I have never polished anything before and i saw a guy polish his intake maifold, and the lettering on his valve cover... he said he used a soft grinding wheel and then sanded it 400 1000 2000 grit sand paper, well sounds easy enough but i was just wondering if anyone has any techniques (sp?) that would help me out... i have a few extra parts laying around and wanted to learn this, thanks, also i hear about people porting their intake manifols and tb's and i wanted to know if anyone had a write-up or and hints or techniques on how to do that, thanks alot
#91564, "RE: *Porting and polishing help please....*" In response to Reply # 0
Polishing the exterior of the intake manifold is a very labor-intensive project. You will have to be very patient if you want to get the best results and finish. I would advise you get a flex attachment for your Dremel tool and a variety of sanding bits. Don't worry about the finer shit for now. Just get a bunch of coarse grinder/sander bits and work the thing from end to end. I've also seen people have good results taking the larger surface areas to a wire wheel on a bench grinder. It's all in the steps and attention to detail.
As for the performance porting, if you're really new to this, I would highly suggest sending your spare TB and manifold to either Exile Racing or Eddy Fierro for professional porting. There is a bit of art to it, and the power comes from improving flow. This is a combination of volume and velocity. You just hog it out in there, you will lose power. Besides, polishing the outside will keep you busy enough! Let the pros do the subtle, internal port work to save you some time.
#91569, "RE: *Porting and polishing help please....*" In response to Reply # 1 Jul-17-05 03:48 PM by OneSadRS
thanks for the info, i think the porting thing will definatly wait till i have a lot more knowledge about that, but the polishing thing i would like to try, i think i might try my extra intake manifold, i have a friend who has like 30 and he said i can practice on some of them if i want. thanks again, and if anyone else wants to add any tips about it then please do, i can use all the help i can get...thanks alot
#91573, "RE: *Porting and polishing help please....*" In response to Reply # 2
Where can I get more info on Exile Racing or Eddy Fierro, I just "hogged" mine out so I probably fucked it up and lost power. How much do they charge to do this?
#91671, "RE: *Porting and polishing help please....*" In response to Reply # 5
How do you get the IM opening to a perfect 60mm circle? I know about gasket matching and such, but the gasket I have is only about 55mm. Just wondering if there was an easier way besides to keep measuring with a little ruler until enough was removed.
#91748, "RE: *Porting and polishing help please....*" In response to Reply # 6
Do you guys know of anywhere where you can buy like longer sanding bit for the dremel. The one they give you is so small and I want to be able to get my tb even all the way around.
#91750, "RE: *Porting and polishing help please....*" In response to Reply # 7
Maybe home depot or lowes? I dont know really but thats where i would guess, Walmart might even have them. are you porting you TB then? is it your first time, i was thinking about doing it but not sure if i want to try, you should keep me posted about how that works for ya, pm me or somthing with how good it works for you
#91757, "RE: *Porting and polishing help please....*" In response to Reply # 8
Well I actually already "ported and polished" tb. And I guess it went alright, but it didnt turn out the way I wanted. It really takes a lot doing it with just a small dremel sander and sanding by hand. So I checked a place called WW Granger today because they specialize in parts like the longer sanding bit like I need, but for some reason they didnt have it. If you read earlier on in the post I "hogged" mine out if you will so thats why I'm trying to find the exact tools needed to do the best job I can. I'll let you know if I can find a longer sanding bit. The hardest part that I seemed to have was sanding the surface inside even. I dont really know a good way to measure all of it to make sure its the same. If you attempt it yourself let me know if you come onto any good tips or pointers!!
#91772, "RE: *Porting and polishing help please....*" In response to Reply # 9
Originally posted by clipse2g95 Well I actually already "ported and polished" tb. And I guess it went alright, but it didnt turn out the way I wanted. It really takes a lot doing it with just a small dremel sander and sanding by hand. So I checked a place called WW Granger today because they specialize in parts like the longer sanding bit like I need, but for some reason they didnt have it. If you read earlier on in the post I "hogged" mine out if you will so thats why I'm trying to find the exact tools needed to do the best job I can. I'll let you know if I can find a longer sanding bit. The hardest part that I seemed to have was sanding the surface inside even. I dont really know a good way to measure all of it to make sure its the same. If you attempt it yourself let me know if you come onto any good tips or pointers!!
I'm not sure what you mean by porting and polishing your TB. the only thing that you can do with a stock TB (and not change the butterfly) is take out the "hump". If you have taken out more, then you have probably F'ed that one up. Though it possibly can be fixed with a bigger butterfly, that is not your question. You can get the bits you need at a welding supply store. It's worth it to get the good carbide bits. My extendo's cost me around $40. Good luck with the porting but you may want to look into having the "experienced" help you out with that. Porting is a practiced labor. While I port and polish my own parts, I have had experience with this. If I was strip racing I would have to go through quite a few parts and get to the flow bench before I was comfortable with my final product.
And to the original poster of this thread, exterior polishing takes A LOT of time and patience but do not be worried that you will hurt performance, it does not affect it at all. MB
