Intake Cleaning....

[SASHO91]

This weekend i am going to be replacing my Plugs, and i am going to be taking my intake off for 2 reasons. 1 making it that much easier to do the plugs, 2 i want to clean the intake out... which leads me to my question.
i have read that it takes a few cans of whatever you want to use to clean it out. But could i use a small wool brush, on the end of a drill, with a bendable extension, to cleanout the runners? or would this be too ******* the intake? If that dosent work, then it looks like there is gonna be alot of scrubbin going on....
this is just a question, im not trying to get on yall about using so much carb cleaner.....
What do yall think?

 

[SHOSIG]

When I cleaned mine ( I also port matched the intake runners), I took it all apart and took the parts to the car wash and used the pressure washer on it. Came out very clean! If you do not want to take the intake apart, I have heard Berryman's is the cleaner to use. Good luck!

 

[SASHO91]

Well, i might do that instead..
just keep the intake together, and spray it to **** with Berrymans. then port match.
now question about port matching, this is when you grind away at the head to make it as big as the gasket right?
im guessing that a dremel will be needed....

 

[jelloslug]

Depending on your avalable time and money you my just want to take the pieces to a local NAPA or other place and have them steam cleaned. It was like $20 for same day service around here.

 

[SASHO91]

hmmm.... options... optoins... options.
ok now this is what im gonna do..
take the intake to Napa or where ever, get it steamed and then port match.....
I dont know though, this port matching seems like i can really F*** something up though....

 

[Rockledge]

There are some bends that might be difficult to negotiate with the drill and extension, but it certainly sounds doable for the most part. However, I would think you're still gonna need some Berrymans to loosen up the carbon in some areas. Personally I don't think you even need the drill, my intake cleaned right up just using Berrymans and some hand-held cleaning utensils (small brushes with long thin handles, scrub pad strips, rags, etc).

 

[SHOSIG]

If you are going to port match, I would highly suggest you take the intake apart. This way you can make sure you get the metal shavings out of it. I used a Carbide cutter/Dremel on mine. Now keep in mind.....if you port the intake runners, you should also port the short runners in the head. And yes, you can really **** things up by taking short cuts or not knowing what you are doing here. Do a search on port matching/gasket matching.

 

[SASHO91]

i think i will wait until i need to port match, i.e. BBB's, or EH....

Ok which is it guys?

Steam clean?/ Napa... Or BerryMans?/ with scrubbing...

Vote now..... (jepardy music in backround)

 

[Mr Anonymous]

i think i will wait until i need to port match, i.e. BBB's, or EH....

Ok which is it guys?

Steam clean?/ Napa... Or BerryMans?/ with scrubbing...

Vote now..... (jepardy music in backround)

Copious amounts of Berrymans will eliminate the need for any scrubbing. Or, if you have a dishwasher you could put them in there with some TSP, but you're going to have to run the dishwasher for a few cycles afterwards to clean it out.

 

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

Some tips on making this a pleasant experience instead of a SHO nightmare:

1: You are going to remove the intake and clean it, so you need to be careful not to damage any of the gaskets starting with the manifold gaskets that are under the intake assembly. Most often, they are ok, but if you take off the intake and see that the paint has peeled off the metal gaskets, you may experience leaks that will result in poor performance.

2: Cleaning the intake WITHOUT taking it apart is a crap shoot. There is ALOT of gunk in there and the way to make absolutely sure you are getting it out is to dissasemble it. This however presents problems as the paper gaskets in there are delicate and will need to be replaced as well if you break them. 45.00 at AZ gets you the whole upper gasket set from the manifold to the throttle body. I have never steam cleaned an intake that was fully assembled, so I dont know if it will damage stuff. For 20.00, it seems like a good investment as you will spend 12.00 on the 6 cans of berrymans it takes to clean the intake at home.

3: yes, a drill and a bottle brush works great for the runners. I went to the dollar store and bought the bottle brush for baby bottles that has a thick plastic handle. I cut it so the end of the handle would fit my drill and went to town.

I like taking stuff apart and replacing old gaskets, so I opted for the new gasket set and elbow grease. Give yourself an afternoon to do the job, take your time and have fun..

 

[Markus]

Some tips on making this a pleasant experience instead of a SHO nightmare:

1: You are going to remove the intake and clean it, so you need to be careful not to damage any of the gaskets starting with the manifold gaskets that are under the intake assembly. Most often, they are ok, but if you take off the intake and see that the paint has peeled off the metal gaskets, you may experience leaks that will result in poor performance.

2: Cleaning the intake WITHOUT taking it apart is a crap shoot. There is ALOT of gunk in there and the way to make absolutely sure you are getting it out is to dissasemble it. This however presents problems as the paper gaskets in there are delicate and will need to be replaced as well if you break them. 45.00 at AZ gets you the whole upper gasket set from the manifold to the throttle body. I have never steam cleaned an intake that was fully assembled, so I dont know if it will damage stuff. For 20.00, it seems like a good investment as you will spend 12.00 on the 6 cans of berrymans it takes to clean the intake at home.

3: yes, a drill and a bottle brush works great for the runners. I went to the dollar store and bought the bottle brush for baby bottles that has a thick plastic handle. I cut it so the end of the handle would fit my drill and went to town.

I like taking stuff apart and replacing old gaskets, so I opted for the new gasket set and elbow grease. Give yourself an afternoon to do the job, take your time and have fun..

I agree. I've cleaned mine twice now. I disassembled the whole thing both times. The first time I reused the gaskets. The second time I installed all new gaskets. For those of us with EGR, I think the ONLY way to completely clean the EGR passages is with the manifold disassembled. The hex plugs at the end of the passages are a bugger to remove but they will come out. I used only 2 cans of carb cleaner and a bottle brush to clean my manifold. Each time took me about 2-3 hours. I also cleaned the throttle body while it was off. There are little ports in it for PCV functionality and these really need to be cleaned out. There was a warning on my TB not to use carb cleaner. There is a non-stick coating that carb cleaner will remove. I let my TB soak in diluted dish detergent and then used a soft toothbrush to clean it. I also cleaned the EGR valve and tube with carb cleaner. I bypassed the TB coolant lines to make future intake removal easier. I've never had a problem with a sticking throttle even at -35 degrees.

 

[AREA 91]

Take it apart, and use Berryman's. It's available at Wall Mart.

 

[SASHO91]

Another question... im gonna do the TB bypass, and i know how to do it, but i was wondering which way the coolant flows. I think its from the thermostat housing to the block, am i wrong with that?

as for the intake cleaning im gonna see if i can get some extra cash to go get the intake gasket set, that way i can take her all the way apart. I will be using berrymans cleaner, along with the brush. is there anyway to smooth the inside out a little. Im not talking polishing it, just making it alittle smoother.. or is it allready smooth enough.... i mean under all the gunk....
thanks for all the info...

 

[NoSlo]

Cold Tank?

As long as your taking your intake completely off and are willing to take it apart, why not take it to a machine/engine shop that has a hot/cold tank. Cold tank is for aluminum, I've had a toyota corolla head rebuilt and they just dunked it overnight and it came out whistle clean. Has anybody done this to an intake?

 

[PROPHET]

I say just do the plugs for now as you don't need to remove the intake to get to them.

Why run the risk of messing something up, if youre not to familiar with the process, wasting money on extra gaskets and time.

Buy an extra set of intake runners or whole intake, and a $20 dremel at Pep-Boys and work on porting them out on your spare time, get the intake all nice and painted then take the other one out and switch, after youve done a search and see whats all involved and having the torque specs on hand too.