thesoundandthefury

iTrader: (3)

I'm disappointed in the amount of porosity in these intakes, but they still polish up decent. Next it's off to the chrome plater. See if you can see anything "different" about this in comparison to other intakes. Enjoy.








So what do you think?

urbanhunter44

iTrader: (1)

Sweet job!

wrd1972

iTrader: (12)

How long did it take? Did you use a grinder with a buffing wheel or somthing bigger?

hotrod_bljak

iTrader: (3)

Looks good. I wish I had the time to do something like that to mine. Again nice job!

hammrman31

nice work.

Blackbirdws6

iTrader: (7)

very sharp looking.

luckyou03

iTrader: (8)

i'll buy it

aggiez28

iTrader: (19)

looks good. i wonder if polishing it like that will make a difference if your going to get it crome plated...

brook

Camaroholic

iTrader: (1)

Wow. Looks great. That's a TON of work. I bet you have 40+ hours in that intake?

I took the easy way out. Had mine ceramic chrome coated (like this one ). Not as shiny, but still much better than stock. And for just over a hundred bucks, very cost effective for me.

LT1BRN

iTrader: (1)

I'm doing mine, I started working on it but I had to leave the shop, ill be back tomorrow and try to finish it, wish I can do as good of a job as you did.

mikes98z

iTrader: (9)

Looks great!!!!!!!

NHRAMAN

iTrader: (1)

I don't think it matters if its getting plated anyways....my buddy gets 5-10 things plated every week and he doesn't polish anything..looks good though..why not just leave it the way it is now.

thesoundandthefury

iTrader: (3)

Chrome is just the same as paint in that the final result is a direct reflection of the level of prep work that went into it. Without getting into too much detail and writing a novel, what makes it unfeasable to take a completely untouched LT1 intake and try to chrome it is that in order to build the layer of copper up to a thick enough level that all the rough casting pores are completely filled in, one of two things has to happen: (1) you plate the copper on until you've maxed out the voltage on your rectifier/anode setup and then take the part out and smooth down the high spots and repeat this process until the surface has completely evened out, or (2) get a bigger rectifier and anode that can put out enough power to build the copper layer up until it's thick enough to only need one polish session. Most chrome shops don't have rectifiers and anodes that put out enough juice to do option #2, (once you get past a certain voltage the price starts to increase exponentially), so they insist on polishing the part before plating to keep from having to do multiple dips.

So to answer your question as to whether it makes a difference if it's polished or not: hell yes, if you look at it from a $$$ standpoint. On the average, 2/3 of the amount that any quote a chrome shop will give you goes towards prepping the part. Between 3 local platers I found who would do this, by polishing it myself I saved between $350-$450.

Upkeep on something like this after it's installed on the engine would be a royal PITA if it was left bare. At least with chrome, all I'll need to use to keep it looking tip-top is a bottle of Windex and a paper towel.

I'm surprised nobody's figured out what looks different on this intake as opposed to a stock one. (Other than it being shiny.)

Captainofiron

iTrader: (1)

man that looks really good, as far as somthing looking different,did you port out the front air ducts to use the bigger TB?

95wht6spd

The extra small hole near the TB holes?
Aren't you worried the chrome will not let the heat dissipate as much?

Vendetta

That's a fantastic job. Very nice.

N20Dave

iTrader: (7)

If the head mating surface and underside is also coated it will maintain the same temps it ran at before. Yes the ceramic won't let heat excape on the top side but it also won't let it in from the heads and the underside. Plus it's a thermal barrier and it works both ways. It won't let heat in as well. That's why it's critical when coating an intake, even with powder, that you do the underside as well.

383LT1S10

I don't see the hole under the throttle body for the crankcase vent..also the little nubs are gone from between the injector bosses where small brackets bolted too for the egr valve solenoids went.

Camaroholic

iTrader: (1)

Ground off the bosses between the injector holes?

383LT1S10

Beat ya to it lol