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I'm thinking of having my LS6 intake powdercoated over the winter. While it is off I was just thinking if it should get ported (along with the throttle body) and what I should expect performance wise and if it then requires me to do anything else as supporting mods?
Car is a 2004 coupe automatic. Currently has a blackwing, LT catted headers, axle back exhaust. I am contemplating getting new fuel rails as part of my engine remodel, but not settled on that yet.
Given my current mods does it even make sense to do the port work? I am not planning any future mods. A tune is scheduled for the Spring.
On a stock engine with just headers you will not see any hp gains with those mods, the ported TB will give you slightly quicker acceleration. However, a good tune and an adjustment on the DBW (drive by wire) delay will give you the same results. Save that money and get an Ice Box cover for the Blackwing before the tune and see even better results. By putting colder, more dense, air thru the intake you will be able to optimize the benefits of the headers.
I tried to get a quote to powdercoat my LS6 intake a while back and every pc house in the area no-quoted it because the pc cure temp is so close to the meltflow temp of the filled nylon. They didn't want to guarantee the intake would make it through the bake.
Also, I have a Vitesse Throttle Controller on my C7 that is awesome. Vitesse is making one for the C5 at my request - this is a must-do mod, IMHO.
Thanks for the input on the hp gains. I'll save moneu for the tune and future maintenance.
Patches: I'm worried about the powder coat as well. Have a few shops semi local that I intend to call and inquire about this. Paint or do nothing are still options.
As part of a larger project, I had spent a bit of time working on my own direct methanol injection setup and was almost there when I ran into a couple of delays in getting parts made so, when I saw that NX was offering direct injection methanol setups for LS systems, I contacted Billy at NX. We discussed what I was looking for and I shipped him one of my two LS6 intakes so he could fab a system for me. In the meantime, I took the opportunity to paint my spare LS6 intake. The plan was to transfer the NX setup from the unfinished intake to the painted one. When I received the finished setup from NX it appeared doable so I executed the transfer pretty easily.
Special thanks to neutron82 for his help with the painting process. He answered numerous questions I had about the great job he did on his intake and he gave me several tips. This was a rattle can job I did in my garage. Check it out.
Looks great Ed. I remember reading your post about the painting. Being in Chicago, I'll have all winter. Might a fun little project that I can do in my spare time.
You could have it hydro dipped in carbon fiber pattern or any color you want also.....
Interesting. I'm familiar with the process, never thought about it for the intake. Would have to see if anyone local offers those services. Good to have options.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
C5 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
just paint it like Patches did... it will stand up to the heat of the engine bay just fine and if you put a few coats of clear that will help keep it from getting scratched and also keep it really shiny... for probably $30-40 in materials and a weekend you could have a really nice looking intake that you did yourself, you can't beat that in my opinion... his turned out better than mine, everything he does looks fantastic
Looks great , wile you got the thing off I would look into the heat shield that goes under the manifold . I had mine off this summer ,can't remember why Ok A/C vac. lines were leaking anyway it seems like it works . I live in Houston ( HOT ) and could tell when it got really hot the power was a little off with the heat pad seems like the heat was no big deal felt like a little more pep.. Just saying .
Paint seems like the way to go for me. I'm not 100% on color yet, but gloss black is the likely choice. Also tossing around silver or blue metallic.
I picked up some black wrinkle finish proform covers and black coil relocation brackets. Thinking of blue fuel rails for the pop of color and leave the rest toned down.
Stands up to heat. Look at the competition guns that fore hundreds of rounds through a shotgun or semi auto weapon without effecting the coating. They get hotter than a plastic intake.
Patches: didn't you do a whole writeup on your intake painting process. I feel like I recall reading it. I've searched and can't seem to get any results.
Patches: didn't you do a whole writeup on your intake painting process. I feel like I recall reading it. I've searched and can't seem to get any results.
Not really - it's similar to painting FRC's which I did a more extensive write-up of years ago in this thread.
Here's what I wrote about the intake painting in a previous thread.
"Removed the manifold and cleaned it thoroughly with Simple Green and water. Sanded it completely, mostly by hand to smooth out the casting marks and get a smooth, consistent finish. Sanding took the longest - I think I spent half a day sanding but I sanded every possible visible surface. A lot of that doesn't really show due to the FRC's because they overlap a good portion of the manifold. I sanded it all because I'm not running FRC's and much more of my manifold is exposed. Then I layed down some adhesion promoter (optional) and about three coats of sandable primer, sanding the rough areas for consistency. Finally, the second weekend I rattled-canned several coats of high-temp black and let it dry about a week to ensure it was cured through and through.
I did this all mostly by hand (used a random-orbital air sander for a bit but it only helped in sanding the cast-in "dots" on top of the runners - everything else was by hand) and with basic supplies so it's not difficult or expensive. If you can afford to have your manifold off for a couple of weekends straight or try to fit it in on one weekend, you can avoid the expense and delay of running a stick-on. I had an extra manifold I did this on as I was waiting for my other one to be modified and my C5 is no a dd so I could afford to take my time."
10-24-2016, 08:09 PM
Should I port the LS6 manifold?
... it will stand up to the heat of the engine bay just fine and if you put a few coats of clear that will help keep it from getting scratched and also keep it really shiny... for probably $30-40 in materials and a weekend you could have a really nice looking intake that you did yourself, you can't beat that in my opinion... his turned out better than mine, everything he does looks fantastic
