I'm a bit of a clean freak and I was thinking about polishing my inlet manifold and also fuel rail - can I do it myself? What kit do I need?

I know that Mavric has his done but I'm guessing that Barbz had it done by someone whilst the engine was being built.

I've seen lots of things advertised on ebay etc, I obviously need some sort of cutting compound and polishing discs for the drill?

Anyone..

My wife kindly bought me one of the kits off ebay for my birthday, the £18.99 with 3 compounds.
Excellent bit of kit, you need patience and if you want a mirror finish you'll need to sand it smooth first but my results on my spark plug cover are good for a first attempt.
But I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I'm going to buy a Black and Decker mouse sander to sand perfectly smooth first and then re-do it so it's mirror finish.
The bits that are smooth have come up brilliant so it is worth the effort, thought about the fuel rail and plenum chamber myself aswell.
Have fun!!
Dave

The Inlet manifold has a seriously pitted finish to it from its casting, much worse than the spark plug cover.

Im half way through doing one at the moment but i ended up using an dyno file (compressed air powered file) at work because it was taking far to long.
It does look fantastic when its done though.

I'll get some pictures sorted

Look forward to seeing them.
Have to say the more I see you sig the more I want an LE!!
Dave

any one got any pics ?
My engine bay is a right state (like it when I bought the car)

Some polished up parts would look great under the bonnet.

The inlet does look very pitted, was probably gonna one of those block grinder fitments to attach onto the drill.

Suppose I could buy some off a wrecked car and do it in my spare time - not exactly a 1 day job is it.

Like this one ? Polishing stuff on ebay

That's the exact kit I've got, I'd suggest wearing eye protection as well as the mask though.
Dave

uve been watching to much batman coupedave!! lol

Looks I'll be buying some then. Might have to polish up the chargecooler too... (amongst other things)

That kit would be great for finishing off but the real elbow grease is needed on getting all the lumps and pitting out first.
I bought another inlet plenum off ebay so I can do it in my spare time.

I've also improved the flow slightly on the plenum inlet, it has a huge square chunk sticking out into the airflow where a temp sensor is mounted so this has been reduced to sit just about flush with the rest of the intake.

got any pics of the mod uve done on the temp sensor Jimbo?

Yeah I'll take some pics later, I dont have before, during and after pics unfortunatly.

while we are on the subject, what can i do to make my heat shield look tidier....can it be painted or anything?

Barbz actually sells these ready polished give him a call as to prices. They look

Ok, here's some pictures i just took, it isnt fully polished up yet, thats just the finish from very fine micro mesh.

Picture 1
Picture 2

The lump Im blending out of the inlet you can just see at the 1 oclock position of the inlet:

Inlet

And a close up

Blending out lump

The lump was quite a lot larger, its a pitty I dont have a before picture.

Looks very nice!

Not sure how much difference it will make, remember both those pictures are after I have spent 2 hours blending it out, it used to be a big square chunk of alloy that houses a screw thread for the throttle to mount to.
It is a big lump right on the corner of the main inlet so it should free up some breathing space.

jimbo out of interest could you measure the diameter id and od of the runner exits while you have it off. be interested to see how they compare with the 16v.

rich

Sure thing Rich,

OD 54mm
ID 38mm

Hope that helps

Do you think you could also replace the FIAT OE rubber pipes with nice SAMCO ones too?

No, the short rubber hoses have the same internal diameter as the pipes on the plenum, a samco hose wouldn't be able to do this, it would just be the same as the outer diameter.

cheers jim, will compare with 16v as the 20 has nice short runners,cr@p for a 16v na but for the turbo version I think a chopped down one could work dep on spacing etc.

oh, could you measure approx centre to centre measures between runner bores Jim?

rich

9cm centre to centre Rich