Jes seeing if anyone had a good website out there or could tell me how I should go about cleaning my intake now that I got it removed. Should I jes take off that lil oil pan thingy off from the bottom part, and jes spray carb cleaner all over the thing until its clean?

Also how should I clean up the walls around the lifter valley. Thanks!

 

Last one i did i took off the pan whatever it is called, and all the other pieces and stuck it in a bucket of solvent. Cleaned it with a brush and good as i could then blew it off with compressed air. Followed that with some selected scraping then followed that with a can or 2 of carb cleaner. Once that was all dry I cleaned the bolts and bolt holes well ith some more carb cleaner an loctited the pan back on.

My personal secret at getting the manifold shiney, or any alumimum part for that matter is take a brass cup wire wheel and put it on a 4 inch grinder and lightly hit all the surfaces. DO NOT do this on any gasket or seal surface. you can take some smaller rotary brushes and get the hard to reach spots. But on the LT1 intake if you do this by the time you get everything back on it will be shiney like new. Be advised this is somewaht dangerous so wear some protective gear like eye protection and heay clothes. I usually wear welding gloves and a jacket when i do this. Learned this from a hotrodder that restored old parts and did not or could not have them blasted.
Crud in the lifter gallery i depending on in or out of the car. In the car i would get a shopvac and keep it sucking on the area you are working on. I would never use a wire brush or scotch brite on a partially assembled motor. Scrape the best you can. Get the big fluffy stuff. Out of the car fully torn down go to town with whatever tools you got or if you are having machine work done have it hot tanked. In either case with motor out after cleaning wash down the block with soap and water and just as soon as it is dry or while drying get some oil on the machine surfaces to prevent rust.
After you get the motor back together be it partia tear down or full rebuild. Put some detergent type oil in it and run for 50 miles or so and change the oil to a normal type oil. Then do the same at about 500 miles. The oil change deal is somewhat personal preference and just what i do. So you may aske around a bit.

 

Well I dont have a bucket of solvent, and wont be polishing anything. Im jes trying to clean it up with carb cleaner and paper towels. Should I spray the carb cleaner INSIDE of the intake and let it all run out?

ALso, is jes carb cleaner good enough as the final cleaner, or do I need something else to get the oil out? As final cleaner i mean the last thing that should touch the sides before i put the Gaskets on there...

 

Go to Wal-Mart and get 5 gal bucket of mineral spirits(paint thinner) for about $15.00 and clean away.

 

Also, do I need to put RTV around the manifold gaskets around each head? Or jes put those felpros on there and only use RTV on the front and back?

 

I prefer to sandblast. There is nothing like sandblasting :-) I am getting ready to buy an intake so i can sandblast the inside and all smooth.

 

Carb cleaner should be good enough. As cheap as the store brands are these days that may be a good option for a one shot deal. Make sure you use in a place with plenty of ventlation as there is some pretty nasty stuff in carb cleaner. Make sure your gasket surfaces are 100% oil free on the heads and the intake. May prevent the dreaded intake leaks down the road.
Good luck.

 

RTV on ends only.The stock gasket's have plastic buttons to hold it in place and a sealer around the port's,built in the gasket.

 

I add a small amount over and under the gasket where the gasket and rtv meet. If you do a search there are several websites that detail it well with pictures

 

Don't use sandblast on anything inside the engine.The sand becomes imbeded in the metal and you will never get it out,but it will come out in your rebuild and ruin it.
Use a plastic media if you want to blast or steel shot,but never sand or glass bead.

 

Now that you mention it the guy that told me about the brass wire wheel said the same thing. Don't want to hijack a thread. Guess if we want to talk about it more we can start a new thread out of respect for BlackTA. If you start a new one send me a PM so i can follow along.

 

i would not sand blast it..that just leads for more curd to potential get into your engine...i would have it Hot tanked..it is dirt cheap and does a darn good job..then i would have someone powder coat it..mine is done in Iodized Blue..looks pretty snazzy with a hi-gloss clear..easy to keep clean too.

my $.02