intake manifold cast iron, or aluminum??

[aliczander]

Are our intake manifolds cast iron or aluminum??? I dont have my car here to look at it and i cant for the life of me remember..... I called a machine shop and asked them if they could port and polish my intake and they told me 200 bones for aluminum and 300 for cast iron????
aliczander

 

[aliczander]

just for the record so i dont sound like a total moron... im pretty sure its cast iron... but i just wanted to check to be sure
aliczander

 

[anduril]

I'm pretty sure its cast iron as well. Aluminum just wouldn't make sense...it's lighter but can't take as much heat.

 

[aliczander]

thanks

 

[mavisky]

hate to burst your bubbles guys but both our cylinder heads and intake manifolds are cast out of aluminum.

 

[aliczander]

hate to burst your bubbles guys but both our cylinder heads and intake manifolds are cast out of aluminum.

thanks alot

 

[SnoopySLR]

If our intakes were cast iron, they would weigh a ton, and be really hard to port and polish. They would rust and look like crap after a while too.

 

[aliczander]

If our intakes were cast iron, they would weigh a ton, and be really hard to port and polish. They would rust and look like crap after a while too.

they kinda look like crap the way they are now

 

[2fast420a]

Intake manifolds don't need to be super heat resistant. They should not get near as hot as the exhaust manifold. Also the stock manifold on the 420a is actually really efficient.

 

[Defiant]

Doesn't anyone own a magnet anymore?

 

[JRichter]

Many cars engines are made of aluminum block and heads which can withstand flesh melting heat, so an aluminum intake manifold should have no problem as it should be taking in cool air.

 

[fr33b1rth]

Doesn't anyone own a magnet anymore?

haha, that's what i was thinking, nice

yes, they are aluminum, i just did the magnet test

 

[Defiant]

Many cars engines are made of aluminum block and heads which can withstand flesh melting heat, so an aluminum intake manifold should have no problem as it should be taking in cool air.

Aluminum blocks are still fairly rare, but there are more and more coming on all the time. Aluminum heads are just about routine anymore, particularly on imported engines.

 

[JRichter]

Aluminum blocks are still fairly rare, but there are more and more coming on all the time. Aluminum heads are just about routine anymore, particularly on imported engines.

I'm not trying to argue just backing up what I said.

Just about every fairly modern German, Swedish, Italian and British car makers use aluminum block & heads. The Japanese manufacturers have been using them for at least 20 years. and the American manufacturers are catching up. I think US trucks are some of the only vehicles still using an iron block.

Quote from this article: http://www.americanrecycler.com/08automakers02.html Which was from 2002.

Dr. Klimisch said, "It was the belief that diesel engines had to use cast iron because of the higher temperatures created by the engine. I can see a lot of diesel engines being converted to aluminum. Currently 60 percent of gas engines are aluminum."

This one dated 2 years ago http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3012/is_9_182/ai_92285250

* Honda has been the Japanese industry leader in converting powertrain components to aluminum. In 1994, the company completed conversion of all gasoline engine blocks to aluminum, becoming the first in the industry to do so.

Meanwhile, Nissan uses aluminum for an estimated 70 percent of gasoline engine blocks in its cars and nearly 100 percent of cylinder heads and transmission casings. In the suspension, the company currently uses aluminum only for control arms on the luxury Cima and for knuckles on the Skyline.

* Toyota plans to cut vehicle weight by more than one-fourth during the next decade. The main target area will be powertrains and specifically engine blocks. The company waited until 1997, years after Honda, to begin switching engine blocks for 4-cylinder gasoline engines to aluminum. It introduced the lightweight material for V6 and V8 engines in 1988 with the launch of the Celsior (then sold outside Japan as the Lexus LS400).

This article has some good info:
Use of Aluminum in Engines
(note the date)

 

[aliczander]

whoo thats some good stuff

 

[mavisky]

while alot of new motors are aluminum block and head, alot of the more powerful engines out there are still cast iron block and aluminum heads. see if any of these engine names ring a bell with you for high performance motors.

4g63 (even in the new evo still)
2jzgt3
rb26dett
sr20det
3sgte

and from the domestic crowd the never aging chevy 350 and the always dangerous 302 from ford

 

[JRichter]

Yep those are proven, badass engines and thats what counts.