intake manifold flow tests: how for homegrown?

[tom91ita]

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.......

[JeffYoung]

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.

[Ron Earp]

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.

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.

[lateapex911]

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.