground as well?

Anyway, great looking intake! Sounds like one of the items on my list when I get my engine rebuilt.

Nice job El Presidente!

How long ago did you do that, and how well has it stood up? I'm leaning towards getting the manifold (and a few other parts) blasted and then powdercoated. I'll post pics as that comes along too. My "chrome" shipment from Summit finally came in, $40 worth of chrome goodies really made the difference in the engine.

I'll see if I can figure out how to get those pics online as nicely as yours were Adam.

Imran - 74 Convt

Okay, here goes!
Let's try these pics.

Here's the progression...
















|UPDATED|11/7/2002 5:46:12 PM|/UPDATED|

Gotta do something about those exhaust manifolds, clean up the valve covers, organize the spark plug wires, clean up that alternator, intake manifold, and get rid of those ugly green hose covers.

And get better lighting in my garage


Okay, so lay it on! How can I make this engine compartment look nicer???

Imran - 74 Convt