DIY Matched Inlets, and Ported TB.

[GR4H4M]

Hey all,

First off, if this needs moving to 'Media' then meh, my bad!

Whilst i was partying in Kent for New Year hehe, i found sound time to do some tinkering...

...throttle body, upper and lower inlet fanimold ported and polished and refitted with PTFE gaskets! 16hours start to finish, and i am well impressed, was deffo worth the work we put in!! My cousin did all the 'matching' and he matched the upper manifold to the lower, then the 'step' between the upper manifold and the gaskets. Whilst the TB was off, we (he) also removed the small step either side of the butterfly valve.

Haven't dyno'd the car, but there is a deffo improvement on throttle response! 2nd and 3rd are just so much fun, picks up so much more now! And for the longer journeys, 4th/5th have a bit more grunt and pull to make overtaking that bit more easier! All in all, deffo worth it and apart from refitting the lower fanimold, jebus, was reletively easy peasy too, if not time consuming! Even i had a go at the old porting malarky haha!!

Airbox detached, fuel rail guard and upper manifold off...

Throttle body taken off and pics of the 'PIP' (porting in progress)...

Upper manifold done, and given a quick sand and polish...

Throttle body in progress, can see this is the first stage of cutting! Then had a finer cut, sand, then polish...

Now onto the lower manifold, what a biatch of a thing to get on/off again lol!! Getting it off was 'easy', all you had to do was unplug the injectors and undo 'this bolt'...

Same process was done to the lower manifold as before, cutting, finer cut, sand and polished! Then time to refit, YAY!! There was just enough room to remove the lower, so when we stuck on the new 1.5mm gaksets hahaha would it fit, would it feck!! Had to un-do the engine mount and shift the engine, then literally 'force', well manouvre, the lower manifold back into place!! After 3 cursing hours, and 'that bolt' done back up, she was in! 30mins later, rest of the car was slotted, plugged and bolted back in and the best part, started first time and ran without a hiccup!!

Here's a pic of the engine bay now, all cleaned up and minus one engine cover...

I know they aren't CNC matched, or whatever. But it didn't cost me anythinks, apart from the new gaskets. So i can't complain, and yea, some of you might be able to strip the engine quicker, but we had a right old laugh lol!

Now all that's left to do is to remove the tippex graffiti

Anways, enjoy!

 

[.Kev.]

Did mine myself as well mate. Easy with the right tools!!

 

[Ben_Stevo172]

What did you match them to?

 

[172Ben]

What did you match them to?

The head i hope, not the gaskets

 

[dangle172]

Can you send me details of your work because im after doing this myself! I need to know what exactly to take off and where as im a machinist myself!

 

[GR4H4M]

Can you send me details of your work because im after doing this myself! I need to know what exactly to take off and where as im a machinist myself!

There's a guide to taking off the inlets ! Most of what we did is explained here and tbh, though it's handy having a printed guide off as it shows you what sensors need to come out and what bolts need un-doing. Though i'll write up what we did and i'll send you a PM.

The head i hope, not the gaskets

Gaskets , was the only way my cousin could do the work. I left him to it, while i removed his acoustic valve hehe! This has cost me fuber all, is it JMS, they want £210 for hand matched inlets and K-Tec want £180 for just the lower, granted it is CNC'd. So for something that has cost nothing, i am more than happy with the results.

 

[dangle172]

that would be great if you could do that as iv been wanting to do this for a while!

 

[172Ben]

Gaskets , was the only way my cousin could do the work. I left him to it, while i removed his acoustic valve hehe! This has cost me fuber all, is it JMS, they want £210 for hand matched inlets and K-Tec want £180 for just the lower, granted it is CNC'd. So for something that has cost nothing, i am more than happy with the results.

Jamsport do the inlets for £120 + vat.

You shouldnt match to the gasket.

http://www.angel-works.co.uk/service_inletmanifold.php

The most typical level of modification starts with the matching of all faces to its corresponding component. By matching we don’t go straight to the size of the gasket as many others do, as in our experience, this is usually far too big and does harm rather than good (unless in the rare case where the gaskets and castings are extremely good and well matched).

 

[Gaz.]

Would have been more beneficial to smear some engineer's blue on the head, then press the inlet manifold up to it and work off that.

You've probably got a step now as the inlet manifold ports will be larger than the ports on the cylinder head. That's putting a restriction (albeit a small one) into the path of the air/fuel mixture as it's sucked into the cylinders.

 

[hughesclio]

i understand what your all saying about matching to the head but how comw when you look at the ktech ones on there site they look matched to the gasket? just a thought thats all

 

[Gaz.]

i understand what your all saying about matching to the head but how comw when you look at the ktech ones on there site they look matched to the gasket? just a thought thats all

Maybe they open the head to the gasket too and blend it all in?

 

[hughesclio]

Maybe they open the head to the gasket too and blend it all in?

that they might do if the customer is there, but surely if it was done via mail order on exchange basis then that would defeat the object, im sure k tech no what there doing and it would be right. its just with people saying match to the head but surely if the head is not there it would be difficult to do :S

 

[Gaz.]

I didn't know it was on exchange basis that Ktec did them.

What I am saying, is that if the holes in the gasket are larger than the ports in the head, and you match to the gasket, you're leaving a step between the manifold & head.

 

[K-Tec Racing]

i understand what your all saying about matching to the head but how comw when you look at the ktech ones on there site they look matched to the gasket? just a thought thats all

The head profile is drawn up in the CAD package, then cnc programme is then porting the manifolds to slightly smaller than the head profile.

the gaskets are infact larger than the head.

Andy

 

[stuartymcv]

This may be a slight restrictio on the perfect matched inlets but on a budget of zero the guys got the gains most spend hundreds getting in my eyes its a good effort mate

 

[hughesclio]

The head profile is drawn up in the CAD package, then cnc programme is then porting the manifolds to slightly smaller than the head profile.

the gaskets are infact larger than the head.

Andy

cheers for clearing that up i knew there would be a sensible explanation for it

 

[GR4H4M]

This may be a slight restrictio on the perfect matched inlets but on a budget of zero the guys got the gains most spend hundreds getting in my eyes its a good effort mate

Finally some sense hehe!

Yes i fully understand these ARE NOT CNC matched inlets, and yes, matching them to the gaskets is not ideal. This has cost me nothing, so how can i complain. And yes, with all things in life, you get what you pay for and it is true for EVERYTHING, well most things hehe!

Also, yes, they were matched to the gaskets. But these were used as a guide, he realligned the gaskets to the inlets and Sharpied around the 'step' so he knew roughly how much to take off. He then used a digital gauge thingy, looked like a wrench with a display on it lol, this is my level of mechanical engineering lol, i'm an architect by trade so please be patient hehe!! He used this to get the diameter of the head, and then ported out the inlets, by using the Sharpie line as a guide, to the best he could get.

As i said, i fully understand these are not perfect, and neither is matching to the gaskets. But for the tools (Sharpie and a Dremel) we had, and for what it cost me, i am more than happy with the results

And thank you K-Tec for clearing up the whole matching to gasket/head thing!

 

[Gaz.]

a digital gauge thingy,

Digital Vernier Calipers most likely.