My brother had a spare FC Upper Intake Manifold so I took the old Dremel polishing set to it. Damn, what a pain in the *** to polish this thing! It has so many little crevices and contours it took me nearly six hours of non-stop work on it. He has a '90 GTU and the plan is to put this one on his car and then I'll polish his old one and put it on my '91 Coupe. It'll be a really nice visual when we open the hood.

 

Damn nice work. I have a spare motor, maybe Ill try that on that intake manifold, but then Id have to port and polish the inside too. Man that might take awhile.

 

Betcha that gives another 50 HP too, because of the reflective properties that will shunt away any engine heat

 

Yeah, you're right, but it'd all be worth it when you open the hood and see that beautiful, shiny work that you did with your own hands.

 

I think 50 is pretty optimistic, don't you? Maybe 15 at the most.

 

Dude people dont do it to gain HP. Duh!!! Its al about saving weight, that metal is kinda heavy....

 

Alright now, you gotta know I'm not serious, right? I know all that and really, there's no weight saving in doing this anyway. If anything, it's a fraction of an ounce and it's actually pretty light being that it's cast aluminum. It's a Visual Performance upgrade, that's it.

 

I did that to my manifold, and didnt really like it, plus it got really dirty real fast. So I picked up another manifold and painted it gloss metal-flake black, and it looks great


Good job on the polishing though...

 

Ya I was just joking.


Rxmfn7 do you have anymore pics of your IM? Looks kinda cool.

 

I only have this pic now..I can snap a few more of it on the car if youd like. I painted alot of stuff this color, I think it looks really nice, a contrast with some of the aluminum on the car..

 

Thanks man thats all I need. It looks good. Id do it but I think too much under my hood is black, but it does gives it a tough-racer look.

 

So that I don't make all the newbies go out and rip their upper intake/dynamic chamber off: I was only jokeing, there will be no HP gains what so ever.

 

Why is that so funny!!?!?!?!

 

because you know someone was reading this thread and thinking," Hmmm, 50 HP, heck even for 15 extra HP I will polish mine up!"

 

Looks good, but damn, it took you 6 hours?

 

What did you use to polish It?

I plan on powder coating my Manifolds over the Winter. I have taken my Manifolds more than a handful of times and can't bare the thought of doing It anytime soon.

So I'll wait...

 

thats alot of time and energy... seems like a worthwhile and satisfying project

 

Rxmfn7

What kind of paint did you use to paint that? High temp paint? any brand in particular you favor?

 

people cant be that lame, can they?

 

I cant remember the exact brand, but it wasnt anything special. The IM doesnt really get *that* hot, so high temo paint is not needed. I just went over the IM with a wire-wheel to get any dirt and stuff off, then gave it 2 good coats, and baked it under my ultra-violet curing lamp ( Not necessary, but I have one so why not? )

 

I used a Dremel tool with small buffs and polishing compound for the little crevices (like the raised lettering on top) and a bigger polishing wheel with jeweler's rouge for the larger areas. It really is more work than one would think. I would entertain the idea of powder coating, but I've polished a lot of other stuf under my hood and the UIM is such a visually prominent piece that I wanted to maintain some consistency. I got more than I bargained for, but the end result will be sweet.

 

Did you polish your LIM aswell? I would think that would be a sharp contrast between the two. I think it would look pretty sharp having them both done.

 

Wow. That looks ******* sexy.

 

Once you do the blingn' polish cant you coat it in some sort of polyurathane covering?

James

 

Yeah, you sure can. Actually, Eastwood makes a clear spray specifically for bare metal parts that's supposed to withstand the underhood environment up to 350 degrees. I've used it on a couple small parts and it seems to be doing its job well.

Look here: Diamond Clear Spray