I am doing my 2nd Intake refresh here in-house at drblast.com. Attached is the youtube link to the video analysis of each intake runner starting at the Trumpet down to the base where I layed a red rag down. It's a shaky video, but, I'm able to film all parts where media has bedeviled some of you in your past intake refresh experiences. You must not use chemical strippers. You must have a LOT of CFM. This manifold had some deliberately stubborn paints so I had to sharpen up the media just a bit. I feel subjecting these intakes to some Extrude Honing could benefit the inside intake runner walls to smooth them out.

This process was completely dry blasted, no chemical strippers or agents were used. I run 30psi and 175cfm. I blasted the Cam Covers too. The gasket channel was most stubborn to get it completely free of the gold colored paint and the gasket remnants.

 

That looks awesome, Don!

 

Agreed, those look great. Would not have guessed you could get them clean with only 30 psi. Don't bother extrude honing them, doesn't buy you any extra power.

 

Excellent looking work- good to see some quality technical info regarding this curse.

I reckon most cam cover oil leaks emanate form paint irregularities/discontinuities in the paint system that come about with time related degradation. As the paint flakes off the outside there is no reason to believe the inner surfaces are doing any better. When putting my cam covers back on I use Silicon RTV to line the channel and sit the rubber gasket into the sealant just before refitting the cover. I leave the gasket in-situ for about an hour before positioning the cam cover in place. To date never had an oil leak in something like 4 attempts to seal.

Even with your excellent finish I would still do this with a good quality hot oil resistant sealant. I might even finish the cover with no paint in that channel or the cover the engine seal face although I can well appreciate it might leave a vulnerability on the outer coating- any thoughts on this?

Rgds

Fred

 

Impressive results. What specific media did you use (perhaps this is mentioned in the video)?

 

The Video is silent, it's just an analysis of each intake runner thru the respective trumpet and surrounding area around the trumpet. The key to doing this is CFM, and, CFM is expensive. But, I'm a professional Media Blaster and been doing this since 1999. Primarily I use by default Plastic Urea Type II plastic. That Blue color looking coloring is DTM primer. They are all in the color silver right now as the owner wanted me to emulate exactly my own 928 parts, so, we are almost done with the painting part and hand-painting the Red letters. I brought in my daughter as she's the artist - I'm too sloppy to do this hand-painting. She also did my wheels center caps. My parts and Joe's parts go to Clear coating next week! I did not do powdercoating on mine, nor on Joe's. My powdercoating place said Magnesium needs to go through 2 weeks of heat cycles before powder is applied, so, I opted for paint. More pics coming tomorrow!

 

Here is my set, and, a customers set. Joe told me to make his just like mine! They are all off at Clear Coating and will perhaps be done next day or two.
I think the failures of S4/GT/GTS Intake has been poor craftsmanship, inadequate tools, inexperience, and, ignorance. A DIY top end refresh can be done in the parameters of who I am, and what I do, etc. My 928 needed this refresh, so, I put the stuff in the cycle of parts to media blast as this is what I do professionally. I think the DIY and his China Freight sand blast pot and his air compressor in the garage (and if the first qualifier of the potency of his air compressor is how many gallons it holds - he sadly is in no position to mess with this job). This, and the inability to get things clean he then introduces chemical stripper and then attempts to break things free this way -- all probabilities for failure.

I'll post pics here in a few days, and anyone watching and enthralled with Westworld as I am?

 

My intake was soda blasted and it came back with a lot of paint left on it. I feel like the soda didn't stand a chance, but I am amazed plastic media can remove that stuff. I used methylene chloride (basically no effect whatsoever) and finally ended up using steel wire wheels. There is still detectable paint on the outside, and I didn't even bother with the inside. At least I got the oil off all the surfaces but it took many hours. I am not too worried about media in the runners and I'm willing to clean the heck out of it to ensure that, but plastic seems like a great solution.

You must be putting a lot of media through your blaster. The results are beautiful. What tips can I give my local blaster for the next intake refurb?

 

Many 'Blasters' do not use Plastic as it is like 5 times as expensive as the cheap stuff. I like it as I have more control of psi, and can take off as much or as little as I wish. I even blasted a soda can's paint off one time years ago just because...lol The outside is nice to have clean, but, it's important to have the insides clean too - actually more important. I'll use on an Intake Manifold perhaps 750lbs of Plastic, each pound is around $1.35, and yes I recycle it over and over again. Time-wise ie blasting time a complete top end I can get clean in 45-60 minutes. How many hours do you all spend (and waste) doing the processes I've read about - as Mr. Spock would say; Fascinating.

 

This is certainly one of the jobs that we do, which I wish someone local could do correctly. By the time I'm done "babysitting" the blaster and the powder coat people, I've got way too much effort and time involved to make this worth while. However, it's something that has to be done. After the whole process is done, I spend another 3-4 hours making sure there isn't any media "stuck" in the manifold and make sure it is perfectly clean. More lost time" on a job that shouldn't be this difficult, because no one gives a crap how it turns out....they just want to be paid.

I've got 4 manifolds that the "local" guys have turned into "magnesium scrap metal".....even with my babysitting.

Donald:

If you can get your power coated to use my color, and get this job done correctly, I'd be overjoyed to send my stuff to you!

 

Greg, what is your address, I will send you my intake for you to evaluate if you wish for your cogent analysis. I'm curious where do you think the item became a pile of magnesium scrap; Blaster or Powdercoating? If you have a code or such indicative of the respective Powder you utilize I will ask my facility I use (Alamo Cross Link) if they have or can acquire.

 

Hi Donald, thanks for sharing all this great information. I'll need to refinish my intake this fall. Are you going to be offering a blasting service for other list members?

If not and I have to find a local provider here in Portland can you give some recommendations on guidance to vendors? I see your recommendation on 30psi, 175cfm, and plastic media. Are there other media that you could recommend (e.g. dry ice, vapor, etc).

Mike

 

Hi Michael, for anyone! Joe was the 1st taker from RL for Intake Refresh (which I penned some time ago the first RL I will do it for nothing). Most good blasters will not object to your concerns, and, most 'should' do the follow-on tasks such as ensuring no residual media remains. As you can tell I ran a camera down each intake runner with the only obstacles being the sharp bends for the snake camera to navigate. Remember that a blasting media needs to have mass, size, angular shape to break up the offending paints. Vapor, Ice, and even Soda does not offer such benefits. So it's always a balance of too big a media, too small a media, what is the substrate, what is the desired outcome and profile. I look at it from a painters point of view - how can what I do make their job easier and in turn yields a better product? The arguments of the Intake Refresh Process and associated horror stories I have taken great personal and professional interest in to ascertain what and where went wrong and applied this to my trade. Remember, capacity is the name of the game. Does one need a Hellcat Challenger? No, but, having that surplus power when needed and when desired is the key! Same way with air in my lane.

 

Pics tomorrow of these manifolds in Clear coat; a matte finish to emulate the 'silver' more magnificently than being glossy.