Intake Manifold

Thanks everyone. I had no idea of the wire used to hold internal sand castings in place. Media blasting intakes or internal parts has NEVER been a good idea. Hopefully I can get a good look inside before I install this manifold. I had a co worker that had his Ford 302 rebuilt but he sandblasted the intake manifold because he just knew he was right doing so..... Well about 3 thousand miles later he asked me what the knocking was... The trapped sand in the intake wore out the cylinders, pistons and the bottom end. The shop had no idea he had "cleaned" the intake like he did. So the shop rebuilt the engine again for free but they assembled it themselves.


Gary Parsons

The wire pieces used to hold the core castings in place are called ..... ligatures.
Agreed grit blasting internal parts can be disastrous.

In Cyl. heads wire was used to hold the sand cores in place. I have found these as well in heads so probably used in intakes also. Glass beads and sand should never be used on internal engine parts or spark plugs. Almost imposable to get them all out. Just clean, clean , clean, clean....... air, water, vibration.
CORDially Mike

I purchased an intake manifold. Removing it from the shipping box a rusty nail came out of the intake.... It has been sand blasted too. Now how am I going to clean out any sand or other rusty bits.. I do plan to use a camera bore scope to look for things trapped. Same with the coolant side...


Gary Parsons