Project 1 from Zedron - Honda B16 Intake Manifold

So I started messing around a little today and decided to make an intake manifold for a friends car. Didn't get any welding in because I am designing/building as I go and its going slow. I had to do the main piece twice because I didn't make my measurements correctly for the bends in the break the first time. When I did the first one it was all twisted and wouldn't have lined up, lesson learned.
Pics so far:
Attachment 8726
The flange on the bottom is one I had CNC'd in a batch for when I make ITB manifolds, so I already had it.
Attachment 8727
What I am going to do next is cut out a plate for one end and then machine out a 3/8 piece of AL plate for the other end cap where the throttle body will bolt to. Once that is done I will close up the big gap with a piece of sheet and add the runners and then the flange.
Not much so far for 4 hours of work, lol. If I didnt mess up the first one I would have been better on time.

Forgot to put correct thread title with category listed. Didn't think about it since I put it in the forum which the category falls.

Project 1 from zedron. Category: Custom Automotive on/off road Welding

How about some plans on what the manifold is supposed to look like? I'd guess by the looks of it that piece of sheet metal will be the plenum and you'll cut and weld for pipes from the plate to the plenum, right?

What you might want to consider is the huge amount of vibration those I4s put out. Especially if it's gona be a DD reving low in stop and go traffic. Steer away from stainless. Also I'd say go with something thicker than 14 guage at a minimum. Maybe find a more ways to support it by anchoring it to the engine.

Is this going into a civic? In my tuning days I used to have a sweet EK9 with a B18c NA. Sold it for an MR2 after a few years. Though I needed a change but still miss it. :rolleyes:

You are right. The big aluminum sheet is for the plenum. I haven't figured out how I want to make the runners yet though. This one will either go on my friends turbo non DD EK hatch or my non DD turbo Integra. I am going to have it flow tested against an Edlebrock manifold to compare when finished.

Figured I would post the finished product up minus the injector bungs. I had to mill those from some solid AL bar. No pictures because I forgot to take some before I put it on car and car is now gone.
Attachment 9578

How thick is that flange that you had CNC'd? The end result looks awesome! It looks like you've made a few of these prior to this one, as it looks professionally done. I've messed up more than my share of sheet metal in the metal brakes at my old job. It's really easy to do, especially if you don't mark your bends clearly, or you are in a hurry!

This post reminds me of how much I want to get an A/C tig welder for welding aluminum and magnesium!

Heh. I know what you mean. I messed up once in the brake for this one and it was on the last bend...arghhh!!! There are two CNC'd pieces there. The first is the main flange which my friend sells, not exactly sure on thickness. Its either 3/8 or 1/2" thick. The other piece is what the throttle body is bolted to on the left and is definitely 3/8" thick because i machined it myself. It is set inside the plenum so you cant see it from this angle and since the TB is bolted on it.

That is a cool project. Did you have any issues with the flanges deforming when welding?

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Originally Posted by DVA

That is a cool project. Did you have any issues with the flanges deforming when welding?

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Thanks!
I bolt them to a 1" steel jig to reduce warping. I use the same jig for when I make turbo manifolds. It still moves a little bit even with moving around to different areas of the piece to spread the heat out. The movement isn't enough that the gasket cant fix though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zedron

Figured I would post the finished product up minus the injector bungs. I had to mill those from some solid AL bar. No pictures because I forgot to take some before I put it on car and car is now gone.
Attachment 9578

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What is the throttle body off of? Do you know what size it is?

I am thinking about making a single TB intake plenum for my turbo bike an dam looking for TB options.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zedron

Heh. I know what you mean. I messed up once in the brake for this one and it was on the last bend...arghhh!!! There are two CNC'd pieces there. The first is the main flange which my friend sells, not exactly sure on thickness. Its either 3/8 or 1/2" thick. The other piece is what the throttle body is bolted to on the left and is definitely 3/8" thick because i machined it myself. It is set inside the plenum so you cant see it from this angle and since the TB is bolted on it.

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It's almost always the last bend that gets messed up! Murphy's law! It's especially tough when braking something up that is 10' or really big/heavy, and you need to rely on another person to brake up your material with.

I quickly learned to mark out my brake lines with different color fine tip Sharpe's and use a numbering sequence! Even with that you need to watch the other person like a hawk since most of the items I would ask for help with happened to be stainless, copper, or (special order) 10 gauge cold rolled. It was always for some rush job too!

I was asking about the thickness of the main flange since it looks like 1/2". The 3/8" thick material I've used in the past for flanges seemed like fairly thick stuff, but that 1/2" is much better for your application. The ones I used for VW applications were water jet cut and it always amazed me how "clean" they were (freshly cut)! I never even had to file them to get fasteners or tubing to fit inside.

Nice work... making intake manifolds with the TIG welding processes works out very well! :)

(I once tried making one with the oxy-acetylene welding process, which was a big mistake.)

I read an article in an old Hot Rod magazine when I was in 9th grade metal shop that explained what was needed to gas weld aluminum with the oxy-acetylene torch, so I got some insight from my instructor and before long I was off and running.

Of course I thought I could weld any aluminum project that you would normally tig weld, but I soon found out that trying to gas weld an intake for my car wasn't such a grand idea! A lot of work went into nothing, and I haven't gas welded aluminum since!