So what intake gasket does one use? I have Fel Pro1247s-3 and there is no opening on that cross over port 3 rd on the right and 5th on the left ! I have a Street master 390 also. Looks like one would use stock Fel Pro ms90145. I live in Alaska , is this a preheat cross over of some kind?

 

Nice work, cleaning up well.

 

I got a used Holley Street Dominator from a buddy. Very similar. Jay Brown wrote a book (the Great EF Intake Comparo) in which he ran almost every possible intake on two dyno mules - a stroked 390 and a 427. The Streetmaster and Street Dominator made excellent power, but required some modifications. See mine below:




Partway through - one of the shoulders ground off and the divider taken down to the floor of the plenum.





Aluminium is pretty easy to grind off. You don't look to smooth it out too much, but you want a round radius back into each runner. Trust your finger.





The gaskets were a perfect fit to the head ports, so transferring the outline to the intake side was easy.





Plenum and intake matching took about 2 1/2 hours. All the tools are in the picture. Need a small pick to pull aluminium out of the teeth of the cutting tool. WD 40 or any oil to keep it lubed.


For what it is worth, I'd never done anything like this before. I always wanted to and I had a lot of fun. The cutting tool was $30, the Makita Die Grinder sells for about $120 (borrowed it from my brother), and it cuts aluminium very quickly. I did a little light polishing with a sanding cylinder, then roughed it with a rotating wood rasp. I did that because I've read reports where a builder polished the intake, put it on a dyno, then roughed the surface and put it back on the dyno, and picked up about 20 hp on a 600 hp motor.

 

And I did take mine out and bead blasted it at a local place that rents out time in a booth. Did a bunch of other parts so I could paint them at the same time. With a good compressor it took about 10 minutes to clean the intake.

 

The set up I mentioned, it took about 30 sec's for the nozzle to clear its throat and effectively pressure blast the manifold, by then the pressure dropped from 120 psi, to around 90 psi, and it decreased significantly from there. It probly took around an hour to blast 1/2 of the manifold. I would go thru a couple 3 min. cycles then shut the compressor down and let it rest several minutes then pick up where I left off. The only down side of using pressure blaster in a cabinet is the gloves are also pressurized and maneuvering your arms can be difficult.

 

Dave - you are right about the gloves. I was sweating while I was doing it. In total I was at it for over an hour because of all the other parts, but the intake took about 10 minutes. In fact, had I known more about what I was doing, I'd have noticed that the blaster was running out of beads! It recycles them but as they wear down they get ejected, so I spent more time on some of the steel parts than I would have had I put more media into the machine sooner.

The price you pay for doing something for the first time, but it was fun.

 

This dishwasher idea has me puzzled. Took mine back to the machine shop as I had something else to pick up and had them run the intake through their hot tank (not one that dissolves aluminium!), as I didn't want to put it in a dishwasher with all the shavings in it. The hot tank discoloured it a bit so thought about the dishwasher.

How the heck did anyone get an intake in a dishwasher? I tried, it is WAY too big, and I don't have a little one (dishwasher that is).

 

I put the intake on the lower rack on its edge and leaning against the side of the dishwasher. I also removed the upper rack. This was with a standard 24" dishwasher. Good luck.

 

I may try that later. Thanks.

 

Already decided to go with the 'glass bead', curious how well my pressure washer would work, 3000 psi, introduce a solution, and install the nozzle with the greatest force?

 

Beeswax on the rotary file keeps it from loading up

 

Didn't try beeswax, used what was handy - WD40. Had a small, sharp, hooked awl to pick out the aluminium about every 5 minutes when I added oil. How long can you go between waxings?

 

Just load it with wax and go, put some on a belt sand to do some brackets and never did cause any galling from loading up, just read what you are working with, and watch the heat , take breaks watch what you doing.