I want to polish my intake manifold. I know it will be a ton of work. Before I begin polishing I have a question, what would look better; all polished, polished with painted numbers or polished with the numbers ground flush? Also, would it be of any benefit to port or polish while I'm in there? I can't decide on design and I really do not want to polish 3 of them. (unless there is a market for them) I searched and could not find pictures except for polished ground.

Thanks for any opinions.

sent via my phone -I apologize for any typos.

 

A polished manifold (on the street) is a never ending battle to keep clean, but do look nice when all polished up. I am detail oriented, so I would paint the manufacturer's name and possibly the model of the manifold a color that would accent something else under hood. I would port match, but not bother with polishing the intake runners. For an engine that is going to operate in the high rpm range for a short period of time it's fine, but on a street engine (constantly changing rpm) it creates problems. The smooth surface causes fuel dropout - puddles of fuel in the intake. This causes some cylinders to run rich, and others to run lean. Most will then start playing with jet size in the carb, but it doesn't help. Then you end up ripping the manifold off and replacing it with one that isn't ported to get the engine to run right. Polishing the intake runners does have it's benefits in an engine set up to run the quarter mile, but that little trick decreases performance on the street.

 

Would waxing be a good idea to keep it from oxidizing? I was thinking about silicone based paint sealants but I think they would end up yellowing due to heat. As far as keeping the engine bay clean, that's generally no problem for me(I use a funnel and wipe up spills immediately). I still have to detail the engine bay though, the rubber hoses are sticky from grime collecting on the armor-all the P/O put on the hoses )


I see what you're saying in terms of port matching but not polishing everything smooth on the interior; on the road you want a little of that roughness to cause turbulence in the air flow to better keep the fuel atomized and aid in overall combustion. gotcha.

I'm kinda torn between ground/ polished and painted/polished. I do agree that painting the lettering body/accent color would be a nice accent that ground one wouldn't have. And polishing the numbers would be a pain. Hopefully someone makes victory red engine paint.

Thanks for the response btw.

 

I would recommend getting an aluminum sealant or high temp clear coat to protect your polish work.

If you are into "porting" beyond port matching, since you have a 3400, you can look into the idea of a 3500 top swap (heads, LIM and UIM swap). I've never done it but a few people have. But if your happy with things for the most part, certainly a little port matching will never hurt.

I think polishing or a brushed aluminum look would look good and complimented by painted the letters/numbers on the top.