I was supposed to do this intake polishing job during the winter while we have 7 feet snow in the entrance. However I was so bored the last two weeks that I have decided to do this job right way ! I spent 20 hours to polish the outside of the intake and 20 hours to polish the runners inside. I did all the sanding stage with regular grit papers and didn't use greaseless compounds. I did't this job with the tools that I have at home. There are more professional kits for aluminium that likely can cut the length of the job by a couple of hours. The key and the difficulty in this job is to remove the casting mark from the surface of the intake.
From the 40 hours I spend nearly 25 hours sanding the intake with a 100 grit paper.
You can also start with a 40 or 80 grit paper to remove the first layer of paint from the intake. However in those 40 and 80 grit grades I didn't find a long lasting paper.
The danger is to knock out of shape the intake if you use too much the 40 grit paper (or the grinder). The 100 grit paper was "child" safe. It is more difficult to knock out of shape the intake with 100 grit. Since it was my second aluminium polishing job the 100 grit was a good balance between speed and difficulty. On my intake some of the casting marks were very deep, nearly 40 mil. I was unable to remove a couple of them. There is a balance to remove all the casting marks and leave a couple of black points on the intake.
Once the 100 grit paper sanding job is done, it is fairly easy to remove the sanding marks from the intake withthe different grade of papers.
This was the sequence of my papers:
100 grit 24 hours out of which I spen 2 hours with my dremmel to clean the runners.
220 grit 6 hours
330 grit 2 hours
400 grit 1 hour
600 grit 2 hours
800 grit 1 hour
1000 grit 2 hours
1500 grit 1 hour
2000 grit 1 hour
Peek paste 1 hour
Start of the job. Unmounting the intake requires about 30 min.
The most difficult part is to detach the electrical wires below the intake.
I installed a plywood on my garage floor to protect my racedeck.
The sanding is a very dirty job.
The first step is to remove the casting marks from the intake.
This is the longest and most important part of the job.
If you notice a casting mark when you sand with a 400
grit paper you will have to restart that area again with the 100 grit paper.
You can see that some casting marks are very deep as much as 40mil !
The casting marks inside the intake are more difficult to remove.
I had a lot of difficulty to remove the casting marks around the throttle body area.
Those were the deepest "holes" to remove.
I used a grinder to remove the casting lines in the bottom of the intake.
Be carefull with the grinder. It helps a lot but can "unshape" the intake.
After 10 hours of sanding you will think that you are over with the casting marks ...
Not yet. Go outside and check again for the deepest marks on the intake.
I used a permennant marker to highlight the areas that still needed sanding.
The tools that I used for the sanding job.
Polisher, orbital sander, 1/3 sheet flat sander, Grinder, mask.
My favorit paper was this one from Home Depot.
It is a high quality paper that bends easily to take the intake's forme.
In addition this paper really lasts very long.
I used my polisher with a sanding paper to remove certain casting marks inside the intake.
To remove the casting mark I had to use a Dremel.
The most usefull Dremel tools were the five grinding stones and papers below.
Once the casting marks were gone on the runners I used a 220 grit paper to "reshape" the runners.
This is the job finished inside with a 320 paper.
This is the job finished with 1500 grit wet paper.
A closer look on the 1500 grit wet paper finish.
A closer look on the 2000 grit wet paper finish.
Intake compared at different stages.
A closer look on the polished intake. I used a paste called "Peek". I have tried other products but this one seemed to be a perfect fit for this grade of aluminium.
After 2 week and 40 hours of labor ....
My garage where I did this job ...
From the 40 hours I spend nearly 25 hours sanding the intake with a 100 grit paper.
You can also start with a 40 or 80 grit paper to remove the first layer of paint from the intake. However in those 40 and 80 grit grades I didn't find a long lasting paper.
The danger is to knock out of shape the intake if you use too much the 40 grit paper (or the grinder). The 100 grit paper was "child" safe. It is more difficult to knock out of shape the intake with 100 grit. Since it was my second aluminium polishing job the 100 grit was a good balance between speed and difficulty. On my intake some of the casting marks were very deep, nearly 40 mil. I was unable to remove a couple of them. There is a balance to remove all the casting marks and leave a couple of black points on the intake.
Once the 100 grit paper sanding job is done, it is fairly easy to remove the sanding marks from the intake withthe different grade of papers.
This was the sequence of my papers:
100 grit 24 hours out of which I spen 2 hours with my dremmel to clean the runners.
220 grit 6 hours
330 grit 2 hours
400 grit 1 hour
600 grit 2 hours
800 grit 1 hour
1000 grit 2 hours
1500 grit 1 hour
2000 grit 1 hour
Peek paste 1 hour
Start of the job. Unmounting the intake requires about 30 min.
The most difficult part is to detach the electrical wires below the intake.
I installed a plywood on my garage floor to protect my racedeck.
The sanding is a very dirty job.
The first step is to remove the casting marks from the intake.
This is the longest and most important part of the job.
If you notice a casting mark when you sand with a 400
grit paper you will have to restart that area again with the 100 grit paper.
You can see that some casting marks are very deep as much as 40mil !
The casting marks inside the intake are more difficult to remove.
I had a lot of difficulty to remove the casting marks around the throttle body area.
Those were the deepest "holes" to remove.
I used a grinder to remove the casting lines in the bottom of the intake.
Be carefull with the grinder. It helps a lot but can "unshape" the intake.
After 10 hours of sanding you will think that you are over with the casting marks ...
Not yet. Go outside and check again for the deepest marks on the intake.
I used a permennant marker to highlight the areas that still needed sanding.
The tools that I used for the sanding job.
Polisher, orbital sander, 1/3 sheet flat sander, Grinder, mask.
My favorit paper was this one from Home Depot.
It is a high quality paper that bends easily to take the intake's forme.
In addition this paper really lasts very long.
I used my polisher with a sanding paper to remove certain casting marks inside the intake.
To remove the casting mark I had to use a Dremel.
The most usefull Dremel tools were the five grinding stones and papers below.
Once the casting marks were gone on the runners I used a 220 grit paper to "reshape" the runners.
This is the job finished inside with a 320 paper.
This is the job finished with 1500 grit wet paper.
A closer look on the 1500 grit wet paper finish.
A closer look on the 2000 grit wet paper finish.
Intake compared at different stages.
A closer look on the polished intake. I used a paste called "Peek". I have tried other products but this one seemed to be a perfect fit for this grade of aluminium.
After 2 week and 40 hours of labor ....
My garage where I did this job ...
