Morning

I started having a play with the inlet manfold on the octi at the weekend

using quite a fine wet and dr started sanding the cast setion down so it is smooth

cleaned it with alloy wheel cleaner

then put a bit of autosol on it and it looks quite shiney now

only had a few minuites on it so noware near compleate

was wondering if anybody has finished this or had it done profesionally ?

if so any pictures ?

Ahem! :wrthless:

This is a future plan for me, have read in Golf + 'bout a chap who has done this to his Seat Leon intake manifold, a lot of hours, I'm just concerned about all the metal dust being liberated and ending up in mechanical bits like the alternator which isn't a million miles away from the manifold. If I manage it, I will put a picture up.....

but why? you can't see it, feel it or hear it and it won't make it quicker :confused:

:confused: I thought the idea was to polish the inside of the manifold...

Polishing the outside can be detrimental to performance. The idea of a rough surface is there is a greater surface area to radiate heat away from the manifold.

Looks !!!!!

Thats about it really just would look nice all shiney

(although means somthing else to polish regulaly)

Doubt the heat difference would be much as is not that rough as standard but i will admint didnt think about that

If i was feeling brave i would take it off, take it to work and get it mirror finnished

but im not

Didn't Monkeyboy do this?

Think he may have been selling one in the for sale section a while ago.

I'm in the "whats the point" camp on this one. I think its on a par with polishing the underside of the bonnet and the inside of the wings each week.

Arh now you see you can polish it and keep it cool....

Fit an evo shield gasket kit

Seperate the manifold from the block with cool to touch results after thraping the car.

Thus you could polish it and it would be cool anyway thanks to the gasket

But it took me 2 year to clean the engine bay, and then I got bored half way around so went for a drive.

Must admit seeing high polish cars is impressive, but does not insipre me to do it...however thats not a bad thing given my virgonian traits for being obsessed about polishing things.

How does having it polished keep it clean? *puts engineers hat on* Surely having a rough surface on something that gets hot is a good thing? Rough surfaces have a greater surface area and thus cool faster - heat sinks for example. Having a smooth surface would normally be of benefit only when you're using a fan or something to force cool it.

Agree with the theory - rough surface should radiate heat better as well as dull vs. shiny - shiny surfaces reflect heat as well as light. You can make a solar panel to go on your roof to heat water, out of an old central heating radiator. There's a demo one at the conservation centre I went to in Wales once:

Stage one - strap old radiator to roof

Stage two - paint it matt black

Stage three - cover it with a glass box

The temperature goes up by a factor like 10% for each stage, and the same works in reverse - if you want to get rid of heat, you do it the same way (minus the glass box, of course).

The moral is, if you really wanted your manifold to be efficient, you'd paint it matt black, not make it shiny.

Of course this assumes the heat is coming from the inside. If the ambient is hotter than the manifold, the opposite applies - then a shiny one would be correct... :rubchin:

Do those gaskets really work then Col? Damn! Maybe should have bought Adrian's!

Do those gaskets really work then Col? Damn! Maybe should have bought Adrian's!

:agree: ...on both accounts.

Shush, you!

Didn't Monkeyboy do this?

Think he may have been selling one in the for sale section a while ago.

Nigel26 bought it from him...

I have a slighlty more expensive one...

I've no idea how long it would actually take to remove the head in order to really polish it, not counting the reseating etc. It's an hour to lift it, pop these inserts in and tighten it all up again.

95 in vat if your wondering, but it's good when I can get a map to take advatnage of it, more boost and timing to make it hotter.

As to the parent topic of polished manifolds, I'm not sure how much real world disadvantage it would be polished over rough....so go for it

If you strap a big FMIC to the car, and give the car a good thrash, the air going into the manifold will cool it far quicker than any radiating effect the rough cast finish might have. I know I can give my car a good thrashing, stop, pull the hood and put a hand on the manifold without going "ouch that's bleeding hot". Leave the engine running though and the heat builds up quickly(same as with the CAI tube). So I'm in the "its looks pretty department", cos I'm sad and wax the underside of my bonnet.....

Lee

Agree with the theory - rough surface should radiate heat better as well as dull vs. shiny - shiny surfaces reflect heat as well as light. You can make a solar panel to go on your roof to heat water, out of an old central heating radiator.

Personally, I think that would spoil the Octavia's lines.

Personally, I think that would spoil the Octavia's lines.

But imagine all the hot water ... you could stop for a cuppa any time!