Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics - Photos & Media Forum - j-body.org

Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics - Photos & Media Forum

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Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Saturday, August 01, 2009 4:45 PM

It's been a while since I've posted any kind of an update, and to be honest... I haven't touched the car or anything to do with it in exactly a year. It took that long for the bug to bite and for me to really want to do something car-mod related...

I picked up this H.O intake manifold from a member back in January 2009... it's one of those rare beasts since 2.4 aluminum flanges are (or at least were) very hard to come by. It was supposed to be "polished" and have the venom 2.4 flange welded to it - and to be fair an attempt was made to polish it - but it was just the runners that were sanded down (with scratch marks in them) and buffed up a bit. None of the valleys were really reached into. Those who know me well, know this just wouldn't do.

Even worse, the "welds" that were done to attach the manifold to the flange were - well - awful looking. They looked like massive meatballs, standing about 1/4" high in some spots. I'm not a fan of having aluminum welded, and there is definite penetration into the runners, so I decided to grind them down. What you see isn't 100% pretty like I'd like it but I didn't want to go too far into the welds and compromise their strength.

Since the flange was anodized red, I simply scuffed it and painted it silver to match my head. Polishing the manifold itself was enough work without trying to do the flange.

I'd say this is about 85% complete, I'm yet to go to the store and pick up one last buffing wheel and final polish. I'm not 100% happy with it (it still has scratches between the runners - such a damn hard spot to get to - as well as in a few other spots) but I'm happy enough that I'll probably leave it as is. I'll probably get around to porting the TB flange a bit to fit my 63mm throttle body next year or so. (Car isn't going anywhere anytime soon.)

And yes I'll be washing it over and over again to get any particles out before it even gets NEAR the car. lol

A side note - polishing is disgusting. I came in to the house black head to toe - I felt like Zoolander in the coal mines. It was ridiculous. I loved it.

All in all I probably have about 13-15 hours invested into it at this point, for those of you who are curious.

Comments good or bad are always welcome.

And here's the car... resting until she's out on the road again someday...

Thanks for looking.

-Chris-

-Sweetness-
-Turbocharged-
Slowly but surely may some day win this race...

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Saturday, August 01, 2009 5:21 PM

z yaaaa

oh my my! an update from chris is always a good thing!

manifold looks good, cept for those welds. like you said... something should be done if you can. and yes, that is for sure a venom flange. looks identical to mine.

Every time I scream "Release", I mean it, you know it. I feel the day. Black 7.

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Saturday, August 01, 2009 6:10 PM

I SATCHMOE YOU!!!!

You should have sent your headlights with Scott back down here since you havent been using them after all.

JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!

In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Saturday, August 01, 2009 6:18 PM

D-Mac

Nice polish job

That flange job looks terrible whomever did it

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Saturday, August 01, 2009 11:25 PM

Cody Star

very nice i like it good job

8 psi with m62 and IAT under 100

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Sunday, August 02, 2009 7:41 AM

icemike89

Yea the welds are very rough, but atleast it has an ld9 flange on it!

I say weld on an LS1 tb flange

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Sunday, August 02, 2009 8:01 AM

z yaaaa

i say have it black chromed.

Every time I scream "Release", I mean it, you know it. I feel the day. Black 7.

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Sunday, August 02, 2009 8:07 AM

David Ingram

Love it

~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Sunday, August 02, 2009 9:10 AM

the lemur

I love your car. Seeing it sitting there like that makes me sad.

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Sunday, August 02, 2009 11:01 AM

02_redbadged

z yaaaa wrote:i say have it black chromed.

FTMFW!

WiGM-Tuners member.

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Sunday, August 02, 2009 4:52 PM

99 GT FIRE

LOL Chris it was that day that you took it outta the box and I took the cover off the car that got you itch again, wasent it???

LOL LOOKS SICK!

Guys trust me I saw this thing prior to thid andit was a complete mess well done buddy!

Remind me tomorrow to take before and after pics of us rolling the fenders!

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Sunday, August 02, 2009 5:03 PM

Eternal

Wow...

You did a great job. Polishing isn't for the lazy thats for damn sure!

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Sunday, August 02, 2009 5:14 PM

Mike

Nice work

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Tuesday, August 04, 2009 4:23 AM

-MD- Enforcer

I'm a fan!

PRND321 Till I DIE
Old Motor: 160whp & 152ft/lbs, 1/4 Mile 15.4 @88.2
M45 + LD9 + 4T40-E, GO GO GO

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Tuesday, August 04, 2009 5:03 AM

RaGiN Z (the fake 05)

holy fawk Chris! That looks siiiiick! A hell of an upgrade from the condition I saw it in two weeks ago! I still say its got meatballs tho!

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Tuesday, August 04, 2009 8:40 AM

Blwn LD9

I hope mine looks that good when it is finished

z yaaaa wrote:i say have it black chromed.

That is a good idea

Jason
99 Z24 Supercharged
157hp/171tq - NA
190hp/170tq @ 6psi

LG0/LD9 for Life

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Tuesday, August 04, 2009 9:51 AM

Thrice .

It's good to see you're starting to get back on track.

..you can't keep Sweetness locked up forever you know, it's not good for her health

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Tuesday, August 04, 2009 10:30 AM

StikiGreenZ

Very nice... Damn those welds are ugly though

1996 Chevrolet Cavalier SOLD | 2002 BMW 330i SOLD | 2004 BMW 645i

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Tuesday, August 04, 2009 12:37 PM

gtpsunfire

Looking good buddy...

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Wednesday, August 05, 2009 7:35 PM

SweetnessGT

Thought I'd post a final update. I went out and got a few new polishing wheels and finished up the last few stages - it still has mild scratches in the surface that can only be taken out by sanding, but to be honest - this isn't a show car. I care not for a baby's-ass-smooth finish... I just wanted something really decent to look at, and I have it.

If you compare the pictures, you'll see the difference.

Previous:

Now:

As you can see the final stage of polishing REALLY brightens up the metal and brings out its mirror qualities. I'm more than pleased with it the way it is... I look forward to installing it on the car maybe sometime next summer.

After I finished up with the manifold, I turned to a project that has long sat and waited for Sweetness to be finished. My Firebird hasn't received an ounce of love from me in about 6 years, and since I had the polish and buffing wheels and drill out, I decided to see how clean I could get one of my polished aluminum snowflake rims. I did a little 8" section... this took about 8 minutes. Here's the result:

Suffice to say my love for the Firebird just came to life again.

Comments & questions always welcome.

Thanks for looking!

-Chris-

-Sweetness-
-Turbocharged-
Slowly but surely may some day win this race...

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Wednesday, August 05, 2009 7:44 PM

RaGiN Z (the fake 05)

poor snowflakes, soooo neglected... maybe I will polish an 8" section of one of the 280z's rims. lol

MMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSS

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Wednesday, August 05, 2009 7:45 PM

z yaaaa

get it chromed.

done.

Every time I scream "Release", I mean it, you know it. I feel the day. Black 7.

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Wednesday, August 05, 2009 7:48 PM

David Ingram

Oh so pretttttyyy. Be prepared to clean up that thing a lot after its installed from all the heat and misc liquid drops that might get on it.

~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Wednesday, August 05, 2009 7:52 PM

SweetnessGT

David - oh I plan to clean it up as often as need be. If you wax it though, it will slow the process. A mother's powerball and some good polish will keep it healthy. It's not the only polished piece in my engine bay so I have quite a bit to maintain! (AFMU, IDI cover, H.O manifold (now), Fuel Lines, Catch Cans, Soon to be 44mm Wastegate.... lol)

Brad - if I wanted it chromed and to keep heat trapped inside, it, I'd go that route.

Scott - Screw you. Now get over here I still have tons of rum for us to guzzle. lol

-Chris-

-Sweetness-
-Turbocharged-
Slowly but surely may some day win this race...

Re: Polished LD9 H.O Intake Manifold Pics

Wednesday, August 05, 2009 7:54 PM

gtpsunfire

Looking awsome buddy. I will come by and check it out soon.
Also, lets get on the Firebird, it needs some love.

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