intake manifold flow tests: how for homegrown?

i have a couple of intake manifolds and was thinking about doing some flow tests. any suggestions on how to do this with typical materials found at home?

i can borrow some regulators and rotameters from work if needed.

also, any manifold cleaning techniques i should shy away from that might be interpreted as enhancing the manifold?

i am assuming that i can do the standard quick bead blast to get the carbon and crap out from the PCV vent, etc. but should not sandblast it for 30 minutes per flow path.......

Anythng you do that changes the original castings more than 1" in on the intake/exhaust port is illegal.

I've soaked mine in solvent and then brushed them to get carbon out/off. Bead blast is probably ok if you go easy.

On the flow testing, why do it at home? We maybe lucky I guess with a local engine builder with a flow bench, but I think he charged me like $25 to flow test the carb manifold versus the FI one.

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Originally Posted by JeffYoung

On the flow testing, why do it at home? We maybe lucky I guess with a local engine builder with a flow bench, but I think he charged me like $25 to flow test the carb manifold versus the FI one.

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Cause it's fun to make shit.

Tom there are a bunch of articles on making your own flow bench. It can be done extravagantly or on the cheap. The old Hot Rod article is a classic and you'll find it on a Google search easily.

On some of the Ford forums I have seen references to the micro flow bench:

http://www.diyporting.com/

And about twelve years ago a built a sort of simple deal like the micro that use a small vacuum to pull air and my sensor was a DC motor in a housing that could be put on the orifice I wanted to test. If the motor spun faster, it produced a bit more signal on my VOM and I figured the flow went up. A good system? Not really, but the port job I did on my SVO manifolds with it worked great. For your stuff it probably wouldn't work because the changes you can make to the parts are really tiny.

I expect he wants to compare stock parts to find the best casting. I imagine if the unit was repeatable, and sensitive, it could work.