When I purchased 65 F100, numerous years ago, I removed the vintage Edelbrock Street Master the PO installed and swapped it for the stock cast iron 4bbl intake. The truck ran great but, at the time, too aggressive and found keeping track of MPG was something I did not want to know. Now it's time to do something with it, considering swapping back; if so, not sure what the minimum I can have a shop do and yet not spend too much money.

Suggestions/Comments appreciated!!

 

".....what the minimum I can have a shop do and yet not spend too much money"

I suppose the minimum here would be to simply install the manifold. Not sure that's worth a lot of money since you already are running a 4bbl.

 

Although there are few things I would like to have done; i.e., clean, hot dip, polish, and check for cracks, but I imagine the cost would be getting into the range of a replacement. Intend calling a couple shops on Monday and get an estimate, figure if I limit it to just having it checked for cracks and the price is reasonable then it may save me a couple hours labor; if too much, agree, install the manifold and check for leaks?

I do appreciate your comments, thank you.

 

Home brew options to save money...
If there is minimal chance of the spouse beating you to death, run it in the dishwasher to clean the intake up. I've also heard of people using caustic style oven cleaner (Easy Off) to clean up cast metal parts. Caustic spray on aluminum wheel cleaner does a nice job also.
At this point you can eyeball everything and decide if it's worth it to proceed, stripped threads, cracked/broken mounting lugs, etc.

 

No show and tell in this household, as long as one does not get caught, besides, she would be elated to have an excuse to have me replace the dishwasher.

I like the idea of the dishwasher but there have been a couple aluminum items that have came out of the dishwasher in various shades of black. I have a very fine glass bead in the sand blaster but that may be a bit too labor intensive and not sure I want to take the risk of damaging the engine should any residual glass bead got into the fuel system.

I am probably going to end up making a solution of Por 15 Marine Clean and soak the manifold for a couple hours, then rinse thoroughly, and inspect as you suggested.

Thank you for the input!!

 

I ran my Edelbrock through the dishwasher, with minimum complaint, and it did discolor some. No problem though. I painted it black to go with the gold valve covers.

 

You could always have the shop blast it, I blasted mine, took me about thirty minutes, came out like this,

 

Wow, looks new, certainly gives me the incentive to give it a try. Soaked the manifold in a cleaning solution and although it looks better, for lack of a better word, the surface appears pock marked. I have the pressure blaster hooked up to my cabinet sand blaster, works great, intend giving it a try.

Thank you for the pic and suggestion!

 

aircraft stripper works great for cleaning Aluminum parts , Just spray it on let sit for 10-15 minutes then give another coat and scrub (wearing Rubber Gloves) with a steel wool or scotch brite pad then hose off

 

Mine started like this, it had been painted multiple times, greasy, and somewhat corroded and pitted.

I used glass beads, I could pick it apart, it's not perfect, but it made a real difference.

 

If the sand blasting approach does not work I will be giving the stripper a try. I have actually taken a 'satin' intake to a 'polish' finish and learned never to 'do it yourself'. I will try to take before/after pic's.

Greatly appreciate the suggestions!! Thank you.

 

Make sure that you tape the gasket surfaces.

 

Thank you for the 'heads-up'!!

 

Have not gotten around to replacing the larger compressor so I experimented using my small Hitachi, used primarily for remodeling the home; connected it to my pressure sandblaster and run the hose into the cabinet sandblaster, works great but a bit too much to handle for the compressor. Not wanting to risk damaging the compressor I quit after blasting 1 side of the manifold, the compressor never stopped and if there was a duty cycle it was around 3 min's of use and another 12-15 min's of build up. The 1 side did not come out too badly considering the equipment I was using. Went with a fine glass bead, close to a powder, but I have a variety of media so thought perhaps going with some thing slightly more aggressive?

 

It looks good, I used a fine glass bead on mine. I don't think you'll hurt anything going to something more aggressive, finish probably won't be quite as good, it'll go faster though.

With duct tape over the gasket surfaces, I'd say you're covered.