Intake Porting

[FordNut]

The port and polish work is done, next step is thermal coating and installation. The throttle body bores were opened up at a machine shop, then blended by hand with the rest of the surfaces of the upper intake manifold.

http://www.mercurygallery.net/mmnet/data/500/518DSC01000.JPG

Those surfaces looked so nice, I felt that I should deburr and hand polish the rest of the inside surfaces of the upper manifold.

http://www.mercurygallery.net/mmnet/data/500/518DSC00999.JPG

That's already more than I had planned to do, as I just wanted to match the throttle bores with my twin 62mm BBK throttle body. BUT, while the upper was at the machine shot the owner of the shop asks why I'm not doing the whole thing and do it "right" instead of half-way. So I searched for a reasonably priced, reputable source for porting the lower intake. I sent it to James Hensler of Hensler Racing Engines and they did this:

http://www.mercurygallery.net/mmnet/data/500/518DSC01001.JPG

That is all hand-worked, and they popped the freeze plugs out of the bottom to access the bottom side of the plenum and runners. They also port matched the ports to intake manifold gaskets, so whenever I decide to have head work done, I just need to have the heads port matched to the gaskets and everything is good.

http://www.mercurygallery.net/mmnet/data/500/518DSC01003.JPG

I wanted the intake to have a bleck finish like the rest of my engine, so it has to be coated before installation. I considered powder coating, but figured I might as well experiment with thermal coating to get some functionality along with the looks. Soon as it gets back, it'll go on and I'll post before/after dyno results.

[hitchhiker]

Please let us know what the results of your porting work are!

And, how much it costs.

Thanks,

David

[Bradley G]

Good work !

Hoping you get some worthwhile results!
Bradley G

[SergntMac]

Zack and I experimented with intake mods last year, but we didn't get performance results that would underwrite a larger project for us here. However, we did not take the path you have, and your effort is very promising. Personally, I find exploring new ideas for the Marauder as enjoyable as just driving it, half the fun of ownership for me has been building it. Looking good, best wishes. Keep s posted?

[DEFYANT]

This was my plan before the Trilogy. Very good idea for a N/A or centrifical blown MM. Amazon got about 30HP out of this set up on a Mach 1 mustang.

[FordNut]

Zack and I experimented with intake mods last year, but we didn't get performance results that would underwrite a larger project for us here. However, we did not take the path you have, and your effort is very promising. Personally, I find exploring new ideas for the Marauder as enjoyable as just driving it, half the fun of ownership for me has been building it. Looking good, best wishes. Keep s posted?
Me too, the journey is half the fun. If it doesn't work out as planned, so be it. That's one thing that irritates me about people flaming ideas that they haven't even tried. Somebody has to be first, right?

[Smokie]

Me too, the journey is half the fun. If it doesn't work out as planned, so be it. That's one thing that irritates me about people flaming ideas that they haven't even tried. Somebody has to be first, right?Brian, keep up the good work. I enjoy very much the write-ups from owners that try new things and are willing to experiment and blaze new trails. I find it the most interesting reading on this forum.

You, and Cruztaker have cars and results that I admire very much. You have taught us that our little 281's have great potential and without going into the engine you have achieved remarkable results that on any given day can give a S/C MM a run for his money.

Keep up the good work. Thanks.

[Joe Walsh]

That looks great! The machine shop did a really nice job hand porting your intake. It's also good that they didn't have to 'section' it and then re-weld it together after porting.
It looks like they did not open up the ports too much, so the intake's ports will match up well with the cylinder heads. :2thumbs:

The upper/lid looks sweet! I had my upper powdercoated, and the powdercoat guy suggested that he do the inside of the lid as well...
The inside came out smooth and glossy, which works great because when they Extrude Honed my intake they only do the lower portion.

I spent last night port matching my cylinder heads so that they will match my Extrude Honed intake ports.
I had to do this because the Extrude Hone process made the intake's ports BIGGER than the cylinder head's ports.
This resulted in a sharp 'lip' sticking out into the airflow's path. (mainly on the outside edges near the injector port.)
I had to modify both the OEM hard plastic gaskets and the first 1/2" of the cylinder head's ports.
After a few hours with my trusty Dremel and a sore back, I had blended the ports nicely.
I spent the first part of the evening blocking off the cylinder head ports to preclude any aluminum shavings from falling down into the ports/combustion chambers.
Do you know funny it looks to be carefully vacuuming your cylinder heads??? :rofl:
I am confident that the reduction in airflow turbulence will result in the Extrude Hone intake performing to it's fullest potential. :banana:

Now I've got to call PHP and order an intake spacer kit!

[FordNut]

Pics of the thermal coated manifold:
http://www.mercurygallery.net/mmnet/data/500/518DSC01015.JPG

Bottom:

http://www.mercurygallery.net/mmnet/data/500/518DSC01017.JPG

[torinodan]

You have an email FordNut.

[Petrograde]

Pics of the thermal coated manifold:
http://www.mercurygallery.net/mmnet/data/500/518DSC01015.JPG

Bottom:

http://www.mercurygallery.net/mmnet/data/500/518DSC01017.JPG


looks great man! I can't wait to see it installed!!!!

[Haggis]

Me too, the journey is half the fun. If it doesn't work out as planned, so be it. That's one thing that irritates me about people flaming ideas that they haven't even tried. Somebody has to be first, right?
Looking good 'Nut, :2thumbs: and thanks for being the first to try this.

[FordNut]

Haven't had the time to hunt down the pics in the gallery to fix this thread, but I dropped the car off today for the intake swap this weekend. Scott strapped it to the dyno for a "before" pull today, and did I ever get a surprise. It's making more power now than it ever has. I sure hope the intake swap gives em a little more!

Previous best was 303.0, running race gas and a race tune, Steeda underdrive crank pulley, 6-rib belt. Today it pulled 303.6 on premium pump gas and a street tune, standard size crank pulley, 8-rib belt.

Hope to have more data by Monday.

[FordNut]

Data from intake install:

Dyno pull after ported intake installation indicates no change in hp or torque at the peaks. Actually, no change from about 5k up. However, it picked up about 50 ft-lb of torque from 3k-5k. At about 3500 it was putting our 275 ft-lb. The AFR was not affected. This pull was just like the "before" pull, just strap it on and run it. No tc lockup program, no tuning, etc. I wonder what it will do with a new tune?

I'll try to get some pics up after while.

[torinodan]

Data from intake install:

Dyno pull after ported intake installation indicates no change in hp or torque at the peaks. Actually, no change from about 5k up. However, it picked up about 50 ft-lb of torque from 3k-5k. At about 3500 it was putting our 275 ft-lb. The AFR was not affected. This pull was just like the "before" pull, just strap it on and run it. No tc lockup program, no tuning, etc. I wonder what it will do with a new tune?

I'll try to get some pics up after while.
Make sure you call Alisha so you can get that phenolic spacer as well. I like the sounds of your progress, 50 ft-lb 3-5k is great, and it a great target area for TRQ.

[FordNut]

Black under the hood...

[torinodan]

WOW, like going in with your eyes closed it's so dark in there!! Looks great!!