matirial removal on 95 7afe intake manifold, more than just cosmetics Options

[mandrek]

hey all, just pokeing around and seeing what you all would have to say about the removal of some of the matirial from the inside of the manifold.

what i am looking at doing here, is the removal of the matirial (the big blocks in striped black) and smoothing of the area in red, and to gasket match the inside edge, and geniraly smoothing out all of the rough crap from the sand casting.... but before i do this i would like to know WHY the yamaha/toyota engineers put this here (both the blocks, and the sloped area in red). i am thinking that it has to do with dialing the power band of the 7a.. the sloped section i am thinking has to do with evening out the distribution of air to all 4 runners, and that the big blocks of raw aluminum is there to do nothing more than to take up volume. thus reducing the total air volume of the inside of the plenum... and in turn chokeing the 7a's ability to breath at higher RPM's.. just a theory. if my theory is correct than is my assumption also be correct that the removal of said blocks (and thus increasing the air volume of the plenum) would help the lil 7A to breath better in the upper RPM band, and in turn give more HP (since the 7a run SOOOOo rich) please correct me if any of my assumptions are incorrect.
as far as the out side i will simply be removing the crap casting lines and clean it up cosmeticly, and then give it a good wrinkle coat.

please tell me what you think.. depending on the responce i will address my plans to remove the matirial on the inside.

[mandrek]

no one? any one have any expirience, or tryed this before?

[Smaay]

personally i think any smoothing or opening up will give you gains. but i do know that Toyota engineers do things for a reason. it might have to do with low RPM torque. I say go for it! whats the worse that can happen, you loose some low end? 7A-FE manifolds are easy to replace in case it doesn't work out.

[mandrek]

with the intention to go turbo my idea of freeing up space in the plenum, and smoothing out the metal inside should definatly be a plus, and help it "breath" better in the top end.. my only concern ATM is that this manifold is going onto a stock motor, (being rebuilt) and ATM will not be getting any kind of tuning.... but if my assumptions are correct then the fuel should be there... BUT this is on an OBDI (95) 7afe so the ability for the ECU to do alot of compensating is not realy there. ok i do have a spare, so if it does not go well ill just throw a stocker on it... ok going for it.. and i'll post pix when im done.

thank you for the input Smaay


This post has been edited by mandrek: Nov 17, 2011 - 3:20 PM

[stephen_lee]

the 7a runs pretty ruch at WOT. and the 95 ecu can trim enough fuel to cause it to go into >18:1 area.. knowing from experience...

[mandrek]

sweet!! thank you stephen... money is tight for me right now and im doing what i can to get this thing back on the road, but it looks like a nice wide band will have to be my first purchase as soon as funds allow.. thats ok. planning on getting one any ways. but it just moved to the top of the prioraty list..

[mandrek]

progress is going slower than i had hoped, but still seems to be going along at an ok pace. though it is literaly a pain in the kneck, and lower back.. lol.. hope to get the manifold done by the end of the weekend. pix to come

[EKAn]

Any updates?

[mandrek]

yes, porting and matirial removal is finnished, and in the proccess of curring the paint coat on it, will post pix asap, perhaps another two more days.

[mandrek]

ok, so here we go with the finnished manifold. i have removed matirial from the inside of the both the upper and the lower sections, as well as gasket match port the ports.
the whole thig was then cleaned, blue tape masked, primed, and lastly painted with VHT wrinkle coat (black).
installed new gasket (for the plenum).
i had to hit up 3 diffrent stores but was able to find the fastening hardware in Stainless Steal, which i polished up w/ some mothers aluminum polish and some 0000 (finest u can get) steal wool. and buffed it w/ a terry cloth bonnet on a 6'' polishing buffer.

first shot is of the lower plenum w/ the matirial removed.


upper plenum w/ matirial removed


shot of the manifold together and polished hardware installed.


the finnshed unit w/ all of te masking off of it and ready to be installed on the fresh motor.


and last shot of the inside, looking down the TB port, into the plenum.

[EKAn]

That looks super clean man I love the wrinkle black

[Smaay]

looking good

[mandrek]

thanx guys!!! i cant wait to be able to show you all the finnished product!! if i have the funds and time i may get a dyno.. but this will not be the only "mod" on the car so it will not be conclusive as to what the benifits are (if any) of the work i did on the manifold.

[RoyO]

Good job! I've never seen that before at a 7AFE manifold

[mandrek]

Thank you

[celica74]

Ive got a spare intake under the house. Going to do the same and slap it on tonight. Hopefully i can get some pics and share my results.

[mandrek]

heads up , w/ some "great" carbide burrs, used to port metals much harder then the aluminum, sanding drums, and disks for the right -angle air tool.. doing all of this took the better part of two weeks with about 3-4 hours each night.. granted i was taking my time. but try and rush something like this and you will be sure to mess-up... if you find a better way of removing the material, or faster plz let me know.. i have 2 more manifolds to do this to if the results pan out anything good..

[Box]

Looks great! Would be nice to see a dyno run before and after. See what kind of difference it makes.

[celica74]

Did this is 3 to 4 hours with a carbon disk angle grinder. Thing eats right through the aluminum. Didnt have a grinder that would reach the tight spots very well. I honestly dont think it will matter if a little is left in the corners. And not how much more material i took off of where the runners meet. I wonder if that would make a difference or not.

[Tigawoods]

im picking up a spare 5s manifold and dropping it off for you lol